How to Capture Perfect Pokémon
Introduction
<<write introduction to this section>>
Prerequisites
1. RNG Reporter (Note to Mac Users: This software is for Windows and there is not a Macintosh Version. If you would like to try to run it using Wine/Mono please give it a shot, but no one has managed to make this work yet. You really should have Bootcamp, though.)
2. Enough Rare Candies to check your IVs. Those with a very limited amount of Rare Candies should save on Route 225, 226, 227, or somewhere else that has high level Pokémon, as they are easier to IV check. RNG Reporter has a built in IV checker.
3. A Pokémon with Sweet Scent (not completely necessary, you can do without this, but it is mentioned in the directions for exploiting this as it is an extremely efficient way to get started).
4. A pair of compatible parents with as many of the target IVs as possible.
5. An external clock with a clear Seconds reading.
Calibration Phase
Use the calibration steps from the "Common information for Breeding and Capturing Perfect Pokémon" section <<link this>> to get the necessary information.
Selecting a Spread and Generating a Target Time
Now that you have collected some data about your average delay and can accurately reset to the specified second, it is time to find a good spread. To begin, open the Time Finder in RNG Reporter and select the "DPP Capture" tab.
<screen shot>
You will want to select a year for your target time, a maximum frame to search, minimum and maximum delays, the method and nature of your Synchronizer (if applicable), a target nature, your desired IVs, and shininess. The non obvious items are explained in detail below.
Maximum Frame - This indicates the maximum frame number that will be searched. The frame number is a representation of how many times you must advance the RNG once you have entered the game. The higher this number the more difficult it will be, as it will require walking more steps/Journal page flips/etc. For a complete list of the things you can do to advance your frame, refer to the "RNG Advancement for Wild Pokémon" section.
Minimum and Maximum Delays - These should generally be near the average delay value you determined during the Calibration Phase. Having these ranges too high or low can make it much more difficult to capture.
Method - This is the method that is used to generate your target Pokémon. Please refer to the list below in the "Creation Method Reference for Captured Pokémon" section. The basic rule of thumb is that all Pokémon are generated with Method J, except for the runners, which are generated by Method 1. When using Method J with a Synchronizer, you must select the Synchronizer's nature for the results to be accurate.
Nature, Shiny Only, and IVs - These options let you filter the results to only return Pokémon of a particular nature, color, or with certain IVs.
After all information has been filled in click the "Generate" button. The search may take some time, so be patient. You may cancel before the search is finished and see your partial results, though.
Once the results have been displayed and you see a suitable spread, make a note of the frame number. After this, right click on it and select "Generate Times". There are a number of different Date/Time/Delay combination that yield the same seed so simply pick one from the list to use as your target time.
Calculating the Number of RNG Advances Required to Hit the Target Frame
There are a number of different variables to take into consideration when calculating the number of times you will need to advance the RNG.
Target Frame - This is the frame number of your selected spread. Spreads may be found using RNG Reporter or the spreadsheets below from the "Creation Methods for Captured Pokémon" title.
Monster Frame - This represents the frame number that a Pokémon will land on when soft resetting and then immediately capturing it without doing anything to advance the RNG. Please see the list in the "Creation Methods for Captured Pokémon" which is below.
Number of Wandering Pokémon - This number represents the number of wandering Pokémon that have been released into the game, but have not been captured. Examples of wandering Pokémon are Cresselia, Mespirit, Zapdos, Articuno, and Moltres.
Finally the formula to calculating the number of required RNG advances is:
RNG advances = Target Frame - Monster Frame - Number of Wandering Pokémon
Advancing the RNG
There are a number of different ways to advance the RNG, but for capturing Pokémon the three easiest are Journal flips, walking where there are wild Pokémon present while using a Repel, and walking where there are no wild Pokémon.
