Progress report

[aquagon]

By the way, I've just finished the texts for Sasha's shop events. This means that leaving aside fetjuel's work on the Binary Field, we have finished now with all of the evds!
Now it's time to begin with the erxs.

[Soukyuu]

Progress report!

Graphics editing is done as far possible at the moment (Unless you give me more files to work on).
Complete file package here

Details:

• There are 9 problem images, AT2_PARTS, AT2_DIVER_P1-8. They seem to be 256 color images ingame, but OPTPiX shows them as 16-color (except for AT2_DIVER_P8), which ends up like this ingame too. After getting the plugin for opening .tm2 with Hamana (image viewing program using Susie plugins), it shows an error on AT2_DIVER_P1-P5 while P6-8 seem to be decoding fine. AT2_PARTS is giving me an error too. Might be a bug in fp_Unpack
• There is also one image that seems to be ignored ingame, showing "Replakia" despite me editing it to "Replekia", namely AT2_MOJI3 my fault, looks like I forgot to repack it after all
• There are 5 cases where I couldn't edit the image because of text being cut off at set boundaries:
  
  • AT2_NAME2: space too small to fit "Young Woman" instead of "Big Sis". "Young Man" exists somewhere else in the files, so reference could be switched to that instead of "Big Bro". Otherwise same issue as with "Young Woman"
    
  • AT2_MOJI5: space too small to fit "Deathlandia"
    
  • TOWN_NAME1: space too small to replace "Sky Plains" with "Celestial Plains".
    
  • ATLAS_MOJI_3: exception to the rules; boundaries are given only by the file itself, but I left "Sky Plains" in because I couldn't edit it in TOWN_NAME1
• IPD_NAME0-44: left alone since names are yet to be finalized, according to aquagon
• MWM_PLACE1_1-2: edited without problems, but didn't change MWM_PLACE2_1-2. turns out those were used to display where you can go to from a point in cosmospheres

tl;dr: we need to find a way to define our own boundaries/areas in those image files and we have to somehow figure out how to handle those images with wrong palettes.

I've also found an easier way (imho) to edit those 256 color images, posted the instructions here
Using my way, you won't have to waste time checking for duplicate RGB entries, but will have to edit both the image and the alpha channel instead. For deathlandia files I only had to change the alpha channel and didn't have to bother about how to keep those gradients intact.

edit: added MWM_PLACE2_1.tim to the archive.

[fetjuel]

Ack, sorry for the delay, but the font NISA used on those screens is Lucida Grande. It's included in Mac OS X; if you are on Windows I can provide you with vector versions of whatever you need. I hope it's not too late for that to be helpful.

Also, I updated the links on the blog to point to the rescued wiki. Hopefully that and aquagon's post will help people know that we are still working hard!

[fetjuel]

Also! I have finished the first level of Frelia's Binary Field, and intend to keep at it until I'm done. I would like to update my status on the new wiki, but it looks like I need to have permission to edit. Can someone promote my account (fetjuel) so that I can do that? Thanks!

I am really excited about the tremendous new talent on the team (void and Soukyuu). Thanks so much to everyone.

[aquagon]

Also! I have finished the first level of Frelia's Binary Field, and intend to keep at it until I'm done. I would like to update my status on the new wiki, but it looks like I need to have permission to edit. Can someone promote my account (fetjuel) so that I can do that? Thanks!

I am really excited about the tremendous new talent on the team (void and Soukyuu). Thanks so much to everyone.

Ah, great news fetjuel!
Well, I tried promoting your account, but for some reason, I'm not allowed to edit the user permissions, so I guess that wizzard will have to do that job. However, I've already updated the project status with the progress we've both made lately (since I also forgot to add that I had finished translating Sasha's events to it).

[Soukyuu]

Ack, sorry for the delay, but the font NISA used on those screens is Lucida Grande.

Thank you, I was able to find the font in the wild, so I could now re-do my Phase 3 savescreen (I actually already did)

I've also managed to edit all the "problem" images, the reason they are not editable in OPTPiX is because the only version I could find was too outdated to support multiple CLUTs (thanks to aquagon for finding out those files had them), so I used a hex editor to paste the changed image data and leave the palette/header data unchanged and looks like it worked fine. This means that the only images I couldn't edit were those with text not fitting into displayed area (see my last post)

I've also found out that the IPD crisis and clear text (both the same file) is another one with multiple CLUTs and that NISA managed to f it up, that's why those messages were hard to read - they had a broken CLUT. Fixed in our version

[kWhazit]

I noticed we're making progress in cracking the other text files. How soon until talk topics are ready for translation? I wouldn't mind starting on those.

[aquagon]

I noticed we're making progress in cracking the other text files. How soon until talk topics are ready for translation? I wouldn't mind starting on those.

Well, void recently released an app that can extract text files out from the erxs containing the talk and heroine topics (excepting the Dualstall ones, which are in one of the SLUS dumps), so I think we're pretty much ready to start with them.

[void]

Well, void recently released an app that can extract text files out from the erxs containing the talk and heroine topics (excepting the Dualstall ones, which are in one of the SLUS dumps), so I think we're pretty much ready to start with them.

Indeed, do you want to extract your own set of files kWhazit, or would it be easier for me to create a set and upload them to the FTP?

[kWhazit]

I'd do it, but I don't have a copy of the Japanese files handy and I'm not sure where to find them. Could you put a dump somewhere on the FTP server?

