Hacking Phantasy Star Portable 2 Infinity - English Translation

Amiculi

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PSO2 have eng patch ( tweaker ) more than 4-5 years . people who want play start very loooonnnnggg ago and also NA servers will be have old content without new classes ( also new class release tomoroww LOL)
The claim is it's launching with full current content to the Japanese version. And having played through periodic IP locks and what not, I'd much rather just play on official servers, and support them in hopes of localization of other games we missed.

The PSO2 localization has been slow, but not as slow as this one! ;)
 

Pomidori

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The claim is it's launching with full current content to the Japanese version. And having played through periodic IP locks and what not, I'd much rather just play on official servers, and support them in hopes of localization of other games we missed.

The PSO2 localization has been slow, but not as slow as this one! ;)
Last try about port very bad . PSO2 beta is out in Asia in English. 5 years ago. About IP locks / JP servers dont use it i thonk very long time but in 2012-2014 problems may be but not now my ping without vpn ~250 with ~125
 

Amiculi

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Last try about port very bad . PSO2 beta is out in Asia in English. 5 years ago. About IP locks / JP servers dont use it i thonk very long time but in 2012-2014 problems may be but not now my ping without vpn ~250 with ~125
I'm not sure why everyone is so aggressive about using the japanese version with its english patch. No one I know plays on it, several people I know will play in the localized version when it comes out. I played in the Japanese servers with the original english patches and dealt with the random IP locks and bans for english speaking people, wasn't worth the trouble in the long run in my opinion. I especially wasn't going to deal with buying currency through sketchy sites if I wanted to spend money on something that I might, at any time, be banned from or lose access to due to my region.

Like, I get it, you CAN play that version, I don't want to. I'd rather play on the console on the TV anyway.
 
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limpbiz411

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PSO2 will be officially out in the west before this translation is complete.
Im not sure if I should laugh or cry.
it's a complete different game, so it doesn't really matter. Also pso2 wont be portable, unless released on the switch. So we should actually laugh at you for trying to get a rise out of the people working on this awesome translation.
 

Shadowth117

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it's a complete different game, so it doesn't really matter. Also pso2 wont be portable, unless released on the switch. So we should actually laugh at you for trying to get a rise out of the people working on this awesome translation.
https://ec.nintendo.com/JP/ja/titles/70010000001185

Try again, buddy. This particular version makes use of Microsoft's servers already and Xbox itself has confirmed it will be coming to other platforms already. I'll let you connect the dots.

In any case though, I'm looking forward to whenever this translation is able to come out. I've been wanting to play this version through with a friend for many years and we really weren't up for playing it in Japanese.
 
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Amiculi

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it's a complete different game, so it doesn't really matter. Also pso2 wont be portable, unless released on the switch. So we should actually laugh at you for trying to get a rise out of the people working on this awesome translation.
I don't imagine we'll see the port localized but PSO2 is on Vita, I played it a fair amount there and it was honestly a great experience. It did require an internet connection but those aren't difficult to come across between everywhere/one having wifi and hotspots and such.
 

Amiculi

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i think the The online and portable series had different settings/story
Turns out that's a fairly interesting topic, and one that this very patch may end up sort of elucidating eventually.

I was pretty sure that PSO was just long after the events of the original PS series (which I have admittedly never played and really probably should. My RG350 should be arriving today, maybe I'll play it there!), and that PSU was long after PSO but it turns out the whole thing is really confused.

Dates are all over the place with PS and PSO using the same calendar system, and PSU using another, though enormous amounts of similarities abound between the worlds. What I ended up finding was this:

https://web.archive.org/web/2011071...ntasy-star-timeline-theories-and-connections/

The actual page is 404'd long ago but Wayback machine rescues the content. From the sounds of it, PSP2:i includes a handful of characters and things such as a Pioneer vessel that would directly connect PSO and PSU, though officially Sega says the two franchises are totally disparate. It may well come down to the individual's interpretation I guess.
 
