Tengai Makyou Zero translation project

[midget35]

Tales of Phantasia, Wozz, Dual Orb 2, Arabian Nights, Treasure Hunter G, Herakles 4... all games I knew nothing about until their translations emerged. (Granted - I must have been living under a rock not to have heard of ToP!).

I strongly believe you guys create a piece of gaming history with these fan localisations. That is a bigger thing than 'popularity'. You leave your mark on the gaming tapestry forever. It is an achievement I honestly believe will outlive us all. Historians will cite your work, and the true value of these games and the communities who cherished and localised them will matter more than we can anticipate now.

I think you are doing an unbelievable job.

[Merr Man]

Sorry if this seems like a long post:

Tom,

So, I can only imagine a clickbait article like "The best RPG, or video game (to make it more clickbaity), you've never played! Better than Chrono Trigger!" or something like "Like Chrono Trigger if it didn't have time travel" (Siliconera readers would know what I'm talking about).

I apologize if I sounded like I was ragging on your translation in any way, I absolutely loved the Lunar series being translated by WD, but it wouldn't work for a game like FFVI, though I could imagine a few TM games getting the WD treatment, this one doesn't sound like it would fit in too well with that kind of translation.

Would actually like to see if HCG will update his "Best RPGs for every system" video in the future, with this game. It could be very interesting.

I'm not sure when the golden age of fan translation announcements were. I wasn't concentrating much on the scene, ten years ago, although I would've expected the translations of "Cave Story" and "La Mulana" to be huge, I don't know if that is what prompted there to be actual localized releases of the games for the mainstream consumer but I'm pretty sure of it. If I had to spot you a cup of Joe in sympathy, something like this 10 years ago would've probably prompted an official release of one or two of the games for western audiences, but that is purely hypothetical. It doesn't help that it is a rarity, nowadays to see a big franchise not have a mainline title localized or fan translated.

But thinking about it like this, though, even after all of this time has elapsed, you're still working on this project, and you've got people like me, even if we're the hardcore nerds, very interested in the results. The fact that you may put it out, even with little fanfare, shows that you have a passion beyond numbers and percentages. If people want to miss out on a potentially great experience, than it is their fault. I'll try to inform a friend of mine, who loves JRPGs, about this project, and maybe some posts to some FB groups would help. It's all I can do, really.

And I agree with everything midget35 just posted with. Before the remakes of games like ToP, or SO1, the only way to play them in English was through the translation community. I purchased the GBA version of ToP and loved it, but there are many who would prefer the Super Famicom version to it, which was translated by guys like you.

[Tom]

If people "discover" the Tengai series through Zero's release, that'd be great... But mainly I wanted to translate this game because I'm a fan, and I wanted it done FOR the fans. Seeing the quality of the work that everybody's done DOES make me think... Man, it's a shame that this couldn't have been done earlier. But make no mistake, this game could not have been given an official translation without major cuts. I am happy that I could help to make a patch that keeps everything intact (even if it's too late to make a difference in keeping the series as a whole alive).

I wouldn't be surprised if HCG wants his channel to be focused on legit releases, not fan patches. I doubt he would update his best RPGs video to include this game. I think this game will remain an unknown gem... One of those games that's really good, but nobody knows about it. I do hope he plays the game eventually, when he gets around to it. I really do want to hear what he (and everyone else) thinks of it. Good or bad. That's one thing I look forward to the most after a release, reading reactions.

This weekend should be a productive one. I've got two big things on my testing "to do" list, and I hope to get one of them done in the next couple of days!

[FlashPV]

I can't wait to see how my work will look in-game! 

[Tom]

I can't wait to see how my work will look in-game! 

FlashPV, I'll get you a copy sent over soon. (It'll give you something to do while you're waiting for DougRPG to send more work!) I just want to finish this batch of edits on my current playthrough. After I finish doing this, the game will really only need one more playthrough from me to test enemy/skill names and trigger one terribly sadistic flag that's going to be a real pain to check. Should be finished with the current edits in a matter of minutes, though... Once that's done, I'll send the script to DDStranslation and he can make a new patch for the both of us.

Unfortunately, the rom that I can send now isn't really current in terms of incorporated graphics because it's been a while since Doug sent an update. I think it's only done up to partway through the fourth nation in the game at the moment. If you're okay with a partial graphics insert for the rom, I can send it ahead of time. DougRPG said he'd crack down and finish it. Once he finishes extracting and inserting everything that's left, we'll fuse all of our work together!

