Library

Here are some hacking FAQs, as well as tutorials, guides, charts, translations, and a few other random things, either to help you get started or just to improve your already great hacking skills (or, in the case of some of the other things, simply to entertain you). If you have created an FAQ on hacking, or a guide related to hacking or gaming, feel free to send it in. In fact, if you have anything you feel is worthy to be here, send it in. Any FAQs you send us (that you wrote) will be put up here and your name will be in the description. With that said, enjoy our collection.

A Programmed Introduction to MIPS Assembly Language by Bradley Kjell This is quite a good guide to MIPS ASM, geared toward beginners. I would highly recommend it to anyone interested in picking up the basics of MIPS assembly.

An Assembly Language Primer by David Whitman As the title implies, this is a primer on ASM. The content is a little old, but still applicable, and a good place to start.

Conversion by Lazy Bastard An FAQ on finding conversion formulas between different versions of the same game, therefore allowing you to use a code no matter which version it was made for. Also contains some useful information on hexadecimal.

Detailed Basics by Lazy Bastard An FAQ going into a bit of detail about things which don't have much detail...heheh, just read it.

Hexadecimal by Lazy Bastard An FAQ explaining the basics of hexadecimal, otherwise known as hex, with explanations for some things that even many hackers don't understand. Contains pretty useful info for anyone who wants to be a VG hacker.

IDT MIPS Guide by Integrated Device Technology, Inc. This software developer's guide provides an introduction and design overview as well as more detailed descriptions for the IDT product families R3000-R5000. As these include R3000 (PSX) and R5900L (PS2), this may prove a useful reference for those interested in the CPU architecture of these two Sony systems.

Numeric Systems, Units of Data, and Little-Endian Addressing by Lazy Bastard A guide concerning common numeric systems, data units, and the concept of little-endian addressing, all of which are extremely important for the beginning hacker.

Secrets of Professional GameShark Hacking, The by Parasyte, Macrox, Tolos, DGenerateKane, HyperHacker, Viper187, Kenobi, various (see document) A rather large document describing hacking techniques for various systems.

Simple Mathematics by Lazy Bastard An FAQ detailing the importance of mathematics in VG hacking, with examples.

Sprite Control by Lazy Bastard An FAQ on hacking for a sprite control mod.

Creating your own unencrypted Codebreaker codes by Sapharrad A great reference for beginning GBA hackers. Keep in mind that CBA codes can generally be converted to the other formats, so don't despair if you have a GS or an AR. Check it out.

Approach to RPGs by GMO A guide to hacking for RPGs on the Wii.

Button Activator Values by GMO A list of values for button activators on the Wii.

Enter Wii Hacking by masterwriter42 A guide to get you started in Wii hacking, detailing what you'll need to begin delving into that world. This text doesn't describe how to hack, but how to get set up, where to go to find applications and further information, and the idea behind methods of booting homebrew, etc.

Function Calls, Arguments, and Walking the Stack by dcx2 An academic discussion of how to "walk the stack" (using WiiRD).

Hacking Button Activators by GMO A guide to hacking button activators for the Wii.

Hacking Invincible Codes by GMO A guide to hacking invincibility codes for the Wii.

How to Hack ASM for Emulated Games by Skiller A guide to hacking ASM codes for emulated (VC) games on the Wii.

How to Toggle On/Off In-Game Extras by GMO A guide to hacking codes that allow you to toggle on or off in-game extras.

Simple ASM Codes by Romaap A guide (with images) to hacking simple ASM codes with WiiRD. Quite nice.

Technical Cheat Code Type Document by kenobi, Nuke, Link, brkirch! A list and description of WiiRD code types; an essential document for Wii hackers and code users alike.

Wii Hacking 101 by dexter0 An intro to Wii hacking with WiiRD and the USB Gecko.

Wii Hacking Example 1 by dexter0 The first of two Wii hacking examples. These are fairly in-depth, and should prove a good reference for beginners.

Wii Hacking Example 2 by dexter0 The second of two Wii hacking examples. These are fairly in-depth, and should prove a good reference for beginners.

Wii Joker Value Generator by GMO (based on kpdavatar's Joker Generator) A value generator for Wii joker (button activator) codes.

WiiRD Code Types by onitsuka chihiro A list of WiiRD code types, specifically in comparison to those of the old Gecko OS code types.

