Epilogue GB Operator Pokemon Shiny Hunting Tutorial

[@porterdesignandmotion]

I know I have pinged you a lot on here...im waiting for my GB Operator and want to be ready :) Do you have to make multiple save files for each instance or does visual gb advance do this automatically? I am trying a similar process with a DS emulator and finding that multiple save files are required to get something like this to work. Thanks again for the help :)

[@DViper0020]

No worries, man. I do not have multiple save files. Just the one that I open (import battery file) into each instance of VBA that I'm running. I see that you followed me on X (Twitter), if you have any further questions, feel free to dm me. It'll be a little easier to respond that way.

[@corbinmoore96]

Hi, I'm having some trouble. When I open the .gba file in visualboy, it loads up a blank save file. I have my .sav file on my computer already, but how do I get it to use my save?

[@ceusemv3126]

you need to load the save file by going on file / import / battery file

[@bennickel766]

Conversely I believe you can drag your .save directly to visualboy and it will load up too, that’s how I’ve always booted it

[@brond.8009]

keep the save in the same location as the .gba file bieng read, also it should have the same name (except it might have .sav at the end)

[@edgarurielduquerodriguez6260]

I have Visualboyadvance-m 2.1.9, it doesn't show the synchronize option :l, which version are you using? Thanks for the tutorial!

[@Midnightcity67]

I found it guys . Go to Options - input and make sure “ Allow keyboard background Input “ check while you open new windows , for Pokémon

[@porterdesignandmotion]

Do you know if there is a similar way to shiny hunt like this using a DS cart? I’d love to do this with my current Distortion World Giratina and curious if there is a similar method.

[@DViper0020]

I do not. I only shiny hunt like this for GBA games. If Epilogue ever does a DS operator, then I will be looking into it. Haha

[@Sk00t-99]

You can, but the way I know requires homebrewing your 3DS. On my homebrewed 3DS there is a program that lets me rip the game file off cartridges and save them to an SD card. I hunt all my gen 4 games on PC from files I pulled this way.

[@JakeLong-f6t]

Awesome im ready for those shiny hunts its like having 6 ds lites lol

[@DViper0020]

Nice! Glad this helped! Good luck with your hunts!

[@porterdesignandmotion]

So if you find the target shiny with 8 instances open, do you close the other instances before you save and export a new battery file? Great walkthrough! Super excited to get my gb operator.

[@DViper0020]

Yep! That's what I do. Close the rest of them and focus on the one with the shiny. Save the game, export the save, and upload that to your cartridge and bam! Hunt complete! And thank you! Good luck on your hunts!

[@GG_mangos]

hey there! thanks for the tutorial - just wondering what the command is to open multiple instances of VBA/windows? looks like the VBA taskbar and settings slightly updated since this video came out! thanks :)

[@DViper0020]

You should just be able to right click on the VBA and click open, which should open another instance of VBA. Do that as many times as you want, and just make sure the "pause when inactive" option isn't selected on all of them.

[@WhooptyWhoo]

When I try to import SAV. file in the Visual Boy Advance it does not load the battery save ripped from cartridge.

[@TylerAndrews-fk7fk]

same. something to do with the new update. hope they find a fix

[@TylerAndrews-fk7fk]

can you make a video on how to do it with the updated version ? lol xD

[@MuniRunTings]

I can manage to sync all windows but when soft resetting I need to click on each window and then Ctrl+r to soft reset. Currently using keyboard and mouse but will have joypad arriving soon. Any other way to configure soft resetting? I feel I’ll have same problem with the joypad

[@MuniRunTings]

Oh you can set up reset on the controller? How do you do that?

[@Midnightcity67]

Another fast way is , go to File,Save state - pick a slot . Now you can use the mouse and point the emulator press Ctrl and L the same time . Make sure your front of the I’m currently shiny hunting the starter pokemon. I saved the Front of the pokemon . Then I picked the slot . Later on , 4:22 It will save every time you open a new window and click the Game file and you will see your save data

[@Midnightcity67]

After that click one of the window emulators then press -SPACE - ENTER - ZX In the same time !! To soft reset all of them… I set my up to ZC

[@Juanitoes]

Hardest Part of the Tutorial Finding the Authentic Copies of Gen 3

[@DViper0020]

Haha, good luck with that! I'm happy to have kept my old games.

[@Juanitoes]

@@DViper0020 came across with authentic copies for 90$, includes fire red and emerald so im hoping i dont get scammed then i can finally watch this video :p

[@leafgamess]

Thanks for the great video! Question, I was successfully able to open up 8 and have them run separately but if I try to add them into the stream it only captures one game? Even though I added 8 window captures? Any thoughts?

