Intro to PCE translation????

[CDiablo]

I've been interested in giving some older games translations for a while but it is extremely hard to find info on how to start, what to do, ect. Problem is when searching for game translating you get a mountain of results, mostly of rom pages and non related forum posts. Does anyone have a starting point for translation, I might give it a shot. Thanks.

[elmer]

Here are some places to get basic info ... I don't hang out there myself, so I have no idea how friendly they are.

Getting Started
http://www.romhacking.net/forum/index.php/topic,8350.0.html

Introduction to Translation Hacking
http://www.romhacking.net/start/#trans

ASCII
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ASCII

Shift-JIS
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shift_JIS

Once you've got a handle on the basic concepts, you'll be in a better position to ask PCE-specific questions.

Good luck!

[cabbage]

An easy place to start is to try making a table for a game, then find some text in the rom (using a hex editor) and change it. Some games are easier than others, so make notes as you go and don't be afraid to switch games if you get stuck...you can always revisit that project later, once you've learned a bit more (hence why I recommend taking notes)

Some tools I use are YY-CHR (graphics), windhex (hex editor), cartographer (script dumping), atlas (script insertion), notepad++ (text editor), and mednafen (the best emulator). There are plenty of other tools out there, so find whatever works for you, or even make your own

and browse romhacking.net -- there's a lot of good information there

[BigusSchmuck]

and browse romhacking.net -- there's a lot of good information there

Lots of info on snes and nes stuff, but the forums over there are a great source of info.