This is going to be a thread for information on general Rom hacking, guides on hacking, and tools for hacking. If you would like help with anything or would like anything added please post it bellow. If I am missing something please post it bellow.

Current mods of this forum, if I ever go inactive any someone wants something added feel free to edit this thread. Just make sure the users has correct info.

Please don't post in my other tutorials. Post all of your questions here in this thread. This is to keep track of all of the questions so I can answer them easier.

Table of contents (press Control F on your computer then type whats in brackets to jump to a section)
1. Rom hacking FAQ's
A. What is Rom Hacking?[1A]
B. How do you hack a Rom? [1B]
C. Where do you find roms? [1C]
D. Is this legal? [1D]
E. I finished my hack. What do I do? [1E]
F. Tips [1F]

2. Rom Hacking Guides [2RHG] Coming Soon!
3. Tools for Hacking [3TFH] Coming Soon!

4. Pokemon Rom Hacking [4PRH]
A. Mapping [4A]
B. Graphics [4B]
C. Music [4C]
D. scripts [4D]
E. Toolbox [4T]


1A What is Rom Hacking? [1A]

Rom hacking is when you change, edit, or modify a game Rom in any way. This includes changing the graphics, music, or events in the game.

1B How do you Hack a Rom? [1B]

I've gotten asked this a lot of times. It's pretty self explanatory. You'll need to download a Rom of the game you want to download, an emulator to play the game, and download the tools you'll need to hack the Rom. There isn't anything else to it. The only hard part of Rom hacking is finding the right hacking tools and learning how to use them. If you can't figure out how to get roms or how to use emulators you should either get help or quit right now. If you can't do this you most likely wont be able to hack a Rom.

1C Where do you find roms? [1C]

You can either find roms on www.get-your-rom.com or you can use Google to find the roms. You will need to get the correct Rom if you want to hack a certain game. Be sure to get a "perfect" copy of the game and preferably the English version. You'll need the North America version so everyone on vizzed will understand it. (it will be in English) If you want to hack a Rom from another region you'll have to look a little more. Remember most users of vizzed wont play it because they wont understand it.

1D. Is this legal? [1D]

Rom hacking is in the gray area. Emulators and Hacking tools are completely legal, but roms aren't. It is only legal too download roms if you will delete it in 24 hours. To keep them on your computer for longer you have to rip the games from the cartage yourself. Just google it. We can't do anything to stop you from illegally downloading the roms. If you do however, you might get into legal troubles. Now it's nearly impossible to make a big hack in 24 hours. You can use something called an IPS Patch to solve this. More info on ips patches in the next section.

1E. I finished my hack. What do I do? [1E]

There are plenty of things to do. You should upload it to a file sharing site, ask tRIUNE, or the current rgr staff manager, to add it to the rgr, and share it with the rest of the world!

To upload your hack must first turn it into an ips patch. An ips patch is a legal copy of the hack. As stated above, it's illegal for you to distribute the roms and it's illegal to keep the Rom on your computer unless you follow one of the requirements. It keeps the data of the changes you made to the Rom, but it isn't the actual Rom. This way you can keep the data and not the Rom! You can turn the game into an ips patch by using a program called Lunar IPS.

http://fusoya.eludevisibility.org/lips/

Remember, you might not completely understand this if you don't have the program open.

To turn a Rom into an ips patch you'll need Lunar IPS, an UNMODIFIED copy of the game, and your hack. First you open up Lunar IPS and you should get something like this:



To create an IPS patch click on create ips patch. Then select the unmodified file, then the modified file, then the location of the ips patch. To apply an ips patch select apply patch from the screenshot above, then select the ips file, then the original game, and finally the location of the created file. You can apply more than one ips patch to a rom, but some together might mess up the game. If you are going to do this back up your rom.

So basically if you create an ips patch you are creating a file that stores every single change that you made to the game. If you apply an ips patch you are turning a clean copy of the game into the hacked version you made before.