Anyway, yeah... Hang on for just a short while longer!

[DougRPG]

I'm playing the last part of the game this weekend. I'll send the remaining graphics to Tom and FlashVP between today and tomorrow, so it's only a matter of days to finish the graphics.

[Tom]

Just the festival graphics alone in that short amount of time would be a superhuman feat, Doug!

Not to mention beating the game on top of all that!

Good luck!

By the way, I'd really like to know how to trigger THIS bit of debug text...

[VicVergil]

By the way, I'd really like to know how to trigger THIS bit of debug text...

According to that blog, there are at least four out of bounds NPCs embedded in walls in that particular castle (the dragon one), some leading to the other event test room. You'd need a walk through wall code for that but that needs someone talented in assembly. Moving debug NPC out of the way somewhere inaccessible without cheats is very frequent: Mother 3 has a Chapter 7 subquest test warp hidden behind one inaccessible bridge at a specific point in the story, Alundra has something similar inside a fountain that's just background decoration, and one piece of furniture in the very first room of Terranigma has a warp to the last boss concluding that first chapter.

Rooms apparently have different settings based on a flag, lots of "buggy" rooms I found were just because of a wrong flag configuration most likely.

That would be interesting, I agree. "Epilogue 1" and individual event testing sounds like it would help... If you have the text insertion script, you could repoint another piece of dialogue that's more accessible to use that instead, so that you can format its text properly at the very least.

[DougRPG]

Just finished the game:



Amazing game!!! I'm glad to be one of the first people to finish this game in english. I had a very nostalgic feeling playing this game. It was like playing a new 1996 game today! Very polished game and very polished translation by Tom. Thanks Tom...

Now I need to extract a few battle graphics, extract a graphic that Tom found and play the festivals.
After that I need to insert all recent graphics FlashVP sent me and send the team my first complete version.
After that I'll start the bug fixing, playing the game again looking for missing graphics and eventual bugs.

The most time consuming task is play the festivals, but I think I can do this in a few hours.

[Tom]

GHANMI: At this point, the debug menu won't "help" so much... The only thing I'd like is an easy way to manipulate certain "hidden" values in the game that plays a key role at a certain event... There are two possible outcomes for this event that are based on these two variables... One outcome of the variables is the one that every legit player will see. The other outcome will probably only be seen by cheaters (excluding masochists who specifically try to trigger it). I'm sure it would be easy for a hacker to simply manipulate the variables, but I'm not a hacker (and there doesn't appear to be a debug option for it (unless that's what F010 and F011 stands for)... Aside from accessing the festivals and secret event, and one mini-game (button mashing) everything I have done up now has been legit, with no cheats. I couldn't trigger the cursors for the debug windows, but I did a line-swap to line the options up in the general area. (The flag debug menus seems "kind" in that they each just use a half-window split... Some aren't that clean.)

DougRPG: Congratulations on beating the game! And you ARE the first person to have beaten the game in English without having beaten the Japanese version! I'm so glad you enjoyed it, and good luck on getting all of the festival graphics. It'll take several hours of tedious tinkering to get all of the remaining graphics, but you can do it! And I'm sure FlashPV will do all of them justice!

In the meantime, here's my to-do list:

1. Try to trigger the alternative event (based on two variables - this one's really time consuming.) I was planning to do this legit, but actually, I may just explain how to trigger this event to you, DougRPG, and have you hack the game to force in some variables. That'll reduce the hassle involved so I can focus on more important issues, like the tea houses.

2. Some tea house events (and some other minor text, like the buried treasures)... (There are a lot of variations here, and text that's very easy to miss.)

3. Hatchery text checks... (Not much to do here, really, anybody can do this...)

4. Provide translations for any graphics DougRPG extracts (so FlashPV can edit them)...

Most of this stuff could be left to the testers, but I want to do as much as I can on my own before it comes to that. (After all, I don't want to be swamped in reports come beta testing time.)

[magictrufflez]

beta testing

Since this is starting to come up, will this be an open beta?  Or are you all going to farm it out to select people?

My life is going to be a bit hectic for the rest of the year, but I'd certainly be interested in helping if you do the former.  I wouldn't be plowing through the game in a week, but I'm always happy to watch out for text/bug goofs while I play through (it's the least I can do).

