Castlevania II (Simon's Quest) - Multilingual enhancement

[Bisqwit]

Is it possible to get a version where the title screen stays the same? No html links?

What do you mean that the title screen stays the same?
A) It neither scrolls nor jumps to the prologue
B) No text changes on the title screen, obscuring the fact that this is a modded version

[Rodimus Primal]

What do you mean that the title screen stays the same?
A) It neither scrolls nor jumps to the prologue
B) No text changes on the title screen, obscuring the fact that this is a modded version

I think what he means is not advertising your website on the game's title screen. It feels out of place for a game released in the 80s. Also, were you able to fix the screen going blank when the cinematic prologue is finished? If you were to add music to the prologue, I would add some from Castlevania 1. It would be like how Mega Man 2's intro uses Mega Man 1's ending music.

[KIL913]

I think what he means is not advertising your website on the game's title screen. It feels out of place for a game released in the 80s.

That is correct my dude. But just so we don't misunderstand each other I'm not saying the links are a bad thing but maybe as an option?

[MathUser2929]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8JaADPO7fy4&feature=share

I wasn't sure if you knew about this. It may have borrowed stuff from your hack.

[Bisqwit]

Thanks for the heads-up MathUser2929. Imitation is the greatest form of flattery, they say... Since it's a LUA hack it does not seem very likely that it copies any data from my hack except through black-box methods.

As for the website address on the title screen, well I have the following three four defenses for it.
— It is limited to one screen in the entire game. As such its impact is minimal.
— Functionally it is not different from "all rights reserved", or other types of copyright and license texts that add no value.
— The game still does not come with an instruction pamphlet or a brochure. For example, you don't have a paper at hand telling you that you can use down+a to jump down stairs. The URL serves to point to a page that lists all this knowledge. It is a lightweight substitute to the game box.
— This is a modern product. A 1980s video game combined with 21th century development skills.

Still no fix for the crash at the end of prologue screen, I'm afraid. I really should get back to it some day. It is such a minor thing but an imperfection nonetheless.

As for the endings, hmm, didn't I already write about that once? Maybe it was in YouTube comments instead.
In any case, I have dissected and listed the endings at https://bisqwit.iki.fi/cv2fin/diff#Endings

in the patch generator If select 'blink Simon when invulnerable' /no the the blinking thing is always enabled

Fixed.

[thanksgoogle]

Glad this thread is still active.

I'm curious to what the "Additional dialog in select places" option actually entails? I don't see a difference judging from the NPC dialogue in Jova at least, and haven't found an answer from skimming this thread.

Edit: I also noticed a minor inconsistency with the spelling of Brahm's Mansion. In the second hint found in Berkeley Mansion (and possibly other places as well) it's spelled "Brahm", but on the map it's spelled "Bram". Not sure if it's intentional but I thought I'd point it out in case it isn't.

[Bisqwit]

Brahm should be the correct. I will fix this in the next release. Thanks for the notification.
This was correct in the French, Finnish and Tagalog versions, but misspelled in the English and Dutch versions.

As for the additional dialog, I like to keep those as easter eggs, but maybe I can reveal some hints clues as to where those might be located...
— A person particularly concerned about a curse has a total of 7 different things they might say.
— There is a person who knows more about crystals than he lets on.
— There is no way to win concerning the sacred flame.
— A lonely person has standards, but is kind.
— In Aljiba, a person knows about secrets of fighting.
— Two ladies are indirectly affected by a curse. [modified in 2.9.8.18]
— Graveyard duck? Not anymore, but he has preferences.
— Someone who gives you vital advise does so in jest.
­— An item upgrade can make a certain person passionate about your future. [New in 2.2.9]
­— Someone in Veros is afraid of ghosts. [New in 2.9.9.1]
— One person has a sense of fashion. [New in 2.9.9.1]

[helaku]

Bisqwit,

Can I say that I love you?

By the way, this was a long dated discussion but did you find a way to close the doors when night is active? I know that you've tested some code but was not working very good.

Best regards!

[Bisqwit]

By the way, this was a long dated discussion but did you find a way to close the doors when night is active? I know that you've tested some code but was not working very good.

