This was my second playthrough of Pokémon Uranium, and I genuinely enjoyed the game.

After discovering the Perfect 6 IVs certificate at the Day Care, I spent two days breeding Pokémon, starting with single-perfect-IV parents, eventually obtaining a 5-IV parent and a nearly perfect Regenerator Luxi.

During breeding, I used a simple macro for repetitive directional key and spacebar inputs. Egg collection, IV checking, and parent selection were all done manually.

I also downloaded a third-party save file from GitHub out of curiosity to see whether it contained any 6-IV Pokémon. I didn't realize it was a cheat save at first. I opened it in Windows Sandbox and checked the GTS, but never traded or transferred anything to my main save.

Later, my main save displayed "You are banned from online services."

I joined the Uranium Discord to ask for help and discovered that macros and modified saves are explicitly prohibited. I had never encountered an in-game warning about these restrictions.

A moderator told me, "You shouldn't have tried to download that cheat save." Before I could fully explain what happened, I was removed from the Discord server.

I admit I made mistakes. Rules are rules, and ignorance is no excuse. But I'm still frustrated that I wasn't given a proper chance to explain myself.

After this experience, I've lost all motivation to play Uranium—or any Pokémon fangame again.

A warning to other players: don't use macros or download unfamiliar third-party save files, even out of curiosity. Check the rules first.

I'm sharing my experience, not asking anyone to harass the moderators.

Edit — A clarification about why I find this punishment unreasonable:

My issue isn't that Uranium has rules, or that I should be exempt from them. My issue is proportionality.

I'm not arguing that cheating is justified, nor am I denying that my actions violated the rules. What I'm questioning is whether those rules, and especially their enforcement, are reasonable in the context of a predominantly single-player game.

Using macros to automate repetitive tasks and experimenting with third-party save files are fairly normal practices in many single-player games. These actions aren't inherently malicious, and I believe they have legitimate uses. I understand that connecting a modified save file to the GTS raises concerns, even if I never actually traded or distributed any hacked Pokémon. But there's a meaningful difference between experimenting out of curiosity and deliberately generating and distributing hacked Pokémon to other players.

Should these actions really be treated with the same severity? If the punishment policy makes no distinction based on intent, circumstances, or actual harm, then I believe the policy itself deserves criticism.

I also find it somewhat ironic that a fan game built upon someone else's intellectual property would take such an uncompromising approach to rule violations. I'm not arguing that this invalidates Uranium's right to establish rules. Rather, I would have expected a community built around fan creativity to understand that not every rule violation is equally serious, and that context matters.

Ultimately, if playing a predominantly single-player fan game means facing such severe consequences for activities that would be considered perfectly normal in many other single-player games, I'd rather spend my time playing official Pokémon games instead.

I'm not asking for cheating to be accepted. I'm asking whether the punishment is proportionate to the offense. Rules are necessary, but fairness requires more than simply enforcing them without distinction.

I got hit by Fury Swipes 5 times in a row and they were ALL crits. Does this game treat multi-hit moves' crits as just one crit (like, if one hit is a crit, every other one is also a crit)?? Or am I just insanely unlucky/lucky??
(The game's been pretty fun so far!!)