Trimming the List
Lots of little things done today. And lots of things to mark off the To-Do List 🙂 Let’s do them in order.
First is Gray Name Box #1, “Do some “cheating” hacks to make names right at the name length limit look better.” Took a couple hours, but now got that working. The deal here was that most NPC names can only be 11 letters max. About a dozen names are longer than this, so I used “dual tiles”, which I consider a “cheating” way of doing it in this case, but it’s that or spend a few weeks hacking code just to make a handful of names be one or two letters longer. What also threw a wrench into the task was the fact that at least one of these names in this list gets used by the main font AND by the 8×8 “cheat” I just did. Anyway blah blah things are cool now.
I’d like to show most of the long names here, but most of them are spoilery so here’s a couple ones from early on.
Before 
After 
Sweet. That’s one thing scratched off the to-do list 🙂
Actually, to test the dozen names affected by this, I needed to use the game’s built-in debug room. But because of technical issues, the debug room’s menus were prone to crashing/resetting the game. I think the chief cause of it right now is the length of the menu text, so I shaved all the text down and voila, the room is now fully functional (though kind of ugly, but that’s probably easily fixable). With the debug room now working, I could go and check all the stuff above.
So that’s another thing that’s done (or semi-done, I dunno), and it wasn’t even on the list. The debug room will be very useful from now on, that’s for sure. Can’t show any pics, too much stuff is given away in that room 😛
I also took on Gray Name Box #3, which was pretty basic stuff. Just needed to change some values and check over the font graphics more closely. Another thing scratched off the list.
Yesterday I started on Gray Name Box #4 and followed the code pretty far, but right now I’m stuck at some crazy math, and it’s hard to figure out what the programmers were assuming here. I’m sure there was probably some commented documentation here in the source code, but no luck for us hackers. I’d say this is half figured out now.
Also did Gray Name Box #5. It turned out to be a little more complicated than I thought, because the programming is so strange. I had to hack 3 routines that are basically identical but separate. They’re apparently called depending on the # of letters in a name. Weird. I hope I got them all, but testing will turn up anything I missed quickly enough.
So that’s another thing off the list!
Jeffman had already done a lot of work on Gray Name Box #6, allowing for 8-letter player names to display correctly here. It sounds like he knows how to make this hack work eventually, it’s just a big mess.
I also looked into Battle Stuff #2, “Look more into the old ugly bug that cuts off hooks in item menus. It may be gone now. Not sure.” This was an old bug that existed before the group merge and persisted until a few weeks ago when we did some font changes. I can’t get the problem to happen anymore, and it’s just a little graphical thing, so it’s not THAT huge of a deal if it does show up super rarely. If the problem’s still there, the testing phase should get it fixed, but I think it’s fixed now anyway. I’d show a pic… but I can’t get it to happen anymore 😉 So that’s another thing off the list.
I also looked into Misc. Stuff #1, “Replace two Japanese sound clips that play for about half a second or so each with English sound clips. Already done some work related to this, and it will probably be pretty straightforward.” I looked into how the sound effects are organized and got the technical info on the two clips we need. I’m planning to have Starmen.Net webmaster reidman and his wife and bro-in-law handle them. Everything’s set to be hacked, just need to get good clips recorded now. The game has them stored as 8-bit, ~8000Hz sound chunks, and totaled together, they come out to about 1.8 seconds of audio. So this isn’t anything major, and it’s going to sound like regular old raspy GameBoy audio. Again, here’s what the original two clips sound like.
So I’d say that’s about half done, too.
Jeffman also showed up to help out with some stuff, coolest of all is a font-editing program he made. Man, editing the font in this game can be such a pain. So that’s very helpful 🙂
All in all, a very productive day, but mostly because these things are the easier hacking things left on the list. But the list is shrinking nicely at least 😀
Bonus fun random pic! hi
Also, people seem to prefer the lowercase g in the first pic over the lowercae g in the second pic, so I guess we’ll stick with that. Mostly curious because I was looking over the font as I mentioned before, and because other letters (or at least just y) have similar thingies.
Whew, just typing all this was tiring in itself!
First! hahaha, damn, way to go you guys!
Did you really even read the post first? 😛
Looking good. FIRST?