It didn't work too well indeed, or otherwise it would be already an option in the vending machine. I still have all the code, and unfortunately no documentation as to what were the troubles I was facing except the posts in this thread. I haven't touched that particular code since May 2015.
Three major things on my TODO list are fixing the prologue crash, adding music to the prologue (I might actually pay money and commission a composition some day/year), and adding music to the credits screen after ending (which currently just replays the ending song, something that is very awkwardly out of place).

[Vanya]

If/when you get to the point of adding in the extra music, you may want to ask Optomon.
He may even have a couple of tunes lying around that you could use.

[helaku]

As for the additional dialog, I like to keep those as easter eggs, but maybe I can reveal some hints clues as to where those might be located...
— A person particularly concerned about a curse has a total of 7 different things they might say.
— There is a person who knows more about crystals than he lets on.
— There is no way to win concerning the sacred flame.
— A lonely person has standards, but is kind.
— In Aljiba, a person knows about secrets of fighting.
— Two ladies are indirectly affected by a curse.
— Graveyard duck? Not anymore, but he has preferences.
— Someone who gives you vital advise does so in jest.
­— An item upgrade can make a certain person passionate about your future.

To find the additional dialog, an item have to be selected in the inventory to trigger it or you have to just talk with the NPC more times to trigger it?
Can you divulge an answer about this?
By the way, I did find the garlic easter egg

Best regards!

[Bisqwit]

To find the additional dialog, an item have to be selected in the inventory to trigger it or you have to just talk with the NPC more times to trigger it? Can you divulge an answer about this?

You have to talk with the NPC in different situations. The determining factors are, depending on situation, what you have accumulated (including anything on your status screen), what you have selected in your inventory, or what there is on screen. If talking to the NPC can change said factors, only then talking to the NPC again may trigger different dialog^†. There are two more factors, but I cannot think of a way to say it without spoiling the specific circumstances.

The reactions are not arbitrary. They are always somehow related to something they would normally say, or some other circumstantial information. For example, holding Dracula's rib will not suddenly make the womanizer geezer comment on it.

^†) The one extra NPC that I added is an exception to this rule.
July 01, 2020, 09:13:38 AM - (Auto Merged - Double Posts are not allowed before 7 days.)
VERSION 2.9.9.1 HAS BEEN RELEASED.

Most importantly, this fixes the prologue-end crash bug.

— A few lines of text have been reworded: The diamond hint, the pickle pun, crystal swapping lines. The endings were reorganized too. In the Finnish version, tammisauva has been renamed to tammivaarna and the endings were reorganized. The Brahm typo was fixed in all applicable versions.
— It also adds a few more lines of context-sensitive dialog (English and Finnish only; other language versions have not been updated in this regard).

[thanksgoogle]

Brahm should be the correct. I will fix this in the next release. Thanks for the notification.
This was correct in the French, Finnish and Tagalog versions, but misspelled in the English and Dutch versions.

As for the additional dialog, I like to keep those as easter eggs, but maybe I can reveal some hints clues as to where those might be located%u2026

Thanks for the response!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8JaADPO7fy4&feature=share

I wasn't sure if you knew about this. It may have borrowed stuff from your hack.

This changes a bit too much of the game for my liking, but it does have some neat ideas, like being able to see which items you have equipped, amount of hearts, and the time of day without pausing, and being able to see the amount of lives left at all. I didn't realize until halfway through my first playthrough that most subweapons consumed hearts, lol.

[Bisqwit]

VERSION 2.9.10 HAS BEEN RELEASED.

Bugfixes:

* Exiting the map screen respawns enemies you already killed [if map is enabled]
* Talking to ferryman will cause a teleport to a glitched location under some specific circumstances. [if dialog ext enabled]

Now all the outstanding major bugs have been fixed.

[ShadowOne333]

VERSION 2.9.10 HAS BEEN RELEASED.

Bugfixes:

* Exiting the map screen respawns enemies you already killed [if map is enabled]
* Talking to ferryman will cause a teleport to a glitched location under some specific circumstances. [if dialog ext enabled]

Now all the outstanding major bugs have been fixed.