Journal Flipping - Opening the Journal, or having it automatically open, when there is a caught or defeated Pokémon on the first page advances the RNG by 2. There are a number of formats for the caught Pokémon text. Those listed below have been verified to advance the RNG.
'Caught a female BIDOOF.'
'Caught AZELF (LATE NIGHT).'
'UXIE was caught (DAY).'
'Defeated a male BIDOOF.'
Flipping to a page in the Journal where a caught or defeated Pokémon is listed advances the RNG by two. The same message formats listed above will advance the RNG.
Walking in areas with no wild Pokémon - 128 steps advance the RNG by a number equal to the number of Pokémon in your party. This step counter is stored when you save your game and does not revert to zero when you soft reset, so it is important that you walk exactly 128 steps. Any more and it is possible that the RNG will advance again and throw off your calculations.
Walking in areas with wild Pokémon - The RNG is advanced by one for each step or turn that you make, even when Repel is in use. Turning and walking in a single movement advances the RNG by two.
Use any combination of these to advance the RNG. For even numbers it is recommended to use Journal flips exclusively. Divide the number of RNG advances that are required and divide that number by 2 for the number of Journal flips.
For odd numbers the easiest method is to have an odd number of Pokémon in your party and walk 128 steps on tiles where there are no wild Pokémon. After this subtract the number of Pokémon in your party from the number of required RNG advances and then divide this number by two to get the number of Journal flips that are required.
Soft Resetting for Your Final Result
1. Begin your cycle of soft resetting, remembering to set the clock on your DS each and every time so that the time when you "Continue" matches your target time. Instructions for reliably hitting the target time are found in the "Common information for Breeding and Capturing Perfect Pokémon" section.
2. Once in game, unless capturing something with a very low frame number, you will want to verify that you have correctly hit your target time and delay. The easiest way to do this is to use the Coin Flip trick, as explained in the "Common information for Breeding and Capturing Perfect Pokémon" section. If you miss your target time and delay, immediately capture a Pokémon and use the initial seed finder to figure out what time and delay you actually hit.
3. Figure out the correct number of RNG advances that will be required to hit your target frame. For example:
Target Frame: 107
Monster Frame: 1
Wandering Pokémon: 1
Total required RNG advances: 105.
4. Advance the RNG by 105. In this example, the Journal page flipping and walking techniques are used. You would flip your Journal 50 times to a page which lists a captured Pokémon to advance the RNG by 100. That still leaves five, though, which can be handled by walking 128 steps with five Pokémon in the party.
5. Capture the Pokémon and verify that it is the one you were attempting to catch. If it was not, you may want to figure out what frame it did come from so that you can correct any errors on subsequent attempts before returning to Step 1. You may do this by entering the initial seed into the seed field of RNG Reporter, clicking "Generate", and then finding the Pokémon in the list.
Creation Method Reference for Captured Pokémon
Here is a listing of Pokémon that may be captured and the method that is used to generate their PIDs and IVs. For information on Method 1, please refer to X-Act's guide to PID/IV Creation, and for Method J, refer to the section above.
The frames that are listed below are the frames that you will get if you simply turn on the game and immediately perform the necessary action to catch that Pokémon. If your target spread has a higher frame than what is listed you will need to perform in-game actions to advance the frame to your target.
The Method J Pokémon
All Sweet Scented Pokémon
Frame (Grass): 2
Frame (Cave): 2
Frame (Water): 3
Fished Pokémon
Frame: 4
Honey Tree Pokémon
Frame: 2
Spiritomb
Frame: 1
Drifloon
Frame: 1
Old Chateau Rotom
Frame: 1
Palkia
Frame: 1
Dialga
Frame: 1
Azelf
Frame: 1
Uxie
Frame: 1
Heatran
Frame: 1
Giratina
Frame: 12 (Distortion World)
Frame: 1 (Turnback Cave)
Darkrai
Frame: 1
Arceus
Frame: 1
Regigigas
Frame: 1
Registeel
Frame: 1
Regirock
Frame: 1
Regice
Frame: 1
Shaymin
Frame: 1
The Method 1 Pokémon
Fossils
Frame: 1
Porygon (Couple's house in Veilstone, Platinum-only)
Frame: 1
Riolu (Riley will give you this Pokémon on Iron Island)
Frame: 1
The Roaming Pokémon
The roamers are handled as Method 1 Pokémon. Please note that all RNG advancement must be done immediately before releasing the roamers, as it at that time when the nature and IVs are created.
