ROM Hack Digimon Story Lost Evolution Project

[MagusZero]

So, I'm a big fan of this series, and love the engine it runs on, and was saddened to see that there appears to be noone translating it. As such, I intend to attempt it. This thread will doubtless be changed substantially as the project progresses, but I'll start by introducing myself.

I'm a university student studying computer science, and have taken some basic courses in Japanese, and intend to improve at that. Also, I am rather good at English, so my translation should be very clear. I decided to start on this project in part to improve my knowlege of Japanese, and began, with a great deal of hope, to decompile the rom.

However, at this point I was in unfamilliar territory. After some careful research, I looked into various ds compression systems and utillities that might be useful. I was quite unhappy to realise that I was dealing with a rather rare and difficult situation; crystaltile2's decompression simply crashes on any attempt to decompile the rom's numerous .pak files and .bin files. I searched for alternative programs, and had no better luck with any of them. I'm able to view the game text somewhat through the programs' hex editors, but that simply isn't a good environment for translation, as far as I'm concerned. The sound is the only thing that is in the standard format, and I wouldn't change that anyway.

So, as a favor to the (I'm sure) many people who would be grateful for the eventual completed translation, I humbly request that someone explain to me how I might begin, or lead me in the direction of an appropriate tool.

Best regards.

 

[Normmatt]

I have done some preliminary work on this, namely (a .pak unpacker/repacker) and some hacks to allow ascii instead of sjis for text. If anyone is interested I might publish the tools and the sources up on github.

 

[RandomFox$&]

Cool ive been waiting 4 sumone to do this. I can't im just in yr7 and do italian. IF you have spare time could u translate digimon xros wars ds to they came out recently

 

[Shadowlurker]

I totally support you on this but i dont have any experience with this kind of programming.

If you dont know what tools to use, ask one of the other translator guys, They will know.

 

[Nobunaga]

why translate lost evolution when super xros wars red/blue are out?

 

[Nebz]

I totally support you on this but i dont have any experience with this kind of programming.

If you dont know what tools to use, ask one of the other translator guys, They will know.
Normmatt offered to upload tools for him already. It seems the OP hasn't responded to him (at least not in this topic).

I'd be glad to see a translation project of this though....


QUOTE(Elza @ Mar 25 2011, 04:20 PM) why translate lost evolution when super xros wars red/blue are out?

Older game that never made it across seas so it would be nice for those of us who can't understand and still haven't played it to get the chance to play it.

 

[MagusZero]

@Normmatt: That sounds wonderful. Exactly what I need.

As for xros wars, I have absolutely no interest in it, or faith in its plot. Whereas Lost Evolution is quite interesting and has its own plot, not related to anything else, so it's in more need of it.

 

[dude3991]

Looking forward to this, best of luck.

Also I'd like to note sunce Xros Wars is getting dubbed under the title of Fusion Wars or something, the chances the Xros Wars games will get localized have increased exponentially.

 

[Cheren]

I Kinda Have Liked the Digimon Story Lost Evolution Plot,I am Awaiting the Day it will be Translated to English

 

[nryn99]

I'll be cheering you from the sidelines man.

 

[Normmatt]

@Normmatt: That sounds wonderful. Exactly what I need.

As for xros wars, I have absolutely no interest in it, or faith in its plot. Whereas Lost Evolution is quite interesting and has its own plot, not related to anything else, so it's in more need of it.

If you don't have any idea how to rom hack nor any arm assembly then having my tools wont help much other than getting you a script dump (you can reinsert it but it can't be bigger than the original nor can you use ASCII without some arm assembly hacks).

 

[MagusZero]

The main thing I'm interested in is the translation itself. I'd be happy to team up in some way. I know some assembly, but not much; I certainly haven't ever attempted a romhack before. I also doubt I'd do another. There's certainly no real guide, considering the one on this forum is several years old, has 90% broken links, and basically just says "If you know how to use a hex editor and program in assembly, you know how to hack roms."

I'm basically doing this for fun, and would like to at least be able to make an attempt, but its been rather frustrating, since you appear to be the only one in the world who has any of the needed tools.

