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UPDATE
The patch is now completed and available. See the attachments. The patching process is kind of a hassle: you need to add common-key.bin and StarbladeJP.wad to the "Starblade" directory, then run Apply Patch.bat. This will create StarbladeEN.wad in the same directory, which you can do with as you wish.
The patch is now completed and available. See the attachments. The patching process is kind of a hassle: you need to add common-key.bin and StarbladeJP.wad to the "Starblade" directory, then run Apply Patch.bat. This will create StarbladeEN.wad in the same directory, which you can do with as you wish.
Code:
---------------------------------------------------
| Starblade Virtual Console Arcade -- English Patch |
---------------------------------------------------
This patch translates the Japan-only VCA release of 1991's Starblade, the
early polygonal shooter by Namco. The game was reasonably playable in
Japanese, with some trial and error and a bit of patience, but this should
make things a little simpler.
NB: Nothing region-related is changed by this patch: the game is still Japan
region. Any standard method for launching out-of-region titles should work.
-------------------------
| What's been translated? |
-------------------------
The game itself really doesn't need a translation; it's all fully voiced, in
English, so this patch only affects the menu: the various settings screens,
the tooltips, all of the popup notices ("Are you sure you want to return to
the title screen? All progress will be lost," etc.), the instructional
graphic, the button prompts and a massive number of error messages.
-------------------------
| What wasn't translated? |
-------------------------
The banner, strap screen, home menu and the digital manual are all unmodified.
None of them are necessary for playing the game--the manual doesn't even
bother to explain any of the menu settings anyway, so the in-game
instructional graphic is about equally useful.
There were a couple of lines I was never able to find a context for: in with
all the menu strings is an apparent option called "Works" which looks like it
must have been removed. If it ever does appear, the translations will probably
be poor, because I didn't understand their purpose. There were also a few
lines like "Action is missing!" that I never saw in-game, so same deal there.
----------------------------
| How do I apply this patch? |
----------------------------
Due to the complexities of patching a Wii WAD, this patch bundles some tools
to extract, patch and rebuild the WAD. In theory, a patch could be made that
altered the WAD directly, but it would be huge and include most of the game's
assets due to the patcher seeing the newly encrypted file as completely
different to the original.
However, not everything can be included here, so there's also a couple of
files you need to add to the "Starblade" directory:
- common-key.bin
- an unmodified, regulation Starblade v257 WAD, renamed to "StarbladeJP.wad".
According to No-Intro, it should have the following specifications:
File: Star Blade (Japan) (v257) (Arcade) (Virtual Console).wad
Size: 18528512
CRC32: DA0559AD
MD5: DB62A9800550B8173BF5863A3FC13297
SHA-1: 41DD1D161D47F89C0F5F94AFD58023C9492BD95A
Don't ask me where to find them.
Place both of these files in the "Starblade" directory, remembering to rename
your Japanese WAD to "StarbladeJP.wad". Then, launch the following batch file:
Apply Patch.bat
This will do some behind the scenes grunt-work that will result in a new file
in the "Starblade" directory:
StarbladeEN.wad
This is your English-translated game. To play it, do whatever you usually do
with your WADs; we're not getting into it here.
If you want or need to perform the patch manually, e.g. because you're on a
different OS, the details of what's going on here aren't anything too complex.
You need to unpack the WAD so that 00000002.app is exposed. Patch this file
with the "StarbladeENPatch.xdelta" file included here, using your xdelta
patcher of choice. Then repack the WAD and you're done.
----------
| Licenses |
----------
This archive bundles apps from BFGR WadTools v0.39a, a GPLv2 package. Source
for these tools can be found in the "src" directory.
Also bundled is the xdelta3 v3.0.6 binary, a GPLv2 project with source
available at Google Code:
https://code.google.com/p/xdelta/source/
---
Sincerely,
Vague RantWhat follows is the thread as originally posted.
I got tired of looking at all of this:
So I did some of this:
Starblade is an early polygonal rail shooter from Namco, predating Star Fox by several years and held by many to have inspired Nintendo and Argonaut's title. The game has been ported all over the place since its original arcade release, from Sega CD to 3DO to PSX, but the Wii Virtual Console Arcade port is unique in that it allows the game to be played like a light gun game using the Wii Remote. Have a video:
(This video is not mine and does not depict this hack.)
Unfortunately, the Wii version was only released in Japan, and when I tried to play it, I got that mess of mojibake in the first shot. It was workable with some effort, but the hassle bothered me enough that I ended up translating the menu (the only things left in Japanese are the strap screen, the Home Menu and the digital manual). The translation was a simple enough job, and the game itself is all in English--with voice acting--the problem now is that I have no idea how to distribute this to anyone else who wants it. I just modified the files directly, so the TMD no longer matches my files.
My plan was just to offer a patch from the Japanese to a translated English WAD, but due to the TMD issue, I'm not even able to pack a functioning one. I can play it as much as I like on the Wii where it's already installed, but I have no way to distribute it to anyone else who wants it. Hopefully, someone can help me get a patch out for others to (maybe) enjoy.
Thanks for any assistance.
EDIT: I managed to pack a functioning WAD, but the result is probably an even bigger dilemma. Because WAD contents are encrypted, even the smallest modification to a file means that it looks completely different once encrypted, so when I generate a patch I'm basically providing the entire game within the xdelta--the game ROM itself is in the same archive as the contents I translated. Short version: I don't see any convenient way to "legally" provide a patch for any WAD, since it naturally requires a bunch of irrelevant, copyrighted content be bundled.
A possible solution would be to provide the xdelta for my modified archive only, leaving the user to do their own decrypting, before patching the file and rebuilding the WAD. This is a giant hassle though. Next solution: bundle some decrypting/encrypting tools and a batch file with the patch. Then you need to know you have the right to share someone else's tools, so bleh. I'm aware this is a peripherally interesting project, but easy WiiWare/VC patching is something that probably is worthwhile, so if I can find a setup for distributing this it'd at least be useful for others wanting to patch WADs.
Last edited by Vague Rant,
