How To Change Time In DeSmuME

Do you remember playing the Gen 2 or Gen 3 Pokemon games for the first time? You would’ve wondered why the game would ask you to set the time.

How Time Works in the DS Pokemon Games

Let’s just focus on the games for the Nintendo DS and how time works.

On the original handheld DS system, players had to set the time and date manually. However, in many cases, once the DS connected to the internet, it would automatically sync its clock and calendar with real-world time.

This feature is unlike the old Game Boy Advance games, where the time has to be input before you start your play through.

The GBA does not have its own time setting, unlike the DS, which has the ability to connect online.

There are ways to change the DS system manually, but it comes with risks. The save file might be corrupt due to incompatibility when you tinkered with the clock.

A save file cannot have an advanced date, and suddenly you change the time to yesterday.

How Time Works for the DeSmuME Emulator

The DeSmuME emulator has no feature where you set the time. That’s because the emulator bases its time and date on your PC or computer.

If it’s 9 AM on your computer, then whatever DS Pokemon game you’re playing will be set to that.

On the other hand, if it’s 9 PM, then the game will be at night, so the movement of time in the game is slow because it is like real life.

How to Change Time in DeSmuME—Two Methods

Method 1: Changing the Time on Your Computer

Step 1: Head to Adjust Time/Date on Your PC

Step 2: Turn off Set Time Automatically

It is important to turn this off because it will keep syncing to real time based on your time zone.

Step 3: Click on Change

Step 4: Set the Time You Want

Set the time of the pc to anything you want

Just change the time you want, and you’re done.

Step 5: Reset the Computer’s Time (Optional)

When you’re done playing the game, just reset or sync the time back to real time. This is only if you have programs that run or rely on real-time outside of the DeSmuME emulator.

To reset, just set the time automatically

Method #2: Time-Changing Trick for DS Pokemon Games

There is a trick that you can do to change the time on the DeSmuME. It’s not technically changing the time, but more or less tricking the game to be at a specific time.

If you want the time to be at night, but you’re playing during the day, follow these steps to make it happen.

Step 1: Load the ROM You Want to Play

Step 2: Click on Record Movie

Once the ROM is loaded, you don’t need to load the save file yet. Click on Record Movie under File.

Step 3: Adjust the Settings

Follow the instructions for the numbers listed on the image below.

1. Put a save file name on the movie that will be recorded. This isn’t important, so just put any name that you want.

2. Under Author, just put any word you want; this isn’t important either.

3. This is the important one; set any date you want and the time that you want the game to be. Set the time to night if you want to load at night, and set it to day when you want to.

Step 4: Save, and the Game will Restart

Step 5: Load the Save File

Now that you’ve done all that, load the save file normally, and the game will be at the time of day that you want.

The rom will reset and the save file will load at the desired time — *The game loaded at 9pm (night time) as we have set it previously on Movie Record.*

Step 6: Delete the Movie File (Optional)

Once you’re done for the day, save the game and close the DeSmuME. If you want, you can delete the movie that was recorded by doing this trick.

It won’t damage anything, but you might want to keep your files clean.

Benefits of Changing the Time on the DeSmuME

This is beneficial for different DS games. Listed below are the benefits you can get:

Generation IV Games

The benefit here is that you can simply get a Pokemon depending on the time of day. The date has no benefit here, so it’s only the time.

Generation V Games

Time will also determine the type of Pokemon based on day or night. There is an added benefit where you can get a Pokemon based on the season.

The season or month can be adjusted using the same trick. If you want to have a specific season, be sure to set the date to the corresponding month.

Here are the months that will give you a specific season:

Spring – January, May, and September
Summer – February, June, and October
Autumn/Fall – March, July, and November
Winter – April, August, and December

FAQs

Are there risks of using the Record Movie feature?

The answer is no. When you use the Record Movie, the save file will load normally. Whatever you do during the recording is treated as a normal game.
After recording and saving the file, the next time you load the game, it will base the time on your PC.

Do these methods work for ROM hacks?

When the ROM hack has a time or day and night cycle, then the methods will work the same.
However, just in case, since we can’t verify all ROM hacks, some of them may or may not have a benefit when changing the time.

In Closing

Now that you know how to change time in DeSmuME, you can start catching Pokemon based on the time of day that you want.

While the process can be time-consuming, there’s no other way unless you want to use cheats.

The reason for changing the time is to get a specific Pokemon. Maybe you can use cheats if that doesn’t bother you.

Why go through all the trouble of changing time when you can just use some of the codes that we have here on Pokemoncoders? Check out our cheat lists!

How to Change Time in DeSmuME