YUS!! Two updates in two days! This is getting better all the time. You keep saying this’ll take till WAY past March but I think it’ll be done before summer!
Keep it up tou guys rule!
NOT FIRST! Seriously, keep it up! 😀
Way to go guys! I get more and more excited with every update!
Thanks for keeping everyone up to date on the project, we’re all looking forward to the result.
It’ll be really nice once you guys get the word wrap to use the whole line, but I know there’s a whole ton of other issues with that too.
Keep up the good work!
Even the ROM is cheering you on!
I can almost taste it.
I just beat Mother 3 today with the menu patch today…and it was AMAZING. I can’t wait for this translation to finish so I can experience this awesome game all over again. Keep it up guys!
Mato said 1 hour, 16 minutes ago:
Did you really even read the post first? 😛
——————————————–
Well, I was reading it when i noticed this was uploaded 2 minutes ago, so i took a break and posted 😛
Man! I remember the first time I googled “mother 3 translation” and came up to this page, it was like 7 months ago, and since then I´ve been a regular visitor (like 3-4 times a week), I´ve only post like 4 times, when this patch is done I´m gonna send you 5 bottles of the best tequila in Mexico, si señor!
sounds like good progress. looks like most of the tougher stuff is done. good job ^^
Lot of stuff you guyz did
Mother 3 is coming closer and closer 🙂
you guys deserve a birthday cake.
It looks amazing. congrats!
Wonderful job!!!
great work here.
Sometimes I wonder if you guys are human or machine, pumping out progress this fast! Its incredible!
Anyways…
Is there any chance of updating the menu patch once the hacking is done? I was planning on waiting for the full translation patch to release, but I’m not sure if I can make it, haha…
Wow, Wan Sum Dung sure looks hairy in the after picture. 😮
This is going very well. Sound to me like this project is going to be done by next week. Hahaha, just kidding.
Anyways, I have an idea. We read recently in Nintendo Power that Nintendo is having trouble bringing the game over to America because it would take ages to translate. Since you, Tomato, have translated the whole game, why don’t you put the translation in a nice format, with a nice cover, and send the book to Nintendo. Document all your moves and put it on YouTube. Just to prove them wrong. Saying “hey, I translated it, why couldn’t you?”
He can’t do that, he’d get sued for copyright
Hey guys nice update ^^ been looking every single day for updates and all lol, and it looks beter and beter everyday… Anywais just Just a question for mato and the team?!
Are you guys planing on translating mother 1+2 since i know for a fact RPGone wont be finishing the translation
Anywais please respond!
the guy in of RPGone Died?
RIP Chris (rpgone)
“We read recently in Nintendo Power that Nintendo is having trouble bringing the game over to America because it would take ages to translate.”
The issue reads, and I quote “Unfortunately, the dialogue would take ages to translate into English, making the game’s chances of one day releasing here even more slim.” The article is by Chris Slate, the Editor In Chief of the magazine. He states “even more slim.”, but he doesn’t deny that it’s possible. Furthermore he hasn’t confirmed whether his source was Nintendo of America, or the game itself. In other words, it may or may not have come from the horse’s mouth; it may just be Chris Slate’s opinion.
“Since you, Tomato, have translated the whole game, why don’t you put the translation in a nice format, with a nice cover, and send the book to Nintendo.”
The keyword here is *BOOK*. Not game. Not script, but written text.
“He can’t do that, he’d get sued for copyright”
Copyright laws do not apply when you’re simply sending the game’s altered (translated) written text via unpublished works to the staff without any intent of making a profit — they may even welcome it… although judging from statements made on their website’s FAQ/Q&A, maybe not. They may consider a fan translation something among a grey area which involves legal mishaps and financial issues; not much different from someone who has an idea for a video game and would like to submit it to them. Chances are, they may not want to touch it because of that; especially considering it wasn’t one of their personal employee’s works. It’s not due to copyright, but the issue is with fan works. It may be worth a shot, I don’t see Tomato getting in any trouble. However, my point is that Nintendo may not accept because they’ll likely want to cover their ends, plain and simple.
“Document all your moves and put it on YouTube. Just to prove them wrong. Saying “hey, I translated it, why couldn’t you?””
