Translation The kenshuui Tendo dokuta translation is officially cancelled

[Deleted member 776740]

Hi. I am Dr.Gabriel Cunningham and this will be both my introduction and departure from the threads. For those of you who lurk discord you will know that for 3 years I have been dedicating myself to attempting to archive every piece of trauma center and kenshuui tendo dokuta merchandise that has ever been created. I have managed to find a few pieces of kenshuui tendo dokuta lost media (ordering one soon )

BUT!

I have also spent those 3 years dilligently trying to translate kenshuui tendo dokuta. I have never been active on the forms (apart from the thread about the .zzz file issue that we will get to later)
but I have been lurking to see if there were any updates on the translation. Unfortunately everyone met the same issue with the game that I did. It is formatted in .zzz. That is an issue because we would need specialized software to decrypt the game. This was my roadblock for 3 entire years. That whole time I have dedicated myself to learning game translation and how ds games work.

In the background I tried so very desperately to contact the game's developer explaining my situation and that the translation would bring a whole new wave of fans to the lifesigns series (I know very pretentious of me. I was desperate I love this game so much). Unfortunately I was left on read. I also have reason to believe that there would also be issues with the game's multiple publishers and the spike chunsoft merger. It is a very real possibility they have just lost the licenses to the game and all the stuff surrounding it including software and dev kits.

BUT ALL HOPE WAS NOT LOST

I was perusing on the R/roms megathread for a copy of lifesigns and I saw it, A decrypted copy of kenshuui tendo dokuta. The key to translation. So I downloaded it. It was in .bin format. Then I opened my hex viewer... the header was indeed decrypted but the encrypted files were just shoved in a .bin file and labelled as decrypted. The hex was still junk and unusable. When I saw that ''Ending.zzz'' file in HxD I truly lost hope for a translation of this game.

I still love this game with all my heart and I wish more people could enjoy it but to be frank it is going to fade into obscurity alongside its sequel which has been shamefully labelled as a ''crappy trauma center clone'' Due to people not knowing that Kenshuui tendo dokuta its predecessor released before lifesigns. Both games had a good run and even inspired future games like the operate now series.

I'm sorry I couldn't do more for this community or this game and I'm sorry for disappointing you all but as a wise doctor once said ''Sometimes you gotta know when to give up''.

 

[cearp]

did you even open the game up in a debugger (no$gba) and see how the data is parsed / where it comes from?
because it sounds like that's what you needed to do!

 

[Deleted member 776740]

did you even open the game up in a debugger (no$gba) and see how the data is parsed / where it comes from?
because it sounds like that's what you needed to do!

It doesnt work. It brings up a driver failure. Its cuz of the format. Its cooked

 

[cearp]

It doesnt work. It brings up a driver failure. Its cuz of the format. Its cooked

The game can't be debugged?
What exactly shows a driver failure?

You say you've been looking into this for three years, so I might be wrong when I say this, but it seems you're a bit lost on the technical side of things.

 

[Deleted member 776740]

The game can't be debugged?
What exactly shows a driver failure?

You say you've been looking into this for three years, so I might be wrong when I say this, but it seems you're a bit lost on the technical side of things.

No. As I said in chat even everyone on r/roms havent been able to do it and they use the method you are talking about. They said we need a special debugger

 

[Jayro]

I'm waiting for the Summon Knight 3 translation to be cancelled any day now, since the project leader is such a lazyass.

 

[cearp]

No. As I said in chat even everyone on r/roms havent been able to do it and they use the method you are talking about. They said we need a special debugger

Ok, is there somewhere that you have documented all of the exact issues, so if anyone wants to continue they can?

 

[Deleted member 776740]

Ok, is there somewhere that you have documented all of the exact issues, so if anyone wants to continue they can?

No not really. The top message summarises the main issues

 

[cearp]

Unfortunately everyone met the same issue with the game that I did. It is formatted in .zzz. That is an issue because we would need specialized software to decrypt the game. This was my roadblock for 3 entire years. That whole time I have dedicated myself to learning game translation and how ds games work.

How far did you progress with the custom software?
Because yes, I wouldn't be surprised that you'd need custom stuff for this.

