[Sephirona]

How to Entralink RNG (on a DS)
Because flawless Dream World Pokemon caught in Dream Balls are hawt


Written by Sephirona
Edited by: bond697, xelite, ToastPlusOne, Kaphotics,

Bond697's Original Emulator High Link Abuse Guide + Research: [ link ]


Introduction:

If you’re up for a challenge and enjoy the novelty of having your flawless Dream World Pokemon caught in Dream Balls instead of in normal Pokeballs (which is what you’d get if you opt to breed your DW females for IVs) hopefully this guide will help you a bit. C: I’m more of a standard seed kinda girl myself, but I sure love dem Dream Balls.

Keep in mind that Entralink abuse (a.k.a. High Link abuse) is very similar to C-Gear RNGing. As such, it is hard to consistently predict the exact natures you’ll get the same way you can with Standard Seeds. This is because having the C-Gear on advances the PIDRNG at a set rate every second – and you have to keep the C-Gear on to stay in the Entralink, obviously. Some of the other Pokemon in your Entree Forest may also walk around randomly, advancing your PIDRNG the same way moving NPCs would in the overworld. To make things worse, synchronizers will not work with Entralink Abuse either.

However, as you are NOT required to save after encountering and capturing the Pokemon, you can simply reset and try again. Of course, this means you will have to deal with hitting your seed (your target time and delay) all over again unless you have access to save states. Resetting for natures is, in effect, very similar to Wondercard RNGing in the 4th gen; as such, it will be VERY tedious without save states on a DS, which is why you might choose to just Entralink RNG once for the IVs and breed the result instead. (By the way, save states are amazing.) Besides this, Entralink RNGing is very possible on a Retail Black/White Cartridge.

Credits:

Credit goes to OmegaDonut, Bond697, Kaphotics, ToastPlusOne, chiizu, and all the other great researchers and contributors here at Smogon for their awesome work and/or programming skillz. All of this here is just a summary of a small portion of what they've already covered in their posts here at smogon, and of what I learned from them while chatting on the irc. Format stolen from the first post too. ;D

Most of the credit for this guide especially goes to Bond697 and his pioneering Entralink RNG Guide as I've linked above and to ToastPlusOne for his fabulous timers and his timer tips. Many thanks also to xelite for reviewing what I wrote for mistakes. Thanks also to you for following this guide, and especially to those of you who've given me feedback C:


Prerequisites:

• The latest version of RNG Reporter as listed here. Mac owners should use PPRNG, but I’ll be referencing RNG Reporter specifically.

• ToastPlusOne’s fabulous two-step EonTimer. (link) EonTimer is mentioned specifically in lieu of other two step timers because unlike other timers it calibrates for Entralink abuse when you check the High Link box -this will be explained later. PPRNG users will have to use ZomgTimer (link) and adjust for this offset themselves, as explained by Toast here.

• Your Nintendo DS system (any DS type works with C-Gearing) and its specific Mac Address. See the first post of the 5th Gen PRNG Help / Info thread for information about how to find this in your system settings.

• Your Black/White game cartridge/game file with your Pokemon already in the Entralink forest areas

• A decent understanding of C-Gear RNGing, which means you must be familiar with hitting target seconds and delays. You also must be able to check the IVs of your Pokemon. Please refer to the guides in the first post of the 5th Gen PRNG Help / Info thread to better acquaint yourself with this process.

Important Notes:

• First off, if this is your first time entering the Entralink, make sure you’ve finished talking to the old man who prompts you upon your first visit before you begin RNGing. Your game is seeded once you regain control of your character in the Entralink. (This is basically the same thing that you make happen when you press Yes to turn on the C-Gear.) The time it takes for the old man to stop yapping throws off your timing by quite a bit, so you may not be able to pinpoint where you landed on the list of adjacents you will generate later for calibration.

• On a related note, the separate High Link Calibration value implemented into EonTimer is required for Entralink RNGing because while you would normally seed the game right after you press A to start the C-Gear for normal C-Gear RNGing, there is a delay between the time you press A to enter the Entralink and the time the game is actually seeded (when you regain control of your character). This is why you should use EonTimer instead of the other timers, as it will adjust for this offset. Unfortunately, PPRNG users can only use ZomgTimer at the moment.

• Also, unlike normal C-Gear RNGing where you are discouraged from turning on the C-Gear at the continue screen, it is okay to do so here. Turning on the C-Gear seeds your game, but since the act of entering the Entralink seeds your game again it no longer matters when you turn on the C-Gear as long as you leave yourself enough time in between to tap to the “(your name) warped to the Entralink!” screen. More on this later.

And now we begin! :O


Step by Step Instructions:
The steps with visual aids will reference the picture right above it.



