Programming PPRNG (Mac & iOS)

NVRM finally figured it out! Thanks so much for making this! I finally have a shiny axew!

Hey chiizu, I've been having some major issues RNGing with PPRNG, perhaps you could help me figure out what's going on?

Firstly, my info is as follows:

DS Type: DS Lite
Game version: Black (English)
MAC Address: 00-17-AB-94-05-3B
VCount: 60
VFrame: 8
Timer0: C7C-C7D

Now, I started some RNG attempts a few hours ago, beginning with this seed data:

Seed: 112A9E3857EB79AB
Time: 4/22/2011, 19:25:16
Timer0: C7C
Held Buttons: Down+A+L

This combination listed a spread of 31/31/31/5/31/31 on frame 1, which I was able to get multiple times on a variety of different pokemon - everything from the stationary Zoroark encounter to Sweet Scenting in a number of different routes. While the PID frame changed in some situations (likely due to NPC movement, I'm sure), I was always able to get that same IV spread.

Then I moved on to something different, trying to breed with a new seed:

Seed: 973C4157866EA58D
Time: 4/22/2011, 8:35:34
Timer0: C7D
Held Buttons: A+L

PPRNG listed a frame 8 spread of 31/15/31/31/31/31. Both of the parents (Whimsicott + Ditto) were hex flawless, so I figured it would be easy to hit that spread. However, when I hatched the egg, the stats were all wrong - he only had three 31s - and the nature/ability combination wasn't listed anywhere. After sifting through the Adjacents window, I noticed that the frame I landed on was from the C7C seed, instead of C7D. I tried it a couple more times, and got the exact same results:

Nature: Docile
Ability: 1 (Infiltrator)
Gender: M
IVs: 30/4/3/19/13/30
Timer0: C7C
PID Frame: 53

Thinking that it might just be a Timer0 issue, I tried again with a C7C seed:

Seed: 0201967F1CC72CBB
Time: 4/22/2011, 6:42:29
Timer0: C7C
Held Buttons: Up-Left+B
IV Spread: 31/3/31/31/31/31
Frame: 8

Once again, several attempts resulted in the same outcome as above; the only place I could find the matching IVs, nature and ability were in the adjacent C7D seed.

Nature: Lonely
Ability: 0 (Prankster)
Gender: F
IVs: 20/14/2/29/5/6
Timer0:C7D
Frame: 50

Lastly, I tried one final capture attempt using yet another different seed, in the hopes that maybe it was just a breeding issue.

Seed: 08D76A9246C6ECC0
Time: 4/22/2011, 10:05:51
Timer0: C7D
Held Buttons: Select+R+Y
IV Spread: 31/31/31/9/31/31
Frame: 1

I went to capture a Golett in the Dragonspiral Tower, and...yet again, I ended up with a completely different pokemon than what I was supposed to have:

Nature: Gentle
Ability: 1 (Klutz)
IVs: 26/29/19/13/18/16
Timer0: C7C
Frame: 48


I have no idea what's going on. This has been happening consistently since I started RNGing in Gen 5. Since I'm on a Mac, I can't really tell if this is a PPRNG-specific issue, but a friend of mine who was having the same problem with an earlier version of RNG Reporter says he no longer has this issue as of 9.74. If you could help me figure out what's happening here, I'd greatly appreciate it.

First of all, thank you very much for posting detailed information. It's extremely helpful when trying to diagnose problems, and I wish everyone would follow your example.

As to your actual issue, I'm sorry to say that you are just having very bad luck with your Timer0. It's a hardware value and we have no proven way to control it. It seems that for some people, they hit one value more often than the other no matter the seed, while other people hit each value about 50% of the time on every seed, while still other people seem to get different values depending on which buttons are held on given seed. It can be quite frustrating, but there's not much an RNG program can do about it at this time. RNG Reporter will find the same seeds with the same Timer0 values that PPRNG found.

@Fedoraman I've found that which Timer0 value you hit is based on the roughly half-second time that you start the game. I have 2 values, C7F and C80. I find that if I hit A right as the second hand moves to the second before my seed, i will hit C80, and if I hit it about a half-second after it moves, i hit C7F. This is very consistent for me, so maybe it will work for you.

Thank you very much for the response! It's unfortunate that nothing can be done to solve my problem currently, but that information is still appreciated. I have noticed that the issue seems to lie with using held buttons, so I'll try to keep track of seeds and button combos that do work for me, and abuse the hell out of them when I can. :)

@NijaSkills - That same thought has actually occurred to me, though it didn't really seem to make any difference when I tried a while back. I guess it wouldn't hurt to try again in the future, though!

