[Xalphenos]

Installed and plays just fine for me on windows 7 x64 and windows xp.  No special settings or anything.  The update patch did refuse to run without setting system local to Korean though.  It is not, however, necessary to change local to play the game.

Edit: I was able to get Romance of the Forgotten Kingdom to play; though I still haven't gotten around to actually playing it.  Wow I never thought I would be helping out with his next translation.

[derboo]

hope this is easier to install/play than Romance of the Forgotten Kingdom (impossible to get to play).

Have you seen the instructions I've appended to the blog post at Hardcore Gaming 101?

I'm sure that could be done but I suck hard core at graphics.

If editing the image itself is the problem, I could take care of that if I had the original in .bmp or similar format. The current version looks ok, though. I guess the positioning is because the window originally has some kind of headline that is concealed?

[Xalphenos]

Its not the editing of the image, well at least not for expanding it, its the finding it and making it something useful.  Its probably in the menu.spr file and the file is sectioned.  But who knows what format they are in.  It could be custom or compressed or just headerless bitmaps.  I'm still at a loss though because I just haven't worked with graphics before.  I will look into it further though.  At least we have something working now that's not as much of an eyesore as the double box thing.

I looked into the script file.  It looks like it might be pretty easy, but don't quote me on that.  Will you be willing to translate a few lines from the start of the game.  http://pastebin.com/99kaUj76  Ill manually insert them and see what I learn.  Then I will write an auto inserter based off what I learn.  Then I'll get you a dumped script.

Edit:  Also have you come across character names in any files?  They are not in the script file and I don't see anything that indicates who is talking; though there are lots of little bits here and there that could mean anything. 

[derboo]

Here's the translation: http://pastebin.com/HEN76dgY
Take care when you're comparing the versions, though. Seems i messed up the line breaks somewhere.

Edit:  Also have you come across character names in any files?  They are not in the script file and I don't see anything that indicates who is talking; though there are lots of little bits here and there that could mean anything.

The party character names are in the save game (For some reason they get copied there from hero.hlt and hero2.hlt when the characters join the party for the first time. Maybe the team planned to allow custom names at some point and then dropped that feature), NPC names can be found in the individual .npl files in the /map folder.

There are two more minor issues with the .exe: The Princess' class description is a byte too short (because the next class name begins after that), so at the moment it reads "Princes". Could you move that string one byte backwards, so the last letter fits in?

Also, I've translated all the after-battle lines (also in Seal.exe). The translated lines fit in the spare zeroes after each original entry, but for some reason the game doesn't read them until the next 0x00, some end too early. Maybe there's some fixed length to them?

I've uploaded an IPS patch for Seal.exe with all the changes so far, and also a save game further in the game for testing:

http://www.derboo.de/files/seal/Seal08.ips
http://www.derboo.de/files/seal/seal-Save002.zip

[Xalphenos]

Just an update so you know where I'm at.  I spent about two hours last night manually painfully inserting that translation into the script file.  We will have no problem putting as much text as you want into the game.  Today I rewrote the code to load the class names, kind of got carried away.  The game just loads text from the exe so oddly.  It does the same thing for the battle text.  Ill try to not spend as much time on that one; I'll just do what is necessary to get it working.  I'm still trying to figure out if there is something in the script file that determines who is talking.  I know you said you translate while playing but a script dump will be much easier to read if the names of who's talking are in it.

[derboo]

Yeah, having the names attached would definitely help, especially as this is not the kind of game where you get to see all the text in one playthrough (Romance of Forgotten Kingdom had two paths, too, but this game is much bigger, with a ton of easy-to-miss mini quests). But it's not essential. Where it's important most of the main character's manners of speaking are pretty well distinguished.

I gotta say, this game has some truly great writing, both in dramatic and in funny moments. I hope I can manage to do it justice...

Eventually we'll also have to find someone who's able at retouching FMV videos. There's no help wanted category for arts stuff, so if anyone knows someone who can (and would) do that kind of work, please let me know.

To anyone interested, this is the kind of stuff you'd be up against:


Text is scrolling while the pages of the book are turning. There are three videos of this kind, I believe, and it would be great to have the text replaced without the result looking too horrible. There are also some fancy animated text in front of a black background, but those should simply be subtitled (that's what the official Japanese version did with them, anyway).

That leads to another issue on the hacking-side: Is it possible to have the game always check for the /movie folder in the game folder and only resort to the CD when the files aren't there? (to have it the same for the /music folder would be convenient, too).

[Xalphenos]

I have figured out how to determine who is talking.  There is a one byte code in the script file which matches up to a code in the .npl file being used for that section.  Which means yay there will be names in the dump and boo every time there is a new .npl the codes change.

About the videos I'm afraid they will just have to be subtitled but if someone can help they use the indeo 5 codec. 

