[PS1]Ace Combat 3 Electrosphere: text replacement

[OOZ662]

Hey now, you're starting to get me all jiggly inside.

[DragonSpikeXIII]

Hehe, I'm glad you guys liked the small-ish update.

Tomorrow I'm going to edit the TIM for the weapon descriptions and attempt to edit the TIMs for the aircraft stats (the pentagon) which unfortunately is broken up into various pieces, with words cut in half. On top of that they're also slightly bent, something that even the U.S. version did not replicate. It's not that big a deal but I'll at least try to come up with something.



I forgot to mention before but thanks Dashman for helping me out with the palettes and using GIMP. I also managed to edit the palette for the mission menu TIMs, thanks for the support man.

[zfreeman]

The demo patch is running flawlessly on the PS2 with the latest version of Popstarter.

[DragonSpikeXIII]

Thanks a lot for the feedback, zfreeman, it's good to know that it's working on actual hardware.

... attempt to edit the TIMs for the aircraft stats (the pentagon) which unfortunately is broken up into various pieces, with words cut in half. On top of that they're also slightly bent, something that even the U.S. version did not replicate. It's not that big a deal but I'll at least try to come up with something.

I don't know what tools they used or how they were able to get their text to bend, be slanted and be without any jaggies anywhere but I haven't been able to reproduce that in a any satisfactory way. On top of that there's this weird transparency effect that shouldn't be there.



I ran a few tests and when I replace the TIM pure black suddenly becomes transparent in-game, somehow. It's the first TIM that's done this, I'm at a loss as to what makes it behave that way.

[Dashman]

I can only imagine these specific TIMs use *yet* another palette. Check for differences between the ones you've been using and the ones for these files.

[DragonSpikeXIII]

I can only imagine these specific TIMs use *yet* another palette. Check for differences between the ones you've been using and the ones for these files.

Yes they do, it's the third palette I've found but that wasn't it. My first couple tests were using the right palette but some color gradations were a little off, but even after correcting them, the result did not change.

This is what puzzles me, the palette doesn't even matter. And it does that with black only, I tried painting that part white and it was there in-game, but black just won't show.

[Dashman]

Did you remember to use the header replacer with the edited TIMs? Maybe the original had a transparency value that must be preserved (the header replacer recovers that). By default, colours in a palette for a BMP file have an Alpha of 0 (totally transparent), so the BMP files you export with GIMP will have those kinds of colours.

[DragonSpikeXIII]

I used the header replacer as always, otherwise the TIM wouldn't display at all (I presume).

I checked for alpha channels and the only transparency is in the text layer, as it should be, the rest of the background image doesn't have one. Both the original TIM and final edited TIM have identical data and palette, it all looks a-ok until I go in-game.

Here's the original TIM, just putting it out there just in case: https://www.dropbox.com/s/mvvkre5sfkc85ck/0138.tim?dl=0

[Dashman]

Hm... I think the problem is that colours 1 and 2 are too close to each other (in value), so when you make the image indexed, the part that should be assigned colour 1 is wrongly assigned colour 0 (transparency). To check if this is what happened, simply check the "Transparency" option in TimViewPlus. This will make all parts of the texture that use the transparent colour disappear.


You can do a little trick to fix this. Make a duplicate of the palette and give the transparent colour something you know it's not gonna be in the texture, like purple. Now you have to make that transparent part of the texture be actually purple. The method depends on the mode you're in.

a) The image is in RGB mode. You'll have to paint the transparent part by hand. The bucket tool should be enough for that. Make the image indexed with the duplicate palette after that.

b) The image in in indexed mode. You can simply change the palette. Go to "Colour -> Map -> Set Colourmap...", select your duplicate palette and click OK. This method should be safer (you don't risk turning non-transparent stuff into transparent stuff).


After that, export to a BMP and follow the usual steps. Replacing the header will make that purple disappear, and all should be in place (hopefully).

[DragonSpikeXIII]

I did notice how some colors in the palette were almost indistinguishable from one another, I didn't expect GIMP to mess up though.

I'm gonna give this a try later and see what happens. I'm going to this while in indexed mode, sounds like the best way to go about this.

EDIT:

I hate it when the game throws a curve-ball like that, thank goodness you're here man, it worked!

This is the first test, I only swapped black with purple, notice the sharp edge to the left of ATTACK, it's supposed to be round.



The second test, after I manually painted that part with purple:



Now I can go back to making the font not look like complete ass, just ass would be a nice improvement. xD

EDIT#2:

This is how ATTACK currently looks in the Armory:

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-Wl5eBFD9wBE/VMQohveulUI/AAAAAAAAGI0/NdDiYxkA8jc/s800/test.jpg

This is how it looked before:

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-E-5eXdcs7fQ/VMPy19WGQCI/AAAAAAAAGIg/R_xUuIvg5qs/s800/test_02_with_purple_instead_of_pure_black_perfect.jpg

It's not even a font anymore, I'm making adjustments on a pixel by pixel basis, hopefully it'll look decent and readable. It's a lot like when I was making AC3 logos in Rage Racer and Ridge Racer Type-4 using the in-game editors, for better or worse.

