5th Generation ID Abuse: An RNG Guide

RNGing your ID? Why would you ever need that? Well, have you ever wondered about how your opponents at VGC competitions have so many shinies? Generally, it’s because they’ve RNGed their ID to make finding shiny Pokemon so much easier than grueling hunts through shining patches of grass or soft resets in front of legendaries. In the 5th generation, however, finding shinies has become much easier, so ID abuse is largely reserved for the roamers, Thundurus and Tornadus. This guide will explain both how to RNG for your ID and then how to capture your shiny Thundurus:

Prerequisites:

RNG Reporter 9.96 or later
A copy of Pokemon Black or White
Any DS model
A basic understanding of how to hit a seed

RNGing your ID:

Step One: Finding your IV seed

(If you are only abusing your ID for a specific ID/SID combo and not for a specific PID or frame to be shiny, then skip ahead to step 3)

Start the process by going into RNG reporter and opening the time finder. Choose the encounter type of whatever you want to abuse, then set the IVs to whatever you’re looking for. (If you’re looking for a seed for a Thundurus that you would like to abuse for, like we will be doing in the example at the end, select the method in Time Finder as “Standard Seed” and encounter type as “Roamer”.)

Set the Month and Year that you want to search, and set min and max frames to 1 to make the abuse that much easier for you (if you wanna abuse your starter, a frame of 1 is the only way to do it).

Then once all of that is filled out, you’re ready to press “Generate” and start the search.

Step Two: Finding your frame/PID

When you have found a seed that matches your desired IVs, copy the seed into the main window and set the method to “Gen 5 PIDRNG” (1) and copy and paste your seed into the box (2).

Press the button on the far right that says “Calculate initial PID frame” (3) and generate your results (4).

In the results below, look for a frame with the right Nature, Gender, encounter slot, Ability, etc. (When we RNG your ID for Thundurus, you’ll need to make sure that the frame you’re looking to abuse is able to be hit. Read at the bottom of the guide to find your frame to abuse for Thundurus!)

Step Three: Finding your ID seed

After all of that, go back to the main window and go to the tab on the top that says “5th Gen Tools”. Click that box, then click the option that says “TID/SID Manipulation (“Pandora’s Box”)”.

A new box will pop up. Make sure that your parameters are correctly inputted into the top of the half of the box. If you have not yet calibrated your DS, follow the steps in our calibration guide.

If you’re trying to abuse a specific Seed and PID (like we will for Thundurus!) look in the lower left at the box that says “Search by”. Tick the box labelled “Seed” and enter in your desired Seed and frame. If you also desire a special ID to go with your new save file, check the TID box and enter in your desired TID.

Now go to the box at the bottom right and choose the date that you want to search. Set the Min frame to 30 and the Max frame to 40.

With all of that entered, you’re ready to search for some ID seeds! Choose any seed that you want, it really doesn’t matter much (just try and pick one with a frame of around 30 to keep the number of advancements needed down).

Step Four: Hitting your seed

For the most part, hitting your ID seed is very similar to normal Gen 5 abuse. Make sure the save file is completely deleted from the game, and go to the time settings.

Set your DS to the date and time of your seed and hit your seed like you normally would. When Professor Juniper starts giving her little introduction, just keep pressing A until you get to choose your gender then name. Choose your gender normally, but when the Professor asks if your chosen name is correct make sure to say “Yes“. Saying “No” will advance the RNG by 1, and we don’t want that right now.

Now continue on until you’re finally able to move in game and check your trainer card for the ID that you hit. If your ID doesn’t match the ID of your Seed, that can mean a couple of different things. To find out, at the bottom of Pandora’s Box in the “Seed Finder” box, enter your ID and the time and date of your seed. Set the min and max seconds to +/-5 of your seed and the min and max frame from 20 to 40, then press “Find Seed Hit”.

If your Pandora’s Box gives you a Seed different from the one you were attempting to hit, you’ve done everything right but haven’t hit your Timer0, which is tragically out of your control, and will have to repeat the process.

If your Pandora’s Box gives you the correct Seed but a different frame, then you’ve missed your number of frame advancements. Check the frame of your result and subtract that number from the frame from your initial search. This number will be the number of times you respond “No” to Juniper when she asks for your name.

Congratulations, you’ve now RNGed for your ID! Let’s take a look at a practical example by RNGing for a Shiny Thundurus

ID Abusing for Thundurus

Thundurus is the most relevant Pokemon to learn ID abuse for as ID abuse makes it much easier to RNG shiny than without. Note: Rebattle codes are very useful when RNGing Thundurus, but it is fully possible to RNG without rebattle codes so long as you haven’t caught/released Thundurus yet. The use of Pokecheck, however, is a must to confirm the PID of Thundurus.

Finding the PID and Frame of Thundurus

Finding Thundurus’ PID will allow you to discover what ID you will need to RNG (above), while finding the correct Frame will give your Thundurus the proper Nature. This requires you to be saved inside of the old lady’s house right before you encounter Thundurus and to have already chosen a seed that you want to try.

Once you’ve done all of this, you will start a series of soft resetting and hitting your seed multiple times with different increments of frame advancements each reset. For example, hit your seed, do not advance the frame, and then release and capture Thundurus. Check Thundurus’ Nature. If you don’t get the right Nature, reset and hit your seed again but advance the frame once by using only 1 Chatot Chatter this time instead of 0. Release and capture Thundurus and check the Nature. Continue increasing the Chatters by 1 for each reset until you hit the nature that you want. Also make sure to press A as fast as possible when leaving the house until the rain that Thundurus creates goes away.

Once you find the Nature that you want, save the game and upload the Thundurus to Pokecheck if you have an account (if you don’t, make one). Look at the Thundurus once uploaded and copy the PID down somewhere. Paste the seed that you used to catch that Thundurus into the main window of RNG reporter and set the method to Gen 5 PIDRNG and encounter type Roaming Pokemon. Set the starting frame to 400 and in the nature box, and select the nature of Thundurus that you got so it only shows relevant results to make it easier to find the frame you hit. Generate results and look for a frame that matches the PID of the Thundurus that you received when hitting your seed and soft resetting. Now you’ve found the frame you want to abuse for. Go back up to step 3 of the guide to finish your ID abuse of Thundurus!

With your ID abused, you can now simply play through your White version until you get the 8^th badge and the gate keeper tells you about the storm on Route 7. Then, you can go back to that house and save inside. Once saved, you can simply hit your seed, do the number of advancements that you did before to get your desired nature, and walk outside, unleashing your Shiny Thundurus.

Thanks to Princess of Johto for the RNG Reporter images.