How to Change the Nickname of a Pokémon That You Received in a Trade

Garchomp of the Funk

How to Change the Nickname of a Pokémon That You Received in a Trade (Without Pokésav)
A Guide by Garchomp . . . of the Funk


In Pokémon Diamond and Pearl, it is possible, though difficult and time-consuming, to rename any Pokémon, even a Pokémon that you did not capture yourself--or even give a name to an egg--due to a programming oversight in the game data, without the help of Pokésav.

You will need:

2 Nintendo DS’s
1 Action-Replay DS with the Walk Through Anything cheat (standard on all new ARs)
1 copy of Pokémon Diamond or Pearl with the Pokémon that you want to rename (copy 1)
1 copy of Pokémon Diamond or Pearl with an EMPTY SAVE FILE! (copy 2)



Instructions:

1. Begin a new game on copy 2 of D/P (the game with the empty save file.) Play as normal until you gain access to Route 201. Continue on Route 201 and save immediately before you enter Sandgem Town. Turn the DS off after saving is completed.

2. Use the Walk Through Anything cheat to enter Sandgem Town without being seen by Dawn/Lucas. IMPORTANT: If Dawn/Lucas sees you, then you need to turn off the game because you do not want to enter the Pokémon Lab now.

3. Buy some Pokéballs from the shop.

4. Capture any Pokémon on Route 201. Once again, do not let Dawn/Lucas see you when leaving or entering Sandgem Town.

5. Go to the Pokémon Center and trade the weak pokémon that you just caught (in copy 2) for the pokémon that you need to rename (which is in copy 1).

6. Put the pokémon that you need to rename in the FIRST SLOT of your party. If it is not in the first slot of your party, then you will end up renaming the wrong pokémon. To be safe, save the game again here and soft reset to end the effects of the Action Replay.

7. Exit the Pokémon Center and save the game. Walk on the road to Route 201 so that Dawn/Lucas sees you. DO NOT SAVE WHILE IN THE LAB!! If you did not soft reset in step 6, make sure that Dawn/Lucas walks you into the lab--if he doesn’t, the game will eventually freeze.

8. You will now enter the lab. The dialogue will continue as normal: if the pokémon that you are renaming is not of the same species as your starter, then the Professor will think that your starter evolved into it. If you are renaming an Egg, the professor will think that it is a regular pokémon and tell you what species of pokémon it is. He will ask you if you want to give it a nickname, even if its ID and OT do not match yours. Say “Yes” and name the pokémon or egg whatever you wish. Because the game does not check this pokémon’s ID and OT against yours (because, without an Action Replay, the first and only pokémon in you party at this stage will always be your own and will never be an egg), it will not object to you renaming someone else’s pokémon or even a pokémon egg.

9. Trade the renamed pokémon or egg as well as anything you caught on copy 2 that you want to keep.

10. Delete the save file on copy 2: it is unwise to continue play on a save file with events out of sequence as it may freeze if you activate an event at the wrong time.

I do not recommend that you trade the pokémon that you are renaming over wi-fi: the process will take more time because you must be able to use the wi-fi rooms in the basement of any Pokémon Center before trading.

DISCLAIMER: Because this process uses an Action Replay code, it is somewhat risky if you do not follow the directions precisely. In particular, it is vital that you do not save in the Pokémon Lab or enter it without Dawn/Lucas. Please do not blame me if your own mistake costs you the pokémon that you were trying to rename--if you want to experiment with this process, do not trade a valuable pokémon onto any game file with events completed in an impossible order.
 
whoa, how innovative man! ! !

just wondering, if you have an AR can't you just directly rename pokemon???
 
i'm quite sure there are differences in the legitimacy of the ways, or this guide would not have been posted. by legitimacy, i refer to nintendo being allegedly able to "know" when you hacked a pokemon.
 
I find it a cool idea, but two qualms:
- it does use a cheating device, so I don't really see how it is better than just using the AR to rename a Pokemon. I'm sure there's ways to make that undetectable.
- it allows you to rename other people's Pokemon, and (correct me if I'm wrong) I believe some people only like to trade you their Pokemon with their nickname on it. It may give them bonus points or an extra check against their Pokemon being cloned and redistributed, I dunno, but I've seen it happen.

For those reasons, I'd leave Dux Dux, and if I want a Farfetch'd named differently, I'd get a renamable one somehow.
 
Thank you to all for your feedback, especially Mekkah, for bringing up some central issues of why you would choose to use this method instead of a simpler cheat.

Yes, you could just use the AR to directly rename the pokémon, and possibly make it undetectable. But Smogon does have a thriving breeding community: they spend hundreds of hours creating pokémon with IV’s that are almost perfect (with many using AR cheats, like the Quick Egg Hatch cheat, to make the process faster, or exploiting the Soft Reset method mentioned in X-Act and Peterko’s Breeding Guide). Although, given a few hundred hours, you could probably figure out how to create a pokémon using Pokésav that appears completely legitimate, even to Nintendo, breeders still choose to spend their time creating pokémon using only indirect cheating methods (soft reset, Quick Egg Hatch, etc.) which do not directly accomplish the goal of the player and still require the player to put in a considerable time investment. My method is simply the least invasive way to rename pokémon because it does not temporarily alter the part of the game code that prevents me from achieving my objective (like a cheat that could remove the Name Rater’s objections to renaming foreign pokémon (and eggs) does) or use out-of-game methods (like using Pokésav would). Perhaps I should add a section to the introduction explaining this?

EDIT: For those of us who don't want to change our ingame identity (or don't have the means to find the Secret ID of a pokémon) this technique is a valid option. I do see pokémon on breeding threads that were bred by the thread owner, but on a game that has since been deleted; rather than changing their ID, OT, and Secret ID, they prefer simply to not offer renaming services.

Addressing Mekkah’s second qualm about this cheat, it can only change the nickname of a Pokémon, whereas Pokésav can probably change the nickname AND the OT of a pokémon and still have it appear legitimate to Nintendo. Because the OT is much more vital in determining who bred a pokémon than a nickname is, I do not think that my trick is terribly worrisome for breeders and the redistribution process.

However, this does give me an interesting idea (that has the potential to be somewhat useful). If the IV rater from Emerald appears in a future game and someone created a cheat to allow him to rate the IV’s of eggs, not just hatched pokémon, this could save a bit of time, especially for those who do not like to use the Quick Egg Hatch cheat.
 
You can also use AR/Pokesav to find the id/secret id of the pokemon, rename your trainer that, and then rename it the normal way. This leaves no detectable traces if done correctly.
 
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