Main Script Hacking Mostly Done
Hey there, dudes and dudettes! Yet another daily update 😯
First, here’s a video of the text hacks working now. Note that it’s all ugly, horrible first draft text that’s not formatted to the new standards/limits, and most of the lines are random things that were just nearby in the save states I had. Also didn’t really want to spoil any story stuff. Most of the text in the game is far more interesting, honest 😛
After thinking things over, and testing all sorts of things, I’ve decided that for now, it’s probably okay to skip that hack to allow for 210 letters of main script text per screen. The primary reason for this is that I’m really starting to hit the burn-out stage, and getting the game to allow that much text in RAM will actually be incredibly difficult and tedious, because of how closely the addresses of everything are intertwined. Plus, in most cases, the current letter limit should be acceptable for most people.
Actually, the original game only allows 22 letters per line. Jeff’s fix a few months ago upped that to 52 letters per line, or 104 letters total. That’s already a huge improvement. In the handful of professional game translations I’ve done, there was always a lame letter-per-line limit I had to stay under. A recent example is that One Piece Unlimited Adventure game for the Wii — the developers needed me to keep each line under like 22 letters, which was really lame, because if you’ve played/seen the text in the final version, only a tiny fraction of text box space gets used now — and that’s with a Wii game! Talk about lame. So having a limit of 52 per line here is actually pretty lucky. In fact, 52 “e”s in a row spans about 1.33333 (repeating of course) screens. Not all letters are as wide as the “e”, but it’s a decent average. Those thin letters can sneak up fast, though.
Anyway blah blah blah x500. This means that for now, I’ll toss the “allow 210 letters at a time” thing onto the “not necessary but maybe hack this into the game later I dunno whatever” pile. This means that as far as I know, the main part of the main script hacking is now complete. There still remains the Block 0 text, which is a whole different ugly mess that will need to be hacked. Because I’m getting burnt out now, I think I’m going to move this Block 0 hacking to the “do this after Draft 2” pile, so I can focus on Script Draft #2 itself now. Translating / writing / revising / formatting is much less stressful and all, so it’ll be kind of like a vacation, except not really a vacation 😉
For now, I’m gonna cross out the main script hacking thing on the to-do list, and then add the Block 0 stuff to a new thing at the bottom, which will be updated with all the little odds and ends that need to be hacked at some point.
Getting back to the main main script stuff, things are working well enough that I even played through two full chapters today without any technical issues popping up, so that was a great, incredible, majestic thing to see. The only real issues that occurred were text formatting and things of that nature. Progress is progressing!
I don’t want to give an estimated date just yet, but the script drafts, the remaining hacking, and the testing will probably take at *least* 4 or 5 months. Please don’t misquote me or read too far into that though — “at least” means just that, and I haven’t named a specific month either. Just making that disclaimer, because people are quick to play purple monkey dishwasher when it comes to this stuff 😛
In any case, we’re really getting there, looks like all the really hard stuff is behind us now 😀
Keep the good news coming.
Tomato, I think you might get a kick out of this:
http://www.rpgamer.com/games/ff/ffta2/screens/ffta256.jpg
Holy crap.
> Just making that disclaimer, because people are quick to play purple monkey dishwasher when it comes to this stuff 😛
Oooh! That means we can expect this to be done in 4-5 days instead of months, then, right? 😉
Wow.
I can’t believe how much you’ve done in so little time. Congratulations, keep up the hard work, and enjoy your “vacation” 😉
Wait, you worked on a One Piece Game? if you don’t mind me asking, where do you work?
also, this video is so great! I’m gonna put it on my Myspace!
… purple monkey dishwasher?
Four or five months?
Need any beta testers? *wink*
Seriously though, I bet it’s not going to take that long…it looks SO good already.
Thanks again for all the hard work…
rc5: see here
I guess my usage would only make sense to weirdo Simpsons fans like me 😛
Well, I’m guessing we’ll be able to play the game on Christmas 😀
Awesome.
Ok, so, um, from all the screenshots I’ve seen of inventory and banks, I know that the in-game money in Mother 3 is called DP, but what does DP stand for? Dollar Points? Diamond Penels?
i really doubt it will take that long to finish… maybe close to your estimate, but not quite as long. one thing though. i would totally roll some dung across the desert for this game. good luck and keep it up mato. quite obviously we are ecstatic about your amazing progress. keep it up. i can’t wait!!!
rc5: Random Simpsons quote
Mato: You, Jeffman and everyone else involved have done an amazing job with this project. Before this serious translation stuff started, the vast majority of EB/Mother fans out there and in this scene were sceptical about the game ever being hacked well enough to have an enjoyable game to play, and still get the quirky humour assosciated with the series.