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limpbiz411

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https://ec.nintendo.com/JP/ja/titles/70010000001185

Try again, buddy. This particular version makes use of Microsoft's servers already and Xbox itself has confirmed it will be coming to other platforms already. I'll let you connect the dots.

In any case though, I'm looking forward to whenever this translation is able to come out. I've been wanting to play this version through with a friend for many years and we really weren't up for playing it in Japanese.
hmmm hopefully this will hit north america
 

Fefo

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I'm not sure why everyone is so aggressive about using the japanese version with its english patch.

Probably discoverability. Niche of a niche, etc. Me, I hate the server lag, and GameGuard can die in a fire. The "O" part in PSO is the least important to me despite the irony. But...

PSO2 is on Vita.

That I didn't knew. How up to date it is? Let's say I'm not too fond of how the game evolved, so old is good by me.

---

On another note, since you brought up lore: Does that awful mobile game has any of it? I saw something that looked like Oblivion City Paru.
 

Amiculi

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Probably discoverability. Niche of a niche, etc. Me, I hate the server lag, and GameGuard can die in a fire. The "O" part in PSO is the least important to me despite the irony. But...



That I didn't knew. How up to date it is? Let's say I'm not too fond of how the game evolved, so old is good by me.

---

On another note, since you brought up lore: Does that awful mobile game has any of it? I saw something that looked like Oblivion City Paru.

I honestly couldn't say where Vita is at, they updated it past the point that it would even FIT on my 8gb vita card I used for my japanese account. If it's still active it should be up to current since it used the same account as PS4/PC, it was the full online-only PSO2 MMO experience with cut down graphics, played great though.

And I don't know a lot with the lore, I just read that writeup I linked. I keep meaning to play the original games but since they are apparently unconnected I don't know how far I'd get, I can't seem to do turn based games anymore that aren't Disgaea or Earthbound.

I also haven't played any mobile games.

I've basically been waiting patiently for localizations or translation patches. My last attempt at any other form was I imported Phantasy Star Nova, which may have my favorite gameplay in the entire franchise, more fluid than PSO2 with more control over combo finishers and stuff, really neat weapon variation, but about 15-20 hours in or so, at least at my slower pace, you start having to do a lot of base management and it gets REALLY unfriendly to non-Japanese readers so I ended up selling it.
 

Fefo

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Thanks @Amiculi, nice to know it wont fit my 8GB card too lol. Maybe when I get my adapter. Sony should be sued for that stuff.

It's refreshing to see your take on Nova, I heard heavy critiques on it's gameplay. I'l see if I can get the patch to work later.

Japanese in Infinity isn't the biggest of issues since it shares so much with 2, and for edge cases the english guide is more than enough. I'm still chilling on the train though, it will be nice to see the game in a more acessible way to me and the effort they put so far looks really neat, I can appreciate that.
 

Amiculi

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Seems like every variation from any formula pulls in a lot of hate. Universe was universally reviled, but then Portable became a big favorite, PSO2 got a lot of hate at release too.


I don't remember Nova super clearly as long as it's been but I was really enjoying playing a Hunter, I ended up focusing heavily on SMG's which behaved like melee weapons with hugely powerful multi-hit finishers. I also used a sniper rifle as the game allowed for weakpoint damage via manually aimed shots and that helped a lot with tougher, slower targets and bosses. Just checked screenshots and I guess I last played it in 2016 and was level 79, so I guess I enjoyed it more than I thought.

There was a like 5% complete english guide for the game when I played it, I was mostly using an android app that translated text by photo, taking pictures of the screens to try and get by, but it was spotty at best, and then the base building gets introduced and expanded on repeatedly and becomes enormously complicated and seems really, really important.

That said I do keep considering playing it again. It's only like $10 on ebay now.
 