Second you should add the patch to a file sharing site. sendspace.com is nice. Be sure to put the download link in a safe spot!

Third you should add your hack to other websites so others can enjoy and comment on it. Just Google Rom hacking forums and see if you can add your hack there. If you want to keep the games exclusive to vizzed then don't worry about this.


1F Tips [1F]

- Back up your ips patch. The worst thing to ever happen is losing all of your work. You can avoid this by backing up your Rom to a flash drive or by uploading it to a file sharing site. Don't risk losing weeks of work by being lazy.

- Test out your hack! You should always go through your hack to make sure there aren't any glitches. You don't want to make a hack with lots of glitches. Then people will hate it and rate it low. If you don't want to test it out yourself you can always hire some beta testers. You can offer Viz or something else as a reward. It will be worth it in the end.

- Stay organised. If you organize your programs, roms, and patches then it will be easier to start hacking and to find what you need.

- Form a hacking team. Hacking is very time consuming to do by yourself. Unless you are an expert on hacking I suggest getting some help. You can always make a thread for this.

- If anyone else has some tips feel free to post it bellow or pm me about it.



2. Rom Hacking Guides [2RHG] Coming Soon!

3. Tools for Hacking [3TFH] Coming soon!

4A. Mapping [4A]

This topic is long so please refer to this thread:
https://www.vizzed.com/boards/thread.php?id=60390

4B. Graphics [4B]

This topic is long so please refer to this thread:
https://www.vizzed.com/boards/thread.php?id=61852

4C. Music [4C]

This topic is long so please refer to this thread:
https://www.vizzed.com/boards/thread.php?id=60625

4D. scripts [4D]

This topic is long so please refer to this thread:
https://www.vizzed.com/boards/thread.php?id=60655

A guide by locksmith Army on how to add the vizzed logo. I explain how to change the whole title screen in my graphics thread, but this is simpler.
https://www.vizzed.com/boards/thread.php?id=68718
4E. Toolbox [4E]

This section will show various programs that are useful when hacking gba Pokemon games.

Advance IntroEd

This program lets you edit the intro in gba pokemon games. Download it here. (Direct link)

Advance Map 1.92

A tile editor by HackMew that works on all gba Pokemon games. I like to use this version for scripting. You can use this for mapping, but there are a few mapping related things that I couldn't figure out how to do in this version.

Advance map 1.95

A tile editor by HackMew. This works on all gba games. I like to use this version for mapping and changing wild pokemon. DO NOT use this for scripting.

Advance Pallet Editor

A pallet editor by HackMew. Works on every gba rom.

Advance Series

A handy download. Includes a pokemon icon editor, a sprite position editor, and a pokemon sprite editor. These only work on Fire Red, Ruby, and Emerald. Download it here. (direct download link)

Advance Starter

A tool by HackMew that lets you change the starter Pokemon. This can easily be done using Advance Map and a script editor, but this makes it a little easier.

A-Tack

Attack Editor Advance. This will edit the attacks of pokemon. For an explanation of what each value does go here.

Advance Text

This program changes all of the text in your game. It's very helpful for changing the intro. I wouldn't suggest using this as your primary text editor because it is very buggy and can mess up your rom. Always back up your rom if you plan on using this. This program is not malicious even thought your antivirus might say it is.

Now the ini files (ini files are like settings for the program) aren't complete so they can't edit everything in the game. There aren't any complete ini files unless someone made one and didn't share it with anyone. You can edit the ini files so they will edit what you want. It's just time consuming to do a whole lot and that's why nobody made any complete ones yet.

To do this press the search button. Then type in the text you want to edit. Then press search. Now the text should appear on the right side. Click write to ini, name i, then press add to ini. Now the ini will be updated so you can edit the text .

