This is the guide I am following.
So i've been looking at the files, and I am curious. is there any easy way to pick out where the games text is located. I assume it is going to be split into multiple files, but its a pain looking through everything for something i'll recognize. After looking at stuff for DeadorAlive2, apparently the subtitles for that game are stored in the 1stread.bin file. Is that just unique to this game/for subtitles?SEVEN MANSIONS TRANSLATION TUTORIAL-
A while back I started a project to translate a game called Nanatsu no Hikan: Senritsu no Bishou, which loosely translated means SEVEN MANSIONS.
The project is still active, but since this has been a one man crew and other situations take up my time the project has been moving slowly. This game is also incredibly text heavy, which doesn't make it any easier to complete on my own.
/dev/ghostline has expressed an interest in helping out, and as such I have written this tutorial to assist him and show others how to translate this game so we can understand and play it. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/tongue.gif)
WHERE DO I FIND THE GAME'S TEXT?
So far it appears that all the game's text are in the .CSV files. Files Y1-Y7 are extremely important as these contain the game's main material. The others most likely carry text for menu's and such, but in-game text that appears for interacting with objects and characters is stored in the Y.CSV files.
HOW DO I OPEN A .CSV FILE?
They can easily be opened in NOTEPAD.
I OPEN A FILE AND GIBBERISH IS INSIDE. WHAT DO I DO NEXT?
When opened in Notepad you may see just numerous symbols that don't make much sense. The "gibberish" is actually Japanese symbols that your computer can't read and is spitting them out as unrecognisable symbols. That's ok because we are going to manipulate these to our advantage. On my computer when I open Y1 for example, you will see the gibberish symbols are separated by lines, not just jumbled up into one paragraph. Add a number 9 at the end of each line of symbols, going all the way down till the end of the file. There are numerous lines in each Y file so be patient. Once this is done, save the file as an .html document.
SAVED AS AN HTML, WHAT NOW?
The purpose of saving it as an html document is to open it in a web browser. Be sure sure to have the Japanese language packs installed on your computer. This helps to read other language symbols you come across while surfing the Web. For me I open them in Internet Explorer. Go to View > Encoding > Japanese (SHIFT JIS). Once you select this, all the gibberish will be converted to Japanese symbols! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/w00t.gif)
AH! THE JAPANESE TEXT IS MINE TO MANIUPLATE.... BUT HOW?
Find your favorite translation website. When I first started this project I used Babelfish, but have found Google Translate and FreeTranslation.com to be VASTLY superior. Remember The "9's" we put at the end of each line of text? This helps to separate each line of Japanese symbols so you don't get confused. So copy and paste a line of japanese text for example, to Google Translate and convert that into english.
Once you get the english translation, open up the Y1.html document in Notepad, and paste over the line of gibberish with the text you've translated. Save and continue. Remember the "9's" are just for placement and to ensure you don't accidentally translate more than one Japanese statement. Delete the 9's after each line of text has been translated from your file or it will show up in the game.
Obviously the translation sites aren't perfect, but they are pretty good. In Babelfish for example I converted a set of Japanese symbols and got back "Chair of wood" as the translation. Obviously this means 'Wooden chair', so you can easily reword the results you get for easier comprehension
As you save your work view it again via Internet Explorer. One set of symbols, a bit more to go. Copy the next line of japanese text from that into the translation site, convert it to english, then plug it into the html via Notepad. It can be tedious, but worthwhile when you're done. Don't try to complete a Y.CSV file in just one sitting, take a break when necessary. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/tongue.gif)
When you're done translating the entire file, resave the item as .CSV so you game will be able to understand the file format. You can test a file once you're done translating by making a bootable image with the updated CSV file. While playing check out your results. Viola! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)
*IMPORTANT*
There are symbols you'll should know to make translating the game less painful. The symbols below give you certain attributes, such as line breaks, text color changes, etc:
\n - Line break (put this after some text to make your dialogue get a line break, meaning that a line of text will appear after whatever you put the \n symbol in front of. ) RECOMMENDATION: Put a line break after every 23-24 spaces in a statement. For example, if you have a sentence that says :
Your friend must've ran inside this mansion. Now the trick is to find them.
The above phrase have 75 spaces and will not fit all on one line in the game's dialogue boxes. It will flow outside of it. Place the \n after about every 23 spaces in your statement to ensure the line breaks keep all your text within the dialogue box. So for this one the solution would be:
Your friend must've ran \ninside this mansion. \nNow the trick is to \nfind them.
- This statemet will now be on three lines because three \n symbols were used. Please the \n right next to the letter because blank spaces are included in your 23 count.
&p - Next line of text after pressing button (Sometimes the english text will be too much for one dialgoue box on screen to hold. Put this symbol at the end of your text to enable the rest to appear in another box when the player press the button on the controller)
&d - All other text vanishes if used during a sentence
&h - invisible space between text
$6 - Placing this at the beginning of text causes it to turn yellow ($7 at the end to end yellow text)
$5 - Placing at the beginning of text causes it to turn blue ($7 at the end to end blue text)
$4 - at the beginning of text, causes it to turn green ($7 at the end to end green text)
&k - strange symbol will appear if used at the beginning of your text
And there you have it. This is how I've been translating the game. Takes quite a while if it's just one person lemme tell ya! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/tongue.gif)
When I initially started this project I was using Babelfish, which as I hinted earlier, is not something I'd recommended. Their translations were at times vague, thus forcing me to pretty much key in what I thought they were trying to say. I just recently discovered Google Translate and FreeTranslation.com which give better results, so I may actually go over the files I've already translated with these new sites, and if I get better results from them which I'm certain I will, I will have to do some major modifications to the files I've worked on.
And there you have it! This is how I've been doing it. This is for not only for /dev/ghostline but for anyone that wants to take a crack at this game.
