[PSX] Final Fantasy VII - Retranslation Project (R06g)

[Green_goblin]

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After months of hard work, R06g is finally ported to the PSX. This has been a nightmare, and me not having programming skills makes it all the more difficult, but now it's done. All bugs reported so far are now solved, but please test the game and report any issue you find.

The only part that remained unchanged are chocobo names. The original game allows a maximum of 6 characters per chocobo, and the retranslation (see row 189 to 236) renames the chocobos with longer names so those cannot be imported. If any of you know how to hack this, please let me know. The file is called CHOCOBO.BIN inside the "MINI" folder.

You will need the original US version with the correct size and CRC-32:

Disc 1 (SCUS-94163): 747.435.024 bytes
CRC-32: 1459cbef

Disc 2 (SCUS-94164): 732.657.408 bytes
CRC-32: a997a8cc

Disc 3 (SCUS-94165): 659.561.952 bytes
CRC-32: 1c27b277

If you don't have the original ISOs please contact me using the contact form of my blog:

http://ff7translationproject.blogspot.com

I tested the game and everything is ok, but please report any bugs, dialogue issues, windows positions, spell errors, etc.

Regards!

[Pennywise]

Now, this is cool, but since this uses the US version as a base, does that mean that some of the content in the International version is not in the patch? Like I recall those dog bosses in the desert were removed from the US release.

Also, does this retranslation fix the W Item error? In Japanese, W is used for Double...

[Green_goblin]

Now, this is cool, but since this uses the US version as a base, does that mean that some of the content in the International version is not in the patch? Like I recall those dog bosses in the desert were removed from the US release.

Also, does this retranslation fix the W Item error? In Japanese, W is used for Double...

The content of the International version is not in the patch. I don't have the International version but I do own the US version, that's why the patch is based on the US version. Are there many differences between the two versions?

And yes, I corrected the W-Item bug and the Spirit fix bug, and the infinite Elixir bug in the Ice cave and many many other bugs.

Regards

[FlamePurge]

Ah, so this uses the PC version's retranslation as a base? Meaning it doesn't use official Square Enix continuity. I know Marlene was called Marin in that. I appreciate the effort!

[SunGodPortal]

Did you change the music any? I remember thinking that with the Yamaha XG stuff or whatever installed (that came with the game) the PC versions sounded SO much better (unlike with the standard midi versions, which sounded worse than the PS versions). I've been wanting to hear those exact versions again. Problem is, Yamaha seemingly abandoned that program years ago and it doesn't appear to be compatible with newer versions of Windows. So now every time I hear those songs I think "This just doesn't sound like it's supposed to".

[Bobolicious81]

Woohoo!  That's awesome that someone finally fixed FF7. I can't wait to try it out. This guy are been sick for far too long.

[Green_goblin]

Did you change the music any? I remember thinking that with the Yamaha XG stuff or whatever installed (that came with the game) the PC versions sounded SO much better (unlike with the standard midi versions, which sounded worse than the PS versions). I've been wanting to hear those exact versions again. Problem is, Yamaha seemingly abandoned that program years ago and it doesn't appear to be compatible with newer versions of Windows. So now every time I hear those songs I think "This just doesn't sound like it's supposed to".

No, I didn't change the music at all, sorry. I don't know if that's possible in the PSX version.

[Bregalad]

Did you change the music any? I remember thinking that with the Yamaha XG stuff or whatever installed (that came with the game) the PC versions sounded SO much better (unlike with the standard midi versions, which sounded worse than the PS versions). I've been wanting to hear those exact versions again. Problem is, Yamaha seemingly abandoned that program years ago and it doesn't appear to be compatible with newer versions of Windows. So now every time I hear those songs I think "This just doesn't sound like it's supposed to".

With PSX's FF7 sound engine it's impossible to make it sound (significantly) better. Most PSX games that use sequenced music write to sound RAM before every new song. However, FF7 only writes to it at two times:
1. When the game boots
2. In the cutscene before the final battle, voice samples are overwriting the last part of sound RAM (and it remains overwritten during the whole ending)

Since there is limited room in sound RAM and that it has to hold all the instruments for the whole game, the instrument's quality is poor. In the japanese FF7 demo, we can hear a couple of songs with better instruments (because the soundtrack wasn't finished so they needed less instruments, meaning more space for them) and it indeed sounds much better.

The only way to make a PSX version of FF7 with better sounding music would be to completely change the sound engine to be more like other PSX games where samples are loaded on song change, or to use Grandia-style streaming that supports disc access while streaming music. Both would be major changes to FF7's engine that would require much hacking skills.

[Gemini]

The content of the International version is not in the patch. I don't have the International version but I do own the US version, that's why the patch is based on the US version. Are there many differences between the two versions?