 

[alphenor]

now there's two people from the sidelines

 

[Normmatt]

I've decided not to release the tools just yet because its not quite as easy as i'd like to get it working properly. But here are the script dumps if anyone wants to start translating them.

 

[MagusZero]

Sweet; I'll start working on it sometime soon.

EDIT: Except that despite having the japanese language pack on my computer, all of these files are meaningless gibberish in notepad or even crystaltile.

 

[shadowmanwkp]

A few lines down there is legible text in mespak00. Here's an example of some text:

Spoiler

CODE>
{{
Chicchimon
}}


{{
Koromon
}}


{{
Tsunomon
}}


{{
Poyomon
}}


{{
Tokomon
}}


{{
Tanemon
}}


{{
Pagumon
}}


{{
Kapurimon
}}


{{
Kuramon
}}


{{
Puttomon
}}


{{
Chicomon
}}


{{
Dorimon
}}


{{
Culumon
}}


{{
Gigimon
}}


{{
Gummymon
}}


{{
Tsumemon
}}


{{
Minomon
}}


{{
Wanyamon
}}


{{
Budmon
}}


{{
Botamon
}}


{{
Sunmon
}}


{{
Moonmon
}}


{{
Monodramon
}}


{{
Agumon
}}


{{
Veemon
}}


{{
Guilmon
}}


{{
Dorumon
}}


{{
Betamon
}}


{{
Gabumon
}}


{{
Patamon
}}


{{
Piyomon
}}


{{
Palmon
}}


{{
Tentomon
}}


{{
Gotsumon
}}


{{
Gomamon
}}


{{
PicoDevimon
}}


{{
ToyAgumon
}}


{{
Hagurumon
}}


{{
Plotmon
}}


{{
Wormmon
}}


{{
Hawkmon
}}


{{
Armadimon
}}


{{
Terriermon
}}


{{
Lopmon
}}


{{
Renamon
}}


{{
Impmon
}}


{{
Keramon
}}


{{
Falcomon
}}


{{
Goblimon
}}


{{
Shakomon
}}


{{
BlackAgumon
}}


{{
Floramon
}}


{{
Lalamon
}}

Edit: It seems that mespak01 contains the script, because that has full Japanese in it. Mespak02 and mespak 04 seem to contain the character sets, because it contains all the characters in the game AFAIK, but I'm not too sure of that. And lastly mespak03 probably needs the right table or has a special encoding, because it is total giberish (this probably also applies to certain parts of mespak00).

 

[Normmatt]

A few lines down there is legible text in mespak00. Here's an example of some text:

Spoiler

CODE>
{{
Chicchimon
}}


{{
Koromon
}}


{{
Tsunomon
}}


{{
Poyomon
}}


{{
Tokomon
}}


{{
Tanemon
}}


{{
Pagumon
}}


{{
Kapurimon
}}


{{
Kuramon
}}


{{
Puttomon
}}


{{
Chicomon
}}


{{
Dorimon
}}


{{
Culumon
}}


{{
Gigimon
}}


{{
Gummymon
}}


{{
Tsumemon
}}


{{
Minomon
}}


{{
Wanyamon
}}


{{
Budmon
}}


{{
Botamon
}}


{{
Sunmon
}}


{{
Moonmon
}}


{{
Monodramon
}}


{{
Agumon
}}


{{
Veemon
}}


{{
Guilmon
}}


{{
Dorumon
}}


{{
Betamon
}}


{{
Gabumon
}}


{{
Patamon
}}


{{
Piyomon
}}


{{
Palmon
}}


{{
Tentomon
}}


{{
Gotsumon
}}


{{
Gomamon
}}


{{
PicoDevimon
}}


{{
ToyAgumon
}}


{{
Hagurumon
}}


{{
Plotmon
}}


{{
Wormmon
}}


{{
Hawkmon
}}


{{
Armadimon
}}


{{
Terriermon
}}


{{
Lopmon
}}


{{
Renamon
}}


{{
Impmon
}}


{{
Keramon
}}


{{
Falcomon
}}


{{
Goblimon
}}


{{
Shakomon
}}


{{
BlackAgumon
}}


{{
Floramon
}}


{{
Lalamon
}}

Edit: It seems that mespak01 contains the script, because that has full Japanese in it. Mespak02 and mespak 04 seem to contain the character sets, because it contains all the characters in the game AFAIK, but I'm not too sure of that. And lastly mespak03 probably needs the right table or has a special encoding, because it is total giberish (this probably also applies to certain parts of mespak00).

