Advice on how to make hacks

[MindTrix]

Well im aquiring knowledge by the day now I have just finished the ARRAYS section of my book and it was very interesting indeed Confusing, but interesting. Now i need more knowledge.

Can people here (Obviously people who have made their own hacks) write some advice here on how to start a hack. I know obviously you need the idea first, but what steps should you do next? Look at the information you will need? Make templates first? Everything!! LOL sorry if i sound confusing i just need as much advice as possible or like step by step guide kind of thing.

All tips will be greatly appreciated

[Gary King]

Err I guess write out what you think you'll need first, such as a template for an error page for your hack, a template for the main page, etc.

And then, if the hack is sort of standalone and can have its own page, then that is easiest because you only work with code that you created.
It is also a good idea to have a file-comparing program such as Araxis Merge or Beyond Compare (the precedent is suggested by me.)

[NTLDR]

I learnt by installing and changing hacks here to work the way I wanted. Setup a test board and install some hacks that interest you, take a look at them and see if you change figure out how they work and/or make some modifications too them.

As for starting a hack, I guess it depends on what it is. Alot of the time whatever I start with is deleted by the end because I've changed my mind or realised it was crap

[Gary King]

If it's something small, release it before you find out it IS crap!

[MindTrix]

Lol thanks for the advice, keep em comming

Whats this file comparing you mentioned?

[NTLDR]

Its compares two files and shows you the changes between the two. Its probably the best way to upgrade a hacked board. Take a look in the Hints and Tips forum, Teck wrote a good tutorial on howto use Araxis Merge.

[KuraFire]

Originally Posted by NTLDR

Its compares two files and shows you the changes between the two. Its probably the best way to upgrade a hacked board. Take a look in the Hints and Tips forum, Teck wrote a good tutorial on howto use Araxis Merge.

For now it is, yup, but soon the Hack Tracking Log will be even more useful for upgrading a Hacked board.


As for advice on making hacks - the Hack Tracking Log will come with a section dedicated to this. Got some important/useful tips on making vB3 hacks. Additionally, I'm working with a few others to provide some really serious, useful Hacking guidelines for vB3. It'll still be a while before all that is done, though, so for now I'll stick to this:

I learnt my PHP and MySQL from 2 things: developing the CMS for work, and hacking my vBulletin board a LOT. It started with vB and that's always been my biggest aid. I've learnt most things from vB2 and vB3 (the efficiencies from vB3, the basics from vB2). I just kept on adding hacks and trying to create stuff I had in my mind. Slowly, the hacking of the board taught me enough to make serious hacks/systems, like my site's Journal system (a vB3 version is being made and, unlike my vB2 one, this will be released on vb.org). Then some time went by and vB3 came out and I started developing the Hack Tracking Log for vB3 and that taught me all the ins and outs of vB3, including all the far more advanced techniques used (compared to vB2).
All in all, I'm now pretty respected for my PHP / MySQL skills, and most of them I've gained by endlessly hacking vBulletin boards and reading through the vB code very thoroughly.

Hope that helps some.

[MindTrix]

Yeah sure does. The main reason im looking forward too the Hack Tracking Log is because i read about the advice etc on hacking

If you need beta tester let me know lol.

So far im reading from a book to learn PHP and today i finished the array sections and am now onto Objects. Getting lost easily now though because they explain it too complicated. Well ill pick it up somehow, or post here asking for an explination, But i guess even knowing about the common stuff, creating a hack from scratch seems like such a mission, i need some guys like you lot who know what their doing on my MSN to pester lol.

I've made one hack,and released here, but it was more of a conversion, so too me it is not the same as releasing one i coded from scratch

[Gary King]

Originally Posted by MindTrix

Yeah sure does. The main reason im looking forward too the Hack Tracking Log is because i read about the advice etc on hacking

If you need beta tester let me know lol.

So far im reading from a book to learn PHP and today i finished the array sections and am now onto Objects. Getting lost easily now though because they explain it too complicated. Well ill pick it up somehow, or post here asking for an explination, But i guess even knowing about the common stuff, creating a hack from scratch seems like such a mission, i need some guys like you lot who know what their doing on my MSN to pester lol.

I've made one hack,and released here, but it was more of a conversion, so too me it is not the same as releasing one i coded from scratch

If objects are too complicated, let me assure you that they aren't a requirement to code vBulletin hacks - I haven't yet seen one that uses objects yet, actually I don't think

[MindTrix]

What would you recommend i concentrate on?

Note variables and if statements etc dont count cause i know them

So far im guessing Arrays, and Database things.

Anything else? BEcause if objects arent nessasary i might just skip that chapter