ROM Hack Game Center CX : Arino no Chosenjo 2 (New Start?)

[Aaron Chmielowiec]

Thanks for the explanation GHANMI

ducksFANjason> With graphics, there is a tool (Tinke) that can read the graphics in the game but you can't load them in as plainly as an image through paint or Photoshop, etc. The palettes, tiles and mappings are all separate files (and if any are animated, that data is stored in a separate file). From there you can export the resulting "image" into a more manageable format but putting it back in requires doing that mess in reverse. You can just import the bitmap tiles in some cases but if there is a complicated mapping, you may have to mess with an "OAM table" which stores what tiles go where in the final image. The menus for one are complicated because of that.

The text is under control now, though. Nagato made some fancy conversion tool that converts between the LBS files (and DAT for the magazines and manuals) in the game and a nice fun XML format. It is just a matter of doing them all, and there are thousands of files (no exaggeration). The original team did all the Arino and floating head Arino dialogue and the phone conversations and chats, but after finding all the other files, that turned out to only be a portion of the text that needed to be done. The RPG and Adventure games are quite large on their own. The rest of the game isn't so bad. The Daily Challenge had a ton of text associated with it but there was a lot of repetition so it wasn't so bad.

OKAY, from my end...

I finished all the Arino dialogue related to the Daily Challenges and phrases related to playing at certain times and on certain dates and put it all in the game, so that is 400 more files down and I think that is everything related to the Daily Challenges done (almost 800 files in total)

I also touched a bit of the Adventure. I think I now ran over most of the text you see near the beginning of the game (from the intro right through the opening dialogue as you start playing and the first few rooms). The nouns have to be edited through a hex editor but there aren't so many and it isn't nearly as bad a task as it might seem.

In terms of raw numbers I'm approaching 300 LBS files left to do on the Adventure games (a few of them are rather large, though). They contain a lot of the "meat" of the main story and some of the dialogue and situations are quite humorous. Pity I can't really share anything without it being a huge spoiler.

 

[Aaron Chmielowiec]

Quick update I meant to post last night.

Thanks to help from Nagato I think the name entry screens in the RPG and Adventure games are finished. I still have yet to test it.

I got another 100 or so done recently and kikuchiyo sent me a bunch of RPG-related text I can put in the game.

So yeah, progress all around.

I think with the Adventure game progress I should measure it in KB of text now, though. There aren't so many files left in comparison but a lot of these are friggin huge walls of text. One of them is over 30kb of solid text, ouch.

Also, I've added many of the nouns to the Adventure game (that have to be hex edited in). I have a potential issue since there are screen display size limitations and some blocks of nouns are in 8 character chunks back to back which makes words longer than that unfeasible for the moment though I can use other words in their place.

The last big consistency issue with the Adventure games I'm having are the titles of the mysteries. They are a bit long and ambiguous in English where they are only ambiguous in Japanese. It would be a spoiler to post a list, though so maybe I'll have to let the testers rack their brains over it.

 

[Fishaman P]

It would be a spoiler to post a list, though so maybe I'll have to let the testers rack their brains over it.

Spoiler: Title Here

Forums are great.

 

[Aaron Chmielowiec]

Okay, I'll remember that.

Let's try it out!

Spoiler: I give away BIG SECRETS for GREAT JUSTICE

The Seven Mysteries in Japanese/English are:

誰もいない会議室 / Nobody in the Meeting Room
すすり泣く周辺機器 / The Whining Peripheral
どっちのＲＯＭがほしい？ / Which ROM do you want?
１本足りない・・・ / There's one missing...
よるふえるノルマ / The nightly increasing quota
ベルトコンベアがえし / The Converor Belt Returns (?)
No Title : It deals with Love&Game and leads to the end of the game

A couple things. The "Peripheral" is a gear in the game on the conveyor belt I believe. The gear "whines" in the game.

The "There's one missing" could be "One missing" or "Not enough" but the fact there is only "one" missing is an important point for the case

I'm not positive on the title for the Conveyor Belt "Returns" but you do need to follow it to its source

As for the quote that increases every night...there is probably a better way to say that.

In other news, I have some Name entry screens here courtesy of Nagato. I'm not sure if I am missing some of the files or if I need to do something else, because although it displays and looks nice, the actual characters I entered reverted to the kana in its place before. It is probably something silly. Here, some pics for you:

and the part where "not all is what it seems"
Oops, I see what I missed (Overlay files). My mistake...
PLEASE FORGIVE ME ARINO-SAMA!