Those digimon names are things i've put in there already. The text is all SJIS, I uses ms word 2010 to translate those.

 

[shadowmanwkp]

A few lines down there is legible text in mespak00. Here's an example of some text:

Spoiler

CODE>
{{
Chicchimon
}}


{{
Koromon
}}


{{
Tsunomon
}}


{{
Poyomon
}}


{{
Tokomon
}}


{{
Tanemon
}}


{{
Pagumon
}}


{{
Kapurimon
}}


{{
Kuramon
}}


{{
Puttomon
}}


{{
Chicomon
}}


{{
Dorimon
}}


{{
Culumon
}}


{{
Gigimon
}}


{{
Gummymon
}}


{{
Tsumemon
}}


{{
Minomon
}}


{{
Wanyamon
}}


{{
Budmon
}}


{{
Botamon
}}


{{
Sunmon
}}


{{
Moonmon
}}


{{
Monodramon
}}


{{
Agumon
}}


{{
Veemon
}}


{{
Guilmon
}}


{{
Dorumon
}}


{{
Betamon
}}


{{
Gabumon
}}


{{
Patamon
}}


{{
Piyomon
}}


{{
Palmon
}}


{{
Tentomon
}}


{{
Gotsumon
}}


{{
Gomamon
}}


{{
PicoDevimon
}}


{{
ToyAgumon
}}


{{
Hagurumon
}}


{{
Plotmon
}}


{{
Wormmon
}}


{{
Hawkmon
}}


{{
Armadimon
}}


{{
Terriermon
}}


{{
Lopmon
}}


{{
Renamon
}}


{{
Impmon
}}


{{
Keramon
}}


{{
Falcomon
}}


{{
Goblimon
}}


{{
Shakomon
}}


{{
BlackAgumon
}}


{{
Floramon
}}


{{
Lalamon
}}

Edit: It seems that mespak01 contains the script, because that has full Japanese in it. Mespak02 and mespak 04 seem to contain the character sets, because it contains all the characters in the game AFAIK, but I'm not too sure of that. And lastly mespak03 probably needs the right table or has a special encoding, because it is total giberish (this probably also applies to certain parts of mespak00).

Those digimon names are things i've put in there already. The text is all SJIS, I uses ms word 2010 to translate those.

Ah I already found it somewhat odd that some names were in full English and not in Japanese... I've never really hacked japanese roms, but I have a bit of a personal interest in rom hacking/hex editing. The only thing i have experience with is hacking some English roms a bit, not japanese ones. The only way I can contribute is just hoping the project will come along well.

 

[Nebz]

Might it be safe to say that "???????????" says "*insert Digimon name* Tree"?

I was just kinda bored and decided to see what I could do with any of this and when doing a quick run through I would get something like "Agumontsuri" or "A Agumon tree" so I kind of began assuming it just said "Agumon Tree".

EDIT: I know the text refers to Ruchemon FM or in English "Lucemon CM" (CM is Chaos Mode in English, FM is Falldown Mode in japanese). In case someone mentions something about it....
I'm more or less asking if it's safe to assume to write out Tree after the appropriate name is found...?

Sweet; I'll start working on it sometime soon.

EDIT: Except that despite having the japanese language pack on my computer, all of these files are meaningless gibberish in notepad or even crystaltile.
Your own files or the Text files provided here? I seem to have no problems viewing text in Microsoft Word 2010 w/ the Language Pack installed.

