Legend of Xanadu II Translation Patch announced!

[Echelon5]

Uh, well thanks but I really would like to know the actual story of the games (if anybody knows them).

[tggodfrey]

you want to learn the plot.....go learn japanese and play the series.

[spenoza]

you want to learn the plot.....go learn japanese and play the series.

I feel like I'm on Slashdot. "How do I x on my computer?" "Switch to Linux and dump Windows like a bad habit."

[Echelon5]

Still genuinely curious about the story if anyone knows. No thanks are wise ass comments though, I've had my fill of those. Actually no, if you've got some zingers that's fine too.

[NecroPhile]

You'll probably have to try searching for Japanese reviews (using 風の伝説ザナドゥII and not english); it'll be messy but at least you'll get something.

[Echelon5]

You'll probably have to try searching for Japanese reviews (using 風の伝説ザナドゥII and not english); it'll be messy but at least you'll get something.

Most of the stuff I've seen using this is either A) unintelligable or B) reiterating stuff we already know. Thanks though, got to see some neato images using that, I appreciate it.

[Arjak]

Another half-year gone. I think I'm starting to become prejudiced against variable-width fonts...

Has there been any progress with that damn thing, Sam? It seems like getting that font routine to work has taken more time than anything else. If there has been no progress on getting this VWF to work for the past year or two, I think that means it's time for Plan B.

The search for perfection never ends, Sam. At some point you're just going to have to declare it "good enough."

[esteban]

Another half-year gone. I think I'm starting to become prejudiced against variable-width fonts...

Has there been any progress with that damn thing, Sam? It seems like getting that font routine to work has taken more time than anything else. If there has been no progress on getting this VWF to work for the past year or two, I think that means it's time for Plan B.

The search for perfection never ends, Sam. At some point you're just going to have to declare it "good enough."

But then I'll have to finish making the English version of the instruction manual, and that would be stressful (deadlines!)

UPDATE: https://www.pcengine-fx.com/forums/index.php?topic=9456.msg170180#msg170180

I can't believe that was over three years ago. I would have sworn it was 1-2 at most.

[SamIAm]

Basically, it's all in Esperknight's hands. I'm not really the manager of the translation or anything, just one half of a two-man team, and my half has been done for years. I do think that Esperknight could finish the project in short order if he set his mind to it and sank in a concentrated 10 or 20 hours. It's really not my place to make demands of him, though, and there aren't any other hackers chomping at the bit to do PCE work.

Believe me, nobody wishes this were finished more than me.

[clackattack]

Still no news on a projected completion? Not trying to be a thorn in anybody's side, but between this translation and Anearth, I am one excited RPG-fan! especially since they are for my favorite system 

[TurboXray]

Basically, it's all in Esperknight's hands. I'm not really the manager of the translation or anything, just one half of a two-man team, and my half has been done for years. I do think that Esperknight could finish the project in short order if he set his mind to it and sank in a concentrated 10 or 20 hours. It's really not my place to make demands of him, though, and there aren't any other hackers chomping at the bit to do PCE work.

Believe me, nobody wishes this were finished more than me.

I got a few of his games/projects mixed up. What is required? What's left?

[shubibiman]

Basically, it's all in Esperknight's hands. I'm not really the manager of the translation or anything, just one half of a two-man team, and my half has been done for years. I do think that Esperknight could finish the project in short order if he set his mind to it and sank in a concentrated 10 or 20 hours. It's really not my place to make demands of him, though, and there aren't any other hackers chomping at the bit to do PCE work.

Believe me, nobody wishes this were finished more than me.

I know what you feel. I feel exactly the same with my translation of Dead of the Brain, which I've completed 5 years ago now ;(

[NightWolve]

I know what you feel. I feel exactly the same with my translation of Dead of the Brain, which I've completed 5 years ago now ;(

Ah, one of the guys that worked with David Shadoff. Did you use translation software called Translation Station for it ? I remember Dave gave me back a copy of the database to fix for a project cause Access would get buggy and damage it after prolonged use. I think it was for you, but not sure. Well, that is the custom software I developed for my projects. I let Dave have a copy to see if he could make use of it and to my surprise he did. He started a lot of projects I see but they've mostly stalled.

Anyway, you only translated it from Japanese to French, correct ?  Did he get a working font hack, is that the problem ? Or is it text compression woes ?

