Hacking Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth Hacker's Memory - Japanese version in English

[ofthriceandmen]

So, recently I bought the Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth Hacker's Memory 20th Anniversary Box and it contained an exclusive physical only special version of the game called TV Anime Sound Edition (it's, uh, out there now)
The Japanese Versions of Digimon CS HM have the full first Cyber Sleuth game included with all the new Digimon and player character costumes added in HM. The Anime Sound edition also adds 12 songs to the game, 2 from each anime series, that you change the games' music to.

Anyway, I figured out how to decrypt the game with psvpfsparser. Then I unpacked the game's mvgl files using a quickbms script from the xentax forums from a thread called "Chaos Rings 3 mvgl"

Because as it turns out, this game uses the same file formats as Chaos Rings III. (Both Chaos Rings III and both Digimon Story CS games were made by Media.Vision).

I noticed that the game had 5 image folders: image, image_as, image_jp, image_de, and image_kr. The English version of CS HM has all of these also, which is weird that the Japanese images aren't the main folder, the English ones seem to be.
So, there are the 5 image folders, they in the same setup as the English release, with the Japanese image folder not being the main one. There are not separate text and script folder per language. Just one text folder and one script folder. Only image is separated by language.


I then starting opening the script and text files in word and as I read more and more I realized that all of them were in the five languages mentioned above: English, Japanese, German, Korean, and whatever AS is (I can't identify this but is is a separate language).

What's even more interesting is that content that wasn't in the English version is in English in these files.
For example: in the Japanese version, since it includes both CS games, starting a new game gives a new cutscene with Mirai where she then gives you the option of pick either the updated CS or CS HM. These are in English in the games' files, even though they weren't in the English release, as it removed the updated CS.

All the cutscenes are without hardcoded subtitles so the game can add those in from the other files. Except the two chat room cutscenes, which do have Japanese word bubbles, unlike the English versions but oh well.

In all likelihood, the standard non-Anime Sound version of CS HM probably is the same. But, the TV Anime Sound version is the Definitive Version of this game, as it adds more content, so that's what I'm focused on.
Anyway, my point is that the Japanese version of Digimon CS HM has what seems to be a full English translation inside it that can't be enabled through any in-game options or by changing your Vita's region/language (as mine is already in English).

If I had to guess, I would say that the whole Japanese game was translated and then the updated CS was removed prior to its International release. You'll notice in the official English release that in the online mode, you can choose the male and female player characters in all of the player character costumes that were only in HM. This was one of the updates to CS that was only in the Japanese version.

That's as far as I can get. I need help. Is anyone out there that knows more about this stuff than me willing to look into this.

I love both of these games and having the definitive edition all in one game is very appealing, including an updated version of the first game that we never got officially released in English. Since I have the TV Anime Sound Edition, I would love to play the definitive version of my two favorite games in English and with so much of the work already done by Bandai Namco, I don't feel this is to out of the realms of do-ability.
I understand that there was a hidden English translation in the Asian Vita version of Digimon World Next Order and that Chaos Rings III was fan translated and that CS HM shares the same file types so there is the experience and knowledge out there to get this done. I would if I knew enough about hacking. But I've hit a brick wall in terms of my knowledge and ability to do this kind of thing. Especially since I know nothing about hexediting and I would guess that doing that to the sce_module files and/or eboot may be needed.
Thank you for any interest anyone shows. It mean a lot.
Let me know if there's anything I need to clarify.

 

[ofthriceandmen]

(Started new post as last one was getting long and I tend to be pretty wordy. Plus: surprising new info!)

Even without much response, I've kept looking into this and I was surprised to discover that there seem to be fewer and fewer differences between the Japanese and English versions of this game the more I look,
With the archives packed, the only differences in number of files are: English doesn't have the CS 1 cutscenes, English has an extra 6th mvgl archive called DSDBvous.psp2.mvgl (which I guess would stand for voice overs us?). That's it.

With the main archive, DSDB.psp2.mvgl, I found something very interesting things. There is a bgm spreadsheet. It lists all the music in the game. In the TV Anime Sound Edition, it lists the 12 anime songs. But the English spreadsheet is exactly the same. The only version of the game with these enabled is the 20th Anniversary Box only retail release: the TV Anime Sound Edition. And yet, here the info is. (The bgm archive file is the same size in both JP and EN versions but I haven't gotten around to unpacking that one yet).

In the text files, there are numerous references to CS 1 and other Japanese exclusive stuff that shouldn't be there but it is.
A file called evolution.mbe (these can be viewed in a hexeditor) shows the evolution requirements from CS 1 (Great Challenges and others like that).

