Second Draft, Part 10
A small status update. I squeezed in a few hours the last few days to get a couple more % done on the second draft of the script. It’s now at 93%.
I really, REALLY need to emphasize that the picture to the right does NOT indicate the progress of the entire project. Only the progress of the second draft. Once Draft 2 is done, there are a few more things left to do. These can be seen in the to-do list, but basically, there are three main things left:
- Finish Draft 2, do draft 3
- Finish misc. hacking. All the major hacking is done, but a few things are still left.
- Test, test, test. And fix any bugs we find.
I’ll go into more detail on Draft 3 in a few days, after I finish Draft 2. I’m very busy the next 3 days, so I’ll try to finish Draft 2 this weekend. I’d say that there’s at least three months left until the final patch is out.
Oh, and here are random pics from the latest tiny batch. Pics good.
In other news, I forgot to mention that last week, Jeff looked into another problem on the hacking side of things. I haven’t tested it much myself, but it sounds like the hack is working fine. It fixes the sprite blinking problem during scrolling text. It wasn’t necessary, but the blinking was definitely annoying, and it was apparently an easy-ish fix, and it’ll make the game look even more like an actual, official translation. So that’s cool. I’ll cross that off the to-do list now.
Also, when finished, Draft 2 was definitely going to be too big to fit back into the ROM. So I had an idea on how to fix it last night, and Jeff went and added the code for it today. It immediately freed up 150 KB of space. We were going to be about 50 KB over, so we fixed that problem and then some π― So that’s a real relief. This same method will probably make it so translations into other languages won’t have script size problems either. Nice news for many π Now we won’t have to shorten text in the game, which I really, really didn’t want to do, not for ths game.
That’s all for now, hopefully I’ll have Draft 2 finished up this weekend. Most of the text left is ghost dialogue and then text from the last 2 hours of the game. Time for zzzz now.
sweet, KHAAAAAAAAAN’t wait
Thank you so much.
Squeekret.
lololololololol
Hot damn! Getting closer each day. Muchos kudos to you guys.
Keep up the good work Mato, Jeff & crew. You’re truly an inspiration.
Yay!
This will be the most amazing translation ever. What do you guys plan on doing once it’s all finished?
Looove.
Oh man you guys are kickin’ ass!
Good luck and thank you once again for doing this for all of us who have been waiting so long to experience this game.
Keep up the good work
And I thought this To-do-List will stay there forever. And then you guys bish-bashed it for good like in a bossfight. Finally we can see the light. THANK YOU!!
GAHHHH CAN’T WAIT.
Is draft 3 really necessary anyways, mato?
excellent my friend.. burning the midnight meth as usual, i take it
Yay! About 3 or so months! Great news! You guys deserve much, much praise! Thanks!!!!!!
It’s great news that it’s turning out looking very official. Glad to see no corners are being cut π
I think it’s amazing that you guys have made this much headway. I just wanted to let you know that. Keep up the amazing work. Know that you’ll have the thanks of countless people for doing this. π
I’m surprised that you won’t have to shorten text, considering that in general one needs fewer Japanese characters than English to make any given word. I guess you’ve made it so you need fewer bytes to reference a given character?
Sorry if this is old news. I’m fairly new to this blog, but eagerly anticipating the fanslation.
Ah man, I didn’t get “squeekret” until I sounded it out. Thought it was some obscure word I didn’t know the meaning of, and it clicked a few seconds after a 0 results throw at google.
PLEASE EXCUSE MY LARGE TYPE, IF SMALL CAPS IT WILL TYPE IN CHINESE. I AM WORKING ON A TRANSLATION RIGHT NOW AS YOU GUYS ARE HACKING AWAY AT THE TRANSLATION OF THIS GAME. EVERY TIME I LOOK AT THE SHEER AMOUNT OF LINES TO BE TRANSLATED I THINK OF WHAT YOU GUYS ARE DOING AND GET INSPIRED TO TACKLE THE NEXT 500 LINES. WE’RE ALL TOTALLY ROOTING FOR YOU GUYS, KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK!
woo this would be the best halloween present ever
Yaaaaaay!
