Tengai Makyou Zero translation project

[KingMike]

Even the "God" enemy was renamed "Numan" (which is apparently some obscure word for God in a language nobody knows)

I welcome our overlord Wayne Knight.

[Avicalendriya]

Even the "God" enemy was renamed "Numan"

[Merr Man]

GHANMI,

Wow, that's pretty bad. I love the Boktai games, I thought that I downloaded a complete English patch for the third game, but I haven't played it yet. Namida, during a time when the PS2 had tons and tons of RPGs for the system, I would've imagined something like that to be possible (an English release). What I've read is that 2004 was a year after the relaunch of Hudson's NA branch, renamed to Hudson Entertainment, Inc. from Hudson Soft USA, so maybe it was a little bit of a rough beginning.

The DS version of 2 does sound like the version that I would want to play, based on your response, still as long as it is translated, in some form, I am completely OK with that.

I'm more into the idea of "dubbing", but I do agree about the authenticity of having it remain in its original language.

[Tom]

If you don't mind Tom, what was the test menu stuff you found about, besides that one room? (Considering it seems less and less likely to find it still intact and working in the game...)

Couldn't find these lines of debug text in the test room you sent:

1. お祭りのでばっくよ


　孔雀神社　　　亀岡神社
　火熊神社　　　鶴見神社
　犬神神社　　　六（ろく）

2. ５００００両ふやしました
お祭りはいるフラグおんする？

3. ウインドウのでばっぐです
おしごと　たいへんでしょう
がんばって　くださいね

4. だれを見ますか？
０　１　２　３　４
５　６　７　８　人

Finding line four is the priority. It's pretty clear how to format the other lines, but to get the numbers spaced out properly, I'll need to see this window in-game.

#1 has a very similar line that does appear in the test room, but it doesn't have a the first line calling it a Festival Debug. It's in a different part of the script. Also, I have a question about the terms in one of the debug menus:

ＭＵＳ　ＥＦＣ　ＥＦＣ２
ＪＧＭ　ＪＧＥ

It's kind of obvious what these are, except for "JGM" and "JGE." Should that be "BGM" and "BGE" instead?  Background music and background effects? I'm not familiar with the term JGM and JGE, and I wasn't able to dig up what they mean. For the moment, I've left everything as-is, but if BGM and BGE are better terms, I'll change them.

I'm really interested in that text-based battle system. Hopefully DDStranslation can make use of this information you've given to access it. (It's kinda beyond me.) Even if nobody ever sees it, I don't like to leave things unfinished.

-Tom

[VicVergil]

I sent you those so that you cold try them on your own. Just get Geiger's debugger version for Snes9X, preferably the latest one, open that hex view option and select SRAM, then scroll down until you reach line 0260. As you might have guessed, since this is a hexadecimal viewer and there's 16 values per line, they'd go $0260, $0261... until $026F.
After being on the save select screen, you click with your mouse on the value you need to edit in that hex window and type it away. And then try in-game loading that save to see where it lands you. Of course, best to keep savestates to make the testing easier.

That said... it's entirely possible those bits are indeed in rooms I didn't find yet (in the 60 to FF range for the map ID) on in the "buggy" warps.

However if you really want to make sure they're well formatted, just sacrifice a normal NPC who gives you normal dialogue in an accessible place. There should be a pointer directing the game to where his speech starts, and you certainly have information about that pointer or else you wouldn't have the text dump at your position. This pointer points to the ROM location where his text starts. Make that pointer point to where those hidden messages are instead (considering you have them in your text dump, this means they have known pointers).
It's preferable to use an Action replay code operating in the ROM area (it would begin with something like Cx or 8x probably, dunno what's the ROM map for the weirdness that is TMZ's architecture) since it's a temporary measure you could just disable the code so that the NPC is back to normal.

By any chance, has DDS made a walk-through walls code for this game? That would be useful too. This game seems like a treasure trove.

[Tom]

My eyes kind of glaze over when I hear about hexidecimal editing. It may be so simple a monkey could do it, but it makes me feel like a four year old in an advanced calculus class. My brain just goes into "ignore" mode. I'll let DDStranslation handle the hex hacking. I don't know anything about pointers for individual character lines. (The script editing program that I use automates the entire process.)