Spoiler

CODE




{{
E R R O R
}}


{{
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
}}


{{
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
}}


{{
A Warp Plate
}}


{{
Agumon Tree
}}


{{
Gabumon Tree
}}


{{
BlackAgumon Tree
}}


{{
Gaomon Tree
}}


{{
DemiDevimon Tree
}}


{{
Patamon Tree
}}


{{
Tentomon Tree
}}


{{
Terriormon Tree
}}


{{
Shakkoumon Tree
}}


{{
Lucemon CM Tree
}}


{{
Kimeramon Tree
}}


{{
Apocalymon Tree
}}


{{
Chaosmon Tree
}}


{{
Omnimon Tree
}}


{{
Susanoomon Tree
}}


{{
Veemon Tree
}}


{{
Wormmon Tree
}}


{{
Guilmon Tree
}}


{{
Impmon Tree
}}


{{
Dorumon Tree
}}


{{
Keramon Tree
}}


{{
Betamon Tree
}}


{{
Syakomon Tree
}}


{{
Hagurumon Tree
}}


{{
ToyAgumon Tree
}}


{{
Paildramon Tree
}}


{{
Aegisdramon Tree
}}


{{
Coronamon Tree
}}


{{
Lunamon Tree
}}


{{
Hyokomon
}}


{{
Salamon Tree
}}


{{
Biyomon Tree
}}


{{
Gomamon Tree
}}


{{
Palmon Tree
}}


{{
Lalamon Tree
}}


{{
Silphymon Tree
}}


{{
Saving Game
Do Not Shut Down!
}}


{{
It’s Saved!
}}


{{
Save Failed
Turn Off Power
And Please Reinsert Again
}}


{{
?
}}


{{
? ?
}}


{{
? ? ?
}}


{{
? ? ? ?
}}


{{
? ? ? ? ?
}}


{{
??????
}}


{{
???????
}}


{{
????????
}}


{{
?????????
}}


{{
??????????
}}


{{
?
}}


{{
??
}}


{{
???
}}


{{
????
}}


{{
?????
}}


{{
??????
}}


{{
???????
}}


{{
????????
}}


{{
?????????
}}


{{
??????????
}}


{{
Dummy Name
}}


{{
???
}}


{{
Red DigiEgg
}}


{{
Brown DigiEgg
}}


{{
Pink DigiEgg
}}


{{
Purple DigiEgg
}}


{{
Blue DigiEgg
}}


{{
Grey DigiEgg
}}


{{
Sky DigiEgg
}}


{{
Yellow DigiEgg
}}


{{
Green DigiEgg
}}


{{
Heat Striped Egg
}}


{{
Fang Striped Egg
}}


{{
Holy Striped Egg
}}


{{
Dark Striped Egg
}}


{{
Sea Striped Egg
}}


{{
Mecha Striped Egg
}}


{{
Sky Striped Egg
}}


{{
Bug Striped Egg
}}


{{
Forest Striped Egg
}}


{{
Dragon DigiEgg
}}


{{
Beast DigiEgg
}}


{{
Angel DigiEgg
}}


{{
Dark DigiEgg
}}


{{
Water DigiEgg
}}


{{
Machine DigiEgg
}}


{{
Bird DigiEgg
}}


{{
Bug DigiEgg
}}


{{
Grass DigiEgg
}}


{{
Dragon’s Egg
}}


{{
Nature Egg
}}


{{
Busters Egg
}}


{{
Nightmare Egg
}}


{{
Deep Egg
}}


{{
Metal Egg
}}


{{
Wind Egg
}}


{{
Insect Egg
}}


{{
Jungle Egg
}}


{{
High Drago Egg
}}


{{
Royal Egg
}}


{{
Paladin Egg
}}


{{
Kaiser Egg
}}


{{
Keepers’ Egg
}}


{{
Sun Moon Egg
}}


{{
Prayer DigiEgg
}}


{{
Warrior DigiEgg
}}


{{
Demon Egg
}}


{{
Chaos Egg
}}


{{
Mummymon Egg
}}


{{
Aqua Egg
}}


{{
Steel DigiEgg
}}


{{
Space-Time DigiEgg
}}


{{
Rainbow Egg
}}


{{
Chrono Egg
}}


{{
Kabuto Egg
}}


{{
Beauty Egg
}}

I'm not sure on the rules of double posting but... Am I on the right track here?

 

[Shadowlurker]

Yeah you seem to be on the right track.

But is Tree refering to a tree you have to cut down? Or as in the Digivoluition Tree?