Since the Old noob Guide is dated by about 3 years, I figure its time to update with a new one. ~Oizen
ResourcesAny program or Brawl file you need to get started can be found in our
Brawl Vault Resource pagethe most important tool being
Brawl Box, which is a universal tool for brawl hacking that allows easy editing of textures, animations, stages, CPS, you name it!
Types of Hacking:A lot of these types of hacking go hand in hand to be a successful hacker you'll need to make use of more than one type.
Texture HackingTexture hacking is very simple, download the .pac/.psc of the character you want to hack, open it in brawl box and extract the textures from TextureData. Edit them with your favorite image editing software, put them back into the pac and you're good to go.
Music/SFX Guide Hacking-Music hacking changes the background music, SFX hacking changes the Sound Effects.
Music Guide and FAQSFX GuideVertex Hacking-Vertex hacking refers to changing the vertices of a character to make them look different. Sort of like stretching and shifting a character into another one.
MK64n's methodGuide to Das Donkey box 2Vertexing with Anim8orStage Hacking-Stage hacking refers to making your own stages. Stages are often made by taking models from the game, or other games and piecing them together to make a stage.
PSA Hacking-PSA hacking refers to movesets
(More Guides are available on his Channel)
PSA Resource ThreadEssential PSA informationImporting-refers to taking models out of game other than brawl, and converting them to the brawl format. There is no uniform way to convert the files to brawl if they're not mdl0.
List of Wii games with similar model format to brawlCharacter Model importing for Dummies by BeyondyouModel Bone Resource threadFrequently Asked Questions:I just got started...Q: Do you need to hard mod your wii to use custom textures?A: No.
Dynamic SD Loader allows you to load textures from an SD card!
USB Gecko owners can upload files directly to Wii (contact for details)
WiiGator Backup Launcher works fine
Riivolution is another way to load from an SD card, but doesn't work with USB launching
Q: Where can I find textures to download?A:
Brawl Vault. Brawl Vault contains work made by dozens of hackers. You can find almost anything there.
Alternatively, you can view some of the top teams's websites for hacks
Theres...
KC-MM (Us of course) 
Das Donkey
Legendary Smash Team
Stack Smash
I just downloaded some textures and...
Q: I got CPS images for a hack , what do I do with it?
A: They're known as CSPs, allow you to see the custom characters on the selection screen. In order to get these to work, you need to put them in your "common.pac" by using Brawl Box
Q: Where do I put the files?
A: For ISO burning, simply replace the original file.
For the SD loader... refer to this.
For renaming files (to match certain costumes, or simply to have the original name) refer to the PAC Naming Guide.
Q: Is it possible to burn Brawl to a single layer DVD?
A: Yes. There are two methods. You can either burn normally and ignore errors (if allowed by your software) and then make sure to select "finalize disk" upon the final error or use Wii Scrubber 1.0 to shrink the disk ISO. (If using the wiiscrubber method, do not shrink your main copy --- it makes editing it a pain) But as previously noted, just use the SD loader or Riivolution, its easier, but the SD loader does not work for .THP (movies) or Sound Effects
Q: Why do they freeze my game?
A: Many possible reasons.
If it's only a specific character / stage / item... redownload it replace it, the file may have corrupted itself.
If it's random, your SD card may be going bad; backup everything on it, reformat the card, and try again --- or just try a different card.
I'm making textures and...
Q: Is there a way to preview textures?
A: Open the Modeldata in brawl box, and right click preview, please note that textures don't always appear the way they do in game as they do in brawl box, mainly textures that control shines look different
Q: Why does my characters face have a weird glow when in Final Smash mode?
A: If your character has a "flat face" (Jiggly Puff, Kirby, Ness, Etc...) then read the FS Eye guide.
I have another question...
Q: How do you take such awesome screenshots?
A: Skillz. Gecko OS (software, use with unrestricted pause camera cheat).
Unrestricted Pause Camera [Link, original Y.S.] --- RSBE NTSC ONLY
* 040A7D60 4E800020
* 04109D88 38800001
Unrestricted pause camera [Link, original Y.S.] --- RSBP PAL ONLY
* 040A9424 4E800020
* 0410B4E0 38800001
Also, USB Gecko (hardware, allows me to take screenshots anywhere in game) can provide higher quality screenshots than the game itself! Q: How do you swap stage lighting?A: Canon says: Swap the SceneData with the current stage with another stage of your choosing(Using Brawl Box). That's the simple way. To go in depth you'd have to swap out individual files within the Scenedata and swap the files of your choosing.Q: Are you single?A: Depends on who is asking. A: I'm stalking someone at the moment.