The best I can do (and I often do this) is overwrite a nearby NPC's line (temporarily) with a formatted line that I can't view in context, make the appropriate edits, and then put the lines back in place... However, this won't work for lines that work in odd ways, or for windows like this that have movable cursors, since I won't be able to see or move the cursor. That wouldn't be a problem if, as you said, I could make the game point to the right place, but my editor doesn't have that ability, and as I said, I'm not equipped to make whatever changes are needed to facilitate that.

There's no walk-through walls code in the game. Right now, DDStranslation has been working on getting the credits to scroll properly. Last I heard, he changed the movement (which was originally left-to-right) so that the credits now scroll from top to bottom, fading out at the bottom at the proper spot... The next step is to get the credits themselves to be displayed horizontally, from left to right, in the proper order.

Tonight, I've continued translating the manual, and I've also updated the in-game item descriptions to be more helpful (using a very thorough Japanese guide for the game), so the player won't ever need to consult a guide to find out what special effects the weapons and equipment have. The original Japanese "descriptions" don't really give you ANY useful information about most of the items or skills! (It doesn't make sense for the scrolls, especially, considering that the hermits tell you what each scroll does when they give you the scroll - why would the description be "???" after you just heard the explanation!?) I've improved all of the necessary descriptions so that the player will always know what effects weapons, armor, accessories, scrolls, or skills have, if they have any. (For items without special effects, only the item's full name will be displayed. In the case of items with icon abbreviations to fit in the small font, the description window will always show whatever the fully-spelled-out name is.)

The English version will be much easier to play than the Japanese version because of this.

[travel27]

Thanks for the continued hard work.  Absolutely pumped to play this hopefully soon!

[Hiei-]

From DDS :

No pictures per request, but finished work on the staff roll for Tengai Makyou Zero. Changed from horizontal to vertical scrolling.

[mikeprado30]

DDS is BEYOND AMAZING!!! 

[Tom]

DDStranslation's work will be done before you know it! He's a machine!

The manual is so close to being done... Mostly minor stuff left, the boring legalese and addresses and that sort of thing at the end. It'll be fully translated within a week.

The thing is, there are a LOT of English screenshots that need to be grabbed for the manual, too... It'll take a careful replay to get all of the necessary screenshots using the finished rom, recreating everything that appears in the manual.

I'm considering releasing the packaging for the game shortly before the patch itself, once it's ready... Sort of as a teaser, to recreate that feeling we had in our childhood of excitedly flipping through a manual on the way home from the store, imagining what it was going to be like to finally get home and start playing it.

[Merr Man]

I'm considering releasing the packaging for the game shortly before the patch itself, once it's ready... Sort of as a teaser, to recreate that feeling we had in our childhood of excitedly flipping through a manual on the way home from the store, imagining what it was going to be like to finally get home and start playing it.

You know me a little too well, I used to love purchasing new games, back in the late 90s-early 2000s, just because I loved going through the manuals that would come with them, in a few cases it was even more exciting than the actual game itself.

[Lentfilms]

I really like the idea of releasing the Engliah manual a little bit before the patch. Hypes up the final release and allows some time to read up and become familar with the game before you play it.

A little bit of a side-note: I was curious to know how many other groups had attempted to translate Tengai Makyou Zero before Tom and Lost Templar began working on it in 2012? I've heard that byuu had a long history with the game and I'm aware that DeJap was working on a translation in the early 2000s, which is how I first learned about the title, but I was wondering if anyone knew a timeline of all the different attempts to translate this game? I always love reading the "Project History" sections in readmes so I'm curious to know the history behind this translation.

[KingMike]

I've forgotten DeJap was even working on translating the game.
I only remember they were instrumental in getting the game emulated in the first place. (by releasing "graphics packs" of graphics pre-decompressed on an actual hacked console, before the SPC7110 was cracked so the game could be emulated proper)

[khalismur]

After Dejap's demise in the end of 2004, I believe tomato also considered translating this, before byuu & company.

