.tbl text files in Super Mario RPG

[PaperSplash]

I split off this thread from the one about extracting animations since the OP of that thread felt it was getting off topic. Anyway, to reiterate, while it's easy to locate the game's text files in Data\StreamingAssets\data_tbl\lang, they're in a .tbl format which is readable but very garbled. From the text I can make out at the beginning of the files, they seem to have been converted from Excel spreadsheets. I was wondering if anyone here would know of a way to convert them back to that or at least make them into some format that's less garbled.

 

[TheStonedModder]

I split off this thread from the one about extracting animations since the OP of that thread felt it was getting off topic. Anyway, to reiterate, while it's easy to locate the game's text files in Data\StreamingAssets\data_tbl\lang, they're in a .tbl format which is readable but very garbled. From the text I can make out at the beginning of the files, they seem to have been converted from Excel spreadsheets. I was wondering if anyone here would know of a way to convert them back to that or at least make them into some format that's less garbled.

From 2 seconds of Google-fu it seems like this tbl files may or may not be game specific. With how they are read. I found a few different tools for different games and these files (knights online, Diablo, Diablo 2, and a single 3DS game persona)

Here is a link to the 3DS one since I feel like that would be the most relevent but I also have ZERO clue on this subject; https://github.com/Lomeli12/TBLEditor

 

[PaperSplash]

From 2 seconds of Google-fu it seems like this tbl files may or may not be game specific. With how they are read. I found a few different tools for different games and these files (knights online, Diablo, Diablo 2, and a single 3DS game persona)

Here is a link to the 3DS one since I feel like that would be the most relevent but I also have ZERO clue on this subject

I ended up trying that and a couple other .tbl file tools for other games. Unfortunately the Persona Q2 editor didn't convert the Super Mario RPG .tbl files correctly, only garbling them further, and the rest I tried couldn't even read them. They may not be entirely game-specific but I think the formatting/structure for the SMRPG ones must differ enough that they can't be parsed correctly by the existing tools for other games.

 

[CollinBaxter]

I split off this thread from the one about extracting animations since the OP of that thread felt it was getting off topic. Anyway, to reiterate, while it's easy to locate the game's text files in Data\StreamingAssets\data_tbl\lang, they're in a .tbl format which is readable but very garbled. From the text I can make out at the beginning of the files, they seem to have been converted from Excel spreadsheets. I was wondering if anyone here would know of a way to convert them back to that or at least make them into some format that's less garbled.

It's promising that you found tools for similar file formats in different games. Explore the TBLEditor for 3DS for insights on adapting or creating tools for your specific game's .tbl files.

 

[AndroidDad]

I gave looking into this structure a shot, but I've run into a wall. Perhaps someone can get farther than I have so far. I was trying to make a "Bad Google Translate" text patch for this game, and have come with the following Excel file so far.


The following addresses refer to the base "menu_text_eng_us.tbl" shipped with version 1.0.0.

At least for the menu text, it seems that every menu_text table is identical up through the address 0x387D.
After this, starting at 0x387E, there seems to be a repeating structure as follows:

• StringLength - One byte - Decimal length of following string in text
• Text - Variable Length - String of <StringLength> bytes, where every byte is a single ANSI character.
• TableData/ID? - 18 bytes - Eighteen bytes that seem to act as an ID/position in table? Increase sequentially over time. Seem to always start with "01"

I have noticed a couple exceptions which stumped me though

• Cases like the case at 0x111B0, where the length does not match the string length and the string begins with a non valid character ("02" in this case)
• Cases like the case at 0x110B5, where "01" is not used as an ID delineation and is included in the string length.
• Cases like the case at 0xE586, where there is no length byte provided and the hex continues directly to the next TableData/ID.

If anyone has further insights, let me know!