[SamIAm]

I got a few of his games/projects mixed up. What is required? What's left?

He's got the compression fully done - he can decompress the Japanese script and recompress my English script and have it display. He's also got the script fully extracted (and I've got it fully translated and edited).

What remains is primarily the print routine. As it stands, the routine displays big fat 16x16 FWF tiles, and it doesn't handle line wraps and overflows properly. Esperknight has been saying for a while that he wanted to make his own VWF routine, but one that he made for a different game didn't work.

Additionally, there is the menu, but it *should* be very simple. All of the icons are already in English. There is only a small text box at the bottom of the menu that prints using what appears to be the exact same routine that is used for the dialogue text. We have none of the menu text dumped and no English printing in the menu yet.

Finally, I think Esperknight said he needed to merge an old dump with a new dump, but I'm foggy on those details.

I am 100% sure he would be psyched to get an email from you, especially about the VWF stuff. Actually, I ought to email him now.

[TurboXray]

I got a few of his games/projects mixed up. What is required? What's left?

He's got the compression fully done - he can decompress the Japanese script and recompress my English script and have it display. He's also got the script fully extracted (and I've got it fully translated and edited).

What remains is primarily the print routine. As it stands, the routine displays big fat 16x16 FWF tiles, and it doesn't handle line wraps and overflows properly. Esperknight has been saying for a while that he wanted to make his own VWF routine, but one that he made for a different game didn't work.

Additionally, there is the menu, but it *should* be very simple. All of the icons are already in English. There is only a small text box at the bottom of the menu that prints using what appears to be the exact same routine that is used for the dialogue text. We have none of the menu text dumped and no English printing in the menu yet.

Finally, I think Esperknight said he needed to merge an old dump with a new dump, but I'm foggy on those details.

I am 100% sure he would be psyched to get an email from you, especially about the VWF stuff. Actually, I ought to email him now.

VWF print routines themselves are easy, but it's the complexity of the routine that's hard to work in (requires more free space and more processing time). Why not do a 6x12 (see my Dracula X 'intro' translation print routine) or 8x16 font routine mean time, then if there's time do the VWF later. Honestly, no one really cares except for the hackers and translators (about VWF). Hell, even couple of TGCD games use 12x12 fonts - and no one in the PCE/TG community has ever bitched about/made fun of it but me (one of the Exile games IIRC). Some US games cheat and realtime scale the 16x16 font into 8x16 (Valis 3).

 Once I get situated with school and place to live, I'll work on this to get a working print routine (might not be VWF though - depends on the time needed for it). This I promise. I REALLY want to play this game translated.

This is what happened with shubibiman's work with DotB. I did the new print routine. It's finished. There's one problem though, there isn't any more free space to add specific automated support for certain things in text. I.e. you need to manually do certain things in the script (you had to do a manual 'box' clear and no longer use the 'box' wrap auto function. I.e. the script chars need to be measured and a special control code placed for this. That's it. Everything is done for the game otherwise. This is basically the hold up). Since all I handled was the print routine, I could never get Dave to understand what and why he had to do on his side. Plus, our schedules were never in sync and it made it a real pain to try and work this out. If I had access to the script and tools, I could have finished the game already (years ago). That's part of the problem when work with a team VS do almost all the work yourself. I almost went back and did a 6x12 FWF for the game, to be done with this issue. But I got soo sick of working on it.

I know what you feel. I feel exactly the same with my translation of Dead of the Brain, which I've completed 5 years ago now ;(

Made you should talk to Dave and have some else take over the translation. Like NightWolve?


 I did the new print routine for Cosmic Fantasy I (it was my first duel font routine - shows both SJIS and small roman font - perfect for translate as you go). The game is even upgraded to SCD too (great for script expansion). I think I might just make the patch public, since nothing has seem to come of it, and hope someone steps up to handle the script part.

[shubibiman]

Yes, I used Transtation and it bugged so many times that I nearly gave up. I finally managed to complete this work and from what I recall, the text of DOTB1 had been implemented.

I contacted Dave a few years ago but he was busy back then. Not sure if he would have time now to work back on it.

It is very frustrating because as long as this project is not completed, I won't work on a new translation project again. And next time, I'd rather translate directly in english (even though it would need correction by a native). And it wouldn't be too long to translate DOTB from french to english.

I'd be even more willing to work on another translation project if I could use a more reliable version of transtation ;)

[Trenton_net]

Too bad no efforts are being made for translating Snatcher. That's something I'm sure a lot of people have been waiting for.