[@DViper0020]

I'm glad you liked the video! When you added your sources for each window, I assume you named them each something different? (I made mine VBA 1, VBA 2, etc.) Also, I assume you are using the "window capture" source, right? Then when you go to properties to assign the windows, I usually click on a window first, that isn't what I'm trying to capture, then click the dropdown arrow again to find the VBA that I'm looking for. This kind of refreshing the list of available windows for me. Then it should just be a matter of find which VBA goes where on your layout. I hope this helps!

[@leafgamess]

@DViper0020 I got it to work earlier, had to add each window individually and go from there but now I am set up for X8 Groudon resets in Ruby for my stream! Thank you again! 👍 Good luck on future hunts!

[@DViper0020]

@@leafgamess Great! I'm glad it's working for you. Good luck to you as well!

[@scareh3891]

hi, i have the error “Failed to allocate memory for TRACE” when I try to do soft reset for the about 40th time, do you know how i can solve this problem?

[@artofraw8151]

Tried this, got a shiny Abra, tried to transfer it and it says the save is corrupted. The operator also seems to be having trouble backing up my saves. Sometimes it does and they're fine, sometimes they're corrupt. It's super annoying.

[@DViper0020]

Damn, that's super unfortunate.

[@TripleM24]

I'm having issues with mine as well

[@artofraw8151]

@@TripleM24 I reached out to Epilogue and they were super fast, super helpful. They said some emulators add RTC Clock data to saves which makes them bigger, so look for a way to disable that if possible. I was eventually able to get it sorted out by using mGBA to trade my shiny from my “bad” Crystal save to a good Gold save, back that up to my cartridge and trade via link cable.

[@TripleM24]

@@artofraw8151 Thanks!

[@boruch3516]

does version of an VGBA matters ? have like 13k+ on my first starter and nothing xd kinda cant belive if its working

[@DViper0020]

I noticed that sometimes, unless I waited for a second after a reset, all of the stats for the starter are the same for whichever game that I'm hunting in. So, what I suggest you do is pick your starter, then go to their stats to see if they are different between VBA's. If they are all the same, wait a sec before button mashing (after resetting) to get to your next check, then after you select your starter, check the summary again. As long as their stats are different, you're doing everything right; you just may have bad luck like me. Haha. Good luck!

[@MusicCityCANE]

@DViper0020 How are you able to run multiple emulators at the same time for your hunts? I'm only trying to do 4x hunting. I can open VBA several times, but I can only control one window at a time, I'm confused, I don't know what to do. Also, I do have "pause when inactive window" unchecked for each window but I must be missing something. Well, any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

[@DViper0020]

The "pause when inactive window" should be all you need, but also make sure that under options > joypad > configure > 1 that all of your buttons are mapped correctly to the controller that you are using. Then go into each VBA window and go to options > joypad > default joypad > and make sure 1 is checked on all the VBA windows. That should make it so that you're able to control every window at the same time, with one controller.

[@MusicCityCANE]

@@DViper0020 I tried everything you suggested and my controller still only responds to one screen. Just so you know, I’m using a xbox wireless controller. So frustrating..all I want to do is shiny hunt

[@MusicCityCANE]

@@DViper0020 Also, every time I open up a new window it isn't saving my settings. Do you mind letting me know which version of VBA you're using please? Maybe that could be the problem. I downloaded version 1.8 beta 3.

[@DViper0020]

@@MusicCityCANE I'm using 1.7.2. I know it sounds silly, but try a different controller. I was trying to use my xbox one controller initially, and that didn't work. My old xbox 360 controller did, but I didn't like the feel of it, so I tried my ps5 controller, and that worked.

[@MusicCityCANE]

@@DViper0020 thanks bro! I definitely think it’s probably the controller so I’ll try what you’re using or something else. Thanks for the timely response man and keep up the great work 👍

[@johncallaway7501]

Hey I use MGBA because I like its rewind feature. Would this be compatible with MGBA instead of VBA?

[@DViper0020]

Probably? I've never used MGBA though.

[@TylerAndrews-fk7fk]

so i figured it out, go in to your folder where both your gba file & sav file are and select both at same time and open them. it will open up with visualboy with your saved file.

[@SteadyEddyyy]

How? You cant select more than one item at once if you do File > Open, and Windows doesnt allow you to open either file by right clicking when both are selected

[@TylerAndrews-fk7fk]

@@SteadyEddyyy worked for me.. try using the “save file converter” on google. That’s what people been using.

[@StarzyKK]

Great vid!! Super glad you made it so well bc i'm now using it to hunt Deoxys! Though i've gotten everything set up, my only issue is that i don't know if each instance has new frames or not because i'd have to catch deo every time to check. Is there any way to check if your instances are desynced?