Cresselia
Frame: 5
Mesprit
Frame: 5
The Legendary Birds (Pre-Elite Four)
The legendary birds are handled as Method 1 Pokémon, but the PID and IVs for all three of them are created at one time using. Moltres is on frame 1, Zapdos is on frame 6, and Articuno is on frame 11. Please note that all RNG advancement must be done immediately before releasing the birds, as the Nature and IVs are created at that time.
Moltres
Frame: 1
Zapdos
Frame: 6
Articuno
Frame: 11
The Legendary Birds (Post E4)
Once you have beaten the Elite Four you may speak with Professor Oak and he will re-release any birds which have not already been captured. The remaining birds will be regenerated in the same order as they were originally (Moltres, Zapdos, and Articuno). If none were captured they will appear on Frames 1, 6, and 11. If one was captured the remaining birds will appear on Frames 1 and 6. If two were captured the remaining bird will appear on Frame 1.
Method 1/J List of Good Spreads
These files contain a good list of spreads on a wide range of delays and frames. Use the "Seed to Times" function of RNG Reporter to get a list of reset times for these spreads. Please note that these lists were generated using Method 1, so the frame numbers are not going to be correct if you are catching Method J Pokémon. To find the correct frame you will want to use the seed from the spreadsheet and "Generate" using Method J. Finally, locate your desired spread in the output and use that result as your target frame.
Physical Spreads
Special Spreads
Trick Room Physical Spreads
Trick Room Special Spreads
Introduction
<<write introduction to this section>>
Prerequisites
1. RNG Reporter (Note to Mac Users: This software is for Windows and there is not a Macintosh Version. If you would like to try to run it using Wine/Mono please give it a shot, but no one has managed to make this work yet. You really should have Bootcamp, though.)
2. Enough Rare Candies to check your IVs. Those with a very limited amount of Rare Candies should save on Route 225, 226, 227, or somewhere else that has high level Pokémon, as they are easier to IV check. RNG Reporter has a built in IV checker.
3. A Pokémon with Sweet Scent (not completely necessary, you can do without this, but it is mentioned in the directions for exploiting this as it is an extremely efficient way to get started).
4. A pair of compatible parents with as many of the target IVs as possible.
5. An external clock with a clear Seconds reading.
Calibration Phase
Use the calibration steps from the "Common information for Breeding and Capturing Perfect Pokémon" section <<link this>> to get the necessary information.
Selecting a Spread and Generating a Target Time
Now that you have collected some data about your average delay and can accurately reset to the specified second, it is time to find a good spread. To begin, open the Time Finder in RNG Reporter and select the "DPP Capture" tab.
<screen shot>
You will want to select a year for your target time, a maximum frame to search, minimum and maximum delays, the method and nature of your Synchronizer (if applicable), a target nature, your desired IVs, and shininess. The non obvious items are explained in detail below.
Maximum Frame - This indicates the maximum frame number that will be searched. The frame number is a representation of how many times you must advance the RNG once you have entered the game. The higher this number the more difficult it will be, as it will require walking more steps/Journal page flips/etc. For a complete list of the things you can do to advance your frame, refer to the "RNG Advancement for Wild Pokémon" section.
Minimum and Maximum Delays - These should generally be near the average delay value you determined during the Calibration Phase. Having these ranges too high or low can make it much more difficult to capture.