[Dicer]

Too bad no efforts are being made for translating Snatcher. That's something I'm sure a lot of people have been waiting for.

You can already play it in English (Sega CD) so there is probably less demand.

[ultrageranium]

Too bad no efforts are being made for translating Snatcher. That's something I'm sure a lot of people have been waiting for.

You can already play it in English (Sega CD) so there is probably less demand.

I thought the Sega CD version was altered/censored/etc?

Anyway regarding to OP's announce, Legend of Xanadu II looks absolutely amazing. Very much looking forward to a patch release, and thanks for working on such a project!

[Lochlan]

I wish the programmers of half-translated projects would put their work onto github.  If you're going to sit on a project for years and never finish, maybe open source it so somebody can pick up where you left off?  It's not uncommon in the open source world for package maintainers to change as interest among maintainers waxes and wanes, it would be great if the world of PCE translations would adopt this ethos.

[Dicer]

I wish the programmers of half-translated projects would put their work onto github.  If you're going to sit on a project for years and never finish, maybe open source it so somebody can pick up where you left off?  It's not uncommon in the open source world for package maintainers to change as interest among maintainers waxes and wanes, it would be great if the world of PCE translations would adopt this ethos.

I agree 110%

[shubibiman]

Too bad no efforts are being made for translating Snatcher. That's something I'm sure a lot of people have been waiting for.

Efforts would be made if translators could see their work actually being published instead of being thrown in a bin.

[TurboXray]

I wish the programmers of half-translated projects would put their work onto github.  If you're going to sit on a project for years and never finish, maybe open source it so somebody can pick up where you left off?  It's not uncommon in the open source world for package maintainers to change as interest among maintainers waxes and wanes, it would be great if the world of PCE translations would adopt this ethos.

Not a bad idea at all. Although, it's not really source code per se, but whatever - even just research notes and all documented stuffs would help. Most hackers (coders) prefer to do their own thing and write their own code, but that last part would be invaluable time saver IMO.

 But to be honest though, any hacker worth their like of salt doesn't really need other peep's stuff. It's not exactly like source code; you're not building an application from the ground up. And there are plenty of capable hackers out there that would have no problem starting ~any~ number of PCE/CD projects on their own - github or not. It's just that PCE isn't really a popular platform for most hacker-coders. Most hackers are just fans of the snes/nes systems. Some pick NES because it's both popular and easy. Other pick SNES because of the mass popularity. Not really sure why the Genesis platform is often over looked, but it did have a couple of decent translations in the past few years (King Colossus comes to mind), and it's a fairly easy arch to hack.

 What I want to know is... has NightWolve lost his PCE translation spirit? ;)  He's got a pretty good track record with completing translations (two PCE-CDs no doubt). And for the gritty details (like new print routines, single byte ascii support, etc) - other hackers could step in and fill that goal (Mooz, Ccovell, myself, others - are capable hackers).   

Efforts would be made if translators could see their work actually being published instead of being thrown in a bin.

It goes the other way too. I did a good amount of work on Makai Shada, only to have the translator bail on me (and I couldn't find anyone else). For Spriggan Mark 2, I went through three translators over the years before working with SamIam. I did the single byte ascii and new print routine for Cosmic Fantasy 4 chapter 1 and chapter 2. Nothing ever came of that (and that game has uncompressed SJIS text). Same for Cosmic Fantasy 1 - new read and print routine.. years ago. A couple of others that I can't remember now.

 The only ones that got released where Bubble Gum Crash, but that's because Matt LaFrance had already translated it - by the time I stepped in, he just had to adjust a few edits. Lady Sword, but Matt did the translation and script insertion all himself. And.. Dracula-X, but I was just a small part in the team and there wasn't a lot to translate. Spriggan is almost done, just in the editing phase (which work will continue when I get my new place and stuff out of storage).

[seieienbu]

As cool as Snatcher is, I'd much rather titles that were unique to PC Engine were translated first.  After Xanadu 2 the game I want to see most translated is probably Tengai Makyou 2.

[spenoza]

Emerald Dragon, yo, Emerald Dragon! Why no love for this one?

[A Black Falcon]

Emerald Dragon, yo, Emerald Dragon! Why no love for this one?

There was a fan translation done of the Super Nintendo version.  Maybe that's part of why?

