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Hi there people! I was doing some research on how exactly e-reader cards work. I could figure out a bunch myself but now i'm stuck on the way the .vpk files inside a e-card are compressed. When I decompress a .vpk file with CaitSith2's nevpk tool, everything goes well, but when I compress it back the "recompressed" .vpk looks totally different from the original compressed .vpk (when looking at hexadecimals). When decompressing with the tool, no option can be chosen, but when compressing, you can pick options like LZwindow, LZsize, Method 0 or 1 and Level 0, 1, 2 or 3. Can someone explain to me if it is actually possible to decompress a .vpk file and then compress it back so that the newly compressed file is exactly the same as the original compressed file? I want to know this, because then we know what exact compression Nintendo used for their e-reader cards, which is really interesting to me. Thank you very much for reading and possibly responding! Sunicune

I just started homebrewing my old 3ds after years of not using it and wanted to try using pkhex to modify the saved file of my Omega Ruby game. However, every time I try to open the 'main' save with pkhex it gives me this error: 'Invalid save file loaded. Aborting.' For extra info: my 3ds is from America, the game is from the e-shop so it is saved in the sd card, and this is the first time I have ever tried homebrewing/pkhexing the game. I used Checkpoint to extract the save as a 'main' file I hope you can help me with this. This is the main file: https://github.com/kwsch/PKHeX/files/9128981/main.zip Thanks in advance for any help.

It’s a common term, typically referring to placing stuff directly in the SD card card, and not in the folders in the SD card. if you’re SD card is E:/ then paste it there, not in any further folders inside.

We're not Luma devs, and this also isn't the best place to get their attention (not saying that is what you wanted to do, but just bringing it up). So you should be dropping an issue on their github for solutions. Since we don't know the issue, the best we could do is give generic advice: 1. Disable/remove any patches (layeredFS) for the game you're running. 2. Make sure your Luma is at the latest version. 3. Make sure your 3DS OS is updated to the latest version (also ensure it's at a version that can run Luma, of course) 4. If you're running the game off your SD card (eg: e-shop or cia version), then upgrade to a better SD card. Even if you're not, consider upgrading your to one that has better speeds (let's say a class 10)

I Checked my Decrypted Save in HxD and found that My Custom Passes and Friend Passes were actually above my Rental Passes so I just scrolled down from the top and came across the name of my Personal Trainer Card and found that the model id must be close like maybe 3 or 4 bytes to the right or so and they were, so after changing it to "08" I now have a working Dawn Trainer Pass, if anyone wants to edit their Custom Passes it should be Below your Save File then you should see your Pass Name "D�a�w�n������������ÿÿÿÿ+êÿ������ÿÿÿÿ�c�e� �m�e�e�t�i�n�g� �y�o�u�!" or something like this, the model data is the 3rd or 4th Dot or "�" after somethin' like this "ÿÿÿÿ+êÿ" then once you change it to "07" or "08" it should be Dawn or Lucas. also thanks james and blackshark for the decrypt/encrypt tool and info of the model ids. I've been looking for ways to pay as Dawn and now I finally can so thanks!

Dot codes are region locked. If you're trying to use E-Cards that have been modified for use with an English E-reader, it won't work when scanned by a Japanese E-reader +.

What happens if you use a Japanese e-reader? I'm aware the original printed cards are Japanese, and they must be scanned by a Japanese e-reader.

I got to the first Pokémon center and I got a brand new sd card so I reformatted and right now im updating/redownloading all the files I need so I can start over from scratch I have put 6 pokemon I wanna start the new game with in a folder so I can just drag those into my game for the test run. Hopefully I don’t keep getting the same error. So far every time I start over and move my Mon over even if it’s just one or two I get the same error message as the e last picture and so when that happens and I go back and delete the main and rename the main back up and restore that it still has the error message so I can’t even recover the backup and thus have to restart a whole new save to try the whole process over again

I've been playing "perfect" legal games starting with a few aids like trades and "broken" punches, but they get back to normal. I recently finished Pokémon White and I dedicated myself to completing the pokedex, having all the legendary events, through the change of DNS and also by pkhex. The icing on the cake has always been that I left the tariner card at its highest level and here I wanted to do it. I completed the pokedex legally, took all 100 battles between the subway super battle levels, I admit I used cheats for musical props and a little help with the tree nexus. however my card is still gold when it should be white in this version case. The truth is that I would appreciate help and I promise to do the DSV. publishes. PS: sorry for my English, I don't speak this language. Pokémon - Edicion Blanca (E) .dsv

Actually I didn't think about adding them to the official gallery as they are just random trainers Pokemon. @BlackShark Is there a way to convert .raw E-reader cards to .bin or .ect ? I try to watch for emulating them but didn't find the way to overpass that Pikachu line (I remember that I succeded a year ago with Ash E-reader card). Also a cool project could be to convert all E-reader cards to gen6 QR codes if anyone is interested. I have way to many projects to do it now (Underleved, ...).