Animal Crossing Action Replay Town Editing Guide by bowsersenemy A guide as to how to hack towns in the GameCube game Animal Crossing.

A Beginner's Guide to MIPS by Team CMP A basic guide to MIPS r5900l.

Basic Code Hacking by Team CMP An FAQ concerning the basics of PS2 hacking, utilizing PS2Dis.

Boolean Values In PS2 Games by Dark Killer A guide to modifying boolean values in PS2 games.

Code Hacking Examples by Team CMP A collection of PS2 hacking examples, step by step.

Enable Codes by Team CMP A guide to enable codes for the PS2.

Gamasutra's Benefits of A Micro-programmable Graphics Architecture by Dominic Mallinson Straight from the horse's mouth: "During this session, I want to examine the benefits of a micro-programmable graphics architecture. I will consider the graphics pipeline and where hardware and software techniques can be applied. After looking at the pros and cons of hardwired hardware vs. CPU vs. micro-coded coprocessors, I will discuss procedural vs. explicit descriptions. Finally, I hope to demonstrate some of the principles by showing examples on a specific micro-programmable graphics system; Playstation 2."

Hacking Values by Team CMP A guide to finding good values to use with codes.

How to Use Float Values by Wags A guide on using float values...heh.

Hypermode by Nach Brenner, iN tHE mIND..., Codemaster-Project, CMX, Crash Test Dummies (CTD) A guide to hacking speed mods.

Lists and Pointers by Team CMP A guide to lists and pointers in PS2Dis.

MIPS Instruction Reference by ? A list of MIPS Instructions, applicable to the r5900l (PS2 EE).

MIPS IV Instruction Set by Charles Price An instruction set for MIPS IV, the ISA used in, among other processors, the PS2 CPU (Emotion Engine).

PS2 Hacking With PS2Dis by 1Up A pretty useful FAQ on PS2 hacking...I'm surprised I've never seen this before.

PS2 Opcodes by Unknown A list of opcodes for the PS2.

PS2 SysCalls by kvaks.com, Florin Sasu A list of system calls for the EE (Emotion Engine; the primary processor on the PS2).

Slow Motion by misfire A brief description of hacking for slow motion codes.

Advanced Explorer Codes by Nachbrenner(?) An FAQ I recently came across that deals with Xplorer/Xploder code types. Its relevance to someone with a GS is that it includes a basic explanation of what you can use between a GS and an Xplorer, and Visa Versa. This is also valid for the Code Breaker psx. The conversion to/from GS is not quite correct...

Debug Rooms by Ace An FAQ on hacking for debug rooms in PSX games.

DopeRPGHack by King Edgar 0 and Heh[]heh A good RPG hacking FAQ that covers everything all the way down to nachos, and they took it upon themselves to make it entertaining as well as useful.

FF7 In-Town Graphic Mod Project by Lazy Bastard, LiquidManZero Another fairly in-depth project, this time on the inner workings (what other kind of workings would we be concerned with?) of the FF7 in-town graphic/sprite system.

FF7 Spell Mod Stuff by KingEdgar0 Some things KE wrote briefly about Final Fantasy VII's spell system, a long time ago...more a piece of reference than an FAQ.

FF7 Ultimate Weapon Project by Lazy Bastard Originally a response to a code request, this became a fairly in-depth hacking project involving world map sprites.

GSCCCJokers by Code Master An FAQ on hacking for joker commands.

GSCCCTypes by Code Master An FAQ on the different code types.

GSCCCWTW by Code Master An FAQ on hacking for a walk-through-walls code.

MemEditor by Lazy Bastard An FAQ for the GSPro's Memory Editor function. Even absolute newbies should have little trouble understanding it, assuming they've read the other GSHI hacking FAQs.

ssj4Guide by ssj4vejita A good FAQ that deals with all the basics on a simple level that everyone can understand. I would recommend this one to beginners especially.

Text Mods by Denny Lubins An FAQ on hacking for text mods.

Everything You Have Always Wanted to Know about the Playstation But Were Afraid to Ask by Joshua Walker A great guide of the PSX, groundup. There's a lot of detail about the inner workings of the system here, some of it perhaps a bit too esoteric...still, a great read for everyone.

Everything You Have Always Wanted to Know about the Playstation But Were Afraid to Ask (PDF) by Joshua Walker Same as the other one, but in PDF format.

PSX PIO Pinout by bITmASTER A single page pdf showing what the pins on the PSX parallel port do and go to.