[shubibiman]

It goes the other way too. I did a good amount of work on Makai Shada, only to have the translator bail on me (and I couldn't find anyone else). For Spriggan Mark 2, I went through three translators over the years before working with SamIam. I did the single byte ascii and new print routine for Cosmic Fantasy 4 chapter 1 and chapter 2. Nothing ever came of that (and that game has uncompressed SJIS text). Same for Cosmic Fantasy 1 - new read and print routine.. years ago. A couple of others that I can't remember now.

 The only ones that got released where Bubble Gum Crash, but that's because Matt LaFrance had already translated it - by the time I stepped in, he just had to adjust a few edits. Lady Sword, but Matt did the translation and script insertion all himself. And.. Dracula-X, but I was just a small part in the team and there wasn't a lot to translate. Spriggan is almost done, just in the editing phase (which work will continue when I get my new place and stuff out of storage).

That's true but I was only talking of my own experience ;) DOTB required a huge amount of work for me and my guess is it's the longest translation for a PCE game that ever came to an end.

Anyway, if you're looking for someone to translate such games as Cosmic Fantasy 1, I might do something for you as the game is not so long.

If the read and print routine is ready for this game, then don't hesitate and send me the script ;)

[ultrageranium]

I wish the programmers of half-translated projects would put their work onto github.  If you're going to sit on a project for years and never finish, maybe open source it so somebody can pick up where you left off?  It's not uncommon in the open source world for package maintainers to change as interest among maintainers waxes and wanes, it would be great if the world of PCE translations would adopt this ethos.

Not a bad idea at all. Although, it's not really source code per se, but whatever - even just research notes and all documented stuffs would help. Most hackers (coders) prefer to do their own thing and write their own code, but that last part would be invaluable time saver IMO.

Yes, I believe not jut the end result would be worth having on a public repository. Other elements that would deserve opening up is the whole toolchain and workflow for translation work, and while I am not familiar at all with the latter I can imagine that a public distributed push/pull DCVS approach to translation may attract casual contributors and bring more eyeballs, to paraphrase the open source and free software saying, to check for typos and suggest improvements.

Of course, all that should be properly licensed to avoid abuse/dispute and make life easier for potential take over in case of abandon.

But to be honest though, any hacker worth their like of salt doesn't really need other peep's stuff. It's not exactly like source code; you're not building an application from the ground up. And there are plenty of capable hackers out there that would have no problem starting ~any~ number of PCE/CD projects on their own - github or not.

Yes, however, having such projects more visible and open is more likely to make the learning curve easier and therefore more attractive for those who would be interested to contribute or get started but do not yet possess all the necessary skills to be completely autonomous. Yet, in a more cooperative system, they could provide useful contribution and learn at the same time (for instance writing tech documentation is often the least popular task, yet ones to really helps to understand how things really work).

[SamIAm]

Once I get situated with school and place to live, I'll work on this to get a working print routine (might not be VWF though - depends on the time needed for it). This I promise. I REALLY want to play this game translated.

Bonknuts, man, if you ever want to do some translation projects, I am in.

I love Esperknight, but he's got a million projects going at once, and at this point all I really hope for from him is that he finishes Xanadu II someday. He loves games, but I don't think he was ever really that interested in Xanadu II. I, on the other hand, get a lump in my throat when I hear the intro music because it's still one of the best action RPGs I've ever played.

If you can help get Xanadu II out the door, that would be freaking awesome. The hacking side is just stagnant right now, and a few emails between you and Esperknight could be all it takes to make the wheels start turning again. There's not much I can say to motivate him anymore, but just talking with you could be a huge catalyst for him. He respects you a lot, and I think he would gladly accept your help. This stupid project has been so close to being done for so long, it's maddening.

But I'm not just talking about Xanadu II.

You've got the passion for the games, and you might be the single most capable PCE hacker around. I don't want to brag, but I've definitely got the Japanese credentials. We could be a very formidable team. Yes, teams can be dysfunctional, but one person getting a lot of shit done can motivate another person to get a lot of shit done, and we're just the right guys to get a whole lot of shit done.

If you've got anything else like Spriggan mk2, where you had a dumped script and working insertion/printing, send it my way. Did you dump those Cosmic Fantasy scripts? If there's something you would be interested in doing, you should let me know. I can't promise that I'll want to work on just anything, but I'm open to a lot.