Charname.mbe is the names of every npc and Digimon in the game. Both versions list both Sistermon Noir, even though that Digimon was replaced in the US version.
It also mentions a CS 1 only retail exclusive piece of DLC: Agumon wearing a record store apron. If you go to the message boards for the Vita version of CS 1, you'll find a thread about it. But here, it mentions 2 variants: Agumon with a Tower Records apron (still a big chain in Japan) and Agumon with a Shibuya Records apron (the store in the game, this variant to my knowledge was never released in any version of either game). The scenario select menu is present and in English in the US version, despite this menu not being accessible in the game. (It is also part of the JP version's inaccessible English translation). I could go on and on and on.

I think that what likely happened is that Bandai Namco didn't cut much out for the International release, they just made some things inaccessible, as the differences between the unpacked main archive between the JP and US versions are negligable at most and seemingly very very few if any. I haven't looked at every file and compared all of them but the ones I have make me think is might be the case.

The more I've look, the more certain I am that the key to this is in either the sce_module files or the eboot. I've used vita-unmake-fself to unpack the 4 files in question from the US and JP Anime Edition versions but I can't make any sense of them. They just look like random numbers and letters to me. But they are the most different files between the two versions that I have seen.

If anyone more skilled in this type of thing could take things from here or at least look into this, I don't think there would be too much to do, especially if I'm right about the rest of the files. As I've said, hex editing those 4 files is beyond my understanding and that I think is the key to this. Since the TV Anime Sound Edition has all the most content available out of any version, if if could be determined what in those files needs to be changed to make the English translation work, that version could be the definitive version of both CS games. (Well, the English would still have the badly translated Digimon names leftover from the bad 90s dub but that's easy enough to fix, I think, as the text files are much much easier to read). I can do research like this but the hexediting of those 4 files is beyond me so maybe all this research I've posted here will help or inspire someone, someday.
Thanks for reading this.

 

[ofthriceandmen]

Edit/snip.
Patch in progress.

 

[JokerJoester]

Is this still making progress? I just started playing the original Cyber Sleuth last week and already have about 30ish hours into it. I would love to see this patch see the light of day

Though I did have a question. Will importing my save file be possible? Or would I need to start over from the beginning? I wouldn’t mind if I had to, I’m just curious

 

[froid_san]

yes, its recently making in progress now.

 

[ofthriceandmen]

Figured I'd post here myself (the project's been keeping me very busy but progress is steady even though this will take a long time).
As far as importing saves go, I really don't know. You'd have to look into save the region of the saves, which really doesn't have anything to do with this project and not something that I have time to try and figure out. Sorry. Based on the new features of this version (improved English script vs the Official versions, Music customization for battles and a few rooms like the Detective Agency, transfer Digimon between CS 1 and HM, player character costumes in CS 1, hats/accessories for Digimon in CS 1, and bonuses for CS 1 if you complete HM.) you may want to anyway.

 

[JokerJoester]

Figured I'd post here myself (the project's been keeping me very busy but progress is steady even though this will take a long time).
As far as importing saves go, I really don't know. You'd have to look into save the region of the saves, which really doesn't have anything to do with this project and not something that I have time to try and figure out. Sorry. Based on the new features of this version (improved English script vs the Official versions, Music customization for battles and a few rooms like the Detective Agency, transfer Digimon between CS 1 and HM, player character costumes in CS 1, hats/accessories for Digimon in CS 1, and bonuses for CS 1 if you complete HM.) you may want to anyway.

Hey no worries, thank you for taking the time to respond at all. Glad you are still doing this, despite the Switch version coming out soon. Regardless if I have to start over or not, I will still be playing this when you release it. Thanks for taking the time to do this!

 

[ExData7]

Hey no worries, thank you for taking the time to respond at all. Glad you are still doing this, despite the Switch version coming out soon. Regardless if I have to start over or not, I will still be playing this when you release it. Thanks for taking the time to do this!

I don't think the switch version will have any of the qol features/changes CS1 got in the anime sound edition

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk

 

[Lyctus]

I just want to chime in that I am really interested in this. Please, keep up the good work.

 

[ofthriceandmen]

A progress update for those interested:
There are 2 folders of text files.
I have 48 out of 51 done in folder 1, but the ones left are very long.
In folder 2, there are about 1400 files, most of which are fairly small. I have 150 of those done.
There are a lot of images that need editing to match the changed translation. I have most of those done.
I can't say when we'll be done, as there is a lot of work to do, I don't know who long it'll take, and how long testing will take when we get there.
But things are moving along quite smoothly, for the most part.
Thanks for waiting.