I’ve never left a comment before, but I’ve been following this for a while. I think you guys are just totally awesome ^____^ A few months to go, can’t wait!
amazing. <~~~~period
Ye-Ay!
is ‘squeekret’ from something like ‘himichu’?
I just wanted to leave a “thank you” and let you know that your work is appreciated. Keep it up!
WHOOOOOO!!! SIZE REDUCTION + NO MORE BLINKY SPRITES!!!
Seriously though, hang in there Mato and Jeffman. You guys are hacking what will eat up my spare time until Resistance: Retribution and Patapon 2 came out.
Well, it’s my first time posting here, but definitely not my first time visiting.
It’s unbelievable what great work you guys are doing.
I’m playing MOTHER in the meantime to keep me busy so I can start playing MOTHER 3 immediately after the patch is released (trust me, MOTHER will keep me busy a few months. It’s such a hard game).
Keep up the good work, Mato, Jeff, and everyone in the translation.
…
You’ve traveled very far from
home…
Do you remember how your long
and winding journey began with
the merging of the translation
project?
You are no longer alone in your
adventure, Jeff, who is an
excellent hacker, is at your side.
[…]
Tomato…
JeffMan…
demi…
I wish you luck…
this is rad you are rad
Pics good. Pics very good.
…Fire BAD!
Long time reader, first time poster,
Great work Mato, only 535 lines left! π
Also great work Jeffman fixing the sprite blinking that would have annoyed the hell out of me π
Suh-wheeeeet π we’re inching closer and closer (—– yeah right, “we’re”, as if I myself have any part in this)
Great job Mato and JeffMan
I’ve got a couple questions though……. I know that draft 3 isn’t going to start before draft 2 finishes (i dont know why though)
But is testing going to be done while draft 3 is going on?
Also, Mato, i’m always in wonder of your translation skills when i see things like “squeekret” … is that kind of stuff hard to translate from a Japanese word-play to an English one? Does it take you a while to understand the Japanese word-play in it too?
Wow guys, just wow. I’m really amazed at what you’re doing. Thank you so much for working so hard on this, so English speaking people can finally play this game in it’s full glory! =D
How long do you anticipate draft 2 and draft 3 taking in comparison to draft 1?
Anyone who comes up with a “squeekret” is obviously a master of translation. Also, of awesomeness.
(link removed)
Is this really in the game? If so, can you guys fix it? Thanks.
Yes, and I would like a sammich please… if there is one of those in the game, give it to mehz. thx.
At least you’re not doing 4-drafts, lol
Twyleiht, I really don’t think it’s that much of a big deal. He could fix it, I’m sure, but it was in the Japanese version, so I guess it’d only make sense in this version.
By the way, who here thought Nintendo’s E3 was sort of a let down? I did. π
So, Mato, how did you end up freeing up the 150 KB of space? That’s quite a sizable chunk!
I’ve been a lurker for quite awhile now. Probably over a half a year, but finally had the urge to post up here.
I’m going to do the cliche thing and praise you guys for such an amazing feat! I’ve worked on mod teams in the past for 3d games and I know it’s a lot of work. It’s also quite impressive in that you’re taking your own free time here to make a translation for all fans to play who normally wouldn’t be able to. For instance…people like me.
Anyway, I’m curious…and I don’t think anyone else has asked this. How in the world did you go about getting an extra 150k freed up? Did you cut out the entire ending or something? π Kidding…
But I do find it interesting that you were able to trim out that much free space. I know you don’t want to bother a lot of people with technical jargon, but I’m real curious to know how you did it.
Well, that’ll do ‘er for me. Again, great job so far! I really hope you guys get some kind of serious recognition by Nintendo or any other game company for the efforts you guys have put into this project.