Pomidori

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PS Nova game like pso2 ( but old patches with old content classes skilss etc) but have some nice things ( like add ability for weapon with part like you want to do ) have extra hard and 200 lvl ( hard to do it solo but fun ) and game have eng patch . Nice game =)
 

Kion

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Hopefully this is semi-on-topic. I've spent more time than I'd like to admit looking at the .nbl archive format used in Phantasy Star Portable. I've re-written and tested this code a lot to get the code down into around 250 lines, which is about as concise as I can get it. The nbl format is similar in functionality to PSO's .bml files in that it contains a list of files and textures. The files (anything that gets copied into memory) is included in the NMLL section, and textures (if exists, and are copied into vram) are included in the TMLL section. Both of these sections (NMLL and TMLL) are essentially packed the same way, with a file list, and a block of data. The two main differences are the NMLL has a slightly larger header and list of pointer offsets following the data, and TMLL is only ever compressed but not encrypted. This basically means that it might be possible to get the code down shorter by re-using the same function for each section, but I ended up copying and pasting what is essentially the same code with minor changes to read the file from top to bottom.

As this is something I've tested and written I guess this is something I can release without stepping on any toes. There are two files with three functions. Blowfish, which was adapted from Essen's gasetools, prs which has been included in the header, and nbl which I used Essen's gasetools as a starting point and rewrote about five times taking notes along the way. The files are linked below and generally available under MIT/GPL which ever is appropriate.

Blowfish.js
Gasetools.js

Something else worth mentioning is that Phantasy Star Portable 1 uses PRS compressed nbl files. Phantasy Star Portable 2(infinity) uses PRS, but it also adds another compression format. It could be something as simple as a slightly altered existing format, but I tried a lot of zlib formats and was not able to get anything to work. So I think that's in the territory of people who are able to rip and read assembly from the game files to be able to analyze that format. There's also the .fpb tarbals, which are similar to the functionality of PSO's GSL files. Could be something simple, but I have no idea about the details as the file list with the filenames and offsets seems to have some CRC32 implementation or something. I guess I can start focusing my attention on model files now and stop tripping over some of these compression and archive formats. But there's also the issue of being able to get to the access to the asset files to start analyzing them in the first place.
 
Team Post Jan 01 2020

Weyu

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New year, new stuff.
A progress update:

We are heading toward the final segment of the project but a significant amount of work still needs to be done.
Here is a projected roadmap of what will happen in 2020:

1) Finishing up quality control

There is a lot of text in this game that all needs to be checked not just for English and translation quality, but also for typesetting and other tech issues.
I'm playing through a fresh save of the game and going through every chapter trying to find ways to break things, which brings to light small issues which we fix along the way.

2) Working out the last UI issues
Some bugs with the UI still need to be fixed, such as text overlapping or specific windows being too small to fit all potential variables.

3) Dealing with miscellaneous tech issues
There are some non-gamebreaking issues such as the music stopping after idling for a long period in the same area.
This may be an issue with the emulator I'm using as it apparently also happens in the JP version of the game.
The above may not be addressable and isn't an issue in normal play, so we'll see what will be done with it.

4) Touching up movie subtitles
Movies with soft-subs don't seem to work on the emulator, so we've created hardcoded versions of them.
These still need some timing adjustments and testing.

5) Testing multiplayer
Unfortunately I never got MP to work due to the infinite loading bug that plagues some setups, but some tests concerning the MP content need to be done.
I'll see if I can work some things out to access the content.

6) Final touches
After all of the above has been addressed, a patch will be made which marks the end of our internal testing and we can move on to external testers.
We're projecting this to be within the first third of the year.

-----

7) Recruiting testers
We will probably want 3 or 4 people who are willing to spend 3-4 months to intensively test the game and find things that we overlooked.
Please don't message us now asking to be a tester, as we'll make a post when it is time.

8) Test period
As mentioned above, several months will be needed to test the game.
This should be attainable in the second third (2/3) of the year.

9) Incorporating feedback
Any issues that are found by testers that need to be fixed will be done here.

10) Public release
If everything goes on schedule, the patch can hopefully be released in the last third of the year.
This is not a hard promise as unseen issues can always pop up in a project of this size, and our available time to work on it varies so sometimes more headway is made than at other times; the progress is not linear.

It's been a long ride and we still have a ways to go, but the end is finally in sight.
A thank you to those who have steadfastly stuck with us over the years. :)
 

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