Edit> Ooh, "Reception" fits now. I think I was limited to 8 characters originally in that spot.

　

 

[Nagato]

Deleted.

 

[Aaron Chmielowiec]

Okay, one more post since I'm on fire recently (and it is getting close to 1AM already now)

I committed about 120 random files and am constantly messing with the Overlay file related to the nouns in the Adventure game.

As it stands right now I have a large chunk of most of the Adventure games done. There are about 250 files left to do for both Adventure games combined, and of that I have bits and pieces done of many of the larger files including the 31kb monster.

The text positioning (as I have said many times by now) is off and some words and sentences are cut off but everything seems to be working at this stage. I can almost see the end in sight for these games (the two Adventures). With this latest batch I actually managed to piece together the entire intro sequence up to when you get your business cards and first set of mysteries and are able to walk around and ask the people there about the cases and things in each room. I am still missing a few large chunks of dialog from the factory floor and other blocks (that would spoil the game if I mentioned it) but by and large it is coming together.

 

[Tomobobo]

Godspeed.

 

[Fishaman P]

Again, I think we can all agree that our favorite thing about this translation is the community input. You update us pretty much daily, and you take our opinions into account.

While this won't be as famous as the Mother 3 translation, I hope this will be #2!

 

[manlego]

Hey, i really liked the first game, so its good to see that the second one its finally getting translated!
Keep up the good work man.

 

[Aaron Chmielowiec]

Okay, I only got a couple dozen more files done but they are starting to get larger.

I was thinking of tackling the top 3 biggest files just so the remaining load doesn't look so intimidating. After those, most of the remaining files are 2-10kb at most with many on the lower end.

Funny how the biggest file is

Spoiler: warning: big spoiler

Arino's wrestling match

 

[Aaron Chmielowiec]

Brief update while I'm drinking coffee and letting my pour brane recover.

I did the largest 3 files (31kb, 26kb and 18kb I think) though in the end the English version turned out to be smaller (same screen real estate but the double byte characters jacked up the size a bit). The rest of the 200 something files are all under 10kb now. I'm nickel and diming my way to GREAT JUSTICE now.

The adventure game does have some decent commentary on the game industry, actually.

Also, kikuchiyo was doing some work on the RPG and actually got quite far so far. He wanted to share his progress himself so I'll let him. Also, I realize I asked for help with others on the RPG. Depending on what and how much is left maybe we can coordinate our efforts? (I'm hoping at the least it doesn't cause too much confusion) I could still use help finishing off the last files of the adventure games if anyone is bored. Better yet, mockups of the RPG menus or in-game menus in Arino's room or the game shop.


EDIT> While I'm at it, does anyone have any good suggestions for the "currency" in the mini-games? I think the RPG is the only one worth worrying about. It doesn't matter to me but we could use just about anything. Money, Muni, Gil, Gold, Ducats, Potch, etc.

 

[Mars_x]

EDIT> While I'm at it, does anyone have any good suggestions for the "currency" in the mini-games? I think the RPG is the only one worth worrying about. It doesn't matter to me but we could use just about anything. Money, Muni, Gil, Gold, Ducats, Potch, etc.

Didn't Guadia Quest use Ducats as the currency?
About the other games, I don't know. How about Yen? Plop!

 

[Fishaman P]

Didn't Guadia Quest use Ducats as the currency?
About the other games, I don't know. How about Yen? Plop!

That seems immediately correct to me, but my brain is giving me a nudge that the currency is e.g. 999G.

For the detective games, if they take place in Japan, just use Yen.

 

[kikuchiyo]

As Aaron mentioned, I'm working on the RPG script.

It's huge. I think I'm making steady progress (eyeballing it last night, it looked *close* to 1/3 through, but it's hard to tell because some sections are harder or easier, and there are a lot of empty strings). I would be up for breaking it up into smaller chunks and translating with a few parties, but I would be worried about consistency. If we don't have anyone in particular in mind yet, I'd like to see how far I can get before January 1 or 2nd. I doubt I'd be able to finish it but it'd be nice of a big chunk was done.

The actual process is a lot of fun - I've played a lot of Japanese RPGs in English and a few Dragon Quest games in Japanese, and that's actually coming in handy, as the RPG section seems pretty heavily influenced by Dragon Quest.

As for currency, the RPG (in 2 at least) is calling it マネ, money. If the original game's English translation used Ducats, I think we should just follow its lead.

 

[DarknessSavior]

Brief update while I'm drinking coffee and letting my pour brane recover.