I can see worse issues with sending a patched rom to the staff, showing who he is and what he does with the illegitimate in-game script (copy) on YouTube, and rubbing it into their faces. Retaliation by Nintendo would likely be certain in that scenario.
Oh boy… I need to stop playing Phoenix Wright. 😛
Durelle: “Are you guys planing on translating mother 1+2 since i know for a fact RPGone wont be finishing the translation”
As written by Tomato and crew in the FAQ: “We don’t have any plans to translate MOTHER 1+2. Harmony7 has looked at its programming and reports that hacking/re-programming stuff for it would be very difficult. If someone with his skills says hacking the game would be hard, it’s gotta be incredibly difficult. Not to mention none of us really have that kind of extra time to spare. But who knows. For now let’s just concentrate on MOTHER 3.”
Your question has been answered prior to your post. 🙂 Please read the FAQs.
These updates really get me through the week. I always look forward to them. Keep up the great work.
I’ve been visiting this site every day, and following the evolution of the translation project in general, since its inception. The enthusiasm and camaraderie that you guys have for this project does my heart good and makes me proud to call myself a geek/programmer and Earthbound enthusiast. I can say honestly that, for every person that speaks up and sings their praises on this site through this forum, there are hundreds (if not thousands) that concur. The entire Earthbound/Mother series is unique among games and you are doing a great service for those of us who have been waiting years for this latest chapter (myself included). Keep up the good work and know that your efforts are greatly appreciated… and will impact the gaming community in great ways.
I think it’s a good call to have Reid, Meeeella, and Plo do the sounds clips.
I’m excited for you that so much progress is being made! 😀
About the ‘g’, is there any more room in the font to move other letters up a couple of pixels? Then it would fit a lot nicer. But I’m assuming you guys would have thought of this already.
Not without making things uglier; the 8×8 font is already squished enough as it is, so things are going to look off one way or another 😛
Guys, this looks like so much got done today…I’m still in awe. Thank you so much for the hard work.
WOW! it seems very complete guys! good job! 😀
Awesome. Great work I’m so excited for this hack.
Yeah, I doubt Tomato and his team will ever translate Mother 1+2. After all, if you want to play Mother 1, just play EarthBound Zero. If you want to play Mother 2, just play EarthBound. And don’t tell me you want a more authentic translation. The translation of both games was fine (unless you’re dead set on seeing naked Ness).
Great job, guys! Soon enough the hacking will be finished. 🙂 I enjoy visiting this blog and reading entries before/after class. The optimism you have in undertaking such an immense task is commendable.
I am rooting for you! I just started replaying Mother 3 and while I understand a little of it, I really cannot wait to see the translated version, as I am not fluent (yet.) It does make for some unorthodox practice, though.
hey uh Unsavory Maggot im not sure but i think you just had a conversation with urself or are you multiple people
ahh yes… Your progress makes me feel so good! I can almost taste the final patch! You’all’re my hero’s!
anybody have experience with extreme flash advance? i only have a gba and it’s all i can find…but not sure if the rom/menu patch would even work.
“hey uh Unsavory Maggot im not sure but i think you just had a conversation with urself or are you multiple people”
I was responding to Zip Code Ness, ArashiSai, and Durelle. 😀 Of course on occasion it wouldn’t surprise me if my lengthy rants, rambles and responses all seemed to be conversations with myself. Afterall, I do answer alot of my own questions and occasionally debate with myself. For example, when responding to Zip Code Ness and ArashiSai, I’d almost proven their points over the course of my debate. It makes for some fun times.
I also realize it appears as though I need to get out more; as I had tried living on my own before for the length of a full year, I found it best that I return home for personal reasons. It’s been educational. Point being though, whether or not I get out more, I’m still just as crazy.
*looks around…* Ummm… YAY MOTHER 3!!!
how do you use the no$gba debugger, what do you use it for, im learning rom hacking and am starting on a translation of my own
The help file explains how to use it. You need to know and understand assembly programming and such though. Otherwise it’s pretty useless.
i dont know like how the origonal code was coded in i think its C i only know a little, could you help a fellow hacker and point me in the direction of a way to understand assembly and such, and thanks for the help file tip i had no idea it came with the normal no$
Lol at the bonus fun random picture !