[@DViper0020]

I'm glad that it's working for you! The only way that I found to check that it is working, is to catch the pokemon, and compare stats after the fact. I know that it isn't the easiest way to confirm that it works, but that was my solution.

[@StarzyKK]

@@DViper0020 Thanks for the quick reply! Your vid's pretty much the only tutorial i've seen on this particular method of shiny hunting, so i'm glad you still take questions! And yeah... i figured that'd be the only way. Since Deo's a tough catch, i'll do a couple of smaller tests of 3 or so windows open to figure out how to randomize each instance. ✨ Oh, one last thing. Did you experience any lag when too many windows were open? I had a bit around 8 or so.

[@DViper0020]

@@StarzyKK I'm glad that my video is still helpful. Haha. I'd definitely recommend testing with other pokemon then, just to confirm that they are all different, stats-wise. I don't ever experience lag (I've gone up to 16x myself), but I also built a pretty solid pc a few years ago; it's not cutting edge/top of the line, but still very relevant.

[@StarzyKK]

@@DViper0020 I figured it out and caught Deoxys!!! Okay so the issue was that in starting the emulators with the same battery save, they'd have the same seed and frames, leading to the same Pokémon encountered. BUT if you first do some random encounters, save, and THEN start hunting a gift/mythical/legendary encounters, all of the instances will have different seeds to start from when soft resetting. Also, I wanted to leave this comment here for anyone wanting to use this method and is looking for answers like I was lol. That's my theory anyway, and considering it worked I'd consider it a successful theory! 😁✌🏽✨

[@DViper0020]

@@StarzyKK Awesome, congrats! I just had someone ask me about this while I was streaming, so hopefully this works for them as well!

[@franxander24]

i follow the steps, bu when i open the Visual boy advance open my game, it works since the beggining of the game, don't read my save file, help please

[@DViper0020]

Try to open one instance of VBA and go to file > import battery file > and select your save file. See if that will load your save up for you.

[@NightmareSpriter]

@@DViper0020 Having the same problem. The .gba file and .sav file are in the same folder. Upon opening a rom in either vba or mgba my file is loaded empty as a new game. Going to down to import> battery file > select .sav Will give me a message saying it was loaded but nothing actually happens and my save file doesn't load in.

[@DViper0020]

@@NightmareSpriter When you go to import > battery file > select .sav and nothing loads, try to go to file > reset after, and see if it works that way. I've never had any issues like this, so I'm just throwing out an idea.

[@NightmareSpriter]

@@DViper0020 I did manage to get it working! It seems its best if you don't rename the files at all. I left the file names untouched and let them share a folder both .gba and .sav and it worked as intended

[@DViper0020]

@@NightmareSpriter I never would have thought about the name! I'm glad you figured it out!

[@antfayden]

Is it possible to take a save I started on an emulator and put it on a cartridge? Or does the save file need to originate from a cartridge?

[@DViper0020]

In theory, you should be able to export the battery file, which should be the format you need to put it on your cartridge.

[@julianp.2840]

Awesome vid. I'm going to give this a shot. Could you also use the FFWD feature to make it even quicker?

[@DViper0020]

Good luck and happy hunting!

[@xyzoro3572]

Any idea how to add a bit of delay so you dont encounter an rng copy? Sometimes theyre not copies but other times they are. Or is there another way to prevent rng copies? Im 2x hunting on both ruby and sapphire

[@sleepysapo]

How did you set up the reset on your controller settings?

[@DViper0020]

I have my start/select buttons mapped on my triangle/square buttons on my ps5 controller, so I just use my thumb to press all four buttons at the same time, doing the soft reset.

[@Ravioko]

How do you avoid RNG clones when soft reseting for Pokemon? Trying to reset for Rayquaza in Sapphire but it's always the same RNG clone, even if I use a save editor to change the TID and SID.

[@DViper0020]

This I don't know. When I was soft resetting for starters, I found that waiting a second or two between resets fixed the issue with RNG clones 90% of the time. I haven't done an SR hunt in quite a while on the older games, so I haven't needed to look into this too much. If you do find a solution, please feel free to update this!

[@Nara-M97]

Is your internal battery working?

