Mega Man 8, X4, X5 - Japanese Intro Patches

[acediez]

Edit:
Old thread, old project. No more news from my part here.
The intro song replacements were improved and included in these projects:
Mega Man 8/Mega Man X4 Undub
Mega Man X5 Improvement Project Addendum



Description:

   A simple replacement of the intro movies of Mega Man 8, Mega Man X4 and Mega Man X5 with their
   japanese counterparts. Made for people who prefer the original songs over the instrumental
   arrangements the american versions got. Of course, Mega Man x6 is not included because the
   official releases didn't change the songs on that one.

   I only replaced the introduction movies, and nothing else. I would love to do a full undub for
   Mega Man X4 and 8, ending song included, but I don't have the abilities to replace those files (yet).

   I mainly targeted the PS1 versions (since they're the most versatiles --- can be easily emulated
   on other systems, including the PSP). But decided to add the Saturn version of Mega Man 8 since
   it has extra content.

Version notes:

   Patches were made to be applied on ReDump releases (clean BIN+CUE) of the Playstation games.

   In the case of Mega Man 8, which is being distributed in the ReDump collection as a
   multi-track disc, the PPT patch is to be applied on Track 1 (the biggest one).
   
   As for the Saturn version of Mega Man 8, the patch was made for the "Darkwater" release currently
   being distributed on several major websites (but I assume any other clean BIN+CUE should be fine).
   
   Patches made in PPT-Studio.
   Patches tested with PPT-O-Matic.

Files:
Download here

[SCD]

That's pretty cool that you restored the Japanese intros for the American versions of these games, you should make one for the Sega Saturn version of Mega Man X4.

It's actually better than the PlayStation version in some areas because it features a heat wave effect in the background of the ground portion of the intro stage and Magma Dragoon's stage and it also has seamless track looping as well.

I hope you'll be able to figure out how to restore the Japanese voice tracks and the ending songs for both 8 and X4, because those will be great editions as well.

[acediez]

(Oh, I didn't know some people prefered the Saturn version of X4. I'll do that next time I work on these  I didn't)

I looked into the matter of a full undub of Mega Man X4 before. This is where I got to:

As for the FMV, it's a matter of editing the japanese videos with subtitles; encoding it in a slightly smaller file size than the original; and replacing files. I've tested it, and there's a spanish translation that already does this. So I know it's completely doable.

As for the in-stage character voices... I found a roadblock with the file compression. The voice clips of both X and Zero are compressed inside ARC files along with several other files, including text and font files. So a straight replacement of these complete files as they are is not possible. There are tools to decompress ARC files of this game (biofatsvn), but not for repacking, so I haven't been able to produce an .ARC file with the binaries replaced. Might be possible through HEX editing, but I don't have the experience to do that yet.

And as for the ending theme, the japanese version in this case is a bigger file, so instead of simply replacing the file I would have to either (i) reencode it in a smaller size, at the cost of some audio quality, or (ii) put the file somewhere else on the disc, and modify the table of contents (again, something I've looked into, but haven't been able to do yet.)

If/when I figure those two things out, I'll keep working on the Mega Man X4 complete undub 

The only thing I would leave out are the missing voice clips bosses have on the japanese version, because re-implementing them is way beyond my league (I would need to reimplementing removed sounds instead of simply replacing files, which is what I've been doing.)

* * *

Other modifications on my "wishlist" of Mega Man improvements are:

On Mega Man X5:
- Number one priority: removing all in-stage dialogue (except Light Capsules and bosses, of course)... either through a game hack, save file hack, or game shark. (I already started looking into this too, I think this'll be my next stuff to work on. Should be good to get some HEX editing experience)
- Having both Zero's buster and X's fourth armor available regardless of which character you choose for the intro stage (should be easy, since it can already be achieved with known game shark codes)

All done on DarkSamus993's Improvement project


And on Mega Man X6:
- Removing the in-stage dialogue sound alert (replacing it with a mute sound, maybe). Leave only the small graphic notice of the UI, which should be enough.
- Removing the need to rescue navis to get important items (either through a hacked save file that starts with all of them pre-rescued or whatever. Again, it's already possible with known game shark codes, so shouldn't be too hard to implement.)

These are, of course, very long term passion projects. I still know very little about hacking 

[DarkSamus993]

As for the in-stage character voices... I found a roadblock with the file compression. The voice clips of both X and Zero are compressed inside ARC files along with several other files, including text and font files. So a straight replacement of these complete files as they are is not possible. There are tools to decompress ARC files of this game (biofatsvn), but not for repacking, so I haven't been able to produce an .ARC file with the binaries replaced. Might be possible through HEX editing, but I don't have the experience to do that yet.