PSX-Register (html) by bITmASTER A file containing some info about PSX SPU registers. It's partly in German, but that shouldn't be too big of a problem. This is an html version, in case you don't want to mess with pdf files.

PSX-Register (pdf) by bITmASTER A file containing some info about PSX SPU registers. It's partly in German, but that shouldn't be too big of a problem.

CDXBoot by SephiRon An FAQ about using your CDX as a boot CD. A must-read for those with a CDX looking to play imports and...ahem...

SH-4 CPU Core Architecture by STMicroelectronics & Hitachi A document with a large amount of information regarding most aspects of the SH-4 processor.

68000 Instruction Texts by Pugsy A pair of text files detailing 68000 instructions in alphabetical order, and numerical instruction order. See this thread for possible updates and discussions. 7-zip: .7z extraction utility

Hacking Infinite Energy GG Codes for Fighting Games by Pugsy This is actually just a post Pugsy made in reply to a question in the VG School of Hacking section of GSHI's forums, but it's a useful bit of information for beginning Genesis GG hackers.

How to find ROM addresses and Game Genie codes with Gens Tracer by Tony Hedstrom From the introduction, "This guide will show you how to find useful ROM addresses and make Game Genie codes using a program called Gens Tracer. I'll explain how to make and use memory traces and assembly trace logs". This is quite informative.

Langrisser Notes by TheCount This wasn't intended to be used as a guide, but TheCount's notes during his hacking of Langrisser 2 seemed worthy of an add to the Library. May you find them useful, or at least interesting.

Road Rash 2 ROM Hacking Guide by Tony Hedstrom A guide to ROM-hacking Road Rash 2 for the Genesis.

ASM VG Hacking by SysTEm[id] An introduction to assembly hacking for the SNES.

Emulator-based Hacking Guide by Hacc A quick rundown of how to hack codes with the two major SNES emulators, zsnes and snes9x.

Making Turbo Codes by Hacc An FAQ for creating codes to make characters go faster.

SNES Memory Mapping by ]SiMKiN[ A guide to SNES memory.

SNESGG by Game Genie Code Creators Club A giant FAQ on SNES GameGenie hacking, written by the GGCCC of old. Definitely read this if you're into SNES hacking of any kind.

6502 Instruction Set by VisitntX A doc entailing the 6502 (NES CPU) instruction set, written by VisitntX, based on an earlier text on C64 instructions.

FCEUd, Tutorial #1 (Hacking Character Stats) by Parasyte A document on how to effectively use FCE Ultra Debug to hack character statistics in NES games.

FCEUd, Tutorial #2 (Password Generators) by Parasyte A document on how to use FCE Ultra Debug to crack password formats in various NES games, using The Addams Family: Pugsley's Scavenger Hunt as an example.

FCEUd, Tutorial #3 (Compression in ROMs) by Parasyte A document on how to use FCE Ultra Debug to crack compression formats in NES ROMs, using the graphics compression of The Goonies 2 as an example.

How to make Game Genie codes with a debugger (Version 0.7a) by Tony Hedstrom A FAQ that explains what is probably one of the easiest ways to make NES Game Genie codes.

NES Game Genie Technical Notes by The Mighty Mike Master A FAQ Describing Game Genie Codes and their format.

(PS2) Code Converting by Team CMP An FAQ on converting between various PS2 code formats (GS2/AR2v1.x, GS2/AR2v2.x, CodeBreaker/Xploder, RAW Hex, Gold Finger/AR Card, Region X, Gameshark V3 [Madkatz]).

CD Debug by King Edgar 0 A guide to the Chocobo Dungeon 2 debug room.

FF7 Debug by scrwdrvr A great FAQ on the Final Fantasy VII debug room, and it actually gives credit to Czar and RPGod! Heh, but really, I was quite impressed with this doc; check it out.

FF7Materia by King Edgar 0 A tutorial on editing materia in FF7.

FF8Enemy by King Edgar 0 An FAQ on King Edgar 0's FF8 control enemies code.

Game Genie Encryption Schemes by Lazy Bastard This guide explains the oft-confused encryption/decryption routines for Game Boy/Game Gear, NES, SNES, and Genesis Game Genie codes, including examples of each procedure from start to finish.

HDL Compatible Code by CrazyC, justgimme, and GameMasterZer0 A guide to making PS2 HDL backups work with codes.

