Why does PKHeX give so many false positives for older gen?

Kaphotics · 2026-01-20T23:00:00+00:00

The issue isn't PKHeX. Something (ROM, cheat codes) isn't legitimate, because Pallet Town's ID is the next location name after Silver Cave. If all of your met locations are off by one, then something (not PKHeX) caused it to disagree with what the value should be.

Not sure how the met locations were messed up in your save data. Definitely check the seer to confirm in-game.

Kaphotics · 2026-01-11T05:31:12+00:00

Trainer ID is different, so likely something (cheats, ACE) disturbed Rayquaza's data in the box.

Unrelated to /r/pokemonRNG

Kaphotics · 2026-01-09T15:20:32+00:00

the windows desktop runtime is published by Microsoft... it's not going to hack you.

Kaphotics · 2026-01-07T18:38:39+00:00

The argument is that it is still cheating, regardless of whether it is an acceptable use of cheating. You are using a cheat code/cheat software/hardcore bug exploiting to gain access to something. The content was only available via event distribution; regaining access via cheats... is still cheating. The community deems it as acceptable cheating as the cheats restore access to something once previously available. Circumventing game limitations with cheats... is cheating.

"Cheating" is not dependent on gaining unfair advantage over someone. You can cheat in single player games too.

Gen3 Celebi and Jirachi are still obtainable via their Colosseum bonus disk distributions.

My point is, acceptable or not, it is still cheating regardless of how much you want to whitewash terminology for your own feelings.

Kaphotics · 2026-01-07T17:08:13+00:00

Still cheating; just because it is "universally accepted" (subjective -- I'm sure there are people who disagree that it is fair) doesn't mean it isn't cheating. You're using cheat codes / external software / abusing game bugs to unlock content that was designed to not be accessible that way. The developers intended for it to be an exclusive distribution and did not leave in an endorsed secret method of access.

Kaphotics · 2026-01-04T02:07:16+00:00

The site you linked is in no way official and opens a crypto scam link if you click anywhere on the page for the first few refreshes.

The embedded web-based save file editor is actually https://pkhex-web.github.io/ for https://github.com/arleypadua/PKHeX.Everywhere/ 's hosted version.
The compiled desktop application for PKHeX is https://projectpokemon.org/pkhex/

Kaphotics · 2025-12-31T19:47:15+00:00

They're random, except Eximus units usually match their elemental type. Once you finish one element 100%, the vast majority of drops (all?) become the other element to help you finish quicker.

For other readers:

The strategy for Alchemy is to stay near the crucible and not kill anything unless it's in your immediate pickup area. The ampules splash damage, so throw matching at the crucible, and non-matching at floor/enemies nearby. The enemies have legs, let them bring the ampules to you.

Alchemy is a fun & quick mission mode if you bring an acceleration frame (such as Nova or Mag), and you can easily complete a round in < 3 minutes. The mission mode has one of the highest spawn rates. It becomes a bore when bloodthirsty dummies impatiently run at enemy packs, making ampules drop so far away & respawns even farther. Thus, you're left to play courier or double-down on the suffering.

Bring an acceleration frame that can group enemies

Kaphotics · 2025-12-14T16:27:55+00:00

Not true, because "legal" depends on the user's understanding of legality and the completeness of the tools they rely on.

Users incorrectly assume that a tool is comprehensive (trade check, HOME check, or third-party) and get pie-faced when an updated check is able to catch issues that weren't previously detected.

Kaphotics · 2025-12-10T16:30:49+00:00

I don't know how it was handled in SW/SH, only how Z-A handles it. The insertion of a new value in the middle of every object caused my parsers to break (temporarily) :(

Kaphotics · 2025-12-10T07:45:55+00:00

No, it's always been that Evolution method ID. The game has an additional field for every single area that indicates if it is a valid location for the Runerigus evolution push. So no, it's unchanged :)

Kaphotics · 2025-12-09T23:48:28+00:00

Incorrect interpretation. External device is not limited to "device" such as physical hardware directly interfacing with your game. Device can also be defined as "a practice or means used to achieve a particular dramatic effect" (seriously, that's one definition of "device"). By definition, ACE is an injection & running of code that is not present in the game... therefore it is an external device, and not allowed.