By the way, seriously, let's finish Spriggan mk2. All I need is for the stage 4 text to insert properly so I can tweak it. Give me a fully working inserter and two hours and I'll have my end at 100%. Once that's in, we just get BurntLasagna to do the dub, and it's finished.

(PS: I am internetless for a few more days at least, but I'll be back. Like you, I just moved)

[esteban]

Once I get situated with school and place to live, I'll work on this to get a working print routine (might not be VWF though - depends on the time needed for it). This I promise. I REALLY want to play this game translated.

Bonknuts, man, if you ever want to do some translation projects, I am in.

I love Esperknight, but he's got a million projects going at once, and at this point all I really hope for from him is that he finishes Xanadu II someday. He loves games, but I don't think he was ever really that interested in Xanadu II. I, on the other hand, get a lump in my throat when I hear the intro music because it's still one of the best action RPGs I've ever played.

If you can help get Xanadu II out the door, that would be freaking awesome. The hacking side is just stagnant right now, and a few emails between you and Esperknight could be all it takes to make the wheels start turning again. There's not much I can say to motivate him anymore, but just talking with you could be a huge catalyst for him. He respects you a lot, and I think he would gladly accept your help. This stupid project has been so close to being done for so long, it's maddening.

But I'm not just talking about Xanadu II.

You've got the passion for the games, and you might be the single most capable PCE hacker around. I don't want to brag, but I've definitely got the Japanese credentials. We could be a very formidable team. Yes, teams can be dysfunctional, but one person getting a lot of shit done can motivate another person to get a lot of shit done, and we're just the right guys to get a whole lot of shit done.

If you've got anything else like Spriggan mk2, where you had a dumped script and working insertion/printing, send it my way. Did you dump those Cosmic Fantasy scripts? If there's something you would be interested in doing, you should let me know. I can't promise that I'll want to work on just anything, but I'm open to a lot.

By the way, seriously, let's finish Spriggan mk2. All I need is for the stage 4 text to insert properly so I can tweak it. Give me a fully working inserter and two hours and I'll have my end at 100%. Once that's in, we just get BurntLasagna to do the dub, and it's finished.

(PS: I am internetless for a few more days at least, but I'll be back. Like you, I just moved)

STATUS:  Incessant weeping. The tears flow faster than I can wipe them away. 

[Sadler]

You've got the passion for the games, and you might be the single most capable PCE hacker around. I don't want to brag, but I've definitely got the Japanese credentials. We could be a very formidable team. Yes, teams can be dysfunctional, but one person getting a lot of shit done can motivate another person to get a lot of shit done, and we're just the right guys to get a whole lot of shit done.

If you've got anything else like Spriggan mk2, where you had a dumped script and working insertion/printing, send it my way. Did you dump those Cosmic Fantasy scripts? If there's something you would be interested in doing, you should let me know. I can't promise that I'll want to work on just anything, but I'm open to a lot.

By the way, seriously, let's finish Spriggan mk2. All I need is for the stage 4 text to insert properly so I can tweak it. Give me a fully working inserter and two hours and I'll have my end at 100%. Once that's in, we just get BurntLasagna to do the dub, and it's finished.

(PS: I am internetless for a few more days at least, but I'll be back. Like you, I just moved)

I grinned like an idiot reading this. I can't tell you guys how much I appreciate your efforts. Thank you!

[deubeul]

Each time i see this thread updated, my heart misses a beat. This time more than ever!

[pixeljunkie]

so much excite after reading this

[roflmao]

EEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!

[Arjak]

I am so moved by this turn of events that I just dramatically shed a single tear.

Well, not really, but I am totally fucking pumped to see what comes of this partnership!

[TurboXray]

Once I get situated with school and place to live, I'll work on this to get a working print routine (might not be VWF though - depends on the time needed for it). This I promise. I REALLY want to play this game translated.

Bonknuts, man, if you ever want to do some translation projects, I am in.

I love Esperknight, but he's got a million projects going at once, and at this point all I really hope for from him is that he finishes Xanadu II someday. He loves games, but I don't think he was ever really that interested in Xanadu II. I, on the other hand, get a lump in my throat when I hear the intro music because it's still one of the best action RPGs I've ever played.

