Welcome, Aspiring Hackers
This is TamashiiHiroka's Hacking FAQ. If you have a question about hacking, please be resourceful and see if the answer is already here. If you absolutely cannot find it here, tough, odds are I don't know the answer anyway. I will try to be as clear as I can with my answers, starting from the very basics to more advanced things. Thank you for taking the time to read this before you begin looking for your question.
Oh, and just in case you've stumbled on this FAQ by accident, it's for Pokemon ROM hacking only, not any other type of hacking. Sorry.
Edit: I really cannot stress this enough, if what you're looking for is not here, I DO NOT KNOW IT. Please don't complain that your question isn't answered. This is all I know, and all I could answer if I tried.
The Basics
Question: How do you hack?
Answer: To hack a Pokemon game, it requires a GameBoy Advance Emulator, a ROM of the game you want to hack, several programs designed for hacking a different aspect of the game, and the knowledge of how to use each program to get your desired result.
Q: What are Emulators and ROMs?
A: Emulators are to gaming systems as ROMs are to games. An emulator is a program that acts as a GameBoy. When a ROM, or game, is opened in an emulator, it allows you to play the game.
Q: Which programs do you need to hack a ROM?
A: I personally use several different programs. A few examples would be:
Visual Boy Advance - a GameBoy Advance emulator
Advance Mart - a Pokemart and item editor
Advance Text - a text editor
A-Tak - an attack editor
Advance Map - a map editor
Advance Start - a starter Pokemon editor
OverworldEditorRE - an overworld sprite editor
PokeTronic - a Pokemon name/event/etc. editor
unLZ.GBA - an image editor
BattleEditor - a trainer editor
There are probably more programs out there, those are just the ones I have used.
Q: Can you send me a program/emulator/ROM/hack?
A: No.
Q: Where can I download the program/emulator/ROM/hack?
A: As far as programs go, the only website I know of that has them available for download is http://wah.studiopokemon.com/herramientas/herramientas.php Unfortunately, this site is entirely in Spanish, and seems to have quite a few pop ups.
NO, I DO NOT KNOW OF A SITE IN ENGLISH THAT HOSTS THEM. PLEASE STOP ASKING!
As for an emulator, http://vba.ngemu.com/downloads.shtml is where you can find Visual Boy Advance. I'm not sure about which version to pick. The one I use is 1.6a
ROMs aren't hard to find. There are several sites that host them, its just a matter of picking one you like. http://romhustler.net/ is where I get most of mine. Just find the GameBoy Advance link on the sidebar and click P on the alphabetical list to find the Pokemon ones. There are a lot of hacked ROMs in there too, so be careful about picking which one to download. Ones marked with [U] are usually the ones in English.
And lastly, my hacks. I don't have them anywhere available for download. That was easy to answer ^^
Q: I downloaded a program/ROM but it's in a zipped folder. How can I unzip it?
A: Windows comes with a program called WinZip, which can be used to unzip most zipped folders. Just right click on the folder and choose "unzip" from the options. WinZip is pretty self-explainitory, I'm sure you can figure out how to use it.
However, some zipped folders are WinRAR archives, which need to be extracted using the program WinRAR, which can be downloaded here: http://www.rarlab.com/rar/wrar342.exe To extract using WinRAR, just open the archive and click the extract icon from the top tool bar. Then choose where you want to save the files and click okay.
Q: How do you use [insert name of program here]
A: I've made several tutorial videos, which seem to be overall ignored. Here are the links to them:
Video for Advance Map: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCDkIjdjKt4
Video for Advance Text: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bh8WxcnROw
Video for Advance Mart: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSX4-nlS8CA
Video for A-Tak: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5Dm2tdr65w
Video for OverworldEditor RE: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6ErH6rzQtc
Video for Advance Start: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dd5yG_hah60
Video for unLZ.GBA: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8d34BWcmEY
I have revamped and remade every single one of these videos to be as informative as possible. If these videos don't explain something about how to use a program, I probably don't know how to do it. These videos include absolutely everything I know about how to use each of these programs.
Q: How do you hack scripts?
A: I don't know.
Q: How do you make an entirely custom tileset or edit existing tilesets?
A: I don't know.
Q: In videos, you sometimes have a character seemingly talking to thin air. How do you do this?
A: Instead of talking to a character, I have my character speak to a signpost, like the signs in town, just with no sign tile under it.
Q: How do you record hacks using Visual Boy Advance?