1. Open the latest version of RNG Reporter and click the Time Finder tab. Click the 5th Gen DS Parameters tab and input your DS's Mac Address (must be the address of the DS you are using). From the Method drop down menu, select Method 5 (C-Gear Seed). The minimum delay for Entralink RNGing will be a teeny bit higher than the minimum delay for normal C-Gear RNGing since you need to take into account the time it takes for you to tap to the Entralink button on the Wireless screen. I find that a minimum delay of 2500 is comfortable for me to hit. Therefore, set your Min Delay to ~2500, and your Max Delay to whatever you’re comfortable waiting to hit. (In the example above, I used 2500 / 8000.)You can try going for a slightly lower Minimum Delay but you might find yourself rushing and it isn’t worth the strain. You shouldn’t choose anything below 1500.

2. Set your Encounter Type to Stationary Pokemon.

3. Set your Min Frame (for IVs) to 21 and your Max to whatever you’re comfortable advancing to. In my example, I used Min 21 / Max 40. The act of encountering talking to your target Pokemon advances 21 IV frames. For all intents and purposes, treat 21 as your Initial Frame. According to OmegaDonut, you can actually use this to your advantage if you'd like to hit a Target Frame significantly higher than 21:

Originally Posted by Fat OmegaDonut

Little Entralink tidbit:

The act of talking to a Pokemon in the forest advances the IVRNG 26 frames. The IV generation is included in this, so a Pokemon effectively starts on frame 23 (which is RNG Reporter's frame 21). If you say no to encountering the Pokemon, the IVRNG advances will happen anyway. You can quickly and easily advance the IVRNG by talking to a Pokemon and refusing to encounter it.

For example --

First thing I do when enter the forest is talk to a Pokemon. If I catch it, it will have the IVs corresponding to RNG Reporter's frame 21.
If I say no, then talk to it again to capture it, it will have IVs corresponding to RNG Reporter's frame 47 (21 + 26).

Note: Apparently, your starting IV frame may eventually shift to 8. A few experienced Entralink RNGers have experienced this already, but at the moment I'm not sure exactly when it will shift or why. I'll update this part hopefully with more info later. However, use 21 as your Initial Frame if this is your first Entralink RNG. If your starting frame does shift to 8 later on, don't worry! All that would change is that your Min Frame should instead be set to 8 and your advancements adjusted accordingly.

4. Fill in your desired IV spread(s) and click Generate. This may take a while depending on how specific you've customized your IV search to be.


5. Once you’ve generated a list of seeds and chosen a suitable spread from the list, note what the Target Frame is (Mine is 25 in the above pic). Then, right click on the spread you’ve chosen and click “Generate More Times”.



6. This will bring you to the Seed to Times/Adjacents Finder, which will give you a list of dates and times to choose from as well as show you your Target Delay. Even if this isn’t your first time C-Gearing, given the slight timing differences between normal C-Gear RNGing and Entralink RNGing it is recommended that you set your Delays to +999/-999, your Seconds to +9 / -9 and your Min Frame to 1 and Max to a number above the target Frame you noted in step 5.

Note for PPRNG Users: As searching for a range of starting frames is not yet possible using PPRNG at the time, just set Delays to +/- 999, Seconds to +/- 9, and Frame to 21. You will need to manually search through the list you generate for the IVs of the first Pokemon you catch.

7. Select the date and time you want to try to hit, making sure to highlight it in blue by clicking on it. Note the Target Delay and the Target Seconds of the Time and Date you’ve chosen. (In the example above, my Target Delay is 6801 and my Target Seconds is 19.) Then, click Generate. This generates in the bottom box a list of the adjacent seeds you might hit while attempting to calibrate in the next few steps. You need these to figure out where you landed so you can adjust your timing accordingly.

8. In game, use a fresh Repel and, without moving, save outside in an area where you can immediately enter the Entralink (i.e. not inside a building) with the right number of Pokemon in your party to advance to your Target Frame (from step 5) when you’ve finished calibrating. (You won’t be advancing just yet until step 14, but you might as well prepare for it.) IV frames are advanced the same way as in normal C-Gear and Standard Seed RNGing, which means “Moving 128 steps with Z Pokémon in your party advances the frame by Z.” as quoted from the first post of the 5th Gen Help thread. Note that repels work while in the Entralink, so you would just run the appropriate number of steps in the Entralink while counting using repels the same way you would normally. For example, if my target frame is 25, I would have to run 128 steps with 4 Pokemon in my party before getting into a battle with my target Pokemon since my “Starting Frame” is 21.


9. Now, you will attempt to calibrate for your Entralink abuse. Open the two stage timer EonTimer and use the default Gen V tab. For Calibration, fill in -195. Fill in your Target Delay (in the demonstrative example above, 6801) and your Target Seconds (in my example, 19) in the so-named areas. Check BOTH the C-Gear and the High-Link boxes when Entralink RNGing. Don’t touch the number in the HL Calibration box yet - though you may need to after Step 13. At this point, the big number in bold on the upper left corner (22:06) is the countdown value for your first timer, and the smaller number under Minutes Below Target (111:99) is the countdown value for your second timer.