If you can help get Xanadu II out the door, that would be freaking awesome. The hacking side is just stagnant right now, and a few emails between you and Esperknight could be all it takes to make the wheels start turning again. There's not much I can say to motivate him anymore, but just talking with you could be a huge catalyst for him. He respects you a lot, and I think he would gladly accept your help. This stupid project has been so close to being done for so long, it's maddening.

But I'm not just talking about Xanadu II.

You've got the passion for the games, and you might be the single most capable PCE hacker around. I don't want to brag, but I've definitely got the Japanese credentials. We could be a very formidable team. Yes, teams can be dysfunctional, but one person getting a lot of shit done can motivate another person to get a lot of shit done, and we're just the right guys to get a whole lot of shit done.

If you've got anything else like Spriggan mk2, where you had a dumped script and working insertion/printing, send it my way. Did you dump those Cosmic Fantasy scripts? If there's something you would be interested in doing, you should let me know. I can't promise that I'll want to work on just anything, but I'm open to a lot.

By the way, seriously, let's finish Spriggan mk2. All I need is for the stage 4 text to insert properly so I can tweak it. Give me a fully working inserter and two hours and I'll have my end at 100%. Once that's in, we just get BurntLasagna to do the dub, and it's finished.

(PS: I am internetless for a few more days at least, but I'll be back. Like you, I just moved)

On the Spriggan stuffs, might be a couple of weeks until I can get to the assets (my PC tower). But hell yeah! I hope Burt Lasagna is still interested.


 Slightly offtopic:
 EsperKnight and I had chatted about making an extended system card for translated games. I.e. a hucard rom+ram; something a little bit more than the 192k of the system card adds. I was thinking an additional 64k of ram. The problem was, no one was making hucards. So it would be limited to emulators. I still like this idea, and when that one guy from France started making those new hucards with the rom bump - the first thing I thought was SCD 3.0+ card. You'd just need another trace setup for another chip (or two more). So 512k rom, and 256k ram (or two 128k ram). Done and done. This would make CD translation hacking soooooooo much easier. There are a few unused bios functions entries in the system card; those could be easily used to point to the code in ram (indirection). The idea, is basically the same as ROM expansion.

 If I do a serious homebrew CD game, I'm probably gonna go this route (though maybe 512k rom + 512k ram for a sys card, or 256k rom + 768k ram).

 Anyway, let's get Xanadu II and Spriggan Mark 2 out of the way - since they are sooo close to being finished. My son, when he was 7 years old, played through and beat Xanadu II (he doesn't know any japanese, but he's a falcom fan). Not only for my own love of the game, I'd love for him to be able to play through it again in English.

[shubibiman]

What about this :

Anyway, if you're looking for someone to translate such games as Cosmic Fantasy 1, I might do something for you as the game is not so long.

If the read and print routine is ready for this game, then don't hesitate and send me the script ;)

[TurboXray]

What about this :

Anyway, if you're looking for someone to translate such games as Cosmic Fantasy 1, I might do something for you as the game is not so long.

If the read and print routine is ready for this game, then don't hesitate and send me the script ;)

I never handled the script dumping process, so I have no idea of the pointer table format. I do know the script is uncompressed. Esperknight had looked into the SegaCD version of the game and they appear to be near identical to that port. I'll be honest, script handling is not my preferred thing when it comes to translations (decompressors though, no problem). I know Esperknight is busy, but would be great if we could do a three man team on that one. Haha - 'cause basically my read/print routine is already done. But hey, if it comes down to it - I'll do the script work. It's gonna be a quirk and dirty kind of thing though (one town down at a time).

[deubeul]

My son, when he was 7 years old, played through and beat Xanadu II (he doesn't know any japanese, but he's a falcom fan). Not only for my own love of the game, I'd love for him to be able to play through it again in English.

Beautiful story, and tough kid! 

[esteban]

Bonknuts said .... then SamIAm said ... then Shubibiman said ...

I cannot stop the deluge of tears flowing...

[seieienbu]

So much good news concentrated in one place.

Slightly offtopic:
 EsperKnight and I had chatted about making an extended system card for translated games. I.e. a hucard rom+ram; something a little bit more than the 192k of the system card adds. I was thinking an additional 64k of ram. The problem was, no one was making hucards. So it would be limited to emulators. I still like this idea, and when that one guy from France started making those new hucards with the rom bump - the first thing I thought was SCD 3.0+ card. You'd just need another trace setup for another chip (or two more). So 512k rom, and 256k ram (or two 128k ram). Done and done. This would make CD translation hacking soooooooo much easier. There are a few unused bios functions entries in the system card; those could be easily used to point to the code in ram (indirection). The idea, is basically the same as ROM expansion.