Advance Trainer

Yes another tool by HackMew. This lets you edit all of the trainers in gba Pokemon games. You will probably need to use this with Free Space Finder. Some people have said this has a virus so be careful if you download it. If you don't want to download this try trainer editor.?

AnimEditor

This program lets you edit animations in the game. I haveen't figured out how to use it though.

Anvil Studio

This is a tool that lets you edit midi files. This will be helpful if you want to compose or edit music that you will put in the game. I haven't tried it out so if you are having problems then I can't help you.

Battle script Pro

This program lets you edit scripts that happen in battles. It's difficult for me to explain so look here.

Egg Move Editor

A tool that lets you change egg moves.

Free Space Finder

A program by HackMew *gasp* which finds free space in your rom. This is very useful when editing graphics, trainers, or even scripts.

GIMP

An image manipulation tool that is comparable to Photoshop. Best of all it's free!

Irfan View

This tool lets you edit images. It's useful when editing sprites and title screens.

Item Image Editor

This program locates the offsets of the item images and the item pallets. You should use this with unLZ-GBA and an imgae editing tool.

Item Manager

This program lets you edit items. This also lets you change the price of items so you can use this and a script editor instead of Advance Mart. For a tutorial on how to insert items go here.

Lunar IPS?

A patching program. It's very simple and easy to use.

Midi to MP3 converter

This actually isn't a program it's a website. This is helpful if you ripped some music and want it to be in a mp3 format.

MP3 to Midi Converter

This will show you how to convert MP3 files to Midi. I haven't tried it, but it seems like it will work. .

Mid2gba

A program that will convert midi files to .S files. Use with Sappy.

Misc. Editor

This is a really cool program. It let you edit a few things like running indoors.

Move Editor

A tool that lets you edit moves.

Nameless Sprite Editor 2.1

A sprite editor for pokemon games. Works best on Fire Red and Ruby, and but also works on Leaf Green Sapphire, and Emerald.

Nameless Sprite Editor 1.75

I'm not sure what the difference is between this and overworld editor is. Download it here. (direct link)

NTME

I'm not really sure how to explain this. You'll need it when changing the title screens of Pokemon games.

Overworld Editor

A very handy program by HackMew. This lets you change the over world sprites.

PET Trainer Editor

This isn't as good as Advance Trainer, but if advance trainer doesn't work for you then this is your alternative.

PKSV

My preferred script editor. This is equivalent to XSE, but this program has a script generator that will make the scripts for you.

PokeCommunity

This isn't a download it's a website. It's full of tutorials, tools, and they have a lot of users who are willing to help you with your hack. If no one on vizzed can help you you should go there. If you do sign up be sure to follow their rules!

Pokedex Order Editor

This changes the order of the pokedex. I tried this on Leaf Green, but it only seems to work on Fire Red.

Rom Header Editor Advance

A program by HackMew that lets you edit the header of the rom. This tool isn't necessary, but it is fun knowing that you can change some of these things.

Sappy

A useful tool for editing music in gba games. You will need ".S" files to insert into the game. Use mid2gba to convert midi files to .S files. Don't use the Sappy from this version. Only use the midi2gba in this download. Use the sappy bellow.

Sappy 1.7

This is the Sappy program that works. The one above includes midi2gba. Tat's the only reason you need it.

Shinyzer

A program by HackMew. This creates a script that when you step on it the next Pokemon you find will be a shiny. This video helps a lot.

Start Map Chooser

A program by Hack Mew. This lets you change the starting map, position on the map (FR and LG), and position when you get off of the truck (R, S and E)

Sound-Based Move Editor

A tool that lets you insert and remove sound based moves.

Trainer Editor

This program edits trainers like Advance Trainer. For some reason advance trainer doesn't work for me so if it doesn't work for you try this.

Type Resistances Editor

A tool that lets you change the type resistances.

unLZ-GBA

A very helpful program when changing graphics. If other image editors don't work try this.

Visual Boy advance

A Game Boy Advance emulator. This emulator works great and has a lot of features in it. I suggest using it.

