ROM Hack I need help with finding pointers in a DS game

[Mirlaine]

Hello,

I'm trying to translate Hiiro no Kakera DS, an otome game with lots of text. I wonder, if anyone could help me out with pointers. I read some guides at romhacking.net and I tried to find them by myself, but no luck. I might be calculating them wrong, I dunno. Or maybe my question isn't about pointers?

The game displays text in lines like this:

http://img23.imageshack.us/my.php?image=screen1.bmp

But in the bin file that text is stored in one big chunk:

http://img4.imageshack.us/my.php?image=screen2.bmp

I want to replace "??????" with "A dark place." which is longer and gets cut off, if I insert it just like that.

Can anyone explain how do I find pointers to that lines and change them? Or at least can anyone refer me to an article which is about changing pointers in DS specifically? I would be grateful for any kind of help.

 

[Noitora]

I can give it a look.
You can either wait for me to download the whole rom or send me a couple of files containing the text.

 

[Mirlaine]

I can wait.

What files do you need? Just the *.bin or...?

 

[Noitora]

I can wait.

What files do you need? Just the *.bin or...?

Nvm, I'll download it, in the meantime you can read the sticky about romhacking in this forum.
Edit: From a quick look it seems to be somewhat more complicated than I thought it'd be :/

 

[Mirlaine]

There is no hope then? D:

I only need that text in those bin files translated (I've already hacked some graphics, which is like everything in this game, even the menu is stored as tiles...), but if I use one 1byte characters the text will look horrible. That's why I'm asking about this pointer stuff.

 

[SCVgeo]

There is no hope then? D:

I only need that text in those bin files translated (I've already hacked some graphics, which is like everything in this game, even the menu is stored as tiles...), but if I use one 1byte characters the text will look horrible. That's why I'm asking about this pointer stuff.

Well I would not say that there is no hope, you've just got to approach it the right way. As far as I can see these are script files and they have the text for all the different parts at the end of the file (as you already noticed). The pointers should be in these files (though its conceivable that the pointers might be elsewhere its not likely). So its just a matter of keeping on trying. With enough time someone will find them.

The pointers will be offsets with respect to a certain section, which will not necessarily be the start of the file.

It would also help if you fully figure out the structure files.

4 bytes - 0s
4 bytes - Pointer to beginning of text section (relative to beginning of file)
4 bytes - Size of text section
4 bytes -
4 bytes -
4 bytes - Pointer to beginning of second section (relative to beginning of file)

If you can tell me whether sure1, sure2, etc and turn0, turn1, etc have some particular meaning in the game I might be able to figure out the format.

As of right now I think that the first section (with the sure and turn) defines the script and text information (which in in the second and third sections, respectively).
I have no idea what the game is and have no interest in playing it. But I like figuring out formats

EDIT:

04 01 C7 00 04 01 46 00 03 01 04 00 07 00 00 00
04 01 3D 00 04 01 7A 00 03 01 0B 00 0B 00 00 00
02 01 01 00 04 01 7A 00 03 01 0B 00 16 00 00 00
02 01 01 00 04 01 7A 00 03 01 0B 00 21 00 00 00
02 01 01 00 04 01 7A 00 03 01 0B 00 2C 00 00 00
02 01 01 00 04 01 7A 00 03 01 0B 00 37 00 00 00

The above is what you are looking for.

Compare those numbers and the first few entries of the text section. Those are offsets of the entries relative to the beginning of the text section. The numbers between 03 01 and the bolded, represent the size of the entry.

 

[Mirlaine]

I'm sorry I'm replying so late, but I was figuring out what you've said there... I've only started hacking last week and there are still many things I don't know. Also, I don't want you to play that game, by no means! I only need some help figuring out how to locate and change the pointers for the text. I really really really want to learn. The lines I've asked about, are at the very beginning of the game.

That long intro aside...

I tried changing the offsets, tried changing the entries, but nothing happened

The text is displayed in the usual way, no change at all. The game doesn't even crash or anything.

Could you possibly change the first two lines of the text (make the new text longer/shorter) and tell me how you did it? Thank you for your help

 

[psycoblaster]

if you edited but nothing happens, (remember to save what you did and THEN try)
that means it's a duplicate text

 

[Mirlaine]

if you edited but nothing happens, (remember to save what you did and THEN try)
that means it's a duplicate text

I saved, started the game, nothing changed. Repeated this many times, until I was sure the *.nds file was modified properly. But nothing ever happened. Text is displayed as it always was.

Double text what D: How is that even possible?

The graphics are indeed some double layers (I can handle them easily though), but TEXT!?

Does that mean I should look for some other pointers?

 

[nIxx]

I think he means that it´s possible that they put the same Text more as one time into the game files.
Try to find the same japanes text and change these too

 

[psycoblaster]

if you edited but nothing happens, (remember to save what you did and THEN try)
that means it's a duplicate text

I saved, started the game, nothing changed. Repeated this many times, until I was sure the *.nds file was modified properly. But nothing ever happened. Text is displayed as it always was.

Double text what D: How is that even possible?

The graphics are indeed some double layers (I can handle them easily though), but TEXT!?

Does that mean I should look for some other pointers?

For instance, take a look at YS DS (japanese)
there are several text files. However, there is one big file called script_comn.bin (If I remember correctly) which is like a compilation of all of the other script files, so it does nothing when edited.