[Lentfilms]

After Dejap's demise in the end of 2004, I believe tomato also considered translating this, before byuu & company.

I remember hearing that as well years ago but I thought that was a misunderstanding and that Tomato was never actually worked on Tengai Makyou Zero.

[Tom]

I'm glad that you guys like the idea of releasing the package and manual translation earlier than the patch.

I don't know many details about the translation attempts before, so I can't clarify much about any timeline. In fact, even the dates of when I myself started working on it are getting foggy, at this point.

I know at one point that Tomato said that he didn't have enough time to work on Zero (which was good for me, because I really wanted to work on it). That was at some point after I'd finished translating Oriental Blue: Ao no Tengai.

I am pretty sure dejap had a project listed way back when they released the graphics packs, but I think they had only listed their "percentage completed" as either 0% or 5%, or something like that. Not sure who was attached to the project at that point.

The very first substantial translation work was done by Lost Templar himself, into German. (I don't know if he ever finished his German translation, though.) He posted German screenshots of his WIP translation and said that he was looking for a translator for the English version. That's when I eagerly offered, translated it pretty quickly, and then... The project sat for years, until late December of last year.

Now it's nearly done. I'm sure that even if it was released in its current state, it would already be considered a great fan translation, but by the time we're done with it, it's going to be one of the best!

[DougRPG]

I'll try to finish the game this week, getting all remaining graphics.
I think the graphical part will be finished maybe in two weeks from now. (I'm a little late)
There must be very little work left after that.

Tom put his heart in this translation. All texts are absurdly well done.
About the hacking DDS did an amazing job. Everything is very polished and beautiful. In my opinion he has done everything that people have dreamed of about this translation.
FlashPV is also doing an excelent job in the graphic's edition. I send him the raw graphics and pallete and after a short time he sends me everything 100% edited. He really knows how to edit graphics.

This translation was made, excluding me, by a dream team in romhacking, since Dejap's time till now, so you can expect an incredible translation.

Tom, DDS and FlashPV should work on other titles after Feoez. Such a team is rare to see.

[Lentfilms]

Thank you Tom for the info and thank you for the hard work you and the team are putting into this patch
It has been a long time coming and I can't wait to see what you guys have done with this amazing looking game.

[Merr Man]

Tom (and the TM Zero team),

We are all grateful for your long dedication to a project such as this, translating a paramount game, serving as a key member of the game's release involves a lot of responsibilities that will become a big deal starting the first moment the upload button is pushed. I hope that that isn't too much pressure, but it comes with the territory  .

It's unfortunate that the finished product will not come with a 66 page artbook with interviews ala Lunar: SSSC, though I am always curious on project motivations, including segments on how hard the journey has been, but I think, overall, it is a lot more important that a historical artifact of gaming will finally be seen by a new pair of eyes. I agree with DougRPG also, I think that the more translation teams the better, and I wouldn't be surprised to see subsequent positive efforts coming from you all in the future.

Every time I watch a video, or read a new announcement, that is detailing a game coming out this year, and people screaming with excitement about this year being such an exciting one for video games, it would be remiss of me to not include this game when it gets fully translated, and best of all no crying wallets!

[mikeprado30]

This translation was made, excluding me, by a dream team in romhacking, since Dejap's time till now, so you can expect an incredible translation.

Tom, DDS and FlashPV should work on other titles after Feoez. Such a team is rare to see.

C'mon, Doug, don't understimate your contribution, you also do it AMAZING!  Your name will pass through the ROMHacking & Traslating history as an important part of the guys' team whom did the undertaking of finally getting a happy ending to this almost infinite wait for this GEM!

I'm also awaiting this one since DeJap times, and I'm sure there are PLENTY of people more awaiting for it, and when it gets released and also gets known through specialized websites, so many people will turn unto this game.

BTW, Tom, which is the order someone should play this saga for the sake of following the storyline as it has been meant?

THANKS A LOT ONCE AGAIN, GUYS!!!  I just could hope this one couldn't be your first and last work together, but I understand if isn't possible to keep this way