Hello folks; I have the same / typical error for both of my scarlet and violet save-file (NTSC). Just for the record, its a legit game (No roms) and I am in OHIO USA. Side note: I am not banned. I am not locked out. I am not closed in anywhere not even in E-Shops. I can see deals and sales on games. I checked with NINTENDO SUPPORT and they confirmed with me that I am not banned at all. Problem: Every time I connect online for surprise trade or to receive an online gift, the game saves and then it freezes. In the end, I receive this error message. I also cannot use the synchronizing machine in the DLC - CLUB ROOM (Indigo disk) because the game will also auto-save and then freeze in the end with this error message. Pokemon Home will not read my files anymore. Troubleshooting steps: I turned off auto-saving feature. I cleaned / cleared out my SD-CARD plus deleted all third party applications. I even formatted my SD-CARD. I deleted POKEMON SCARLET and VIOLET DLC files/ patches and redownloaded 2-3 times throughout these steps. I went through my inventory and took out items through PKHEX making sure all the items are legit. I checked and verified with PKHEX that my save file is valid (CHECKSUM). Its valid. I checked and confirmed that my NINTENDO ONLINE subscription is fully validated and active. I performed all these tasks and its now on 3.0.1. However the error is still active and no trade/ gift is accessible along with POKEMON HOME not responding to my file(s). The actual game works fine and I am able to play the whole game (travel, catch pokemon, battle NPC etcetera). Please help. Any advise is helpful. If you want, I can upload my files here with JKSV.

Um, bad news on that front. I did the first half of the save, and it was rejected as corrupt. Then I did the second half of the save, and it was also rejected as corrupt. Yes, even though the fresh save as a whole loads with no trouble. I then tried replacing the entire save at once with the data of the fresh save. (That is, I used Control + E to select the entire fresh save file from 00000 to 655FF, then copied and paste wrote from 00000 on the old save.) This was still rejected as corrupt. But the fresh save itself still loads fine. Even after being imported into and then exported from PKHeX. I’m starting to wonder if perhaps there is no file corruption; the game cart (which, I reiterate, is physical—not a digital download) is just refusing to accept this one file. Is that a thing that can happen? Did you ever check if you could load the save in question? Because knowing whether this issue is specific to my game/console/SD card would be quite helpful right now.

I just needed somewhere to store the flags I bothered to compare. FRLG Flags Research is in this thread: https://projectpokemon.org/home/forums/topic/47715-frlg-flags-research/ Additionally, some existing RS flags documented: https://github.com/pret/pokeruby/blob/9d62ad060b05848a0cad1f09881c3863596455fd/include/constants/flags.h#L258-L357 and E flags documented: https://github.com/pret/pokeemerald/blob/b1b97c1da9f8190ef3d145acf30eb1708f50e3f3/include/constants/flags.h#L516-L629 (thanks Kaphotics for linking them previously) Here goes nothing: Activating Mystery Events (RS): 2053 Set, 2124 Set Receiving Eon Ticket from e-card: 2100 set, 2124 set, 2131 set and constants that may or may not be necessary: Southern Island from Norman (RS)*: 2131 Set and constants that may or may not be necessary: Southern Island via Mixing Records (E)*: 2227 Set (SYS_HAS_EON_TICKET flag) Birth Island enabled (E)*: 0314 Set, 2261 Set Navel Rock enabled (E)*: 0315 Set, 2272 Set Faraway Island enabled (E)*: 0316 Set and 2262 Set Manipulating Southern Island Lati@s: (flags after TV event) 0255 Set, 0291 Set, 0734 Set Constants that affected which TV option was chosen: * means you still need to have the ticket in your bag At the very least, it also appears that the act of receiving the Eon Ticket from an e-card leave a value somewhere in the save that isn't event flags or event constants. (Injecting the actual event isn't enough, need to receive it from e-reader) Without this "value", the Eon Ticket would not be sent to Emerald during Mixing Records. I've added a Pokémon RS save with the Eon Ticket received via e-reader to here. Hopefully that makes the distribution to Emerald via Mixing Records easier.