OSS ! TATAKAE ! OENDAN !
I really like the list you published. It makes waiting for the final translation so much easier. Keep it up!
I really appreciate how you guys put up updates and pictures all the time, even if a lot of the changes made since the previous updates are very minor. The updates keep me visiting all the time, and they allow everyone to know that the project isn’t dead. Just be careful not to run out of things in the game to take pictures of.
Heh, don’t worry. All this time I’ve been purposely avoiding taking pics of huge chunks of the game. Most of the ones on the preview page are all within the same part of the same chapter. That’s also partly why many/most of the pics are of me talking to animals or reading signs.
Wow, just wow.
Hey Mato, regarding the sound clips, is there any possibility of keeping them in the final version of the game? I know they were up for download for comparison and to hear the originals on the last blog. I just think IMO they are funny and somewhat classic sounds to the game(not saying yours won’t be.)
One reason you said to change them is that 90% of the people won’t know what they just heard. But ever since Mother 2 14 years ago, I was clueless Itoi was saying “Ok desu ka?” in the beginning of the game until around a couple years ago but it didn’t take anything away from the game at all.
Once again, this is just a suggestion. It is your(and the team’s) translation and am glad someone is there to fallback on Nintendo’s mistake. Ultimately,I respect the work and decisions on the fan translation done by everyone on the team.
^^ sweet update!
Am at ch.7 of this FANTASTICAL game.
KEEP UP THE GREAT WORK!!!!
YEEEEEEEESSSS! way to be.
Can’t Wait for the patch, but i am curious about two things,
1: Do you know of anyway to get a hold of the Earthbound Anthology? I’ll donate whatever is required for printing and shipping cost as well as whatever extra i can throw down at the M3 cause!
2: When the translation is done will the patch change the file format of the rom? (the reason i ask is because i went through the trouble of buying the game but don’t even own a GBA instead i use my psp to load roms)
Anyway keep up the hard work, we all appreciate it very much.
-k
I just beat Mother 3 using the menu patch when I was supposed to be studying Calculus… 😛 Oh well. XD
I like these little updates. If you go over to the SNEmulDS blog you can expect to find posts asking “ARE YOU DEAD?!” and that kinda kills it all. 😛 And of course, we sorta learn alot from how hard hacking a game is (although I’ve experienced it firsthand) with this blog rather than how hard it is to make an emulator on the SnemulDS blog… Bleh, don’t ask me how I started on this cuz I dunno!
(PS: In case Archeide or someone else who’s helping him with SNEmulDS is reading this, I do love your emulator and it was the only reason I was able to beat Earthbound… I just don’t like the lack of blog posts!)
HAH…all you people say how you’ve beaten the game wit the menu patch, but im still having trouble beating Earthbound…stupid blue guys. Well keep up the good work, I’ll be looking forward to it!
P.S. I wish i had a dog 🙁
P.S.S i mean cmon! Ness gets a dog…lucas gets a dog…why cant i D:
just out of curiosity.. how many hours does the game usually take to finish? I heard people on here say that they beat it in about 3 days.. It’d be a bit disappointing waiting all this time for a translation just to be done with it in a few days. Not that those three days wouldn’t be the most awesomest… but it worries me a bit.
My first save file is clocked around at around 37 hours. But, I honestly feel like I haven’t done everything. In fact, I know I haven’t. Not gonna spoil anything, though~
fakestarboy: You can beat just about every game in three days if you play enough hours of the day (read: if you are on summer break or unemployed). Also, if the game’s not in English you may not bother going around to talk to all the NPCs. Those two things probably partially explain that claim. I don’t believe Earthbound had a timer on it, but I bet I beat it in 25 hours or so. I’m on Chapter 4 of Mother 3 and I’ve played about 9 hours. I suspect this game is in the 30-hour range if you talk to everybody. I’m sure others will be able to give you a more definitive estimate.
Uhhh… what’s up with the picture of the dog and cat? Shouldn’t it have been an “after” picture, or is it some in-joke that I’m too stupid to get?