Is there a way to tell what Ability is 1 and 0?

Also, new question:

I'm trying to find a shiny, quiet seed for a Solosis. I got one but when I check the egg PID it doesn't show up...

DS lite: 00-23-CC-CD-05-5E
Version: White (English)
TID: 48409
SID: 25852
Timer0: C7E-C7E
VCount: 60-60
VFrame: 6-6

2013/07/24
16:35:39

should be the seed for a shiny, quiet thing and when I breed (Solosis Quiet nature w/ Everstone and a Ditto w/ item to pass on 0 speed I should get 31/X/31/31/31/0

Now, the issue I'm having is, as stated earlier, finding this PID in the egg hatching section...

Any ideas?

Not from within the program. I know that if you look up the Poke on Bulbapedia the abilities are listed in the correct order (0 is first, 1 is second). I may add some Pokedex functionality down the line, but it's not currently high on the list of things to do.

You mean that in the seed searcher, it says that there is a shiny frame, but that you don't find it when you look in the Eggs tab in the seed inspector? At the moment, the seed searcher only checks shininess of wild pokemon, and egg PIDs are generated differently, so it's quite possible that the egg PID isn't shiny. Also, even if the PID would be shiny, the way that eggs are generated means that some PIDs are skipped over, while others appear multiple times. The details aren't necessarily interesting, but the point is that while you can use the seed searcher to find shiny eggs, there's still some luck involved. As I mention in another post above, this is something I'd like to fix soon, so that the seed searcher will properly report shiny eggs as well.

Alright, thanks :D

Also...
When you do implement ID rng, how does that make it easier to get shiny spread or how could I check...?

Hmm, just thought I'd drop by and say that this is an excellent program. It's nice to have something for Mac that's quick and reliable.

And main reason for posting, for some reason, every now and then I believe the Sync box is incorrect.
Seed: 2DD7961065293948
IV Frame: 11
I was trying to get a Leavanny in Lostlorn Forest through Shaking Grass. My Starting PID is 628, definitely as I've used it to grab the monkey trio from there. According to the Seed Inspector, a Leavanny (ESV 8) was available on PID 634, with Sync checked off. I advanced my Frames, sure enough found a Leavanny, but the Jolly Sync's nature wasn't passed on, even though the box said it'd pass.
The Emolga on my Starting PID 628 is supposedly Sync-able as well, it's actually not. I've also had this problem on a Panpour, can't quite remember what frame, though.

Thanks for the info.

Just to be sure, you are using the Shaking Grass Encounter type for the PID frames? I find that PID 628 (which, by the way, is an extremely high starting PID frame, although I've been told that weird things go on in Lostlorn) matches what you're saying about the Emolga, but frame 634 does not. Are you talking about frame 635? Would you be able to post a screen shot? Would you be able to post more info about what you got on those frames, such as gender and ability? (Also, are you using the latest version?)

Anyway, there is still some uncertainty as to shaking grass frames. I've implemented what was described in the RNG research thread, but that doesn't mean that it's correct, so any extra info is helpful.

Yeah, I'm using the Shaking Grass Encounter type.

I believe the reason my Starting PID is so high is because I have to take a good 256 steps to hit my IV Frame (I chose a high IV Frame 11 so that there'd be a chance for a patch to appear while I advanced my IV Frame). Each step advances the PID by 2 if I'm not mistaken, the same thing for turns, and there's definitely a lot of turning involved here. I'm moving on the exact same path each time, so I know I'm advancing by the same every time.

And yes, I meant to say 635. My mistake, sorry.

I'm using the latest version, yup. I downloaded the newest version about a day ago. Here's some information on two cases:

Here's some of the results of frames that have the Sync checked off.
628: Emolga / Quirky / Female / Static. Had Jolly Espeon w/ Synchronize in front.
(I considered that I may have hit 627, but if I'm correct Emolga appears on ESV 2.)
637: Audino / Quirky / Male / Regenerator. Had Jolly Espeon w/ Synchronize in front.
761: Panpour / Bold / Female / Gluttony. Had Jolly Espeon w/ Synchronize in front.

Oh, and a case of something being Sync-able when it says it shouldn't be:
850: Panpour / Jolly / Female / Gluttony. Was listed as not being able to sync with Adamant, but my Espeon passed on the Jolly nature.

What would you like a screen shot of?

That's perfectly understandable. This small problem aside, the vast majority of what PPRNG gives me works, so I'm happy about that.