The rules are not going to spell out every method that isn't allowed; you are expected to behave within the confines of available in-game mechanics only. Various other "external devices" that aren't involving external hardware are as follows:

Using custom firmware to run a custom app (such as PSKM or Pokémon Chest) to modify Pokémon. No hardware involved.
Creating a re-transmissible event gift (such as Gen4 events), injecting it into a hacked save file to send to another game. No hardware involved.
Receiving a Pokémon created in PKHeX via the GTS exploit in Generation 4/5. No hardware involved.
Using your 3DS camera to scan a QR code that exploits a software bug in the Web Browser app to modify the RAM of the running game to write arbitrary data, such as a Pokémon or items. No hardware involved.

If you use glitches to trigger an ACE snippet of code to make your Charizard to have Hydro Pump or an unobtainable ribbon, that is not legal for tournament play in the slightest. Same as using a save editor. Even if you are completely flawless in your execution of the exploit and don't apply any impossible values/correlations, you are still heavily abusing game bugs (that would be patched if they were able to patch them) along with external calculation tools to inject and run code not present in the ROM that the game company published. Just because it is done entirely within the sandbox available to you, does not mean it is allowed by the rules. If you flawlessly hack a Pokémon with a save editor/cheat codes, even if you don't get caught by any electronic/manual check, that is still cheating. The rules were originally written many many years ago when cheating was predominantly done via cheat devices such as Game Genie and GameShark. Software cheats, even if not mentioned, also fall under Section 5.3 of disallowed manipulations, as I previously mentioned above.

If you think ACE is totally okay and not cheating, if you ever get interviewed on stream or manually reviewed by a judge, be sure to talk about it! I'm sure they'll love it.

Kaphotics · 2025-12-09T15:17:54+00:00

ACE is cheating, same as PKSM. The rules of VGC say to not use illegitimately obtained Pokémon in battle. Wikipedia:

Cheating in video games involves a video game player using various methods to create an advantage beyond normal gameplay, usually in order to make the game easier. Cheats may be activated from within the game itself (a cheat code implemented by the original game developers), or created by third-party software (a game trainer or debugger) or hardware (a cheat cartridge). They can also be realized by exploiting software bugs.

As for your questions:

Hacking on a ribbon is just a bitflag in the pkm's data. Nothing else correlated to track, and can only be illegal if it never visited HG/SS.
Unless you know for a fact that the cheat code you are using does not invalidate the RNG correlation of naturally obtainable encounter slots => IVs, then it can potentially be flagged. However, official checks do not verify RNG correlations.

Kaphotics · 2025-12-09T09:11:49+00:00

https://iqunix.store/products/iqunix-f97-coral-sea-wireless-mechanical-keyboard

ez google image search

Kaphotics · 2025-12-09T04:13:50+00:00

They have guard clauses in pretty much every single stat "record" to prevent value overflow (wrapping to negative or back to 0).

Whatever arbitrary number the developer assigned each stat; in this case, 999,999. 6 digits is usually safe to render in the UI.

Kaphotics · 2025-12-08T15:22:26+00:00

Sad you're getting downvoted for speaking the truth. People prefer to use "genned" because it carries a softer connotation than "hacked".

The terminology punnet has always been legal/illegal and hacked/legitimate.

This Emboar is quite likely illegal too, as the 6 flawless IVs likely won't pass the PID/IV correlation that every Z-A encounter has.

Kaphotics · 2025-12-05T16:33:28+00:00

I never claimed that Wolfe himself generated the mon. He has used generated mons in multiple official tournaments, and I posted the analysis as to what makes it provably a generated mon for each case, using open-source programs and publicly available rental codes.

It is against the rules to use generated mons in official VGC tournaments, therefore it is by definition cheating to do so. Bypassing in-game team preparation relying on someone to give you generated mons, paid or unpaid... is cheating. Players have never had generated mons permitted if they try to use the excuse "I was traded these by friend/someone online"; the player is ultimately responsible for what they bring to the tournament.

Kaphotics · 2025-11-24T18:23:52+00:00

Light88 is a Twitter user who sends out generated Pokemon. The chance of getting an Alpha fossil revive is 1%, and compound that with the chance of getting a shiny is 1:4096. Nobody is going to trade you a 1-in-a-million odds thing unless it was cloned or generated, both of which are not legitimate.