I had no picture to put there, so I filled the space anyway.
if you guys still need a way to mass send an email when it’s done, I found a website that uses another website called notifylist.com to send their emails, and I read about it. It seems to be a free service that lets people sign up for your list and you can email them all the same thing at once.
OS! TAKATE! OUEEEEENNNNDAAAAAN!
you can beat a game in a few days, but how many do you play over and over again, each time as meaningful as the last (if not more so)
……again, anybody know a gba flash cart guaranteed to play mother3 rom/patch? I am sceptical to try.
Oh. Okay.
Yeah, I was actually wondering how long the game is in terms of “time” as well. I’m usually good at making my games last very long anyway, as I speak to every NPC, complete all sidequests, check every nook and cranny, level up a lot, and fill up the bestiary when there’s one, so I’m not too worried about M3… I don’t like rushing…
Keep up the good work guys, and thanks for the updates!
Oh ok i didnt know there was a fact about mother 1+2 ^^
thanks
Oh and CALE for the GBA cart that can play GBA Roms i recommend THE M3 (make sure its slot 2) I play several GBA roms on it inclusing the mother3/w menu patch No Lag WhatsoEver also if you get one the only trouble you should have with it is Setting it up (its easy if you understand how)so Cale u can e-mail me and ill reply on how to setup if you do get one 😛 i dont mind helping
kyleorange at gmail dot com (
Well I (somehow) beat Mother 3 in like 17 or 19 hours. But that was stretched out for almost three months… O_O
😀 Please, keep up the amazing work
— Naked Ness….?? what??… is that in the Japanese version or something?
–“Ok desu ka?” .. Ohhh so that’s what that is.. and thats Itio..cool,
hmmmm.. what does that mean though? “okay with you?”
so how did the whole pk siege go? did itoi like his swag? did nintendo?
tibbs: Well aren’t you special? Go do this with Dragon Quest VIII or Final Fantasy XII and you may snap right out of it for good.
I use the cyclo DS and i know the japanese version of mother 3 works on it so im sure the patched version would….too bad i cant patch the actual game 🙁
rod.: In mother 2 in magicant ness is naked, but in America, NOA censored that and in earthbound, ness has his pajamas in magicant.
and OK desu ka? it roughly means: that’s ok?
sorry for my grammar!
english isn’t my native language
greetings from Chile, South America!
GodHand: 1. There’s no way to buy it right now. 2. It will still be playable in any decent GBA emulator.
setstage: There are probably many books for learning assembly programming out there. I learned the basics in school so I don’t have any recomemndations, sorry 🙁
Coconut of Enlightenment: Personally, I have no desire to work on MOTHER 1+2. I’m way too busy as it is, and this would only benefit a veeery few people and it would be an incredible amount of work. Similar in scale to this very project. I’d like to use what little free time I have to work on stuff I wanna work on. Maybe other people on the team will be interested in M1+2, I dunno. But not me.
Everyone else: The game’s your standard RPG length, or at least your standard GBA RPG length. Sure, you can beat it in a few days, but you can beat EarthBound in 10 hours if you’re good, too.
But it IS a big worry of mine that we’ll have put all this hard work into it and people will just blaze their way through it. Even Itoi was sad that people beat the game the first and second day it came out in Japan. I kind of liken it to eating — if you’re eating something really yummy, why would you shove it down your throat quickly? It’s just gonna run out faster that way. If you take your time and savor it, it’ll be a more rewarding experience. In short, please don’t shove the game down your throats 😉
Nice. That definately makes me feel better. I don’t think I would have enjoyed Earthbound nearly as much if i had just done the bare minimum. It was all those weird things the npc would say and odd little secrets (like the house you buy in onett with the magazine about the demon child) that made the game for me. I’ve been waiting for this game for waaaaaaaay too long just to rush through it. So as long as there little extras thrown in here and there I’m good. I’m definately going to dig up all the quirkiness the game has to offer.
Kousuke: Really? cool, thanks:)
Mato: Yeah i know exactly what you’re saying.. As for me.. I’ve decided to
1) open a bottle of champaign on the day the translation is finished (honestly)
2) dedicate ONLY an hour each night before i go to bed, to playing Mother3… i’ll have a small snack prepared, a cup of tea… (hmmm..maybe i’ll consume something green, in a gaseous form, before the whole thing too)
I don’t want to ruin the game within 2 days, thats boring
Anyway I have 2 bros to share the computer with, a bunch of other stuff to do, AND I get bored if I play RPGs for more than 2 hours at a time, so don’t worry Mato!
