Mini-guide to RNGing Egg IVs in HG/SS
Introduction
The general belief around here seems to be that RNGing in HG/SS is harder than it is in DPPt. This is probably only due to the existence of well-written guides for DPPt that do not exist for HG/SS. Personally, I find RNGing in HG/SS much easier than RNGing ever was in DPPt.
In simple, not perfectly inaccurate terms, the RNG is like a train going around an enormous track. It will predictably run through the same pattern of numbers no matter what. As long as you know where it started and how far it's gone, you can always predict the next place it will be. Where you started is called your
seed. How far it's gone is called your
frame. In 4th gen games, this isn't the same frame as in the term "frames per second." This is just how many times the RNG has advanced since it was seeded.
Before you Start
This guide assumes you already know how to find your delay and hit a seed based on a target time and a target delay. If not, go here
http://www.smogon.com/ingame/rng/dpp_rng_part2. It's a lengthy process, but you only have to do it once per game and it hasn't changed from game to game. For my HG version, I use a delay of 489 and a seconds of 13.7, which rounds down to 13 (You don't need to know the exact seconds value). I hate waiting a whole minute every time I RNG, so I use a seconds value of 43, giving me 30 seconds from the time I set the clock to when I soft reset my game.
As for in-game requirements, you need to have beaten the Elite Four, and have acquired a Pokemon with Pokerus. This will allow you to use Professor Elm as a method of both checking your seed and advancing your frame. There are also some trainers that you can use without having to fulfill those requirements, but Elm is by far the most reliable way to do it. If you click Professor Elm's name, you can sort the Pokegear to show him at the top of the list of numbers, so you don't have to do any scrolling.
You also want to make sure that the radio is not open to any station. This may accidentally advance the RNG. Just drag the tuner to the center.
To get started, save in front of the old man once you have a suitable egg. The egg's nature, ability, gender, and shininess (assuming you don't trade it) do not change once the old man has an egg for you. So save and hatch the egg to make sure you have the nature, ability, gender, and shininess that you want, then turn off your game.
This is the main screen of RNG Reporter, the all-purpose RNG program. We're going to be using the Breeding (HGSS) function in this guide, so you can ignore everything that isn't in a blue box. This screen takes an initial seed and tells you what numbers will be generated by the game with that seed. But how do we know what initial seed we want? Click the Time Finder function (not Seed Finder. Weird, I know.)
This is the Time Finder function of RNG Reporter. For my example, I'll be searching for flawless 31-all IVs. Put the year, month, seconds value, and delay you'll be using, and make sure you check the HGSS Inheritance box. I like using a target frame of between 4 and 50, but you can pretty much use whatever here. Just keep in mind: a frame lower than 10 can be hard to check, but set your frame too high and you may have to spend a lot of time hitting it.
Hit Generate and hopefully you'll get a list of usable seeds. Here, DC0F01C3 looks promising. All the letters are B, so as long as my second parent in the daycare has perfect IVs in Atk, SpA, and SpD, it doesn't matter what IVs my first parent has, and my end result will still be perfect. The delay is 489, which is just what I needed. Right click the row and click "Copy Seed to Clipboard." Exit the Time Finder for now.
The Date and Time it gives you should be sufficient to get started. You can write those down if you're happy with them, but if you want more options, click the Seed to Time function on the main screen. This allows you to view all time and delay combinations that will allow you to hit your target Seed. It will also show you the Elm responses for all the delays and times near your target, so that you know if you're close. Once you find the date and time values that you want to use, write them down, and get your DS ready to hit your seed. In this example, if I wanted to use 2010 04 30, 15:57:43, I would set my clock to 15:57, start my game, and soft reset at 15:57:30 and begin to mash A.
Now it's time for one last preparation step. Go back to the main screen and paste your target seed into the Seed (Hex) box, and hit Generate. You should get a screen that looks like this:
This screen shows you all the Egg IVs that correspond to the seed that you want to hit. Here, I scrolled down to frame 41 to check to make sure that frame 41 is indeed the 31/B/31/B/B/31 spread that I want.
If you'll notice, each frame has a corresponding "Elm" letter beside it.
This is what makes RNGing in HG/SS so easy. Manipulating the RNG in HG/SS does not require happiness taps, coin flips, journal flips, counting steps, and all that nonsense. Calling Elm will advance the RNG exactly one frame. What Elm talks about will be based on the letter beside the frame. As long as you know what seed you started on, calling Elm a few times will always let you know exactly what frame you're on, based on the pattern of things that he talks about. This gives you a much greater level of confidence about where you are than in DPPt. In DPPt, I would always lose count of where I was, and have to start over. Hitting your seed is hard enough without the risk of getting the wrong frame. Calling Elm also lets you check to make sure that you did indeed hit the right seed. On the bottom right is the Elm Responses for the first 10 frames.
When you enter the game, immediately start tapping the Pokegear button on your touch screen. Get to know where it is. Start calling Elm. Based on his responses, you will know whether or not you hit your seed. Be warned: If you were a little slow in entering the Pokegear, you may start on frame 3 instead of frame 1. NPC movement on the route can trigger RNG advances, so you have to be act fast when the Pokegear is not open.
In this example, I would call Elm and expect a response sequence of P, E, K, P, P, P, E, E, P, E. If the initial response is about Kanto instead of Pokerus, I may continue calling to see if the first two were skipped. If I'm getting something that looks completely different, I may go back to the Seed to Time window to see if I was close to my target. This is optional. I usually just turn my game off and try again.
I can continue calling Elm until I get to the sequence E, P, K, K, P for a total of 40 (or 38) times. You can also use Mary and Oak's radio channel to advance 14-18 frames at a time. Just go to the radio, click the top right button, and drag the tuner back to the center. Depending on the time of the day, you may also be able to use Pokemon Search Party or Silver Drama on the bottom right button to advance the RNG one frame (this takes less time than listening to Elm blather). I always make sure I go back to calling Elm once I get close, though. For example, to hit frame 41, I may call Elm until frame 10 to make sure that I hit my seed, then tune to Mary and Oak to skip to frame 24-28, then call Elm a few more times to find my place again. Just make sure you stop one frame before your target frame.
Once you are ready, hit B to exit the Pokegear. You should be now be on the menu screen, with a bar covering a portion of the top screen. Everything will still be paused, so the RNG will not advance. Now, hit B one more time and immediately hit A to talk to the old man (if you started on frame 1, you need to do this REALLY fast, because the NPC is most likely just about to move). Collect your egg. You're done! Check the IVs once it's hatched to make sure you didn't mess up.