 

[ExData7]

A progress update for those interested:
There are 2 folders of text files.
I have 48 out of 51 done in folder 1, but the ones left are very long.
In folder 2, there are about 1400 files, most of which are fairly small. I have 150 of those done.
There are a lot of images that need editing to match the changed translation. I have most of those done.
I can't say when we'll be done, as there is a lot of work to do, I don't know who long it'll take, and how long testing will take when we get there.
But things are moving along quite smoothly, for the most part.
Thanks for waiting.

Good luck with finishing this project!!!

Sent from my Z971 using Tapatalk

 

[CaioBro]

Has something new in the project ?

 

[ofthriceandmen]

Yeah! I generally work on it a lot and forget to check this, sorry. Among other things, I'm about 95% of the way done with the Digimon Field Guide entries, which are the 3rd largest text file in the game and took a very long time, but the existing translation for it was astonishingly bad. I've gotten a group of 70 message files done. I've gotten pretty much all of the graphics editing done as well. June 3rd is the 1-year anniversary of me starting the translation and I've gotten more done then I could have imagined.Obviously there's a long ways to go and a release this year won't be possible, but I'm making good progress. I won't update a lot but know that I'm working hard on it.

 

[Howchie]

I must have missed this in the post, and absolutely not trying to criticize, but why do you need to do all this translation work if the Japanese release contained all these English files? Or at worst couldn't you use most of the translation from the US release and just translate the added content?

 

[ZeroSene]

I must have missed this in the post, and absolutely not trying to criticize, but why do you need to do all this translation work if the Japanese release contained all these English files? Or at worst couldn't you use most of the translation from the US release and just translate the added content?

While it sound simple, the translate part is what take the most work since everything that is not in english need to be find and replace. After that make sure the game do not crash with new data. Unless we are the game maker, those thing take alot of times and work to do. Think of translating a whole novel book by yourself.

 

[Howchie]

I understand, but the original posts said all the English files were already in the game just not activated. Wouldn't it be easier to just use those files?? Sorry if I've misunderstood.

 

[ZeroSene]

I think I can explain, basically the developer make the game completely in Japanese, but they will prepare some part to be used in other language, for other localisation team (english, chinese, etc...)
Now say for example english, many simple thing they can make like menu screen, some name plate image, but the script for event, dialogue, background for digimon are definitely will not be translated (the dev know Japanese, but not the best with English), and these part will mostly left blank to be filled in by localisation team. That also is the biggest part.
And before you say get the data from english version to put in, that require you to know what is which, and where to put, and how to change the setting to work with those data as well. Wrong copy and you just end up with the normal english version.

 

[Howchie]

Ok I think this quote is what is confusing me (from the OP): "Anyway, my point is that the Japanese version of Digimon CS HM has what seems to be a full English translation inside it". Was this inaccurate?

 

[ZeroSene]

Well, you need to read the OP post about his progress with this project then

A progress update for those interested:
There are 2 folders of text files.
I have 48 out of 51 done in folder 1, but the ones left are very long.
In folder 2, there are about 1400 files, most of which are fairly small. I have 150 of those done.
There are a lot of images that need editing to match the changed translation. I have most of those done.
I can't say when we'll be done, as there is a lot of work to do, I don't know who long it'll take, and how long testing will take when we get there.

 

[ofthriceandmen]

Sorry I guess I should have explained this.
The game does have an English translation inside it but it required hacking on froid_san's part to get it to work.
After he did that, I starting looking it over and realized that the existing translation was far worse that I though. Basically, the official translators did a pretty bad job.

These are just a few random examples.

Example 1: In CS 1, the player's is alternatively referred to as having parents in some cases and only having a mother in others. The Japanese version only mentions the mother.

Example 2: There's a section near the start of 1 of the games that is supposed to be tutorial text explaining a feature of the game. Instead, it says something like "Wow! Can you believe (insert huge plot spoiler from late in the game here)."

Example 3: Terminology and place names aren't consistently translated, and in many cases are translated completely wrong. There's a location called, at varying points, "Junk Park," "Junk Plaza," and "Galacta Park." Junk Park is the correct 1.

Example 4: The punctuation is badly messed up in so so so many cases.

Example 5: The official translators seemed to go out of their ways to remove Japanese cultural references, add American and British slang, and used honorifics in some places but removed them in others.

Example 6: A lot of dialogue written in passive voice like "Where to go from here?" instead of active voice like "Where do I go from here?" This is very confusing and something that's discouraged in the English language.


I could go on for hours.

I love these games. They're everything I always wanted from the Digimon franchise and they got butchered. They deserve better than this.

And I'm going to give it to these games to the best of my ability. It will be released after I'm done and after it has been tested. I hope I have made myself clear.