Anyway THX again
fakestarboy:
I think my final time was 25:13. and I did it all over the course of about a week. I’m probably going to play it again because I really feel like I missed so much. Then I’ll play it in English when this patch is done. I feel like I’ll enjoy the game even more when I wont need to keep looking at a translation guide : ]
Does anybody have privvy knowledge about the Mother 3 GSF sound set?
I have never had a problem with any GSF music set except Mother 3. It crashes my GSF player (Audio Overload) whenever I try to play a song. I’ve tried both the OS X and Windows versions of Audio Overload.
It just seems that there’s something unique or odd about the Mother 3 GSF’s. I play music from countless other games without any problem.
The GSF’s work fine in Winamp using the Highly Advanced plug-in, but I don’t have a PC.
ANY HELP WOULD BE GLADDENING. (I’ve emailed the software creator who made Audio Overload and he doesn’t know)
Not sure if you’re interested, but you can get the entire sound player soundtrack here: http://starmen.net/mother3/music/ (spoilers in some titles, obviously!)
I suspect GSFs don’t work well because of HAL’s special audio programming. I dunno.
mato. i love you for doing this man.
i do.
Mato: Aww, I thought that picture was a reference to the old line from Ghostbusters “[…] dogs and cats living together, mass histeria!”
Good to see that it’s coming along, though 🙂 Any progress is good progress!
Man you guys are lightning quick and its more than great to already see a bunch of updates in less than a week.Also I know this is off topic but is there a spanish patch version of Earthbound for the snes on the net somewhere ? because if there is a patch I would love to re-play it in spanish my second language but if there is not a spanish patch for Earthbound snes I would be willing to take on a giant project to translate the entire game in spanish but my major problem would be hacking.
People have started, but I don’t know if it’s going to go anywhere for a while, as they’re using my VERY early tools that are still buggy. And who knows when I’ll ever be able to get back to focusing on that stuff 🙁
http://starmen.net/forum/?t=msg&th=33218
http://tomato.fobby.net/old/ebtrans.html
Thanks Mato for responding this quick and answering my question and Iam going to look into it.
yeahhh you go girl!
I noticed something lazy about Nintendo. Just because EarthBound on the SNES didn’t sell well here in the US, NOA is too afraid to release it because they don’t think anyone would like it, or they’d beat it too fast. What’s their excuse? “it’d take ages to translate”. Lol, yeah right. EarthBound wasn’t dialogue heavy, and reading some of the lines from Mother 3, neither is this. If anything, it’s probably all the glitches in the game that are scaring them from translating it. Just a thought though… If Mato and co. gave NOA the patch, what would they do with it? would they port the game to the DS, VC, or would they ignore the help from fans entirely? I’m at a loss here =S
They’d probably (due to “EB’s sales”, legal issues with outside help, and other such nonsense) ignore it, send a cease and desist notice to Tomato, and prosecute him if all else fails. =\
This is kickass work you guys.
So curious question, are you gonna give out patches update by update each time you got some major part of text done….or gonna wait until it’s all done?
Tomato’s gonna wait until it’s *all* finished. However, he has released a translated menu patch for those of us who can’t wait. 😛
HOOOOOOORYA!!!!!!!!!
ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA OR AAAAA!!!!!!!!!
keep on fighting! I’m not gonna give up! I want you to win, which is to say: I want this to work!!!
Your dad dropped by recently, you missed him again! He wanted me to let you know: the powers that be want you to complete this.
We’re all rooting for you! It’s the final lap! You can’t give up! It’s all in this stretch!
here’s a thought… maybe as a final touch the debug room could be officially “unlocked” after beating the game? just thought I’d share. I don’t expect it but I thought the gray star thing was really cool and would like to see you guys add some more of your own “fingerprints” on this game. If you ask me, we north americans don’t just deserve a mother 3, but a mother 3 “super platinum special edition DX silver”.