That leads to another issue on the hacking-side: Is it possible to have the game always check for the /movie folder in the game folder and only resort to the CD when the files aren't there? (to have it the same for the /music folder would be convenient, too).

Yeah I had thought of that and its on my to do list.  I wan't to concentrate on getting the script dumped first.  Now that I think I understand everything I need to about the script file to get a nice clean dump.

So after getting you a dump of the main script my to do list in order of priority are:
Fix the ending battle text. (easy but takes time)
Write a script inserter. (easy but takes time)
Make the game load movies/music from hard drive. (should be easy)
Fix the in game book to type English. (Not sure, I have some ideas but haven't looked into it yet)
Fix the looping of back ground music. (Not sure)
Change the font to something not quite as ugly and implement vwf. (probably hard)

Let me know if I'm missing something.

Here is a pic of the game using Tahoma as the font.  Its spaced to be variable but the game isn't making it variable yet so you can see lots of space inbetween some letters.

Actually if I can I'm going to try to make it a 16x16 VWF instead of the games 8x16 proportional font.

Edit:  Hey derboo if you want to see it in game I can make you some ips patches for the script and font real quick.

[derboo]

So after getting you a dump of the main script my to do list in order of priority are:
Fix the ending battle text. (easy but takes time)
Write a script inserter. (easy but takes time)
Make the game load movies/music from hard drive. (should be easy)
Fix the in game book to type English. (Not sure, I have some ideas but haven't looked into it yet)
Fix the looping of back ground music. (Not sure)
Change the font to something not quite as ugly and implement vwf. (probably hard)

Let me know if I'm missing something.

There's one little thing (at least in my latest version, maybe you already fixed that): "Earth" element still reads only the first four characters, like it did with Water.

Edit:  Hey derboo if you want to see it in game I can make you some ips patches for the script and font real quick.

Sure, if you got the time. Currently I'm going through the .npl files, translating all the names.

[Xalphenos]

Here are some patches.  I had it reading the whole word "Earth" into memory since the first patch I sent you but being the last word read I neglected to look a couple of lines down where the "h" was being overwritten with 0x00.  It's now fixed.  This patch will also fix the class names.  Rather than including a patch for the font I just put the font in there.  Just don't use it if you want to see the text with the original font.  The included font was just me messing around.  The original font isn't terrible just a couple letters look out of place depending on whats around them.  Like the lower case "p" looks fine at the beginning of words but looks funky in the the middle.  Also the lower case "x" is just awful.  If I can't implement a 16x16 vwf i'll just edit those offending characters and it will be fine.

Edit: Outdated links removed.

[derboo]

About the videos I'm afraid they will just have to be subtitled but if someone can help they use the indeo 5 codec.

I've checked in VirtualDub, and I can do simple subtitles alright. If someone feels up to the task of properly retouching the scrolling text ones, that position is still open, though.

Just don't use it if you want to see the text with the original font.  The included font was just me messing around.  The original font isn't terrible just a couple letters look out of place depending on whats around them.  Like the lower case "p" looks fine at the beginning of words but looks funky in the the middle.  Also the lower case "x" is just awful.  If I can't implement a 16x16 vwf i'll just edit those offending characters and it will be fine.

Hm, that new font makes it kinda hard to read stuff in the menus. I think it's also a bit smaller than it should be. Anyway, improving the original one sounds like a good alternative, too. Lower case "y" looks also terrible.

[Xalphenos]

I've checked in VirtualDub, and I can do simple subtitles alright. If someone feels up to the task of properly retouching the scrolling text ones, that position is still open, though.

Ive used vdub to subtitle video before so if you need me too I can help out on a few of the non scrolling ones.

Hm, that new font makes it kinda hard to read stuff in the menus. I think it's also a bit smaller than it should be. Anyway, improving the original one sounds like a good alternative, too. Lower case "y" looks also terrible.

Yeah that's because the font is too thin, being restricted to 8 pixels wide which only the letters "M" and "m" get to take full advantage of.  So its 16x16 vwf or bust.  Yes the "y" is a nasty one too.

I wrote the script dumper last night and made some test dumps.  Seems to be running smoothly.  I still need to make a file with names and corresponding codes based on the .npl files, and a pointer file so the program knows where to start each section of dumps.  But with any luck I should be sending you a script dump tonight or tomorrow.

[derboo]

Ive used vdub to subtitle video before so if you need me too I can help out on a few of the non scrolling ones.

Nah, that's OK. Once I got a template for the subtitles it's a matter of seconds to put them in each video, and when I do them all, we don't need to coordinate font and layout specifics.

[Xalphenos]

Hey Derboo just a quick update. I got the name file done yesterday and started working on making a pointer file. It's slow going though. I couldn't think of a way to automate the process, not without understanding every bit of the script file. So far I've spent about five hours on it and I'm only a little over an eighth of the way through it.  So I've got about 40 hours still to go. If I can keep this pace up then I can dump the script this weekend.

