I figured it out, the only catch being you're gonna have to edit someone else's save file because it requires an actual DS to have connected at least once.
Basically, you're gonna want download a suitable save file, I used this one.
Then you're gonna download this set of tools from 2014, which, despite being discontinued, are barely enough for the job.
Then you're gonna put the borrowed save file in the bin folder of PR-Tools and use "PR-IDchanger.exe"
It's gonna ask you for TID and SID. It is also gonna ask you for a HEX string that's going to replace the previous save file owner's name, for that you might find to use this python function to figure out what the HEX for your trainer name is:
def decode_pokemon_string(hex_str):
name = ""
# We look at 4 characters (2 bytes) at a time
for i in range(0, len(hex_str), 4):
chunk = hex_str[i:i+4]
# Convert Little Endian (e.g., '3A01') to an integer (0x013A)
# We swap the first byte and second byte
value = int(chunk[2:4] + chunk[0:2], 16)
# FFFF is the end of the string, so we stop there!
if value == 0xFFFF:
break
# Uppercase logic (A-Z)
if 299 <= value <= 324:
name += chr(value - 234)
# Lowercase logic (a-z)
elif 325 <= value <= 350:
name += chr(value - 228)
else:
# If it's a special character or space, we can add more logic here!
name += "?"
return name
Once that's done, it's going to generate a savedata-new.bin file, drag it over "PR-Hashupdate.exe" and it's going to generate "savedata_hashed.bin" in the same directory, that's your new save file that you're gonna drag back into the save directory that dolphin is going to read from.
Rename it "savedata.bin" and you're done. The trainer for that save file now has your own name and you can edit the caretaker Mii in-game to match.
Now that you have a save file with your trainer name you're gonna want to get rid of all the previous owner's Pokémon so you can start anew with your own, you might be already familiar with this process:
Open savedata.bin with PKHeX
Clear all boxes of Pokémon, you can easily do this by using the "Load Boxes" option and loading an empty folder while agreeing to clear subsequent boxes. Leave all but ONE Pokémon for Hayley, if she doesn't have at least one Pokémon for herself the game will freeze when she attempts to talk to you, that's because the game can't find Pokémon in memory to pull next to her.
Save the empty ranch save file
Open the game save file where your own Pokémon are and export the boxes you wish to deposit as batches of PKM files.
Batch edit the cluster of PKM files you exported to include these strings:
.OwnershipType=1
.OwnershipStatus=2
.HandlingTrainerTID=*The TID you put earlier in PR-IDchanger*
.HandlingTrainerSID=*The SID you put earlier in PR-IDchanger*
.HandlingTrainerName=*The Trainer Name you put earlier in PR-IDchanger*
6.Once you edited the batch to include the strings, open the empty ranch save file you prepared and import your boxes there, overwrite the save and you're done.
You should now have a Pokémon Ranch save file with all your Pokémon assigned to a trainer with your own name!
It's not quite like starting fresh but it works, miracolously.