 If I do a serious homebrew CD game, I'm probably gonna go this route (though maybe 512k rom + 512k ram for a sys card, or 256k rom + 768k ram).

Just a thought, but would it be more feasible to create a new system card or to simply make games compatible with the extra memory on an Arcade Card?

[TurboXray]

Just a thought, but would it be more feasible to create a new system card or to simply make games compatible with the extra memory on an Arcade Card?

No, because ram isn't directly accessible on the Arcade Card (only indirectly). It's great for making new games, but almost useless for translations. It could help for font space (and even extra strings for in-game), but it can't help for code. And there in lies the problem :/

[BigusSchmuck]

Once I get situated with school and place to live, I'll work on this to get a working print routine (might not be VWF though - depends on the time needed for it). This I promise. I REALLY want to play this game translated.

Bonknuts, man, if you ever want to do some translation projects, I am in.

I love Esperknight, but he's got a million projects going at once, and at this point all I really hope for from him is that he finishes Xanadu II someday. He loves games, but I don't think he was ever really that interested in Xanadu II. I, on the other hand, get a lump in my throat when I hear the intro music because it's still one of the best action RPGs I've ever played.

If you can help get Xanadu II out the door, that would be freaking awesome. The hacking side is just stagnant right now, and a few emails between you and Esperknight could be all it takes to make the wheels start turning again. There's not much I can say to motivate him anymore, but just talking with you could be a huge catalyst for him. He respects you a lot, and I think he would gladly accept your help. This stupid project has been so close to being done for so long, it's maddening.

But I'm not just talking about Xanadu II.

You've got the passion for the games, and you might be the single most capable PCE hacker around. I don't want to brag, but I've definitely got the Japanese credentials. We could be a very formidable team. Yes, teams can be dysfunctional, but one person getting a lot of shit done can motivate another person to get a lot of shit done, and we're just the right guys to get a whole lot of shit done.

If you've got anything else like Spriggan mk2, where you had a dumped script and working insertion/printing, send it my way. Did you dump those Cosmic Fantasy scripts? If there's something you would be interested in doing, you should let me know. I can't promise that I'll want to work on just anything, but I'm open to a lot.

By the way, seriously, let's finish Spriggan mk2. All I need is for the stage 4 text to insert properly so I can tweak it. Give me a fully working inserter and two hours and I'll have my end at 100%. Once that's in, we just get BurntLasagna to do the dub, and it's finished.

(PS: I am internetless for a few more days at least, but I'll be back. Like you, I just moved)

On the Spriggan stuffs, might be a couple of weeks until I can get to the assets (my PC tower). But hell yeah! I hope Burt Lasagna is still interested.


 Slightly offtopic:
 EsperKnight and I had chatted about making an extended system card for translated games. I.e. a hucard rom+ram; something a little bit more than the 192k of the system card adds. I was thinking an additional 64k of ram. The problem was, no one was making hucards. So it would be limited to emulators. I still like this idea, and when that one guy from France started making those new hucards with the rom bump - the first thing I thought was SCD 3.0+ card. You'd just need another trace setup for another chip (or two more). So 512k rom, and 256k ram (or two 128k ram). Done and done. This would make CD translation hacking soooooooo much easier. There are a few unused bios functions entries in the system card; those could be easily used to point to the code in ram (indirection). The idea, is basically the same as ROM expansion.

 If I do a serious homebrew CD game, I'm probably gonna go this route (though maybe 512k rom + 512k ram for a sys card, or 256k rom + 768k ram).

 Anyway, let's get Xanadu II and Spriggan Mark 2 out of the way - since they are sooo close to being finished. My son, when he was 7 years old, played through and beat Xanadu II (he doesn't know any japanese, but he's a falcom fan). Not only for my own love of the game, I'd love for him to be able to play through it again in English.

Pardon me if this has been asked before, but why not use the arcade card? Or create repros of the arcade cards?

[BigusSchmuck]

Pardon me if this has been asked before, but why not use the arcade card? Or create repros of the arcade cards?

Look one post above yours.

In other news:

SamIAm + Bonknuts =

Yeah I didn't catch that until after the fact.

