ROM Hack Need help with script extracting

[BakaGaki]

I started fooling around with rom hacking to get my hands on Super Robot Wars W and K scripts. I tried using NitroExplorer and CrystalTile and was able to extract data.bin files, which supposedly hold the script (viewing them in Hex editor I could see the script in Japanese). The problem is I can't extract it to a txt file, so it'd be more organized. I've never done it and basically have no clue how. Would really appreciate any tips.

For that matter, maybe there are ongoing translations of any Super Robot Wars game in which I can participate and, hopefully, speed up the process.

 

[rastsan]

open the file in emeditor then cut out everything that isn't text you need to translate... then save it as a text file.

 

[FAST6191]

Pretty much what rastsan said. Unless you are building a custom tool (usually for extraction, editing or display/"emulation") then script extraction is a fairly messy game and all the elegant or if not elegant then ingenious methods you might see hackers use when trying to figure out a format, work around a problem or tweak something are pretty much forgotten.

You sound like the game used shiftJIS, Euc JP or some known encoding which is great (otherwise you would just have to make a table which pretty much means you then get to use a hex editor that supports tables).

Find the text, cut off any pointers at the start, if there are binary flags in the text replace them with something readable (if there are any flags in the pointers you might consider adding a note in the text), replace any new lines with something a text editor is more happy to see (windows standard is 0d0a where games might use 00, 0d, 0a or something else entirely and do the same for any end of paragraph (your game might not have them) although even this depends on your translator (one that has worked on the rom hacking side of things is probably used to it).
If you have ever seen anyone around here do a quick and dirty text grab to kick off a rom hacking project you can pretty much bet that was all that was done.
If you want you might categorise it by pointers but even then it is nothing special.

You can refine it later if you like but for getting it together to press on "no special measures" is the order of the day.

The trick comes in reinsertion- aside from the pointer issues and any screen issues (no pointer but too much text for a line and the like) you get to reverse all the above and put it back into a format the game might agree with.

Still if you want something you can "program" I might point you at http://gbatemp.net/t280476-romulan-data-extractor-injector

 

[BakaGaki]

Holy crap, that sounds kinda daunting. I never imagined it to be so complicated. Not that I thought it'd be simple copy/pasting, but this surely requires at least some basic programming knowledge.

I suppose I'm better off finding a team in need of a beginner translator, after all. If that's the case I should refer to the Translations Index, right?

 

[Phoenix Goddess]

Holy crap, that sounds kinda daunting. I never imagined it to be so complicated. Not that I thought it'd be simple copy/pasting, but this surely requires at least some basic programming knowledge.

I suppose I'm better off finding a team in need of a beginner translator, after all. If that's the case I should refer to the Translations Index, right?

Nope.
That's just an index of translations in progress, were in progress, or completed.

You can make an ad on romhacking.net to let people know you're a translator looking for a team. Be sure to mention how fluent you are in the language you're translating from and give examples of some sort so people can see you know your stuff.

 

[rastsan]

quick and dirty is pretty much what I have to do for 3 of the projects I am working on. there was only the one that was not quick and dirty. I have tried getting a programmer to help me with one or two things that needed automation.
I personally though have no real programming knowledge (aside form cell phone hacking).

So don't let fast get to you until you try just cutting it out... you won't know how much actual work there really is until you do. At least your text is in bin. files that aren't overlays. you can expect an easier to work with format because of that.

If you do have pointers and everything else fast was talking about just edit the file directly in a hex editor.

I have only needed to cut the other crap out to pass on the stuff I need translated to a translator.

Since you are one....

make things a little easier. play the game while screenshotting. now you have a timeline, and a way to identify text in a little more organized way. you don't need to copy the entire text from the screenshots but you do have to search for little bit of it. once you get the hang of searching editing and moving on to the next shot,, you;ll notice alot about the stucture of the text you are translating.

It could be like zoids battle coloseum where the text is organized by length and seems to be stored willy nilly. but its not willy nilly, there is a very weird pointer table that lists the faces and then the dialogue of that face with a weird way for timing it and actually playing sounds for that dialogue, all interwoven together in way I haven't figured out yet.
or it could be like 7th dragon which is literally organized form start of game to end of game (script wise not anything else, more complicated then that there is a few things I am not saying but that is the basic gist of it)

Why switch to another project you don't have passion for when this one just need you to take a little more time on.

Might be easier to ask the project head what they have figured out about the way the script is stored and let them tell you what you can translate....