How to use MaxConvert by Team CMP A guide to...well, using MaxConvert, heh. MaxConvert is a PS2 code converter between various encryption schemes (CB/AR/GS), and to raw hex address form. You can find MaxConvert in the GSHI Downloads section.

List of Conversion Offsets/Formulae Between Game Versions by Everyone A running list of conversion offsets and formulae for converting codes between versions or platforms for the same game (eg, PSX Metal Gear Solid 1.0 to PSX Metal Gear Solid 1.1).

PEDebug by Denny Lubins A guide to the Parasite Eve debug room.

PSX Xploder Encryption Schemes by Lazy Bastard (schemes cracked by misfire) A guide detailing the PSX Xploder encryption schemes, as cracked by misfire (with some help from Parasyte on the 7k scheme).

SODebug by antisyst3m A translation for the Star Ocean debug room.

EmuFAQ by The Scribe An FAQ that describes the history and ethics of VG emulation...it's quite in-depth.

FF Origins by Mark Rosa This is also not a hacking FAQ, but an FAQ on the origins of many, many FF legends and traditions. You should definitely read this; there are things in here that even I didn't know, and I pride myself in knowing a lot about the FF series. Interesting stuff.

FF2MC by Eric Cheung This is the most complete chart in existence of the FF2US monster sneak/drop stats. If Edge can sneak it or the baddies can drop it, chances are it's in here.

FF2Script by Andy Church This is not a hacking FAQ at all, but the entire FF2US (FF4JAP) script, with a few fixed sentences. I would say that this is for those people that would rather read something than play it, but those people baffle me, and I don't like to dedicate anything to anybody that in any way subscribes to the act of baffling, so there. I suppose that if you printed this out, you could read it on one of those long car trips or something, but otherwise, I do not condone or in any way support the viewing of this script unless you are, at the same time, playing the actual game. Heh, enjoy.

FF2US/4J by ikelley@mail.sas.upenn.edu This is just a giant list of all the differences between FF2US and FF4Jap. Trust me: there are a considerable amount. If you haven't played the FF4J SNES ROM, you should. The translated version can be found through our Links section.

GBProg by Unknown A small text on Game Boy programming.

History of the Sony PlayStation by Unknown A brief history of the PSX.

Joy Mech Fight Movelist by Hybrid A document listing all of the special moves in the NES game Joy Mech Fight.

Nintendo GameBoy Frequently Asked Questions by Marat Fayzullin A detailed FAQ on the Game Boy, going into nearly every aspect of the system.

RPG Cliches by Fritz Fraundorf This is just a humorous list of as many stupid little things in RPGs as the writer and his help could think of. Pretty big list, too, and I can't think of anything they didn't cover. Brings back memories reading this...check it out.

The Bit Rate Reduction Sound Encoding Scheme by Butcha A text describing the BRR sound encoding scheme for the SNES.

VGLyrics by Sailor Bacon A huge collection of videogame song lyrics. Worth the read, especially if you're an RPG fan...although most of the songs in here aren't from RPGs. In any case, check it out.

Win32 PS2 Dev. Intro by Lazy Bastard A great guide for beginners, going into quite a bit of detail as to how to get started developing PS2 homebrew, including links to good MIPS ASM and C programming reference, answers to many common questions, and explanations of the different methods of executing and testing your compiled binaries on a real PS2 or emulator. Definitely take a look at this if you're justing starting out.

BCHDC by Mike Maloney / MrCalculator.com This isn't actually an FAQ, but a page I've added for utility. Inside's a javascript-based conversion tool, and a Hex/Dec calc. Check'em out.

How To Ask Questions The Smart Way by Eric Steven Raymond A guide to...well, the title explains it...with an emphasis on the hacking/development community. This is definitely a recommended read for those new to the scene, and it wouldn't hurt for anyone else to read it, either.

LZSCompress by CzarDragon An FAQ on the .lzs compression system.

TFCD by Bruce Tonkin Tonkin's First Computer Dictionary, an old file I just stumbled upon. If you have any knowledge of computers at all, you should find this pretty funny. A note: please do not take any of this stuff seriously, or expect to find anything educational in here; this is just a joke. Definitely worth reading though.

VPU Thesis by Pavan Tumati Heh, this guy actually wrote his final thesis on the PS2 VPU, and the "Feasibility of Utilizing Gaming Vector Hardware for Scientific Computing". Check it out.