Method - This is the method that is used to generate your target Pokémon. Please refer to the list below in the "Creation Method Reference for Captured Pokémon" section. The basic rule of thumb is that all Pokémon are generated with Method J, except for the runners, which are generated by Method 1. When using Method J with a Synchronizer, you must select the Synchronizer's nature for the results to be accurate.
Nature, Shiny Only, and IVs - These options let you filter the results to only return Pokémon of a particular nature, color, or with certain IVs.
After all information has been filled in click the "Generate" button. The search may take some time, so be patient. You may cancel before the search is finished and see your partial results, though.
Once the results have been displayed and you see a suitable spread, make a note of the frame number. After this, right click on it and select "Generate Times". There are a number of different Date/Time/Delay combination that yield the same seed so simply pick one from the list to use as your target time.
Calculating the Number of RNG Advances Required to Hit the Target Frame
There are a number of different variables to take into consideration when calculating the number of times you will need to advance the RNG.
Target Frame - This is the frame number of your selected spread. Spreads may be found using RNG Reporter or the spreadsheets below from the "Creation Methods for Captured Pokémon" title.
Monster Frame - This represents the frame number that a Pokémon will land on when soft resetting and then immediately capturing it without doing anything to advance the RNG. Please see the list in the "Creation Methods for Captured Pokémon" which is below.
Number of Wandering Pokémon - This number represents the number of wandering Pokémon that have been released into the game, but have not been captured. Examples of wandering Pokémon are Cresselia, Mespirit, Zapdos, Articuno, and Moltres.
Finally the formula to calculating the number of required RNG advances is:
RNG advances = Target Frame - Monster Frame - Number of Wandering Pokémon
Advancing the RNG
There are a number of different ways to advance the RNG, but for capturing Pokémon the three easiest are Journal flips, walking where there are wild Pokémon present while using a Repel, and walking where there are no wild Pokémon.
Journal Flipping - Opening the Journal, or having it automatically open, when there is a caught or defeated Pokémon on the first page advances the RNG by 2. There are a number of formats for the caught Pokémon text. Those listed below have been verified to advance the RNG.
'Caught a female BIDOOF.'
'Caught AZELF (LATE NIGHT).'
'UXIE was caught (DAY).'
'Defeated a male BIDOOF.'
Flipping to a page in the Journal where a caught or defeated Pokémon is listed advances the RNG by two. The same message formats listed above will advance the RNG.
Walking in areas with no wild Pokémon - 128 steps advance the RNG by a number equal to the number of Pokémon in your party. This step counter is stored when you save your game and does not revert to zero when you soft reset, so it is important that you walk exactly 128 steps. Any more and it is possible that the RNG will advance again and throw off your calculations.
Walking in areas with wild Pokémon - The RNG is advanced by one for each step or turn that you make, even when Repel is in use. Turning and walking in a single movement advances the RNG by two.
Use any combination of these to advance the RNG. For even numbers it is recommended to use Journal flips exclusively. Divide the number of RNG advances that are required and divide that number by 2 for the number of Journal flips.
For odd numbers the easiest method is to have an odd number of Pokémon in your party and walk 128 steps on tiles where there are no wild Pokémon. After this subtract the number of Pokémon in your party from the number of required RNG advances and then divide this number by two to get the number of Journal flips that are required.
Soft Resetting for Your Final Result
1. Begin your cycle of soft resetting, remembering to set the clock on your DS each and every time so that the time when you "Continue" matches your target time. Instructions for reliably hitting the target time are found in the "Common information for Breeding and Capturing Perfect Pokémon" section.
2. Once in game, unless capturing something with a very low frame number, you will want to verify that you have correctly hit your target time and delay. The easiest way to do this is to use the Coin Flip trick, as explained in the "Common information for Breeding and Capturing Perfect Pokémon" section. If you miss your target time and delay, immediately capture a Pokémon and use the initial seed finder to figure out what time and delay you actually hit.
