ROM Hack How to replace the EN intro with the JP intro for Mega Man Battle Network 5 Double Team DS?

CrimsonRed

Member
OP
Newcomer
Joined
Sep 5, 2022
Messages
16
Trophies
0
Location
Hyrule
XP
157
Country
Norway
Hi!
Is it possible to replace the English intro with the Japanese intro in Mega Man Battle Network 5 Double Team DS? I only want to replace the intro, and not the voicelines. Does a hack/ patch for this already exist? If not, how can I go about doing this?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Here are the intros for those wondering:
Japanese intro

English intro

The Japanese intro is such a banger! The Englsh intro is ok, but it sounds so goofy in comparison lol.
 
Last edited by CrimsonRed,

FAST6191

Techromancer
Editorial Team
Joined
Nov 21, 2005
Messages
36,798
Trophies
3
XP
28,321
Country
United Kingdom
I did once undub this game but that was mostly just by overwriting the whole audio file and I can't recall if it did the intro video (I tend not to pay much attention to them after the first boot).

That intro looks more like a video than animation but it could go either way (a lot of that was doable enough with the DS 2d graphics and I did not see the tells of DS video formats, especially early ones). If it is a video it may have audio embedded within it. There are various video formats for the DS, though MODS or VX (both extensions used by act imagine/mobiclip which Nintendo later bought).

Simplest start would be to do the undub (open up Japanese ROM, grab the sound_data.sdat or whatever SDAT file name it uses, open up NA or whatever version and overwrite there instead). If the sound changes and otherwise works then you have the start. If it does not then you probably want to find the video file instead.
If it turns out it is the SDAT file then you get to fiddle with its internals.
SDAT has three major elements with some supporting aspects.

SSEQ is a midi like sequenced format.
SWAV and archives of which are SWAR. Wave files but more than about 10 seconds is pushing it, usually used then for audio stings. Also used as the sample libraries/instrument libraries/sound fonts for the SSEQ files and governed by SNBK (sound bank).
STRM. Able to play long form audio. Not present in every ROM and some ROMs if say the fully voiced stuff was dropped for the western releases it might too not have made the leap. There are workarounds (New Super Mario Brothers hacking seeing the most developed) if that is the case, though others have instead opted to backport translations around the place as the easier option (might also have some bonuses for the GBA slot link options in this instance).

Anyway you would have to break apart the SDAT and insert the presumably relevant STRM if that is the case. Unlike the ROMs and many other archive formats there is no great one for the SDAT format (plenty of options for ripping and playback though). Tinke has some abilities, and in this case you might get it done with VGMtrans https://github.com/vgmtrans/vgmtrans
Personally I usually go manual and alter the relevant size sections and locations to point it to the end of the file if it is too large to overwrite (or pad out to the recipient's current size). It can help to generate a SMAP helper file using something like vgmtoolbox as well.
You may also face quality issues if for some reason one is mono and the other not, or uses different sample rates.

There have been cases of STRM files sitting there by themselves in ROMs as well.
 

YuseiFD

Well-Known Member
Member
Joined
Jul 6, 2016
Messages
600
Trophies
0
Age
34
XP
2,615
Country
I did once undub this game but that was mostly just by overwriting the whole audio file and I can't recall if it did the intro video (I tend not to pay much attention to them after the first boot).

That intro looks more like a video than animation but it could go either way (a lot of that was doable enough with the DS 2d graphics and I did not see the tells of DS video formats, especially early ones). If it is a video it may have audio embedded within it. There are various video formats for the DS, though MODS or VX (both extensions used by act imagine/mobiclip which Nintendo later bought).

Simplest start would be to do the undub (open up Japanese ROM, grab the sound_data.sdat or whatever SDAT file name it uses, open up NA or whatever version and overwrite there instead). If the sound changes and otherwise works then you have the start. If it does not then you probably want to find the video file instead.
If it turns out it is the SDAT file then you get to fiddle with its internals.
SDAT has three major elements with some supporting aspects.

SSEQ is a midi like sequenced format.
SWAV and archives of which are SWAR. Wave files but more than about 10 seconds is pushing it, usually used then for audio stings. Also used as the sample libraries/instrument libraries/sound fonts for the SSEQ files and governed by SNBK (sound bank).
STRM. Able to play long form audio. Not present in every ROM and some ROMs if say the fully voiced stuff was dropped for the western releases it might too not have made the leap. There are workarounds (New Super Mario Brothers hacking seeing the most developed) if that is the case, though others have instead opted to backport translations around the place as the easier option (might also have some bonuses for the GBA slot link options in this instance).

Anyway you would have to break apart the SDAT and insert the presumably relevant STRM if that is the case. Unlike the ROMs and many other archive formats there is no great one for the SDAT format (plenty of options for ripping and playback though). Tinke has some abilities, and in this case you might get it done with VGMtrans https://github.com/vgmtrans/vgmtrans
Personally I usually go manual and alter the relevant size sections and locations to point it to the end of the file if it is too large to overwrite (or pad out to the recipient's current size). It can help to generate a SMAP helper file using something like vgmtoolbox as well.
You may also face quality issues if for some reason one is mono and the other not, or uses different sample rates.

There have been cases of STRM files sitting there by themselves in ROMs as well.
This works btw, just tried doing the simple sound-dat swap and it turned the intro into the japanese one, keep in mind, this is an unclean swap, you should decorticate the sound_dat file in order to see what's been replaced, since this mutes the capcom and title sounds, but switches to the japanese op song
 
  • Like
Reactions: CrimsonRed

Site & Scene News

Popular threads in this forum

General chit-chat
Help Users
  • No one is chatting at the moment.
    K3Nv2 @ K3Nv2: Lol rappers still promoting crypto