[SamIAm]

No internet at home until the 8th. I will try to respond from work. Bonknuts, feel free to contact Esperknight. Bye for now

[SamIAm]

I'm all for just focusing on Xanadu II and Spriggan MK2 for now, so don't worry too much about anything else I write.

The special 3.0+ card idea sounds reasonable to me. On the one hand, I'd hate to put anyone off from playing a translation just because they didn't/couldn't get their hands on the special system card. On the other, if it turns the hacking side from a nightmare into a breeze, I think it's quite practical. Years keep rolling by with no major PCE RPG translation. If this changes that, then go for it.

Xanadu I is one of the most entertainingly written games I've played on the system, and by cracking Xanadu II Esperknight has already solved half the hacking problems. I'd love to translate it. However, it would seem that the 256k of RAM is packed very tightly based on how the game only loads once per chapter. Extra RAM could make a huge difference in that case. Tengai Makyo II has this same problem, I think.

What good 2.0 RPGs are there? Those could be expanded to ordinary 3.0, right? Tengai Makyo 1 is being done by Esperknight and another guy. One that looks interesting to me is Tenshi no Uta 1. The sequel gets really high reviews, too, and it's one that I intend to play soon.

EDIT: Oops, Tenshi no Uta 1 is also a 3.0 game. Damn.

Finally, about Gulliver Boy. I started playing it last weekend, and it's really good. Also, it's built to use the Arcade Card from the get-go to minimize disc accesses. I understand about the extra memory only being able to be accessed indirectly, but is it maybe possible for this particular game to use the extra Arcade Card memory for English script? It seems worth checking.

There's the Saturn port of Gulliver Boy, which is pretty much a straight port AFAIK, and would probably be easier to hack because there's almost got to be leftover RAM. The compression might be easier, too. But Gulliver Boy on the PCE is Hudson's swan-song RPG, the culmination of everything they learned to do for the system. On the Saturn, it's very much just another game. I'd love to see it done for PCE.

[Djangoo2]

I was talking with Dave Shadoff about continuing Dead of the Brain, but I need a translator for both games. Since there is no English translation for the first (the French translation does not help me), that would all be done from scratch. I've got some people in mind to do the translation, but I'm still working with them on other projects and the time is not yet right. Basically I would redump all the scripts and setup my own insertion system.

I'd also love to do or at least help with doing the PCE CD version of Emerald Dragon. I know the SNES version's translator, Eien ni Hen, and she'd be down to translate any other version of the game.

Esper sent me the WIP of Xanadu II, but I keep telling him to do a font hack or at least contact BonkNuts. Esper has a VWF routine that he's used for his various projects, but it doesn't work on hardware. It works on Mednafen though, which complicates the issue.

[SamIAm]

Dave Shadoff and I worked on the PCE version of Emerald Dragon. He extracted the script, and I translated about 60% of it. See this post for details

I could be persuaded to finish the translation on two conditions: One, a hacker would have to show some serious interest, including actual work done, and two, somebody else would have to take care of playtest editing. That's one game I really don't feel like playing again.

[shubibiman]

I was talking with Dave Shadoff about continuing Dead of the Brain, but I need a translator for both games. Since there is no English translation for the first (the French translation does not help me), that would all be done from scratch. I've got some people in mind to do the translation, but I'm still working with them on other projects and the time is not yet right. Basically I would redump all the scripts and setup my own insertion system.

I'd also love to do or at least help with doing the PCE CD version of Emerald Dragon. I know the SNES version's translator, Eien ni Hen, and she'd be down to translate any other version of the game.

Esper sent me the WIP of Xanadu II, but I keep telling him to do a font hack or at least contact BonkNuts. Esper has a VWF routine that he's used for his various projects, but it doesn't work on hardware. It works on Mednafen though, which complicates the issue.

Why redo everything from scratch ? The script for insertion already exists and, as I said here earlier, it wouldn't take too long for me to translate from french to english (I'm the one who made the french translation).

There are things I just don't get.

[Dicer]

Dave Shadoff and I worked on the PCE version of Emerald Dragon. He extracted the script, and I translated about 60% of it. See this post for details

I could be persuaded to finish the translation on two conditions: One, a hacker would have to show some serious interest, including actual work done, and two, somebody else would have to take care of playtest editing. That's one game I really don't feel like playing again.

If you get to that point, I'd certianly give that a go, wouldn't be my first..would be my first in a long time, but I'd like to help any project I can.