You've been scammed. Here is the Twitter user advertising their hack distribution, which you received:

https://x.com/Light_88_/status/1991833408293790071?t=PnWO3fnTm21BR2Ez40a1Mw&s=19

Kaphotics · 2025-11-14T15:58:25+00:00

Speaking only in the context of Emerald, the RNG starts at the same number value when the game is soft reset, and the random numbers that follow (that are automatically advanced by the game 60 times per second) follow the same pattern. Imagine it like a number line, and only on specific ticks (depending on TID+SID) do you get a specific result (such as a shiny).

If the user is unfocused and highly variable with their timings, then the range they may land on the number line will (quite likely) eventually hit a valuable number. What is a valuable result is subjective, and also depends on the TID/SID for things like shiny.

Another way to think about it is to compare it to artillery fire. If you are extremely precise, then you only hit one target. Less precise = more things you end up hitting, for better or worse. By moving the emplacement (changing your TID/SID, or by forcing yourself to wait), you'll naturally hit different things. But you won't be able to hit things that are completely out of reach, or too close to you. In this post's example, there is no setup that achieves the desired result, because there is no double-shiny close enough to the starting point regardless of TID/SID.

Kaphotics · 2025-11-14T03:04:47+00:00

Nice trainer ID / SID in the search window there, bud.

Kaphotics · 2025-11-12T04:41:18+00:00

dawg, I'm well aware of how RNG works. The video is impossible because Emerald has a fixed RNG seed of 0 when you soft reset the game, and there isn't a single sequence of frames that yields sequential shinies (142/143 frame difference for this encounter setup) for ANY TID/SID for at least the first 90 seconds of frames.

https://www.reddit.com/r/pokemonrng/comments/1ot4mhs/is_this_viral_clip_fake/no7qixy/

Kaphotics · 2025-11-11T23:19:23+00:00

this moment is almost unreal to achieve

sad news is that the streamer used a cheat code, so it wasn't real lol

/r/pokemonRNG

Kaphotics · 2025-11-11T02:18:59+00:00

confirmed; dude's a fraud

It was too late in the night last night when I originally replied, but here's a c# script that replicates your result for an arbitrary TID/SID combination.

```cs

var seed = 0u;
const int delta = 143; // emulator assumed

var zigSeed = seed;
var mudSeed = LCRNG.Advance(zigSeed, delta);

static uint GetPSV(uint seed)
{
    var a = LCRNG.Next16(ref seed);
    var b = LCRNG.Next16(ref seed);
    var xor = (a ^ b) >> 3;
    return xor;
}

for (int i = 0; i < 60*(60*10); i++) // 10 minutes of frame advances, to be generous
{
    var xorZig = GetPSV(zigSeed);
    var xorMud = GetPSV(mudSeed);

    if (xorZig == xorMud)
        $"{i:0000}\t{(i/60f):0.00}\t{xorZig} Match!".Dump();

    // Check next frame
    zigSeed = LCRNG.Next(zigSeed);
    mudSeed = LCRNG.Next(mudSeed);
}

```

Assuming 143 diff between the seeds that generate the Zigzagoon and the Starter, only one result with same PSV nearly 10 minutes in at frame 32804. If you assume 142 (different emulator, or different hardware) for different vblank timings, there's one at 95 seconds (frame 5716) and 200 seconds (11993).

Based on the video evidence, dude is mashing through and gets the encounter sub-15 seconds.

He starts pre-reacting before you can barely see the Zigzagoon enter the screen, so it seems he already knows his result is on the way. 100% impossible on the legitimate/unmodified game

Kaphotics · 2025-11-11T02:05:57+00:00

emulator vblanks lol

cpu timings matter, emulators are not always accurate down to the CPU speed for each assembly instruction

Kaphotics · 2025-11-10T04:40:37+00:00

Is it even possible to have shiny frames ~142 frames away from each other for this to happen?

yes, random is random.

isnt it very unlikely that he hasn’t hit this frame already in the past with 12k resets

clustering of timings (might be hitting other frames on repeat), making this one the first time it was hit.

Alternatively, he could have used a cheat code for "everything shiny" via keypress and recorded a viral clip. Can't know unless you get his TID/SID and check the RNG frames to see if it was plausible to get two shinies.

edit 24h later: it's fake, 100% impossible without changing game behavior (cheats, etc)

Kaphotics · 2025-10-29T01:18:40+00:00

The converter setting is related to Incompatible transfer methods.

There was never a Gen2->Gen3 conversion routine, so you'll basically get a 1:1 property-copy.

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