So... A plea for help to anyone who may be reading this.  If anyone is willing to help make the pointer file let me know. It's easy to do just very time consuming as the script file is almost 2.5 Megs.  All that is required is a hex editor capable of displaying euc-kr. Not every line needs a pointer and there are sections of the file with no text at all.   Since my wife is coming back from visiting her family in the next day or so its unlikely I'll be able to keep up this pace after tomorrow and more hands make for lighter work and all.

[Draken]

Just wanted to pop in and say this game looks pretty cool!  As someone who has lived in Korea for over 8 years, you'd think I'd know more about these games, but sadly I do not

[derboo]

So I've got about 40 hours still to go. If I can keep this pace up then I can dump the script this weekend.

So... A plea for help to anyone who may be reading this.  If anyone is willing to help make the pointer file let me know. It's easy to do just very time consuming as the script file is almost 2.5 Megs.  All that is required is a hex editor capable of displaying euc-kr. Not every line needs a pointer and there are sections of the file with no text at all.   Since my wife is coming back from visiting her family in the next day or so its unlikely I'll be able to keep up this pace after tomorrow and more hands make for lighter work and all.

Don't sweat it, I've still got enough to do in the time I can justify to spend on the project for a while. I'm currently translating/rewriting parts of the official documentation that was on Garam & Baram's website, and I'm only halfway through the .npl files.

By the way, I was in the mood to build an html homepage, so I did: http://translation.derboo.de


EDIT: Turns out VirtualDub's subtitler plugin has some nice options for scrolling text. I've still got to experiment a bit with border strength and the like, but this'll be the least I can do for those videos:

[Xalphenos]

Ok so after being a moron and wasting countless hours over the past couple of days I decided that I could dump the text without making a pointer file after all.   Here is the dialog from the script file.  There are still two other types of text to dump; the options you get to select after talking to some people, and another type that I haven't seen in game yet.

There are two text files in the archive one in Unicode and another in EUC-KR.  In every group of text the first line is who or what is saying it, you don't have to translate them they are meaningless for insertion.  There where some codes that weren't found in the npl files.  As A test I changed one of the codes on a known line and it made the group leader say it.  However the game will do this for any code not in the current npl.  I do not know if the game actually makes use of this fact or if its just a coincidence.  So unknown codes will be listed as unknown for the name.

At first I wanted to dump both the options and dialog at the same time but it wouldn't have mattered anyway because the options don't always come after the dialog like they do in game.  For instance the options you get after talking to the blacksmith in Laim are quite a ways before the first sentence he says to you in the script file and there is a bit of dialog between the two. 

The third type of text comes in really long lines, about twice as long as the dialog boxes, and the game doesn't have automatic line breaks.
Ill get those other two types dumped tomorrow.

I can write the inserter to automatically break lines during insertion, but if you want complete control over how the lines look than here are the guidelines.
The first three lines can have up to 33 characters using the default English font.  The forth line, and any multiple of four, can only have 29 due to the "press button" graphic.  You can have as many lines as you want.  The fifth line will clear the box and becomes the first.

As for the videos I think it looks as nice as its going to.  I don't mind having the Korean text behind the English at all.  The Japanese videos are really jerky and have blended frames so I'm guessing they did quite a bit of frame manipulation to make theirs.

[derboo]

Awesome, great work!

I'm almost done with the .npl files, so I'll start translating the dialog soon. Is there any preference between the two files? I can work with either.

The third type of text comes in really long lines, about twice as long as the dialog boxes, and the game doesn't have automatic line breaks.

Could it be the text that's copied into the journal?


Just for fun, here's a piece of official artwork that I thought was lost because the wayback machine had only saved the thumbnail, but I recently found it on a random Korean blog:

[Xalphenos]

Nope no preference.  I just didn't know what your system was capable of displaying.  The euc-kr file is what was dumped then I just resaved it as a unicode format file just in case. 

Could it be the text that's copied into the journal?

I didn't think about that.  And a quick search reveals that to be the case.
Edit: and it must use auto linebreaking. 

[derboo]

Switched the subtitle font for the FMVs:


I'm now done with the subtitles and .npl files now, and started translating the script. (Judging by the number of lines, I'm about 0.5 percent in. This will take a while...)


EDIT:
By the way, when you're dumping the journal text, could you try and extract the the text color information, too? Occasionally, different characters write into the journal, and their text is color coded. The way they're structured, translating could sometimes get confusing without those...

[Xalphenos]

I was just coming to post the rest of the text When I saw your edit.  Yeah I can do that, but can you post a screenshot of the lines with diferent colors?  I should be able to figure it out from that.  I tried just editing what I thought set the color but nothing changed.  Even editing the text there didn't change anything so once that stuff is written to the diary it must be saved somewhere else.  Once you post a screen shot itll be easy to modify the program to display the color.

Edit: A later save file would work as well.