[@Ravioko]

@@Nara-M97 yes

[@antfayden]

As long as your battery is still working you shouldnt be getting rng clones. Ruby and Sapphire doesnt have the same rng issue that emerald has. Perhaps your copy is a bootleg? Try looking into checking the authenticity

[@wclarity]

hi! I havent gotten the equipment yet to start this but i wanted to address a few questions before spending the money. this can also be helpful for people who are on the fence about getting the gb operator as well. 1) how well does this software and equipment work in terms of getting the shiny on one of the duplicated instances and wanting to send it up through pokemon bank into home the legitimate way? are instances all recognized as the main save file? 2) if the cartridge is removed from gb operator and inserted back into the gba/nds will progress be mirrored with the last save on any of the instances or just the original one? 3) have you had any corruption issues with this device? these gba games are going for quadruple the price these days and would hate to lose a childhood copy of a game to a risky device. thanks! I appreciate the time and awesome tutorial, left a like.

[@InfamousUnite]

I can't figure this out, has anyone been able to? I even downgraded software for VBA and still nothing

[@DViper0020]

I hope you figured it out by now!

[@swopixgt2827]

@DViper0020 hey when i save file from epilogue i can't load it in the emulator why is that? ( it says " not a valid RO file " ) Any sulotion ?

[@DViper0020]

When you're trying to load the save file in the emulator, are you going to file > import > battery file > then clicking on the .sav file?

[@swopixgt2827]

@@DViper0020 I’ll try that in a moment

[@DViper0020]

@@swopixgt2827 Good luck. That always works for me.

[@swopixgt2827]

@@DViper0020 hey idk what’s the issue bro I save the file from epilogue and when I go to file > open no save shows and I went to file > import > battery file, I can’t click on Battery file why is that?

[@DViper0020]

@@swopixgt2827 I think I know what the issue is. After you save your game while playing in Epilogue, exit the play section, then go to the Data tab on the main screen of Epilogue's software. Go to the Backup Save section, then click start. You'll select a directory to save the .sav file, and after that is done, you should be able to open your save file in the emulators.

[@domingocapasso5374]

Ciao, quando si hanno aperti 8 schermi come si fanno i reset su tutti gli 8 schermi?

[@EMBERFIY]

massive help. Thank you, subscribed

[@ligerzero5608]

Great vid. My VGB only allows me to open 4 Windows.. any idea as to why this is and how to open more?

[@DViper0020]

Thank you! I do not know why it would limit you to 4, unfortunately.

[@Gameboi_carti]

Super cool video keep up the cool content !

[@DViper0020]

Thank you!

[@Nicky_P3500]

Love this tutorial! I’ve always wanted to multi hunt but I am running into an issue. I’m able to get all the emulators synced but doing so causes the starter to be the exact same. I have tried waiting a sec after resetting like you said but as soon as they’re all synced up, I’m not getting different starters. The only solution I’ve been able to find is de-syncing the emulators myself but that ends up making the reset time pretty long. Do you know how I can fix this? Playing on Ruby btw.

[@DViper0020]

If waiting for a second after you reset the games doesn't work, then unfortunately I don't know what to do. That was the only issue that I ever encountered, and slightly delaying the start-up after a reset was enough for my games to all be different. I hope you figure something out that is efficient for you! Good luck!

[@Nicky_P3500]

@@DViper0020 I’ve definitely been playing around with it and the best solution I’ve found so far is to make a save for each emulator, all starting in different positions and that for the most part has been consistent. Still get a couple duplicates here and there. Appreciate the reply! Hope this helps for anyone else experiencing the same issue!

[@StarzyKK]

@@Nicky_P3500 Hey! I'm hunting Deoxys and read your comment thread and was curious, has making different saves on each emulator gotten you your shiny? Simply waiting around for 10ish seconds before each encounter didn't help me since i kept getting duplicates, so i'm looking for new solutions. 👀

[@Nicky_P3500]

@@StarzyKK Yeah it sure did! Got my shiny Treecko within a day 😁 You will get the occasional duplicate or two depending on how desynced your emulators are but as long you start the battle at different times you should be good to go! I was running 8 screens and I would sometimes get two or even four that were duplicates but it will work. Hope this helps! Good luck on the Deoxys! I’m planning to hunt it myself soon too haha

[@StarzyKK]

​@@Nicky_P3500 Woah I just got my Deoxys within a day too! I figured out how to desync the encounters by encountering some wild pokemon, then doing the deoxys puzzle, saving and finally starting the resets. I ran 12x screens to test how many i could run before my computer had enough, and it shined super quick! Though that's good to know for my future mudkip hunt, thanks!

[@Midnightcity67]

How do you use it all the same time. ? I open at least 4 and is not synced like yours

[@xPopn]

Same it only lets me move one window at a time and I tried using different controllers

[@DViper0020]

I assume you went to options > emulator > and have "pause when inactive" unchecked, right? If so, what controller are you using? Does it work with just a single instance of VBA?