XSE (eXtreme script Editor)

A script editor preferred by many rom hackers. I personally like PKSV better, but if you want you can try this out also. By HackMew.

YAPE

This is a really simple and useful program. It changes the stats of your pokemon, moves it learns, EVs, TMs/HMs, and more!

earthwarrior :   I have a question about which ROM to download. This is from get my rom.com. It is of Pokémon emerald. I can't post the pic so could you look at it? I need to know which one to download.
And, second, I don't want to get into legal issues, so can I download the ROM onto a flashdrive, then make it into an IPS Patch and delete the game? Or does the game just turn into the IPS patch so I won't have to delete anything?

Barathemos : If get your rom is too confusing just use cool rom. 

earthwarrior :   No, but I have a leaf green. If I want to download leafgreen from coolrom.com, do I click the thing that says
Under the one that says download now. And, how big is it?

Download Now

OR

Add to Queue

Barathemos : Whu do you keep summoning me to my own thread? 

I tried using unLZ-GBA to edit the in battle sprites of trainers. I used this tutorial like you gave meurl]http://www.pokecommunity.com/showthread.php?t=259614[/url] But I can't get it to index correctly. Do you know if it works on Windows 7? And if it does, do you have any idea what I could be doing wrong? I've done it plenty of times.

patar4097 : Try going in my graphics tutorial and use my method to index an image. (It's somewhere in the first section) Yeah it works in windows 7. 

So I'm using PKSV and Advance Map 1.9.2. But none of the scripts I try to edit with the script Generator really works. Although I see the script when it's done, it seems like it isn't really saved. When I look up again in Advance Map I see that the script is not edited. I followed all the steps of Pokémon scripting Guide.
Any advice? Thanks in advance.

earthwarrior : This is a pretty good guide. And I'm wondering how I can make a Super Mario World ROM Hack. I'm sure I need Lunar magic, but then what do I do?

RocketLeader : Do the scripts I explained in my quide work? Can you post the script(s) that don't work here. 

earthwarrior : Sorry, I know where the mistake was. I forgot to paste the new script Offset
You could maybe mention that in the section "Editing scripts" too and not only in "Inserting scripts"
Thanks btw for the great guide!

patar4097 : Did it work? If you didn't try it yet can you please let me know when you do. (I need to make sure my information is correct) 

In the graphics section when you explain how to edit the screen title logo im confused. When you say " If you are using photoshop click save BG, and save it as a .act file. If you are using GIMP you have to keep gimp and VBA open at the same time." What does that mean for the GIMP? how do i get the file onto GIMP? Do i save it the same way as for photoshop or what? I'm confused about everything after that as well. 

jaws123 : In GIMP you have to change every single color to the colors in VBA. Yes you have to change 256 colors. There isn't a way to simply insert a new color table. That's why I said you should use a trial of photoshop. Keep VBA and GIMP open side by side then change the color table in gimp to the colors in VBA. You have to try it yourself to fully understand.
Did this help any?

earthwarrior : Yes you cleared it up thanks, but does this mean you dont use unLZ-GBA if you have GIMP?

jaws123 : You have to use both still. You get a choice between GIMP and Photoshop, but you have to use unLZ-GBA.

earthwarrior : okay i think i get it now. Thanks a bunch but i have one more question. Do you know how to get rid of Run time error 13 type mismatch? I get that everytime i try to save a change on a couple of my programs. 

jaws123 : I know the solution with APE. What programs aren't working right? 

Umm, I'm probably gonna feel pretty stupid for asking this, but for some reason, when I downloaded VBA and Pokemon Emerald and tried playing it, all I get is a white screen. It says things like Battery Loaded, and when I reset it it says reset, but nothing like the game ever shows up. Why is that?

epicpokenerd! : I'm not sure. Are you clicking "Open" or "Open Gameboy"? What website are you getting the rom from?