3. Figure out the correct number of RNG advances that will be required to hit your target frame. For example:
Target Frame: 107
Monster Frame: 1
Wandering Pokémon: 1
Total required RNG advances: 105.
4. Advance the RNG by 105. In this example, the Journal page flipping and walking techniques are used. You would flip your Journal 50 times to a page which lists a captured Pokémon to advance the RNG by 100. That still leaves five, though, which can be handled by walking 128 steps with five Pokémon in the party.
5. Capture the Pokémon and verify that it is the one you were attempting to catch. If it was not, you may want to figure out what frame it did come from so that you can correct any errors on subsequent attempts before returning to Step 1. You may do this by entering the initial seed into the seed field of RNG Reporter, clicking "Generate", and then finding the Pokémon in the list.
Creation Method Reference for Captured Pokémon
Here is a listing of Pokémon that may be captured and the method that is used to generate their PIDs and IVs. For information on Method 1, please refer to X-Act's guide to PID/IV Creation, and for Method J, refer to the section above.
The frames that are listed below are the frames that you will get if you simply turn on the game and immediately perform the necessary action to catch that Pokémon. If your target spread has a higher frame than what is listed you will need to perform in-game actions to advance the frame to your target.
The Method J Pokémon
All Sweet Scented Pokémon
Frame (Grass): 2
Frame (Cave): 2
Frame (Water): 3
Fished Pokémon
Frame: 4
Honey Tree Pokémon
Frame: 2
Spiritomb
Frame: 1
Drifloon
Frame: 1
Old Chateau Rotom
Frame: 1
Palkia
Frame: 1
Dialga
Frame: 1
Azelf
Frame: 1
Uxie
Frame: 1
Heatran
Frame: 1
Giratina
Frame: 12 (Distortion World)
Frame: 1 (Turnback Cave)
Darkrai
Frame: 1
Arceus
Frame: 1
Regigigas
Frame: 1
Registeel
Frame: 1
Regirock
Frame: 1
Regice
Frame: 1
Shaymin
Frame: 1
The Method 1 Pokémon
Fossils
Frame: 1
Porygon (Couple's house in Veilstone, Platinum-only)
Frame: 1
Riolu (Riley will give you this Pokémon on Iron Island)
Frame: 1
The Roaming Pokémon
The roamers are handled as Method 1 Pokémon. Please note that all RNG advancement must be done immediately before releasing the roamers, as it at that time when the nature and IVs are created.
Cresselia
Frame: 5
Mesprit
Frame: 5
The Legendary Birds (Pre-Elite Four)
The legendary birds are handled as Method 1 Pokémon, but the PID and IVs for all three of them are created at one time using. Moltres is on frame 1, Zapdos is on frame 6, and Articuno is on frame 11. Please note that all RNG advancement must be done immediately before releasing the birds, as the Nature and IVs are created at that time.
Moltres
Frame: 1
Zapdos
Frame: 6
Articuno
Frame: 11
The Legendary Birds (Post E4)
Once you have beaten the Elite Four you may speak with Professor Oak and he will re-release any birds which have not already been captured. The remaining birds will be regenerated in the same order as they were originally (Moltres, Zapdos, and Articuno). If none were captured they will appear on Frames 1, 6, and 11. If one was captured the remaining birds will appear on Frames 1 and 6. If two were captured the remaining bird will appear on Frame 1.
Method 1/J List of Good Spreads
These files contain a good list of spreads on a wide range of delays and frames. Use the "Seed to Times" function of RNG Reporter to get a list of reset times for these spreads. Please note that these lists were generated using Method 1, so the frame numbers are not going to be correct if you are catching Method J Pokémon. To find the correct frame you will want to use the seed from the spreadsheet and "Generate" using Method J. Finally, locate your desired spread in the output and use that result as your target frame.
Physical Spreads
Special Spreads
Trick Room Physical Spreads
Trick Room Special Spreads
