Translations: Kaze No Densetsu Xanadu II (PCE-CD) - Announced!

[elmer]

No, this translation isn't dead ... it's just been resting.

Here's a little tease for you all ... there's a new English logo for the title screen. 



If you've got a Xanadu 2 rip that runs in Mednafen, here's a savestate so that you can actually see the title sequence working in-game with the new logo. 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/mqvx8dm23hnq8zy/Kaze%20no%20Densetsu%20Xanadu%20II%20%28J%29.1ec3f0df4c96aee8ed6654d4e0ad8922.mc0?dl=0

This savestate's name is right for a Xanadu 2 rip made with Night Wolve's wonderful TurboRip.

http://www.ysutopia.net/get.php?id=TurboRip

You may need to rename it if your rip comes from somewhere else.

[dejan07]

Thanks for the update. I also believed that this translation is dead but this gives me some new hope

[elmer]

Thanks for the update. I also believed that this translation is dead but this gives me some new hope

Good news ... the new logo is now fully working properly in the game ... i.e. title menu code and logo are both properly patched into the existing compressed data file and load/run from CD. 



That shows that the compressed data in the game can now be successfully changed/rewritten, which is one of the big steps in getting the translation done.

If anyone wants to burn a CD and see it running on a real CRT, here's an xdelta patch that can be applied to the .iso track of a CD image.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/a5x4jedwf3sm93h/02%20Kaze%20no%20Densetsu%20Xanadu%20II%20%28J%29.iso.xdelta?dl=0

[VicVergil]

What about the audio-only cutscenes?
Would you add subtitles using a fixed-width 8px font like the BS Zelda translations did?

[elmer]

What about the audio-only cutscenes?
Would you add subtitles using a fixed-width 8px font like the BS Zelda translations did?

Sorry, but as a programmer, I'm not in a position to answer either of those questions, yet.

I know that there is replacement audio for the cutscenes that was generously contributed by a bunch of fans years ago. But I'm nowhere near the point of finding out if/when that can be used, yet.

The same is true with subtitles.

The game has a very complex scripting language. I've found approx 570 different "script" data-chunks so far ... and there's still approx 50% of the game's assets where I'm NOT finding anything. Which most likely means that I still have a lot to learn about how the game is put together.

It's too early to say much ... but it's easy to see why the previous attempt to get this game translated was ... errr .... let's say, de-prioritized.

To be clear ... apart from the decision to see if the graphics were hackable, there's nothing that I've done, so far, that wasn't already done (differently) by EsperKnight in 2012.

The big test is going to be the next step ... rewriting "script" data, but in a way that doesn't break the game. That's where it seemed to fall apart, last time.

[Burnt Lasagna]

Looks nice
Though perhaps the "Legend of" text could be smaller (about the size of the "of") and be above the "Xanadu II" (maybe also with no italics).
I'm thinking more like how the Japanese box art has it.

It just seems cramped with the complete title scrunched up on one line.
Also, then you would have room for "The" in the title. Making it "The Legend of Xanadu II". Course, changing this might cause some issues that I'm not aware of, so it's your call.

[elmer]

Thanks for the feedback, I'll pass it on.

My concern is to keep it within the same VRAM footprint or it'll break Falcom's "sparkle" fade-in.

The same logo is also used in the game's Prologue ... which also does a different special-effect on it.

Major changes in size/arrangement are going to break that, too.

[Burnt Lasagna]

My concern is to keep it within the same VRAM footprint or it'll break Falcom's "sparkle" fade-in.

Ah, okay. That makes sense.
If it will break something, or obscure an effect, then leave it be. It looks more then presentable the way it currently is.

[Foonshanks]

Very very very cool

[Apolyptica]

I can't wait for the final translation of this game

good luck to everybody in the project 

[elmer]

For anyone that's interested in such things ... here are some stats (from my current knowledge, I may still be missing something).

The game contains 118 major data files, which contain 5619 compressed data chunks.

Of the 5619, it looks like 646 contain program code, and 546 are part of the in-game data-streaming system.

Of the 646 chunks that contain program code, it looks like 292 actually contain Falcom's scripting language (all text strings are stored within "script" data) .

From a programming POV ... the title itself boots a small "permanent" bit of code/data, which then loads "overlay-sections" that contain more "semi-permanent" code/data.

The "in-game" section appears to handle all of "normal" gameplay, including the cutscenes.

The "in-game" section switches between different 128KB META_BLOCK data files as you move around the game.

Each META_BLOCK contains lots of compressed 8KB-maximum DATA_CHUNKS (the largest one contains 181) which then get copied to VRAM or executed as you move around a small area of the game.

Falcom's scripting language is a full-on bytecode interpreted language with variables, conditional-jumps, jumps, calls, calls-to-assembly-code, as well as text itself.

From what I can see ... the script code was written in text and processed with a macro-assembler rather than being generated by some kind of level-editor.

So there you are ... that's how Falcom put together their first 2 CD-based console RPGs (and "yes", Xanadu I is using an almost identical engine design).

At this point, the script-extraction is basically done, and it's just being massaged so that it'll be easier to re-insert after translation.

[elmer]

For anyone that's not following the progress at PCEngineFX, the translation keeps on moving forwards.

We're also working on the original Legend of Xanadu 1 as well as Legend of Xanadu 2.

Here are a couple of screen grabs from the first game showing the new English font with both of the different effect options that the game offers ...

[reyvgm]

Looks good.

Any chance I could get the translation script for the cutscenes?

[SamIAm]

Uh, why would you want that? 

To answer your question, I'll probably release the script when the translation is done, but I'm going to want to keep it under wraps until that time.

[elmer]

Any chance I could get the translation script for the cutscenes?

Uh, why would you want that? 

I'm curious why you want the script, too. 


Anyway, here's the first dialog from Xanadu 2.

It mainly shows that it's nice to get a lot of text on a single screen, but it also shows that because of the patterned background in the dialog box, it's a lot harder to read than Xanadu 1.

I think that I'm probably going to have to risk the wrath of "purists" and add a drop-shadow to the font.

Hopefully that won't offend anyone.

[SonicShadows]

I'm actually quite surprised to see this project is still alive after all this time! I suddenly wondered what had become of it and decided to search around. I was actually cast as the voice of Arios for the spoken dialogue in Xanadu II. I'm curious as to whether or not the current plan is still to dub those scenes, or if that's even a concern at this point. Honestly, I don't even know how far you are with this translation.

[SamIAm]

Do you still have the same email address? We should talk.

[SonicShadows]

Do you still have the same email address? We should talk.

You bet! Just shot you a reply.

[elmer]

I'm actually quite surprised to see this project is still alive after all this time! I suddenly wondered what had become of it and decided to search around.

The programming side of things was restarted from scratch in August after SamIAm and I finished the Zeroigar translation.

[reyvgm]

Uh, why would you want that? 

To answer your question, I'll probably release the script when the translation is done, but I'm going to want to keep it under wraps until that time.

'cause I finished the game sometime ago and I would love to know what they said during the cutscene ending