A: Once you're at the point in your game when you want to start recording, click the Tools tab and go down to "Start AVI Recording". Then choose where you want to save it, and choose "Uncompressed" as your compression type. Then when you're done recording, go to the Tools tab again and click "Stop AVI Recording". There you go, your hack is recorded. Theres a slight issue with the sound getting out of sync, but the only way to fix it that I know of is to mute the sound on the emulator and then record without sound. The video will probably be too big to upload to YouTube, so try saving it in Windows Movie Maker or some other editing program before you try to upload it.
Edit: There is an updated version of VBA made specifically for recording. If you use that version the sound does not desync. The name of this version is "1.7.2 re-recording v20.0".
Q: Can you hack on an actual GameBoy with an actual game cartridge?
A: Nope. ROM hacking is ROM hacking. Not cart hacking.
Q: How can I hack with Action Replay/GameShark/other?
A: Simple, you can't. You can cheat, giving yourself infinite rare candies, etc. But thats not hacking.
Q: Is hacking illegal?
A: As far as I know, it isn't as long as you've paid for a game cartridge of the ROM you're hacking. But it never hurts to use a pseudonym if you plan on posting your hacks anywhere.
Q: Do these programs work on every Pokemon game?
A: Most programs will work with Fire Red, Leaf Green, Emerald, Ruby and Sapphire. Some will only work with one of the above or a few of the above but not all. From what I've learned, Ruby and Sapphire are compatible with the most programs compared to the others. Thats probably because they've been around the longest. But yeah, I recommend hacking either one of those.
Q: Can you hack DS games too? Like Diamond and Pearl?
A: I heard a rumor that hacking programs are in the works for Diamond and Pearl, and I saw on the site I gave as a link for the programs that there was also a page for DS hacking tools, but I have never actually seen or taken part in a DS game hack.
Q: It's not called "hacking"! It's called "modding" or "editing" or etc.
A: Whats in a name? A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.
Troubleshooting
Question: I'm having trouble getting Visual Boy Advance to load a ROM.
Answer: If you can't load the ROM at all, odds are you have a bad version of VBA. If you can load the ROM but it only loads a white screen, you have a corrupted, or bad ROM and you need to download another one. ROMs can become corrupted during the hacking process too, so its good to have back up copies of a ROM you've worked hard on in case one corrupts.
Q: A program won't open, I only get an error message. ("cannot find index", "INI error", or other)
A: I don't know how to help you there, but its possible you downloaded the program from a site that wasn't hosting the whole thing, so you've only gotten a part of the program. Make sure you have all the sub folders and INI files that come with the program. If all you have is just the icon for the program its probably incomplete.
Q: In Advance Text, it asks me to create an INI file, so I do, but nothing happens.
A: All that does is make it so you can search for the text in the game to edit. Click the search icon, then type in a bit of text from in the game. Then click "Add to INI" and name the INI and the section of the text however you want to. Then save it, and close the search window. There should be a new INI in the list and your text listed under it.
Q: Advance Map is in German! I don't understand it!
A: The first time you open it, there should be a language setting. Choose English. On the side bar, under INI the map names will still be in German, but you can find their english names under Header.
Questions About YOUR Videos
Question: May I use your character in one of my hacks?
Answer: I would prefer it if you don't.
Q: Could I use one of your plots in my hacks?
A: That would be pladgerism, so no.
Q: Could you watch or tell me what you think of my hacks?
A: I don't really like watching hacking videos, sorry.
Q: I want to put you in the credits of my videos for helping me hack!
A: That's fine, but please make sure it's clear I did not personally help you, and that you received help from my tutorial videos or this FAQ. It's nothing personal, I just don't want people thinking I give out one-on-one help.
Questions About MY Videos
Question: Could you tell me the name of the song you used in your video?
Answer: Usually the names of the songs are in the credits at the end of the video. If they aren't, try reading some of the comments other people have left on it to see if your question has already been answered.
Q:Can you send me a song or tell me where to get it?
A: Send one to you? No. As for where to get them, try looking for a YouTube video of the song you want and then using http://zamzar.com/ or http://vixy.net/ to turn the video into an MP3.
Q: I don't understand what happened in one of your videos.
A: My hacks tend to be inconsistent and make little sense. If you can enjoy them without understanding them then I've done my job. Keep in mind, not all of what is up there contains the entire story. I've removed many videos from the past that contained bits and pieces of plot. Also, I made these videos over a span of three years, so I do forget things and confuse things quite a bit.
Q: Do you know/are you friends with [insert name of YouTuber here]
A: Why you care, I don't know, but if you want to know who I'm friends with check my friends list here: http://youtube.com/profile_friends?user=TamashiiHiroka I do not accept random friend invitations, so if you sent me one and I didn't accept it, thats why.