Think of the EB version of the ‘hot coffee’ scene… The end is on its way, there truly isn’t much further to go now. Look at how far you’ve gone, and how much you have grown up (ok in this case learnt :-p) to make it where you stand today.
Everyone here is grateful of the effort yourself and Jeffman have put into this thing and are deserving of that praise. Well done and be clapping you at the end.
NecrosaroIII: No, that’s been long taken care of. Since like Day 1 since we started from scratch with harmony’s work.
MikeDCray: It’s brought up in the game. I kind of don’t want to talk about it here (plus game questions should really be made on starmen.net) because it’s weird and has to do with story stuff.
Bennysaurus-Rex: EarthBound and “hot coffee” make me think of that GTA thing heh.
Mato: I was thinking the same exact thing when I read Hot Coffee. Hahahaha
I really, really can’t wait for this. I hate this helpless feeling I get reading this stuff though because I want so badly to help but I know there’s nothing I can do.
That was the most beautiful song… :’)
Man Mato, I hope you get a break sometime, cause it seems as if you’ve been working your butt off majorly. Great job man…I hope at some point I can repay the site in some way.
This game revolves a lot around love, and I see you both gave a lot of your love into this translation. At least 4 months, I can revise with Earthbound while waiting.
ello, I’ve been watching the updates with much excitement for the past 3 or 4 months now and I just can’t keep my excitement held in any longer, Mato you are awesome! I was reading a magazine the other day ( I forgot what it was called) it was funny because it had a thing in it about translateing japanese games, and a thing on Shin-chan too, so i thought that was pretty cool (seeming you worked on that a bit)
well anyway Congrats on finishing the bulk of the hacking, I’m so excitted for the final patch ( I bet its fun getting to translate all that awesome text (story and writing is what makes the Mother series great anyway,
GO MATO!!!! WOOT!!!!!!!!
On a tiny screen you can do a lot with 210 letters! Will it make things like the letter that the mom reads at the very beginning of the game glitchy, though, if the limit is never raised?
Though I am glad that most of the hacking is done, I’m going to miss coming here in hopes of seeing progress lol. Funny how that works.
Oh well, time to play the waiting game for 5 months! Have fun with your script edits and you’re well deserved “vacation”. You’ve both done a great job.
Hello, first time poster/ Long time reader here. You guys are doing awesome beyond anything I’ve ever seen.
Heres a Song I made for ya guys. http://www.newgrounds.com/audio/listen/145758
Hope you all enjoy it.
What a pleasant surprise.. 5 months is child’s play compared to never playing it at all. Not to mention my birthday is in October.. a man can dream, right?
Take it slowly, get it right, and rock on. =)
Haha, man, these games have the best sense of humor ever.
woooooooooo
Er, I’m no connoisseur, so can you please explain what the difference between 210 and 52 per line would be?
I mean, the text doesn’t look stretched out or whatever in the video..
the game looks so good already! i cann’t wait! haha
Take it easy, Mato. You’ve crossed so much off the list in so little time… you deserve a break.
I knew you would take my advise! Taking some vacation is good for you after all this stressful work!
Although I feel that after saying this… danger awaits for me…
(Behind Shingo’s back there’s a lot of fans with bats and yoyos and angry faces)
Tomato, I’ve always admired you for how you never cut corners and always seek to do things in a proper and professional manner. Watching you work is impressive.
So, are you ready to step out of the metaphorical tunnel yet, and breathe clean air? Now that the main hacking phase is over, it must be a load off your mind. Maybe now you can relax a bit, hm?
The project has a different feel to it now, doesn’t it. I find it difficult to remember when it was a quagmire with no end in sight. I guess it’s time to go read back through all the archived blog posts again and recap how far you guys have come.
I need to get a GBA emulator…
Looks awesome. Good work. 🙂
Working on My own Translation of Mother..Will be Insert Script into Finish Product of Mato.. My Product Feature Adventure of Mato and He Meth
Example of Me Dialogue .
Lucas: Attention .. Place Penis in Mouth..
Mato: No, I Adhor Homosexual ! You Will Feel the Wrath of Rom hack !
Lucas: PLease Spare my Advances.. I Did Not Mean to Offend you By My lifestylE Choices..
Mato: Get Me Some Meth and We Will Let it Slide This Time. Otherwise I Will Take Tweezer and Remove Each of your Optic Nerve One time by One time.
Lucas: Please, Mato, I Know of Your Excellence In Talents of ROM Hack of Mother.. I Did Not Know you Would be Offend by My Attempt to woo You for Sexuality ..