Do you know if Shaking Grass advances the PID at all, by the way? I've started to get inconsistent results despite moving the exact same way each time, and I'm pretty much baffled at why I'm suddenly off by 5+ frames when I was easily able to hit certain PIDs repeatedly before... (Bumping into a wall doesn't advance, right?)

Also, random question:
What is the gender order? Don't quite understand how to read those...

Ah, of course.

This is great, thanks. I'll investigate more when I get home tonight.

The screenshot request was because of the frame number issue. I don't need it now that that's straightened out.

Bump shouldn't advance, no. If you are hitting your seed and doing the exact same movements, you should get the same results. Perhaps if you take longer or shorter realworld time to do this some other event could be advancing the frame.

It's not the clearest way to express it, but it's in the order 12.5%/25%/50%/75% female. Which one applies depends on the species gender ratio.

Thanks for the heads up on this.

Since the research thread hasn't been updated from what I've seen, and it doesn't seem to have been discussed in the wifi irc channel, is there some other place (research channel or something) where people are discussing this, or is it just through private communications?

After a few days of playing around with this program, I managed to learn how to rng for eggs, and be able to manipulate gender, ability, nature and shininess. Its real simple. If you people want me to teach you, email me. My email is Lss4r@hotmail.com or if you want Ill try to post a mini tutorial. Hopefully you understand the steps.

Any chance I could get a screenshot? It's hard to know the issue without more details. Please take the screenshot after you dismiss the error popup so that all settings are visible.

Have you checked that your DS parameters are entered correctly? If you have a range of values beyond the difference of 1 for Timer0, it will exponentially increase results. I was getting that error before, and that was the issue.

It's not about how many times you did it. It's about whether you set up your configuration correctly using the results.

---------

Also, version 1.1.5 has been released, with hopefully some useful improvements for breeding (no direct searching yet, unfortunately).

As always, see the first post for update details and download link.

Sorry if this has already been answered, but I don't remember seeing it.

Once I've got my DS parameters set, are they going to be correct permanently? I was able to successfully snag a Perfect Attacker Virizion last night, so I know I have got the hang of things. Can I now go on a RNG tear, or do I have to find those parameters again? I wouldn't think so, but you never know...

Most people find that they alternate somewhat randomly between two Timer0 values. If you have already found both of your values, you shouldn't have a need to search for parameters again.

However, if you ever find yourself in a situation where it seems like no matter what you can't hit your seed, you can use the parameter finder to see if perhaps you are hitting another Timer0 value (some people -- but not everyone -- have a third value in certain situations, such as when doing multiple keypresses).

Ok thanks a lot!

I have both values, so it looks like I'm good to go.

I found the Adjacents tab to be very helpful, as I was catching the same (terrible) Virizion over and over until I found that tab and realized that I was just a little early for my Timer0 value. This might help other people who aren't hitting theirs.

Not really sure how to word this in a simple question, so I'll just explain my problem.

I'm trying to receive a shiny Archen with a Plume Fossil in Nacrene.
Generated a Shiny, Frame 1 spread with the IVs I wanted: Seed DD63B86CAAA149B1. My Nearest Shiny Frame was on 75, a pretty nice, close one actually.

To calibrate my Starting PID, I loaded up the Seed Inspector, entered my Seed in, set it to 'Starter / Fossil / Gift' and hit generate. Apparently 75 isn't a shiny frame, nor is anything in the 40-500 range... Glad I didn't try to go after it yet.
When I change the setting to 'Grass / Cave Encounter', 75 is indeed a shiny frame.

Is this supposed to be like this? Is there a way to generate a shiny spread for Gift Pokemon with PPRNG?

Unfortunately, yes, that is possible. The way the PID is generated for wild encounters and starter / fossil / gift is slightly different, the result being that if one is shiny, there's only a 50% chance that the other is shiny. At the moment, the best option is to open the seed that shows a shiny frame in the seed inspector and check. Unfortunately, this means that you miss any seeds where the starter / fossil / gift frame is shiny but the wild frame is not.

I want to add something for this to the seed searcher, but I'm not sure when I'll be able to get the next update out due to some real life stuff going on.

Ah, I see... so you'd just have to look at different spreads and see if it turned out shiny. Happy that there's at least that method, as I just poked through some of my spreads and found one that turned out shiny as a gift.

Feel free to take as much time as you need for the update. Thank you very much for all your hard work, we appreciate it very much.

E: Just got my Shiny Jolly Archen. W00t.