Other than the stats pentagon, everything else in the Armory has been translated, including the weapon descriptions from the weapon selection screen.

During editing today I found an old Japanese fansite in my old bookmarks (from around 2009) which has actual text for all the character biographies in the Search function. Hopefully they will help getting at least these files translated, which personally I think are pretty important. Link: http://weaponsmanual.risu.com/acecombat3.htm

[Sirius-R]

From what I see, the circle isn't "bent", but rather horizontally squeezed to an oval; the "bent" look is an optical illusion due to the circle being cut in pieces. The replication of the US version of circle is possible and can be done in 10 minutes if you're familiar with Photoshop. (I wish I found this page earlier, so I could send you the finished circle instead...)

Also, regarding the black color in TIM images: aside of regular RGB channels there's also a one-bit alpha which can be set either present ("on") or absent ("off"). "On" makes every color half-transparent (or, according to what I've seen in NFS4, the darker the color, the more transparent it is with alpha "on") except of #000000, which is fully transparent by default; "switching "on" the alpha on it makes it opaque.

Hope I helped.

[Dashman]

I'm wondering if it wouldn't be possible to extract the stat textures from the US version and replace the JAP ones. There's a chance they're in the very same location and are exactly the same size.

[DragonSpikeXIII]

Thank you for the information, Sirius-R. Now I understand a little better the reason behind the image's abnormal behavior. The circle itself isn't a problem, rather it's the text itself, being both slightly curved and without any sharp edges. Sadly I'm not very skilled with GIMP, my program of choice, so I have no idea how to replicate the official localization.

By the way Dash, for us to get a hold of those TIMs someone like our very own esperknight would have to take a look at the image and crack the compression for us to get to them. Priority-wise, with our limited time and resources I think it'd be better to crack the second disc first. Even if the stats pentagon doesn't look great like the official one it's still pretty decent and it's also made from scratch by us, so it's safer too.

[Sirius-R]

Thank you for the information, Sirius-R. Now I understand a little better the reason behind the image's abnormal behavior.

I've discovered that accidentally, on some site I can't remember, where the TIM images' structure was explained. After what I found out when working with NFS4, it was confirmed to be true.

Sadly I'm not very skilled with GIMP, my program of choice, so I have no idea how to replicate the official localization.

Ok, the send me both US and Jap versions of that circle's textures, I'll do the work. I've got both games' images, but i still lack time on decompressing and digging in them.

[DragonSpikeXIII]

Ok, the send me both US and Jap versions of that circle's textures, I'll do the work. I've got both games' images, but i still lack time on decompressing and digging in them.

I uploaded them here: http://tinyurl.com/jvoaldw

The way I do it is extract them as BMP with an older version of TIMView+ or TIMViewer, edit them then make them TIM again with the same programs.

[Seihen]

During editing today I found an old Japanese fansite in my old bookmarks (from around 2009) which has actual text for all the character biographies in the Search function. Hopefully they will help getting at least these files translated, which personally I think are pretty important. Link: http://weaponsmanual.risu.com/acecombat3.htm

I just e-mailed (through G-mail) you a translation of all of the bios.

Lemme know if you have any questions!

[DragonSpikeXIII]

I just e-mailed (through G-mail) you a translation of all of the bios.

Lemme know if you have any questions!

Thanks a BUNCH, Seihen!

I just finished reading everything and it reads well and, though I don't know the language, the information looks very accurate. These bios will help everyone get not only a low-down on the characters' personalities and backstories but also a better understanding of the story as a whole.

I'm gonna take a break from editing the game's mission and so I can implement your translations in the game.

Thanks again, this stuff was really important and just made our next release even better!

[Seihen]

Glad the bios turned out to be useful! I've only played the PS2, PSP, and 360 Ace Combat games, but the story sounds pretty compelling.
Maybe I'll give it a shot soon!

[Sirius-R]

I uploaded them here: http://tinyurl.com/jvoaldw

Eyyy, those are only Japanese version's stats' textures. Nevermind that though, I'll do my best. 

upd: Uh-oh, looks like there are colors with alpha channel "switched "on" (white/cream white colors), my Photoshop TIM filter doesn't work properly with them. I'll still see what I can do with that...

[DragonSpikeXIII]

Eyyy, those are only Japanese version's stats' textures. Nevermind that though, I'll do my best. 

I wish I could include proper TIMs from U.S. version but we don't have access to that version's files. I took a screenshot of it, I don't know if it'll help but it's all I can do: http://tinyurl.com/nbj65qs