Other than menus using different font sets (US just defaults to 12x12 all the way) and dialog strings having a reworked order, they are pretty much identical. As a matter of proof-fact, you can enable back the original Super Nova in any western edition just like you would on International.

[Bobolicious81]

What was the difference between the Supernovas, anyway?

[Seihen]

What was the difference between the Supernovas, anyway?

I believe the Japanese version was shorter. Here it is on YouTube

J -- http://youtu.be/aldmGmAYSW0?t=1m28s
E -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTc9sLmOR0A

[Rodimus Primal]

Is there a list of any of the changes made. Translation aside, I'm curious about character, item, and spell names.

[Green_goblin]

Is there a list of any of the changes made. Translation aside, I'm curious about character, item, and spell names.

Yes: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1rCfwrvE9jSO_vojc4rq0fOIlyrjj_6MOUlFCLN0VMgg/edit#gid=0

I warn you, it's a huge document.

[AustinCHowe]

Hi, I just wanted to stop in to say:

I've spent the past 6 months interpreting Final Fantasy VII more or less as though you might interpret a work of literature, dissecting it as a political and philosophical text. I intend to release a series of analytic essays on the game as a book. However, I do not speak or read Japanese. The original ending of my book was a desperate plea for a new translation of the game to preserve this historic game. I thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for managing to get this out before the book was finished. I now have a much more reliable version of the script to work with. Thank you so, so, so much.

You wouldn't happen to have a file that was simply the finished text of the re-translated script would you?

[Green_goblin]

Hi, I just wanted to stop in to say:

I've spent the past 6 months interpreting Final Fantasy VII more or less as though you might interpret a work of literature, dissecting it as a political and philosophical text. I intend to release a series of analytic essays on the game as a book. However, I do not speak or read Japanese. The original ending of my book was a desperate plea for a new translation of the game to preserve this historic game. I thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for managing to get this out before the book was finished. I now have a much more reliable version of the script to work with. Thank you so, so, so much.

You wouldn't happen to have a file that was simply the finished text of the re-translated script would you?

Download this software: http://lasyan3.free.fr/progs/ff7/Hack7v2_1.zip

Or this one: http://sourceforge.net/projects/makoureactor/files/latest/download

With those software you can open the "FIELD" folder of the game wich contains all the dialogues.

Additionally you can analyze the KERNEL.BIN file of the game with this software:

http://lasyan3.free.fr/progs/ff7/KernelTextEditor.zip

Also you can analyze the file SCENE.BIN with this software:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/proudclod/files/latest/download
It contains the enemy's names and attacks.

[Burnt Lasagna]

Interesting project.
However, has this patch had any testing on real hardware?
I ask this because the patch runs as expected on ePSXe, though refuses to start at all on Mednafen's PSX core (which has more accurate emulation).

Perhaps this is a fault with the new intro cards?

[Green_goblin]

Interesting project.
However, has this patch had any testing on real hardware?
I ask this because the patch runs as expected on ePSXe, though refuses to start at all on Mednafen's PSX core (which has more accurate emulation).

Perhaps this is a fault with the new intro cards?

I haven't tested the game in a real PSX and I really doubt it works on a real PSX due to the serious and intense hacking applied onto the game.

[Gemini]

What was the difference between the Supernovas, anyway?

Shorter animation, lower damage, different status ailments inflicted. The battle with Sepher Sephiroth plays quite differently, too.

Perhaps this is a fault with the new intro cards?

Sounds like the usual plague with people hacking this game: nobody ever bothers to fix alignment issues. Emulators simply ignore them, but to hardware they are illegal and consecutively fire exceptions that are never handled (i.e. crash). Try the translated game on no$psx and you'll see some basic-to-fix error spawning countless times.

[Green_goblin]

Sounds like the usual plague with people hacking this game: nobody ever bothers to fix alignment issues. Emulators simply ignore them, but to hardware they are illegal and consecutively fire exceptions that are never handled (i.e. crash). Try the translated game on no$psx and you'll see some basic-to-fix error spawning countless times.

I used Hack7 which handles well the word/dword alignment, and also Makou Reactor which recently fixed the alignment problem.
I used a special patch which allows you to use big SCENE.BIN and KERNEL.BIN files and I suspect that will cause hardware problems:

http://forums.qhimm.com/index.php?topic=11541.0

[Gemini]

If you extend KERNEL.BIN beyond its internal limit the only effect you get is a crash with certain strings and other kernel data overflow, which becomes evident on any platform. SCENE.BIN is mostly the same: it's a segmented file cached on demand, but it makes no difference how much it grows, as long as it stays within the internal limit (again, overflows would appear everywhere). Your problem seems to be somewhere else, but I can bet it's related to alignment. As a matter of fact, my personal version of FF7i (translated and repacked) suffers none of that and it's heavily hacked.