Q: Why do you use such weird music in your videos and what do they have to do with the actual hack?
A: In my more recent videos I've been trying to pick music that better suited the hack, but in some of my older videos, like from two to three years ago, I just use random Japanese songs. Why I did that? I don't remember. I seemed to be in some kind of Wapanese phase back then, hence the pen name "Tamashii Hiroka".
Q: Can I help you hack?
A: I don't need help, thanks.
Q: Can you make a hack like this or that or use my idea in one of your hacks?
A: I like coming up with my own ideas, sorry.
Q: Can you do a walkthrough of this game for me?
A: If there is a game you would like to see me play through, request it to my alternate account, HirokaTamashii.
Q: You didn't really hack! You just used video editing to trick us!
A: It would be more impressive if I had used fancy editing to make it seem like I hacked than if I had actually hacked, since it takes more skill to edit videos than it does to hack. Sadly, I'm just a lowly hacker and not a genius video editor.
Q: Why does the text move so fast in your videos?
A: Cause I am impatient and a fast reader, and I don't stop to think that maybe most of my viewers aren't done reading yet. I've been trying to scroll more slowly recently, but I still get complaints about that.
Q: When is your next hack coming?
A: At this point in time, I am pretty much done hacking. I may make a new hack every now and then, but my main series has ended.
Q: You made a misspelling/mistake/inconsistency in one of your videos.
A: I am a terrible speller. Always have been. Also, believe it or not I am NOT an expert hacker. I make more mistakes than most of you probably do. As for the inconsistencies, I change what I'm going to do with my hacks half way through a lot of the time, so half of it is based around one plot and half is based on another. A classic example would be my mentioning some sort of "stalker" in The Hack 4, only to have nothing materialize of it ever.
Q: What happened to "The Hack 5", or another video I liked that isn't up anymore?
A: As of January 2009, YouTube did a massive clearing out of copyrighted videos. A lot of my videos, such as The Hack 5 contained copyrighted music, and were removed. I do not plan to re-upload them, but its a shame you can't enjoy them anymore.
Q: What was the plot of "The Hack 5" for those of us who missed it?
A: Toaster was introduced as Tamashiis friend, who proceeded to use magic powers on her GameCube and unleash video game characters from their games. Tamashii, Brendan, Toaster and Andrea go around trapping all of the escaped characters to bring to Pikachu to release into the cosmos as a star, Katamari-style. Meanwhile, the evil nerd from The Hack 4 was plotting to use the legendary dogs, Entei, Suicune and Raikou to take over the world, but he was quickly put down and his father, the old man from the first The Hack sent him to a mental institution.
Q: Who is Mileseeveeprower and why is she always in the credits of your hacks?
A: Eevee, or Mileseeveeprower is a popular Sonic video maker on YouTube, and also great at hacking. She helps me with things even I don't know how to do, and makes awesome funny animations for me to edit into my videos. She usually has a big hand in the creation of my videos, so it's only natural for her to get a spot or two in the credits.
Eevee's YouTube profile: http://youtube.com/user/mileseeveeprower
Q: Could you make a birthday hack for me or put me in one of your hacks?
A: Do you always go around asking people to give you presents? How rude. As for the putting you in my hack thing, if I put you in I'd have to put everyone in who asks, and I simply cannot have that many characters.
Q: How did your videos become so popular?
A: I've been on YouTube for over three years, thats a lot of time to acquire views and subs. Not to mention when I first joined, there were very few Pokemon hackers uploading videos. Now they seem to be a dime a dozen, so it's difficult to make a new hack become popular.
Q: Can you make a guide showing us how to hack?
A: ...Why are you even here?
Q: Why did you end your hack series?
A: I don't seem to have much time for hacking anymore, so I felt I should end it while I still had time to. It wouldn't be fair to leave fans hanging for months at a time like I have been doing.
Q: Will you make any more hacks?
A: I may still make "The Hack Special" hacks, but I don't plan on starting another hack series.
Q: When/why/how did you start hacking?
A: Back in the day (three years ago), before Diamond and Pearl came out, I was getting pretty bored with just replaying the same old Pokemon games over and over. I was determined to make my own. I can't really recall how I met him, but a friend of mine, MaxieDaMan, got me started and sent me what I needed, helped me out with how to use the programs, etc. When making my own game proved too difficult (I really just didn't have the patience), I just started making videos. And voila, "The Hack" was born.