@StarsMmd In which .fsyst did you extract the e-card .bin? Did you success to emulate e-reader in Dolphin? Now I finished my shiny quest and waiting for GS Demo to be fixed I can help.

Firstly, I want to say thank you for the amazing app that is PKHex. I use it fairly often with my CFW 3DS files, as well as original NDS files and GC games. I am currently working on a playthru of XD: Gale of Darkness on the Dolphin GC Emulator. I transferred over all pokemon caught from Colosseum over to XD via PKHex with no issues. However, I am a completionist, so I added Japanese Pikachu and Celebi from the Japanese bonus disc with no issues, either. I then went web surfing files for the 3 Japanese E-Card pokemon from Colosseum. I found them on the Project Pokémon site and every time I insert them into the save file for XD or Colosseum, when I go to import the GCI file to the GC memory card, it tells me "Imported File Has Invalid Length." Am I doing something wrong, or is it something on the emulator's end? The files I used are in PK3 format. I have them included below. I look forward to any help anybody can offer me. Thanks in advance! RSEFL - e-Reader Togepi (JPN).pk3 RSEFL - e-Reader Mareep (JPN).pk3 RSEFL - e-Reader Scizor (JPN).pk3

The RS e-cards can be converted but FRLG and Emerald cards have a totally different format unfortunately which is mostly unknown. Well, it's hard to emulate them but it works ... somehow, lol. You mean for Secret Bases?

RELEASE: VBA LINK + E-READER There is a VBA version with link cable emulation There is a VBA version with e-reader emulation compatible with raw files But there isn't a version with both emulations at the same time, that's why, using the source code of both versions, that's why I've done a merged version of both VBA in the same emulator. Here it is: I'm not the author of the link emulation nor e9reader emulation, I only mixed both versions in one. This is a merged of VBA-Link 1.73 (link since broken) created by denopqrihg and VBA-Reader created by caitsith (http://www.caitsith2.com/), they are the real authors of these emulations HOW TO EMULATE E-READER WITH POKEMON GAMES Pokemon Ruby/Sapphire JP The American version works exactly like the Japanese, but I'll post pictures of the Japanese version anyway, because the American version is already possible to emulate the e-reader with VBA Link and .sav files 0 - If you want to use an English save, rename the save to have the same name as the Japanese ROM, and the extension must be changed to sa1. For example if we have the ROM Ruby.GBA and Japanese Pokemon "Pokemon Ruby JP.gba" the save "Pokemon Ruby.sav" should be renamed to "Pokemon Ruby JP.sa1" 1 - Open the emulator twice 2 - Load the Rom of Pokémon Ruby or Sapphire in the first emulator and the Rom e-reader + JP in the second emulator 3 - Press start on both emulators 4 - Select the third option of the emulator with Pokémon Sapphire (Mystery Event) 5 - Select the first option in the second emulator . A popup will open , select a raw file corresponding to the version you are using, in my case Pokémon Sapphire JP 6 - Press A on the first emulator and that's it, you have loaded a Japanese trainer or berry 7 - Change back the name of the save as it was originally and you have a Japanese e-reader berry or trainer loaded in an American save Pokémon Emerald / FireRed / LeafGreen Japanese 0 - We can do the same with the saves but this time only with Pokémon Emerald. Japanese and non-Japanese saves for FireRed and LeafGreen are not compatible 1 - Download the following saves already prepared for e-reader (it's on the download page, file name being Pokemon E-Reader Saves.rar) 2 - Open the emulator twice 3 - Load in the first emulator an Emerald/FR/LG ROM and an e-reader + JP ROM in the second emulator 4 - On the emulator with the e-reader ROM select File -> Import -> Battery File and select one of the downloaded saves,corresponding to the game that we are using and click OK. A third option will appear 5 - Pikachu appears. Press A and select a raw file for the e-reader, in this case Pokémon Emerald 6 - A Sandsdrew and 7 holes more will appear and the raw file selection will be open again. At this point you can select up to 8 different cards. If you want to load less than 8 just press cancel on the file selection, then press B and select the first option 7 - Select the third option of the first emulator and press A twice in the first emulator 8 - Then press A on the second emulator. The Sandshrew will the start to move up and down. If all went well the first emulator will restart, indicating that the data loaded properly 9 - Now the trainers will be available on the Trainer Hill. In this case you cant put back in the save in the English versions because the Trainer Hill is incompatible with e-reader and have fixed trainers Source Code All versions of VBA publish the source code and I will not be less (source code has been added to the download page) Huge Thanks VBA-Team for creating the emulator denopqrihg for the link emulation caitsith for e-reader emulation ad2099 to testing this emulator and the save for FireRed & LeafGreen