Mato: Now You Know
well done mato!
so are you gonna start on translating now,
or are you going to resume real life work?
so does anyone know how the later stages of testing will be done? Public or just inside the ups of the translation/starmen.net?
Looks very great WOW youre gods
Presumably both.
Awesome, just awesome.
The second its released ill run home, grab my ez 3in1 and play this until i pass out.
Purple monkey dishwasher is one of the best simpsons jokes.
…oh yeah, I like progress videos.
so just to get this strait, will updates stop durring draft 2? I guess there really wouldn’t be any thing to update, but anyway, I’m gonna miss this blog. 🙁
Is it true that there is swearing and nudity in Mother 3? Does it say any bad swears, like the f-word?
EBR: from the top of my head, Kumatora says “Damn” and “Bastard” a hand full of times through the game. as for Nudity, (stuff cut out) revealing his butt. overall, nothing to bad.
Ok, phew.
I guess it’s safe to say that all of the hacking is done for now.
How long until we can expect draft #2 to be done? Or can you not give a good estimate for that?
Dont forget Mato! The World Ends With You!
Oh wow Congrates on “completing” the main script hacking.
ps. the reason for the “”s is becasue of the 0 block thingy
4-5 MONTHS?!?! I CANT WAITS THAT LONG!! Seriously, you should release a patch of what you have now. That way we’ll at least have an upgrade from the menu translation patch. I also think it won’t take you 4 to 5 months. Keep up the hard work,
….purple monkey dishwasher…funny
I love you
After seeing the video, the 52 letters per line thing looks totally acceptable and I wouldn’t have noticed a difference in line length unless you had said something!
It has got to be a bitch getting such complicated text abridged like that, though.
I don’t mind waiting that long, I still have Brawl to wait for.
That main script hacking went much faster than I expected. O.O
Thanks for the *very* rough estimate. Now I can rest easy knowing I have plenty of time to beat Mother 3 before the patch comes out. -_-
I should probably finish Bahamut Lagoon, too. Summer’s here – time to dust off some old RPGs.
Ah, the hacking projects grow up so fast. Turn around and they’re tiny, turn around and they’re grown. Turn around and they’re a hacker with hacks of their own.
That’s actually quite depressing to think about.
Uh-oh, it looks as if ok is evolving beyond Meth jokes to gay Meth jokes? What’s this world coming to?
Didn’t ok say at one point it was a girl? I sort of picture ok as looking like Edward from Cowboy Bebop.. on crystal meth.
Congrats on the progress —
With the added obstacle of the line cap, some creative linguistic gymnastics should make for a good break from the heavy logic of coding.
I actually realized when I woke up this morning that it might still be possible to increase the # of letters, and actually more easily than I had thought. We’re only using 2 glyph buffers out of the original game’s 40 — who says we need to use the very first two? If we change which ones get used, then that would open up plenty of memory for the string data, which comes right before the glyph buffers. If we make it use the final two glyph buffers, we could theoretically allow for 2142 letters on the screen at once. It shouldn’t be very hard to do either. I might give it a try, actually.
Awesome mato! haha. You are doing such a great job!
Funny what searching up JeffMan yields in youtube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3pPETeNckk
Uh oh, looks like Jeff’s got some stalkers now. Looks like you’ve hit the big times 😛
I heard from a friend of a friend that Mato was awesome purple monkey dishwasher.
Mato know that you mention GTA it really made me think…Earthbound sounds like some crazy ass psycodelic drug!!!
this is excellent. MATO, seriously, polished bronze starman trophies could be yours for free…
Well, 5 months. That’s great. So by 2009, I’ll be playing Mother 3. Woohoo! (This coincides with the start of my study year, so I’ll be kinda free that early).
KEEP UP AND THANKS!!
I notice that script draft #3 is slated to be handled by one “demi”. Is this a professional contact, or part of one of the original teams that merged into the current unified front?
XD Hot Coffee… hey, so when will Purple Monkey Dishwasher be released?! 😮 I’ve been looking forward to that game for ages! 😀
haha
Simpsons joke at the end.
Season 6 the one when the teachers go on strike.
Im super excited now.
I cant wait to play it.
Mato: 2142 letters, amazing how you can suddenely realise something.
I think it would be a nice idea to release the game without the uneccesary hacks and add the hacks in a later release. Or were you planning that? DUN-DUN-DUUUUN! As you can tell, Im a hyper character!
If NoA decides to plug this project with a Cease And Desist Order…I’m going to do something drastic. Very drastic.
And we won’t be giving up without a fight. We’ll do what we can.
We’re all with you, Mato and Jeffman.
*prays with his whole heart*
Awesome as hell. Although I guess this means we’re entering the “media blackout” stage, huh?