[@xPopn]

@@DViper0020 the pause was unchecked and it didn’t work with my Xbox or my switch controller, only let me move on 1 instance of VBA

[@DViper0020]

@@xPopn My xbox one controller only controlled one, if I remember correctly. I never tried a Switch controller, but my suggestion would be to borrow a different controller from a friend, if possible, and see if that works. That way you at least know what works.

[@Midnightcity67]

I open four, How do you get it to link together ? I’m only using my mouse and keyboard .

[@daradigiovanni4034]

Question how can we inject/add max number of pokeballs, repels and rare candies to Pokémon emerald in gba operator I'm asking b/c I got shiny mudkip last night in emerald and I want to shiny hunt throughout the story without the limitations of items instead of waiting postgame if you could help me that would be great 🙏🏻 I just want a step by step guide how to upload save to pc, put cheats in and put it on my emerald cartridge

[@hamburgerhelper5230]

Do you need a capture card for this?

[@DViper0020]

No.

[@darkap7]

great tutorial!!

[@unknown5632]

Does this operator work on windows 11

[@DViper0020]

I would assume so, but I don't know. I'm sure it would say if it works or not on Epilogue's website.

[@BozoTheMonke]

if anyone is wondering, this does work if you don't have a game cart or the epilogue thingy, just skip the first few steps

[@antfayden]

​​@@AshRektumthis is still hunting on emulators with extra steps lmao. He is literally running his save files in vba

[@MontemayorSage]

Just curious, do you not enjoy rng manipulation? I think it is the best "legit" convenient way to get shinies in gen 3, but also get the hunting aspect! Have fun n good luck:-)

[@DViper0020]

Honestly, I never really looked into it. I'm just so used to the random encounter/reset hunts, that it's all I've really cared to do.

[@Mrperson0]

Since RNG manip requires an external tool, it's no more legit than editing a Pokemon to be shiny.

[@braxinIV]

@@Mrperson0absolutely not. You need to take a lot of time to understand not just the program itself but how these games run on a mechanical level. Just the mere set up on a Gen 3 game requires about as much luck as just hunting the Pokémon regularly.

[@DViper0020]

For those of you that have had issues getting the sav file to load into VBA, it appears as though a recent update has made it so that the sav file is not importing correctly. There's a thread on X (Twitter) that I am tagged in, if you want to check out some solutions that worked for a couple others. Here's the link: x.com/Maxxo787/status/1801730035432206562

[@Groovyspine]

That links just brings up a person on twitter who is also asking for help lol

[@RezRatPlays]

In the most recent update (2.1.9) - I went to File -- > import --- > battery file. That allowed me to upload my SAV. file perfectly,

[@BananaR777]

From 1/8192 to 1 1/1024 using 8 screens.

[@DViper0020]

Yeah, you could say that.

[@Subcode]

Oh yeah totally just cheat, very legit. At this point just save-edit it in man. Whats the point if your not going to get it legit anyway.

[@DViper0020]

So you're saying that instead of buying this $50 product to play my old games, I should buy all of the hardware, just so I satisfy your idea of shiny hunting? Not to mention, the price of old Pokemon GBA games right now. I get that the method that I use may not be for everyone (clearly yourself), but why be a douche about something like this?

[@David-jx4gw]

​@@DViper0020you could have saved that $50 if you edited them to be shiny

[@JakeLong-f6t]

Dummies like you don't understand what cheating means lol

[@corbinmoore96]

It makes gen 3 hunting accessible. Nobody is giving themselves shinies, it’s about the journey. Willing to bet 7 months later you’re still a loser

[@pixelated.dreams]

@@corbinmoore96I hope he brought burn heal!

[@joetheartbro2859]

how do I control multiple emulators at once?

[@Midnightcity67]

I found it guys . Go to Options - input and make sure “ Allow keyboard background Input “ check while you open new windows , for Pokémon

[@nashdrew2965]

​@@Midnightcity67how can i open multiple emulator tabs?

[@AshRektum]

need help from scratch. nothing in this video is being shown on my gb operator. I do not have the option to download anything and I'm getting insanely frustrated. it should not be this hard. please help, I want to shiny hunt treecko in sapphire

[@AshRektum]

???

[@jamesbauer8336]

what game you tryna get to work?

[@AshRektum]

@@jamesbauer8336 pokemon Sapphire. I want to shiny hunt treecko on multiple screens but can't get it to work like this guy is

[@Ls_corvette]

@@AshRektumyou’re probably better off just using the fast forward method then

[@AshRektum]

@@Ls_corvette no thank you. i want to hunt on multiple screens

[@jarcooostwaard1777]

What version of vba did you use?