It looks like we receive these questions every year. And I could not find a place that has all the info neatly documented. Thus, I shall do that here. This page governs event redemptions. Before we begin, an important thing to note: Region (in terms of data on carts) were not a thing until Gen 6. As such, for any game prior to Gen 6, any kind of 'locks' were in terms of language locks, not region locks. Gen 1 via Trade JPN games can only communicate with JPN games. Non-JPN games (ENG, FRE, ITA, GER, SPA) can only communicate with non-JPN games. via Mew Machine (retail cart only) Assumed to be language locked, as it is the hardware predecessor to PCNY machines. Gen 2 via Trade JPN games can only communicate with JPN games. Non-JPN games (ENG, FRE, ITA, GER, SPA) can only communicate with non-JPN games. via Celebi Machine (retail cart only) Assumed to be language locked, as it is the hardware predecessor to PCNY machines. via PCNY Machine (retail cart only) According to someone who has looked at the code, there's a check in the code that looks for any Game ID that isn't English and then replies with 'it's incompatible'. It is assumed that such code for particular Game ID searching is from its predecessors. Intermission With the advent of Gen 3, wonder cards were introduced. For this Gen + wonder cards, when we refer to language, we are referring to the language of the content in the title and text (red arrows). Not to be confused with the preset origin language (tho it should be set to follow receiving game for the most part). Gen 3 via Mystery Event As far as we know, the scanning of the e-Reader and communication with RS game is language locked. Also, given only JPN Emerald has Mystery Event, that is also language locked. Additionally, JPN Emerald can't used e-Reader cards meant for JPN RS, meaning the usage of those cards are game locked too. via Mystery Gift Limited language locked (JPN vs Non-JPN) and Game pair locked (FRLG vs E). JPN and non-JPN (ENG, FRE, GER, ITA, SPA) Mystery Gift sizes and offset are different between the 2 sets. Mystery Gift sizes also differ between FRLG and Emerald. via Colosseum Bonus Disc Known to be language locked. via GBA multiboot + link cable (typically the distribution cartridges) The ones in public domain are known for being language locked. Good reason to believe the rest are the same. via NDS Download Play Status not known. Until any evidence suggests otherwise, it's presumed to be language locked. Similar to the multiboot method, all it does is inject the mon into the party (which is at the same location dynamic offset wise), yet that is language locked. Since this method is similar to that, there is reason to believe that this is locked too. Additionally, Poke Transfer Lab uses Download Play for Gen 4 -> Gen 5 transfers, and that is language locked too. Yet another reason to think this is locked. Intermission With the advent of Gen 4, wonder cards are now two pages. Besides certain trade events, wonder cards are the way to go for event distributions. For this Gen + wonder cards, when we refer to language, we are referring to the language of the content in the title (red arrow) and receiving text (blue arrow). NOT the delivery status (green arrow) THIS: NOT: Not to be confused with the preset origin language (tho it should be set to follow receiving game for the most part). Gen 4 via Local Wireless Based on data from people who used the distribution carts for themselves, as well as collaborations with people who received events IRL, language locked. via Nintendo Network Wireless According to collaboration with people who received the events, language locked. Folder formats for reconstructed server use also suggests that it's split by game ID, which also means it's split by game language. via Slot-2 event injection According to what has been datamined, the Slot-2 that contains Japanese events, only worked for JPN cartridges. Non-JPN (ENG, FRE, ITA, GER, SPA) games required an additional level of checks that the JPN Slot-2 cart could not provide. Anyhow, Slot-2 event injection almost never happened outside of Japan, besides WORLD events. So while possibly not language locked (beyond the JPN vs Non-JPN extent), for that event, the card language was English anyway). Intermission With the advent of Gen 5, receiving text is no longer part of the card that is viewable in the card album. For this Gen + wonder cards, when we refer to language, we are referring to the language of the content in the title (red arrow) and receiving text (blue arrow). NOT the delivery status (green arrow) THIS: NOT: Not to be confused with the preset origin language (tho it should be set to follow receiving game for the most part). Gen 5 via Local Wireless Based on data from people who used the distribution carts for themselves, as well as collaborations with people who received events IRL, language locked. Apparently, according to the data table, it is possible to distribute events with incorrect languages (in terms of card text and Pokémon set data), however there were very little entries that fit this criteria. (A.K.A very little entries abused this) 1. Any of the WORLDs entries of that period (JPN and KOR received ENG card. Regardless of whatever language'd game you used to receive the Pokémon, the receiving language on it was forced to ENG) 2. Pokémon Hills Mewtwo (The wonder card text distributed to ENG and JPN copies reflected the correct language. However the language of the OT was JPN on either copy. The ENG copy had receiving language forced to JPN, and the JPN copy had the receiving language null [tho important to note, in a legitimate situation the receiving game would have been JPN, hence the receiving language would be JPN anyway]) via Nintendo Network Wireless According to server data, as well as collaboration with people who received the events, language locked. Folder formats for reconstructed server use also suggests that it's split by game ID, which also means it's split by game language. Intermission With the advent of Gen 6, players can choose to play whichever available language, regardless of the region of the cart. People commonly confuse language with region, don't do that! As elaborated in the link provided, only certain regions + game language combo would have access to the appropriate card language. For the record, for this Gen + wonder cards, when we refer to language, we are referring to the language of the content in the title (red arrow) and receiving text (blue arrow). NOT the delivery status (green arrow) This: Not: Not to be confused with the preset origin language (tho it should be set to follow receiving game for the most part). Gen 6 via Local Wireless or Infrared Based on data from people who used the local distributors for themselves, as well as collaborations with people who received events IRL, not region locked. via Serial Code According to server data, as well as collaboration with people who received the events, mostly region locked. There are certain exceptions, spoken in more detail here. via Nintendo Network Based on server data, region locked. Gen 7 (3DS) via Local Wireless or Infrared Based on data from people who used the local distributors for themselves, as well as collaborations with people who received events IRL, not region locked. [There were certain mistakes that made people receive the wrong language'd wonder card for their game, but in any case they're still locked to that "incorrect" version card] via Serial Code According to server data, as well as collaboration with people who received the events, mostly region locked. There are certain exceptions, spoken in more detail here. via Nintendo Network Based on server data, region locked. via QR code The QR codes are region locked. Intermission With the advent of main series games being on the Switch, regions are no longer a thing. Additionally, wonder cards are no longer split between languages: a single wonder card can now hold all the various OTs for different languages. In addition, there is no hard set card title (the 'card titles' they used can change with game language) and no hard set card description (the 'card description' they use can change with game language). Gen 7 (Switch) Not language locked. Gen 8 SWSH - BDSP Not language locked. Gen 8 PLA Not language locked. Events have met dates that match server date/time rather than console date/time. Gen 9 SV Not language locked. Events have met dates that match server date/time rather than console date/time. HOME Not language locked. Events have met dates that match server date/time rather than console date/time. So that's all for now. Do post if there's any missing method or something. Do note this isn't a FAQ thread, so questions falling under that definition would be deleted and unanswered.