[void]

Certainly:

MKDATA (talk topics)
HKDATA (non-dualstall heroine topics)
MIXMESS (synthesis events)

[kWhazit]

Looks good. I'll start on Luca topics and Skycat synthesis, then.

For reference, here's the organization of the MKDATA:

• 0~80: Luca conversations
• 81~161: Cloche conversations
• 162~242: Jakuri conversations
• 243~253: Luca opening lines ("Mind if I come in?" "Oh, hi, Croix!" and so on)
• 254~265: Cloche opening lines
• 266~276: Jakuri opening lines
• 277~285: General

The general lines are easy so I went ahead and did those too.

[kWhazit]

I'm done conversation topics for Luca, plus her talk introductions and the general-purpose conversation text:
General
Luca intros
Luca conversations

These are pretty quick and simple for the most part, so I don't mind doing Cloche's and Jakuri's too unless anyone else wants to stake a claim on either. But for now, I'm working on Skycat synthesis events from MIXMESS, which is organized as:

• 0~35 = Spica
• 36~71 = Cynthia
• 72~103 = Sasha
• 104~135 = Skycat

It also seems to go in order of recipe. For instance, 104 is Luca's disastrously crispy swirled cracker, then 105 is Jakuri's fishy sushi roll from the same recipe.

[Soukyuu]

Image editing is done as far as I'm concerned. The only unedited parts are the ones which require changing the display box's size or re-routing to another ID.
I've also went through all tm2 files and compared the JP files to US ones to find any files NISA might have messed up (mainly the multi-CLUT files) and was able to find and fix 2 more files.
As for save/phase screens, I still haven't heard from TerraBreaker about how to handle those .ipu files. So far, I wasn't able to extract the images myself.

Also, a question about the .sfd videos, do you want me to sub them or are they already done? I uploaded my version of the edited OP Intro but there was no feedback so far.

[void]

Nice kWhazit, they're much better to read than NISA's. Though I did slightly update the unedited erx txt files on the server with my latest changes to the script, so for the files you haven't done yet you may want to use those instead (it's a minor change which only affects the context lines; modifying the file location id at the end of them, and displaying Luca's name instead of just (0) where it seems to be missing from the current files - sorry about that).

It's not a big deal though, for the ones you've already done I'll just convert them when I edit them.

[aquagon]

Image editing is done as far as I'm concerned. The only unedited parts are the ones which require changing the display box's size or re-routing to another ID.
I've also went through all tm2 files and compared the JP files to US ones to find any files NISA might have messed up (mainly the multi-CLUT files) and was able to find and fix 2 more files.
As for save/phase screens, I still haven't heard from TerraBreaker about how to handle those .ipu files. So far, I wasn't able to extract the images myself.

Also, a question about the .sfd videos, do you want me to sub them or are they already done? I uploaded my version of the edited OP Intro but there was no feedback so far.

There's also the fact that we need to discuss what names should be taken as final for the IPDs, and modify the graphics for them.

As for the videos, I haven't watched the OP video because I've been doing other things, but I'll do it as soon as I can. However, subbing the others wouldn't be bad at all, although we need to take the scripts for some of them to make the retranslations and sub them.

[void]

I'd seriously advise against changing any IPD names. Since there are so many of them, a guide is really helpful to find out which abilities they have and the correct answers for curing them (to me this is invaluable, it's the most tedious part of the game), and any name changes would mean existing guides for the English game were no longer helpful, which seems like an easy way to frustrate people.

[Soukyuu]

As for the videos, I haven't watched the OP video because I've been doing other things, but I'll do it as soon as I can. However, subbing the others wouldn't be bad at all, although we need to take the scripts for some of them to make the retranslations and sub them.

Sorry if I seem to be rushing, I was just worried if I did something unnecessary, since there was no reaction whatsoever

I guess it's just the enthusiasm of someone freshly joining a project

I'd seriously advise against changing any IPD names. Since there are so many of them, a guide is really helpful to find out which abilities they have and the correct answers for curing them (to me this is invaluable, it's the most tedious part of the game), and any name changes would mean existing guides for the English game were no longer helpful, which seems like an easy way to frustrate people.

That's a good point. Are the changes really needed? After glancing over the JP files it didn't look as if NISA changed any names. Some of the names sound silly imho, but that's how they were in the original. Or are we talking about spelling changes?

[aquagon]

That's a good point. Are the changes really needed? After glancing over the JP files it didn't look as if NISA changed any names. Some of the names sound silly imho, but that's how they were in the original. Or are we talking about spelling changes?

These are mostly spelling changes, although a few indeed need changing, according to some of the notes I saw in kWhazit's edits.

[void]

But will changing the names significantly improve the game experience like retranslating the text does, correct large mistakes NISA made with frequent terms like Infel Phira, have a reasonable justification like Jakuri, or have negligible impact? If not (and I strongly believe this is the case), then we shouldn't be doing it if there's a chance it will frustrate players. I honestly don't care what Eyesee, Pet and their 148 friends are called, but if I've got a block of 30+ of them to cure all at once, I do care about being able to find the answers to their treatment questions quickly. And if I didn't know which ones to equip (Zora, Eipp and Kasha!) and looked at a guide to see all their skills, I wouldn't then want to do any detective work to find out what they'd been renamed to.