Bisqwit, are you still in need of a Spanish translator?
With the whole pandemic stuff and vacations, I could make the slot to help finally bring Spanish into this project.

If there is still a need for it, I'll be glad to help.

[Bisqwit]

Bisqwit, are you still in need of a Spanish translator?
With the whole pandemic stuff and vacations, I could make the slot to help finally bring Spanish into this project.

If there is still a need for it, I'll be glad to help.

Thank you.

There are unfinished translation projects for Norwegian (Stian Schulz), Spanish (Pablo Mancilla), and German (by Johannes Sperlhofer). I am frankly not sure why these have not progressed in the last 6 six years.
There was also one translator for Iu Mien who disappeared right after I sent them the translation files.

In any case, there are a few basic requirements. Ability to work with text files, and conscious attention to every character (symbol) in the file, such as line lengths, differences in tabs and spaces, exact indents, blank lines, trailing spaces, special codes (such as [nl] for newline), and comments (which begin with semicolon), and attention to file encoding (this project uses singlebyte encodings such as iso-8859-15, not utf-8). Understanding the implications of limited character set is important. I also value meticulous attention to spelling and good grammar. Some of these script files also contain graphics, as pixel-art in text files. Any mistake in formatting could render the graphics either broken or not processable.

Tool-wise, the only tool you need is a good text-editor. Personally I use JOE, but I would imagine e.g. Notepad++ would suffice.

In getting started, I have always given a small sampling of the script, to see if the translator candidate is able to work with these constraints. If they struggle to understand something, I help with it, but ultimately I make the judgment on whether their work would be good, or more trouble than it's worth.

After a positive judgment, I would send them the script files at a non-disclosure agreement, and they would begin translating. At their own judgment they would send me back the translated files, and I would produce a test ROM for them as soon as possible, so they can see how the game works with these translations — or a message telling them what's wrong with the files. This process would be repeated as many times as necessary (at the translator's volition) until everything is translated and working as intended, ready for release — again a judgment call the translator makes (provided that I don't see problems with the files).

If you want to continue Mr. Mancilla's work, you would have to begin through the same procedure, but I would send you the script files he has already worked on.

[ShadowOne333]

Understood.
Do I send you my email or do you have like a Discord or so to communicate more directly?

[Bisqwit]

E-mail would be the preferred way, yes. Upon your first message I will first cc you with the previous author and try to see what their current situation is.



VERSION 2.9.10.1 HAS BEEN RELEASED.

Bugfixes:

* A certain misbehaving bat & skeleton have been fixed [if sramsave is enabled]

This bug was introduced in commit 3455bb4 (after release 2.9.8.19) and was caused by the delay code clobbering the carry flag, an oversight I had when generating it.



VERSION 2.9.10.2 HAS BEEN RELEASED.

Bugfixes:

* Gameover screen heart palette is no longer corrupt when returning from password screen (original game bug)

Features:

* I rewrote and optimized the PPUsendQueue handler, using an assembler equivalent of the Duff's Device. It should be significantly faster now, decreasing lag in some places (not sure where, I wrote it in 2014). Gameplay is not affected.

Incidentally, I managed to save a couple of bytes while fixing the bug.

[thanksgoogle]

Finished playing through the game again. Once again, great job. Only thing I noticed is that the text for endings 1 and 3 seemed to be swapped from the original game. Was this intentional?

[Bisqwit]

Finished playing through the game again. Once again, great job. Only thing I noticed is that the text for endings 1 and 3 seemed to be swapped from the original game. Was this intentional?

Yes, I changed them back to the same order as in the North-American game. There is some dispute on the matter as to which text belongs to which ending.

Ending 1 is for quick completion. The text praises Simon's efforts in third person. But it also sounds like an eulogy, speaking of Simon's efforts. Although the tone is happy, as the animation reveals, the happiness will not last. I cannot move the animation into another ending.
Ending 2 is mediocre completion. Simon and Transylvania are not happy campers, but unlike in the NAR version, the text does not undermine the accomplishment.
Ending 3 is for slow completion. It speaks in second person at Simon, but it also sounds like an eulogy, speaking of Simon's legacy, which will last. The tone is happy.

This order also matches the original Japanese version, although my text does not mention spring flowers.