I basically followed the guide and skipped the EmuMMC installation portion. There should be an option there to specifically get CFW on Sysnand. And I don't see why you're asking if you can still go online on CFW on Sysnand. I literally said that's what I'm doing. I use the e-shop, have the DLC, do online wild area battles and everything. I can't give you any more confirmation than that. In reality, all I think you need to do is transfer you saves over to Sysnand, back up your Emunand partition, then fully format your SD card (to wipe the emunand partition). Alternatively, if you're using Hekate bootloader, it should give you an option to boot straight into Sysnand with CFW. Then, go ahead and update your games, download the DLC, before going online. In any case, all this will be at your own risk.

@suloku hey hey, Just curious about whether you intend to work on injecting and extracting trainers to Trainer Hill, added by e-cards to Pokemon Emerald (I checked a save that had it done, and the trainer definitely got added, but isn't being dumped by .ect)

Thought this might be the most appropriate thread to post this in. I have a N3DS XL with which i can use Checkpoint. I want to transfer some Pokemon to Gen 8 from that, but I don't have a Pokemon Bank pass and I cannot renew it because you cannot use credit cards anymore on the 3DS E-shop, and also my Ultra Sun is a digital copy, so I cannot use it on another 3DS (as far as I know, not that it changes much though). I thought maybe I can edit the Pokemon Bank save file itself, but as expected, PKHeX does not support the turtle file that came out of Checkpoint. All in all, I need some way to be able to put Pokemon in Pokemon Bank without buying the pass and then transferring my Pokemon to Home, all without hacking my Switch.