10. Set your DS date to the one you chose in step 7. Note the number EonTimer’s “Minutes before Target” gives you and set your time to however many minutes before your target it tells you to. In my example, my Target Time was 19:06:19 and my Minutes Before Target was 2, so I had to set my DS to 19:04:00.


11. Hold down the Confirm button on your DS and the Start button on EonTimer and release at the same time to simultaneously set your DS time and start EonTimer’s countdown. Quickly exit out of the DS settings menu – you’ll be prompted to shut off the system, so do so. Alternatively, you can turn off the DS using the power switch and quickly turn it back on.



12. Make sure you are on the main menu and ready to press A to start your game at the end of the first timer. On a flashcart, this would be the same screen you press A at to load the game. The second timer will start automatically when the first timer reaches 0. (NOTE: Retail Cart users as well as those of you with flashcarts that support soft-resetting might find it better to soft-reset to start the game instead of pressing A at the main menu at the end of the first timer. For whatever reason hard resets make your delays more erratic. Unfortunately for some it is the only way to start the game.) Before the end of the second timer, you should already be in-game with your C-Gear turned on, and have tapped the Entralink button and be waiting at the “(Your name) warped to the Entralink!” screen. At the end of the second timer, press A at this screen. You will then enter the Entralink.

Timer Tips: As with all Delay-based RNGing it is important to be consistent with exactly when you press A at the end of each timer as it helps immensely with calibration. Note that when using Retail Carts or if your flashcart supports it, you should Soft-Reset because it actually allows you to hit delays more consistently than hard-resetting. I find it useful to use the EonTimer's Visual Mode (by checking the box on the Settings tab) to prepare myself with cues so I can try to press the A button at exactly the same time at the end of each countdown. You may also opt to use EonTimer's auditory beeps or pops - whatever you feel is most helpful for you. :)


13. Once you regain control of your character in the Entralink, in as few steps as possible, run to the Entrée Forest and encounter and capture any Pokemon. Find its IVs, and then click the Search IVs tab in the Seed to Times/Adjacents Finder. Enter the IVs you received and press OK. The list of adjacents you generated previously in the bottom box should automatically highlight the Seed, Date, Time, and Delay you’ve just hit based on the IVs you input. (Alternatively, if you know how to use the MTRNG Check Code as listed in the first post, you can use this to check if you’ve hit the correct seed as well. If you have access to those handy dandy save states at this point, it’s recommended that you make a save state after hitting each Delay but before capturing the Pokemon, as you can simply reload the state and go directly to step 15 if you discover you’ve hit the right delay.)

Note: You might find that you need to adjust the value in the HL Calibration box to suit your needs if you land on a second later than your target time. The value you add to 296 is dependent on the wrong second you've consistently been hitting during calibration. This is summarized by the following as instructed by ToastPlusOne, 'secondHit' being the second you've hit and 'secondWanted' being your Target Second:

([secondHit - secondWanted] * 60) + 296 = Total Value in HL Calibration box

14. If your Target Time/Seconds was off, adjust accordingly and try again. Once you can consistently hit the right time to the second, take the Delay you hit and enter it into the Delay Hit box of EonTimer; then, click Update. This will automatically change the value in the Calibration Box, and EonTimer will calibrate new countdown timer values for you to get you closer to the Target Delay you entered. In my example above, you’ll notice I hit Delay 6794 – after updating this value in the Delay Hit box on the left, I came out with my new countdown values on the right.

15. Repeat steps 10-13 with your new two stage Eontimer countdown values. You may need to repeat this a few times until you can consistently hit your target delay, or until the delay you hit is sufficiently close to your target Delay (Approximately +-5 your Target Delay).

16. Now, you can advance your IV frames as usual, using the appropriate number of Repels to keep track of your steps. When you’ve finished advancing, encounter your target Pokemon. If you’ve hit the right delay and advanced the right number of IV frames, your Pokemon should have the IVs you desired. If not, you can enter the IVs of the Pokemon you caught into the Search IVs box again to find the Delay you landed on provided you’ve generated a wide enough Min/Max Frame range in the Seed to Times /Adjacents Finder in step 6. You will then need to keep trying to hit your seed and advancing your IV frames, as there is no surefire way to verify your delay at the moment without capturing your Pokemon.

17. If you've captured your Pokemon with the right IVs but didn’t get the nature you wanted (and chances are you didn’t) you have two choices at this point. You can either keep the Pokemon you encountered and breed it (if it is female) for a DW Pokemon with a better nature, or turn the game off without saving and try to hit your Target delay and seconds to encounter the Pokemon again. If you have access to save states, you can take a save state right before encountering the Pokemon after you’ve finished your IV frame advancements, which will save you quite a bit of time should you choose to reset for a better nature.


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And that’s about it. Yeah, it’s tedious to Entralink RNG on a DS without AR especially when compared to Standard Seed abuse, but it’s totally possible so don’t give up! Good luck. C: As an aside, I apologize for the quality of the photos as they were taken using my phone - I'll probably take higher resolution pictures sometime later to replace them.