ROM Hack Interested in getting into undubbing, haven't been able to find the resources

[thecandyman328]

Hey guys new poster here, but long time 3ds homebrew noob. I've been looking into creating undubs for games that I like for primarily the 3ds and after searching the forum here I was not able to find any guides or utilities to do such things. Is anyone familiar with the undubbing scene and how one might get started?

Thanks!

 

[ThoD]

Not really familiar with undubbing, but I assume it's done similarly to patching by simply taking the CIA/3DS files of the game for the JPN and USA/EUR versions, extracting them with HackingToolkit9DS, replacing the voice files of the USA/EUR game with the ones from the JPN version, then repackaging it with again HT9DS. Just make sure to rename them if you need to, but besides that, it should work simply as that!

 

[BARNWEY]

You have to extract the sound files from the Japanese games, and then inject it into the U.S. games...

 

[thecandyman328]

So I am at the toolkit9ds github and I downloaded it but where the hell do I find this SetupUS.exe that I need to install first before I can extract and repack 3ds files?

EDIT: Jk I'm an idiot and didn't download the release version

 

[ThoD]

So I am at the toolkit9ds github and I downloaded it but where the hell do I find this SetupUS.exe that I need to install first before I can extract and repack 3ds files?

EDIT: Jk I'm an idiot and didn't download the release version

lol, install the SetupUS.exe now and then use the main program. If you want to update, you gotta uninstall it btw, then get the newer SetupUS.exe, so keep that in mind for the future. Also, because of various reasons, repacking games in CIA format almost never works, so try .3DS and find a way to convert it...

 

[chaoskagami]

It's not terribly difficult, unless the game is really weird or there are no existing tools to handle it.

Rough steps:
1) Grab a Japanese and English copy of the game
2) Unpack both, this includes "outer" containers like a CIA as well as "inner" containers like a CPK/PSARC if applicable/needed
3) Figure out where the voice files are in both.
4) Replace the English files with the Japanese ones.
5) Repack all the layers you unpacked in [2].
6) Test.

Now, matters are different if there's any of the following problems:
* Proprietary data file formats with no existing tools: you'll need to RE the format to go any further, or hope the game will load files from somewhere outside (many do)
* Weird incompatible structure for voice files between releases. Best example of this is probably God Eater, from what I understand.
* Encryption. While uncommon nowadays, it's possible you'll need a key from the binary.

Essentially, I guess the best advice I can give is to unpack a game, poke around, and read up on the file formats you'll encounter. Audio is often in proprietary formats with odd extensions or something like ADX/HCI which is slightly more standard.