ROM Hack Translating Tutorial or Something?

[ore0]

Hey I was just wondering if anyone could point me to a link that might show an up to date tutorial on rom editing, specifically on translating. I looked on romhacking.net but when I went to the thing for beginners, everything was kinda old. I kinda want to just start translating with Shonen Kininden Tsumuji, just cuz... I mean its ZELDA with NINJAS

. So if someone could lead me in the right direction, and possibly tell me the best programs to use, that would be super helpful. I mean I've seen like a million programs so its kinda hard to choose. Thanks.

 

[StorMyu]

If you can't walk, you can't run.

start with the beggining...

 

[ore0]

If you can't walk, you can't run.

start with the beggining...

Agreed.

Where's the beginning?

 

[neoxephon]

If you can't walk, you can't run.

start with the beggining...

Agreed.

Where's the beginning?

Almost all of the tutorials at romhacking.net still apply, even if they're old.

 

[Inunah]

If you can't walk, you can't run.

start with the beggining...

Agreed.

Where's the beginning?

Almost all of the tutorials at romhacking.net still apply, even if they're old.

Don't start there.

Start with LEARNING JAPANESE.

 

[clashthunder]

If you can't walk, you can't run.

start with the beggining...

Agreed.

Where's the beginning?

Almost all of the tutorials at romhacking.net still apply, even if they're old.

Don't start there.

Start with LEARNING JAPANESE.

haha learning japanese is a good start

 

[ore0]

If you can't walk, you can't run.

start with the beggining...

Agreed.

Where's the beginning?

Almost all of the tutorials at romhacking.net still apply, even if they're old.

Don't start there.

Start with LEARNING JAPANESE.

hahhahaa yea i guess. I read there was a way to use google translator, and since this is something I'm just doing to learn how, I figured I wouldn't really care if it was in engrish. And I got up to tables at romhacking.net, and the programs they said to use either aren't where they say they are, or if I finally find them are for DOS or something...

 

[DarthNemesis]

DS games tend to use standard encodings (Shift-JIS and Unicode 16LE especially), so making tables is rarely necessary.

 

[ore0]

See what I mean? romhacking.net said that I absolutely NEED to know how to use tables...

 

[StorMyu]

Check this

Once you read everything, come back ask more question here.

 

[Kajitani-Eizan]

See what I mean? romhacking.net said that I absolutely NEED to know how to use tables...

you do, for older games that don't use standard encodings, or for more complex encodings like DTE or dictionary. just because your game happens to not really need a table because it uses a standard encoding doesn't mean that isn't important information.

anyway, you're on the right track, which is to read the material available and ask questions when you have an issue.

 

[ore0]

ok... so I read the stuff over again, but skipped graphics, level, and music editing. I understand tables and hexadecimal much better, but DarthNemesis says I probably won't need tables. I've heard that most Japanese games now use Shift-JIS or something, so any tutorials or something on that? I'll try to look for one, but I also need some up to date programs. Any that you can recommend? Also I'm wondering how you could use google translate to do it...

 

[neoxephon]

ok... so I read the stuff over again, but skipped graphics, level, and music editing. I understand tables and hexadecimal much better, but DarthNemesis says I probably won't need tables. I've heard that most Japanese games now use Shift-JIS or something, so any tutorials or something on that? I'll try to look for one, but I also need some up to date programs. Any that you can recommend? Also I'm wondering how you could use google translate to do it...

Most DS games use Shift_JIS for the encoding. There aren't any tutorials because Shift_JIS is a common encoding. Just get a hex editor with it built-in, such as CrystalTile or MadEdit.

 

[Kajitani-Eizan]

I've heard that most Japanese games now use Shift-JIS or something, so any tutorials or something on that?

google and wikipedia are your friend.

QUOTEI'll try to look for one, but I also need some up to date programs.

no no, you don't need programs. you need to have some idea of what it is that you're trying to do. once you know that, you can start looking for programs that can help you with the tasks you are trying to accomplish.

 

[ore0]

Yeah, by "I'll look for one" meant that I was gonna use google and wikipedia... So now I have a basic idea of what I'm gonna do, how would I use google translate with it? And by saying that I need programs, I was kinda just asking what ones you recommend or think are the best.

EDIT: Ok, so I finally got decided to just try it with my early patched JUS instead of procrastinating, and everything makes sense now. It would still be helpful if someone recommended a program or something, but its not really necessary. I do need to know how to use google translate with it though.

EDIT2: Ok... I feel like an idiot... I got it now thanks. If I have anymore questions I'll ask but I think I'm done. Thanks again.

 

[Kajitani-Eizan]

well, i do have some programs in mind, but i'd rather get a feel for what you're trying to do and recommend programs based on that rather than just naming a bunch.

 

[ore0]

ughh... So im not really sure if this game is in Shift JIS because when I open it in madedit, there are thigns that arent even letters. I mean, Im seeing musical notes and that female sign... I used Nitro Explorer to open it and when I extract the files they are .cpk . At first I looked to see how to open them, and a website just said to use notepad. So I open a file in notepad and its a bunch of junk. After a couple of attempts, I try microsoft word. When I first open it, it asks what encoding. I put in Shift JIS. I don't see as many crazy symbols as I did when I saw the madedit, but there were a bunch of floating dots that I guess were replacing them... So I guess I need more help

 

[Valiarchon]

okay you cant just open it in notepad or anything, you have to extract the data first. .cpk is a compressed file pack. I cant help you out this morning but I'm sure someone will be able to link you to the criware pack people have been using (including myself) to extract these files.

Which game is it? I'll take a look when I'm home again tonight for you =o

 

[DS1]

In order to translate something, you're going to need the script first. The script is going to be a bunch of Japanese writing with a bunch of tags (like stuff that tells the computer how to read it). If you want to use google translator (which I DO NOT recommend), you're going to have to remove all the tags and post the text straight into google translator, and then paste the results back into the script (again I DO NOT recommend this!). I don't believe there is any one program that is just going to let you filter all the scripts through the translator automatically.

Of course, the gibberish that google translator spits out is probably going to be longer than the space allowed by the game. In some cases you'll get lucky and be able to just swap the text 1 for 1, but don't expect it. There's a reason why old Game Boy games cut down the names of certain things in the translation from JP -> English

As for your current problem, it sounds like either madeit (I don't know what that is) doesn't support shift-JIS, or possibly you don't have East Asian fonts installed on your computer. It might not even be in shift-JIS, but I believe that is the most common.

 

[ore0]

okay you cant just open it in notepad or anything, you have to extract the data first. .cpk is a compressed file pack.

Dammit google!

Anyways, the game is Shonen Kininden Tsumuji, and thank you so much. I'll try to find more ways to do this stuff that will hopefully actually work.

EDIT: Ok, so DS1 I read yours after I posted this and I guess I'll try it after I figure out how to extract the files. And I forgot to mention that I switched the encoding to Shift JIS when I opened it in MadEdit.