I did the largest 3 files (31kb, 26kb and 18kb I think) though in the end the English version turned out to be smaller (same screen real estate but the double byte characters jacked up the size a bit). The rest of the 200 something files are all under 10kb now. I'm nickel and diming my way to GREAT JUSTICE now.

The adventure game does have some decent commentary on the game industry, actually.

Also, kikuchiyo was doing some work on the RPG and actually got quite far so far. He wanted to share his progress himself so I'll let him. Also, I realize I asked for help with others on the RPG. Depending on what and how much is left maybe we can coordinate our efforts? (I'm hoping at the least it doesn't cause too much confusion) I could still use help finishing off the last files of the adventure games if anyone is bored. Better yet, mockups of the RPG menus or in-game menus in Arino's room or the game shop.


EDIT> While I'm at it, does anyone have any good suggestions for the "currency" in the mini-games? I think the RPG is the only one worth worrying about. It doesn't matter to me but we could use just about anything. Money, Muni, Gil, Gold, Ducats, Potch, etc.

I wish you would've asked me before getting someone else to start on it. Now I get the feeling the work I did already was wasted.

Why don't you tell me where you left off, and I'll pick it up from there?

~DS

 

[cubeboy]

I agree that the RPG should be Ducats. Guadia Quest Saga appears to take place in the same universe as Guadia Quest, so it wouldn't make sense to change it.

I agree with Fishaman P that if it takes place in Japan, that it should just be Yen.

 

[kikuchiyo]

I agree that the RPG should be Ducats. Guadia Quest Saga appears to take place in the same universe as Guadia Quest, so it wouldn't make sense to change it.

I agree with Fishaman P that if it takes place in Japan, that it should just be Yen.

If that's the case I can change it to Ducats in what I'm working on. That's good, because if there is a reason to change it again, I can go back easily and find every instance of Ducats.

 

[Aaron Chmielowiec]

Just a quick note that I have a bunch of Christmas events and concerts this weekend for my kids but I did get a bit more done.

I have about 50 more of the adventure files done of various sizes but one thing is bothering me. It may be nothing but I noticed in the larger files there were decision points and some of the text around some but not all of the decisions do not have the same tags as the rest of the text. I hope this doesn't cause a problem.

DarknessSavior> nothing is wasted. I apologize personally for the confusion; that's my fault. Could you send me what you had done? I would assume kikuchiyo wouldn't mind me sharing what he has done with you if that helps? I believe he is going in alphabetical order through the files. This may work out in the end anyway because one translation might fit better or work out better depending on case anyway. I put some placeholder battle text just to test the RPG but that is going to be overwritten anyway. I'm going to credit you regardless. Actually, I have some stuff for you. I'll message you about that. There is still quite a bit to do so there is a good benefit to having both of you work on it. It's a shame we can't all chat over a coffee about this in person.

For everyone else, erm I guess that is it. I hope to have a bunch of time this coming week. If I'm really lucky or speedy or something maybe I can finish with the adventure game text. I'd love to have this out to the testers by Xmas but don't hold me to that yet. I'll work on the graphics while others are checking the text.

 

[Aaron Chmielowiec]

Okay one quick update while I was poking around.

I already mentioned the menus in the RPG were images but the inventory and equipment (and location names?) are just like the adventure games in that I have to hex edit an overlay bin file. Fortunately it's shorter than the adventure games and even that didn't take long to write up a first draft.

What I'm going to try for the menus is to take a mockup of the menus and attach them to the bottom of the original image files and remap the OAM table after that. In theory it should work. In practice...we'll see I guess.

That and as usual I'm pecking away at the adventure game text (and the in-game manuals I do want to finish off afterwards)

Oh, and a big hello to the many fans of the Game Center CX series and this project. I know there are a number of lurkers so I try to update when I can

Also, I recently saw the poster for the Game Center CX movie while our Xmas shopping and eating out at a buffet after some pretty long days at work. If I remember I'll resize the pic I took and post that but I'm assuming any fan of the series has already seen it anyway.

 

[kikuchiyo]

Short update for me; work on the RPG translation continues, though computer issues and cleaning took up much of my time last week. I plan to make a push this week(end) and then later next week. The size of the file astounds me every time I look at it. The beginning of the file actually ended up being easier than much of what I was working on; a lot of set Japanese I'd seen a lot of before. I've been adding some flavor to some of the text (with accuracy and speed being slightly higher priorities); we'll see if any of that survives testing.

I had Arino reply to one of my tweets the other day (not about this), so that was pretty fantastic. Ended up printing out the tweet and posting it on my fridge