Forget about the "zzz" format, whatever that is, and just hack it like anyone would hack any other game.
If you've dedicated 3 years to this stuff I would think you have made progress on this already.

If this game really is undebuggable in no$gba for some reason, that's a shame, but it's still possible to work on it.

I tried to see if there is a Chinese (fan) translation - but I couldn't see one.
I'd like to help, the game seems cool, but my free time is very very limited right now, I have another game that I'm hacking / translating etc.

 

[Deleted member 776740]

How far did you progress with the custom software?
Because yes, I wouldn't be surprised that you'd need custom stuff for this.

Forget about the "zzz" format, whatever that is, and just hack it like anyone would hack any other game.
If you've dedicated 3 years to this stuff I would think you have made progress on this already.

If this game really is undebuggable in no$gba for some reason, that's a shame, but it's still possible to work on it.

I tried to see if there is a Chinese (fan) translation - but I couldn't see one.
I'd like to help, the game seems cool, but my free time is very very limited right now, I have another game that I'm hacking / translating etc.

as I said above i dont have custom software. I said i needed custom software that I have being trying to get my hands on for 3 years.

 

[cearp]

I'm saying that you'll need to write that yourself!
Anyway, good luck

 

[MegalithAce]

did you even open the game up in a debugger (no$gba) and see how the data is parsed / where it comes from?
because it sounds like that's what you needed to do!

Hello, I had the current interest to learn so I could at least do something in terms of that. However, I lack any sort of guidance or idea on how to read or debug properly. Do you have any pointers that could help me learn those aspects so I could try to do it myself? All your help will be appreciated!

PD: I know this might be related to how the debuggers use Assembly, but I heard there are specific things to learn about it, that vary from console to console. I'll await your answer.

 

[cearp]

Do you have any pointers that could help me learn those aspects so I could try to do it myself? All your help will be appreciated!

Read through this guy's guide on how he figured out the format of maps / levels for a gba game:
https://macabeus.medium.com/reverse-engineering-a-gameboy-advance-game-introduction-ec185bd8e02

I think he's a user on here somewhere

 

[MegalithAce]

Read through this guy's guide on how he figured out the format of maps / levels for a gba game:
https://macabeus.medium.com/reverse-engineering-a-gameboy-advance-game-introduction-ec185bd8e02

I think he's a user on here somewhere

Thank you very much!!

 

[Wokann]

I didn't examine the other sub-files extensively.
As for the /word/wd_e01_001.zzz file I looked at, it appears to be a simple LZ compression that can be directly extracted using CT2's built-in decompression tool.
It seems that each plot segment has its own independent font and text. As shown in the image, the decompressed file begins with image blocks of all the characters used in that plot segment, with the charmap rearranged accordingly.
Following the font images is the corresponding text content (arranged according to the charmap encoding of the fonts mentioned above).
Based on the information available so far, localization should be feasible; at least the text and charmap of some files can be found.
So don't give up!

 

[Deleted member 776740]

View attachment 540876
I didn't examine the other sub-files extensively.
As for the /word/wd_e01_001.zzz file I looked at, it appears to be a simple LZ compression that can be directly extracted using CT2's built-in decompression tool.
It seems that each plot segment has its own independent font and text. As shown in the image, the decompressed file begins with image blocks of all the characters used in that plot segment, with the charmap rearranged accordingly.
Following the font images is the corresponding text content (arranged according to the charmap encoding of the fonts mentioned above).
Based on the information available so far, localization should be feasible; at least the text and charmap of some files can be found.
So don't give up!

Thank you so much OwO

 

[cearp]

this is going to sound negative but:

It is formatted in .zzz. That is an issue because we would need specialized software to decrypt the game. This was my roadblock for 3 entire years. That whole time I have dedicated myself to learning game translation and how ds games work.

As for the /word/wd_e01_001.zzz file I looked at, it appears to be a simple LZ compression that can be directly extracted using CT2's built-in decompression tool.

lol you seriously didn't try to open the file with crystaltile (or something similar) in those 3 years of "learning game translation and how ds games work"? and instead went as far as bugging one of the game's developers?
it sounds so strange, it's hard to believe - but I believe it.

anyway, very kind of @Wokann to spend a little time to take a look - thanks.

now the OP can make a thread about how the unofficial translation is officially started again.