BioFAT doesn't do any decompression on the ARC files, but rather separates them at the offsets of the several files that make up the ARC. You can do the exact same thing with a HEX editor (as well as re-pack the files, since BioFAT cannot do that).

As for X and Zero's voice clips/sound effects, you can again just use a HEX editor to replace them. You can use PSound to listen to the sounds to figure out which ones to replace. The start/end of the sounds can be located in a hex editor by searching for these values:
However, I'm sure you'll run into size differences, which means you'll have to find pointer locations and adjust them. Also, quite a few sounds need pitch adjustment, which again will be something you need to figure out how the game handles.

[acediez]

I was convinced they were compressed files, since someone said so on my last thread 
Thank you so much! This clarifies a lot for me. I'll give it another try soon.

I should probably try to start learning how to identify and modify pointers locations at this point...

[Gemini]

Technically they are compressed, but that's the native format on any PlayStation game. VAG sound samples always follow the same format, they are never encoded as custom stuff. A simple replacement will do fine.

[duiz]

I had to sign up when I saw a potential Mega Man 8 full undub. That game desperately needs it!

Thanks for your hard work on these games and I look forward to seeing how they turn out  Projects like these is why I love checking out these forums from time to time to discover these sort of awesome things.

[MajinKaan]

Could you please include a patch for Mega Man 8, but for only a single bin? After patching the first track, I can't join them together anymore. I always join my multitrack files together into a single bin.

[nanashi89]

Can you do a Japanese intro patch for X7,  as well as a Japanese intro and undub patch for X8?

[Kallisto]

If I remember right that MM8 and MMX4 on Saturn has better graphical effects, and I think that was one reason some people would support those more.

Shame those got lost in PS1.

[Midna]

I can't speak for X4, but Mega Man 8 on the Saturn has more advanced visual effects, additional boss fights against Cut Man and Wood Man, and a different theme for Tengu Man's stage. Some of the music was rearranged a bit too, because they were using streamed audio instead of the PS1's built-in MIDI hardware. On the downside, the sound effects are a lot more compressed.

I don't know why Capcom has never rereleased the Saturn versions of those games. Even Mega Man Legacy Collection 2 has the PS1 version of 8, not the Saturn one. Maybe they lost the source code.

[justin3009]

Can you do a Japanese intro patch for X7,  as well as a Japanese intro and undub patch for X8?

Can't speak for the PS2 version, but I'm pretty sure X8 you can select the language you want to hear at anytime so an undub patch is kind of moot.

[nanashi89]

Can't speak for the PS2 version, but I'm pretty sure X8 you can select the language you want to hear at anytime so an undub patch is kind of moot.

X7 is Sub and Dub.
X8 is Dub only.

[acediez]

Could you please include a patch for Mega Man 8, but for only a single bin? After patching the first track, I can't join them together anymore. I always join my multitrack files together into a single bin.

Maybe burn the patched game and make a new image in the format you want?
I won't make additional patches for other formats. I anything, I think should everyone should stick to Redump 

Can you do a Japanese intro patch for X7,  as well as a Japanese intro and undub patch for X8?

Would be great for X7, as it already has japanese voices for the rest of the game... (But I'm not gonna make it)

There already exist a full undub hack for X8. It's literally the first thing you'll find if you google "Mega Man X8 Undub".

[vergil2012]

I doubt that the author would have any interest in doing an undub for the english versions. That would have been great.

[Heaven Piercing Man]

X8 for PC comes in English and Japanese, but to get English text with Japanese audio you gotta mess with the files a bit.

[garbiswan]

Can you do an European credits theme patch for Rockman X3 and an American credits theme patch for Rockman X4 on the Sega Saturn?

[blade133bo]

Patches undub for PS2 EUR version. Multilingual, and 50 hz and 60 hz selector.
Undub X7 eur https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Ohb6oIsKW4UFaF7evk4ZBj8HusknswI4/
Undub X8 eur https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ooORhCgOKiXcxGo3fKSNI26yr7UKnKKu/ (The Word Rockman X8 need remade, "Megaman x8" Acelerate 50% if replace)
The changes of audio and video only in 60Hz, if you use 50Hz, videos  play in english.

[MD_Prometh]

Thanks for the undub link for X8. It'd be cool if someone could patch in the Japanese OP/ED of X3 to the English PS1/Saturn versions.