(Sidenote: I do editing in real life, so I can pretty well guarantee I wouldn't be sending garbage your way)

[Tom]

It will not be an open beta. I think an open beta would make the incomplete version of the patch the most-played version. I want most people to play the completed version, not the beta. Beta testing is kind of "work" you know? It's not as fun when you have to stop and screenshot and take notes, and attach save states, and send e-mails... It takes you out of the game. So if you want to really enjoy the game as much as possible, it's best to wait for the completed patch.

If you want to work hard and contribute to making the project better (even if it's not as fun that way), and you're already familiar with the game, and so-on... Then it's a good idea to become a beta tester. What I look for in a beta tester is at least two out of these three things (but I can make exceptions).

-prior experience with closed beta testing
-a stickler for grammar
-already completed the game in Japanese

I'll accept magictrufflez' offer to be a beta tester.

[Freestate]

Expectations!

[Tom]

How much progress we can make is mainly in DougRPG's hands, at the moment! He's only got three graphics left to extract! He said that he'd get them extracted "this week..." Which I suppose means this weekend.

FlashPV has also been working especially hard on the festival graphics, a massive wall of tiny signs that he has to restructure and reorganize... He's got all of the icons and lettering squared away, but he just needs to go over how they are structured in the graphics data. If anyone can do it, it's him!

I sent the translation for the three remaining graphics in advance, so once Doug extracts those and sends them over, FlashPV should know exactly what to do. Once the beta patch is ready, we'll do a cursory check to address any last-minute issues, and then we can start testing.

That said, I'm not sitting around waiting. I'm still going through the game... Not a day goes by that I don't work on the script!

[filler]

Just want to say I've been following this project on Twitter and I'm impressed by the work being put into this.

[mikeprado30]

Indeed, and the hype has been great around that work 

CAN'T WAIT!!! 

[varikares]

I wouldn't be surprised if HCG wants his channel to be focused on legit releases, not fan patches. I doubt he would update his best RPGs video to include this game. I think this game will remain an unknown gem...

iirc he's been extremely supportive of fan translations in the past and has even made videos about them

I think the last one he did was telling people to go download the lagrange point patch

[Merr Man]

iirc he's been extremely supportive of fan translations in the past and has even made videos about them

I think the last one he did was telling people to go download the lagrange point patch

I actually do remember that video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7HjKjTcwDuY). In a way it isn't too surprising since he wants to talk about obscure or little-known retro games.

[Tom]

Oh, I guess that's not the issue then. I've sent Happy Console Gamer several messages, direct to his channel, comments on his videos, as a reply to his comment on my video, and even through twitter. There's just no reliable way to get a hold of the guy. That, or he's just busy playing other games, and it's just not worth his time.

Update: Currently, I'm still waiting on DougRPG. I haven't heard anything from Doug in a long while now, even though there are only three graphics left to extract, and they are relatively easy to access. Not sure what the problem is, but since the current rom is not ready for beta testing without the graphics fully integrated, I've been having to do most of the beta testing myself.

Regardless of the lack of substantial progress, I've still been working on the game every day. The script is in really good shape. There's only a small number of lines that I haven't personally checked in-game, but I'm working on catching those. (Nothing that a beta tester couldn't do, but as I said, beta testing can't start yet...)

Just cross your fingers that Doug sends an e-mail this weekend, folks. 

[Merr Man]

Oh, I guess that's not the issue then. I've sent Happy Console Gamer several messages, direct to his channel, comments on his videos, as a reply to his comment on my video, and even through twitter. There's just no reliable way to get a hold of the guy. That, or he's just busy playing other games, and it's just not worth his time.

I have to be honest, here, the only way I've ever gotten anyone's attention on social media, who doesn't know me from a hole in the wall, is through my connection with an organization. Have you sent him one today? Seems that Zelda was taking up a lot of his time.

Update: Currently, I'm still waiting on DougRPG. I haven't heard anything from Doug in a long while now, even though there are only three graphics left to extract, and they are relatively easy to access. Not sure what the problem is, but since the current rom is not ready for beta testing without the graphics fully integrated, I've been having to do most of the beta testing myself.

Regardless of the lack of substantial progress, I've still been working on the game every day. The script is in really good shape. There's only a small number of lines that I haven't personally checked in-game, but I'm working on catching those. (Nothing that a beta tester couldn't do, but as I said, beta testing can't start yet...)

Just cross your fingers that Doug sends an e-mail this weekend, folks. 

It feels so close, and yet so far.