 

[Deleted member 776740]

this is going to sound negative but:



lol you seriously didn't try to open the file with crystaltile (or something similar) in those 3 years of "learning game translation and how ds games work"? and instead went as far as bugging one of the game's developers?
it sounds so strange, it's hard to believe - but I believe it.

anyway, very kind of @Wokann to spend a little time to take a look - thanks.

now the OP can make a thread about how the unofficial translation is officially started again.

I did but the file I opened had bugged tiles

Post automatically merged: Nov 23, 2025

this is going to sound negative but:



lol you seriously didn't try to open the file with crystaltile (or something similar) in those 3 years of "learning game translation and how ds games work"? and instead went as far as bugging one of the game's developers?
it sounds so strange, it's hard to believe - but I believe it.

anyway, very kind of @Wokann to spend a little time to take a look - thanks.

now the OP can make a thread about how the unofficial translation is officially started again.

 

[Wokann]

I did but the file I opened had bugged tiles

Post automatically merged: Nov 23, 2025

you need to decompress this file first.

And this decompressed file seems not have text needed to be translated.

03 00 00 00 14 00 00 00 28 00 00 00 48 00 00 00 48 20 00 00 01 01 01 00 00 00 C0 00 00 03 40 40 04 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 ……

Although it's unclear exactly how this file is used by the game, based on data analysis and speculation from the file header, we can roughly make the following judgments about the file structure.

File Header:
u32 subFileCounts——0x00000003 sub files
u32 addressOfFileNo1——0x00000014
u32 addressOfFileNo2——0x00000028
u32 addressOfFileNo3——0x00000048
u32 totalSizeOfFile——0x00002048

File Data:
dataOfFileNo1 (0x00000014-0x00000027):

01 01 01 00 00 00 C0 00 00 03 40 40 04 01 00 00 00 00 00 00

dataOfFileNo2 (0x00000028-0x00000047):

00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00

dataOfFileNo3 (0x00000048-0x00002047):

11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 ...

(0x2000 counts of 0x11)

File End (file size 0x2048)

That is why you can't have correct tiles. First you didn't decompressed this file. Second this file doesn't have clearly meaningful blocks such as fonts tiles to display.


I check the other file in the same folder, and it seems the file in the /common folder are the picture tile.

Post automatically merged: Nov 23, 2025

I was perusing on the R/roms megathread for a copy of lifesigns and I saw it, A decrypted copy of kenshuui tendo dokuta. The key to translation. So I downloaded it. It was in .bin format. Then I opened my hex viewer... the header was indeed decrypted but the encrypted files were just shoved in a .bin file and labelled as decrypted. The hex was still junk and unusable. When I saw that ''Ending.zzz'' file in HxD I truly lost hope for a translation of this game.

Besides, about the "decrypted". For nds rom, decrypted or encrypted used to decribe the status of rom's secure area, not about the subfile of rom.
If you use godmode9 to dump an nds cartridge, you can find there are ***.nds and ***.nds.enc option which is just name for decrypted rom and encrypted rom.
In no-intro database, it also includes both encrypted and decrypted hash value of roms.
Some emulator may tell you that you need to own the bios file to run encrypted nds roms, and decrypted roms can be boot directly.

 

[MegalithAce]

this is going to sound negative but:



lol you seriously didn't try to open the file with crystaltile (or something similar) in those 3 years of "learning game translation and how ds games work"? and instead went as far as bugging one of the game's developers?
it sounds so strange, it's hard to believe - but I believe it.

anyway, very kind of @Wokann to spend a little time to take a look - thanks.

now the OP can make a thread about how the unofficial translation is officially started again.

I really dont want to sound condescending or rude, but I strongly believe OP is a kid. I was young as well when I tried to check up the decompressed files of this game, but had no idea how to work on it/reading and understanding the binary. Wokann seemed to give insights and thats great! This game deserves a proper translation (As its sort of funny how the second game of all things is completely translated to english)