Something just came to mind. People keep talking about “the light at the end of the tunnel”. In Earthbound, doesn’t that indicate a boss battle?
Hey, Jatopian’s here! It’s me, Kwakstur! From CaravelGames!
And, yeah, the reduction from 16-bit to 8-bit was done a loooong time ago.
Oh, now I get why your avvie was changed to Gigue! w00t!
This is amazing, I’ve been here multiple times a day for the longest time. It’s nice to finally feel like we are going to see the end. Sometimes I was worried there would be long waits to get through some of the hacks, yet it always seemed to get done really fast. I remember when the sprite blinking was first being brought up. You guys are doing an amazing job and I thank you, not only for me but all my friends who are excited to play this as well. Good luck on finishing this wonderful game! =)
Real busy so I won’t get to the comments for a while, but I should say that the sprite blinking that was fixed was for the scrolling text only. There’s still the matter of the weird menu text, there’s going to be no easy way to clean that up.
Just can’t wait
Jatopian: The original game text uses a 16-bit format, where every letter uses up two bytes. A while ago we came up with a way to have it only use one byte per letter and byuu implemented that for us. So we have about twice as much space overall for the English script. This doesn’t apply to the non-script stuff, like item names and enemy names, but we have enough space for those anyway.
bmoussavi: The 150KB of text that we freed up was actually a constantly recurring set of long lines that got repeated several dozen times throughout the game, but only one line out of each set is ever actually used per block. So instead of just deleting the ones we didn’t think were necessary (which would require extensive testing, and we still don’t know why the original programmers did this in the first place, so it would possibly be even dangerous) we came up with a method where we only have the lines appear once, and all future instances just have a reference to those instead.
The perfectionist tendencies of Mato are simply great. These are the stuff which will make this the greatest fan translation ever!
I’m blown away. I’ve been away from this site too long. When will life get less busy? Mato? π
Man, I feel sorry for Mato. What the hell motivates him to complete this? Whatever it is, he and Jeff (are there any other major members of the team?) are both amazing.
“Now we wonβt have to shorten text in the game… not for *ths* game.”
Was ths intentional? π
π―
Heyyy, thanks again you guys, all the screen shots look amazing. Honestly. And you guys seem to be finding any spare time you have to work on this project, and only for other people’s pleasure. I have a longing picture of like 300,000 people outside your guys’ houses while your finishing up the last lines of hacking/translations and then a huge roar of applause when you finish. Come onnnnnnn…..invite us over for the last bit so we can all celebrateeeee.
Wow. that’s all I can say. I’m amazed at how well things are looking. I do a little moonlight hacking, and I’m amazed at how well you guys find the bugs and the text welding well.
Just Wow.
Wow, this is the first message I am posting on here but I’ve been following your progress for a while, although by the sounds of it not half as long as some of these other fans π
You guys are awesome, so much time and dedication is given to making sure it turns out 100% classic. Thanks for everything!
Woot! Nice to hear about all the progress, thanks for all your continuing work you guys. =D
looks like we could all be getting mother 3 for christmas
BoInG ZOoM! YoU THrOWiNG HaPPY aT mE, I THRoWINg pRAiSE aT yoU! ZOOm!
JeffMan: Thanks for the info! Yeah, if I’m getting what you’re saying, it sounds like their code was pretty inefficient. At least for that particular aspect of the game you guys made that work around for. It’s great to know you did end up finding a work around though!
Yo, Mato, keep up the good work.
May Mother live for years to come.
In other news, I’m almost to the end of Mother/EB0.
Awesome game, besides the constant random battles. lol 2 steps
“Squeekret” must stay.
Before I say this, let me explain that I’m simply asking a question and not trying to start some silly debate. Last time I made a smartass joke about commas I think it got seriously misunderstood… here goes:
I heard that the japanese word for the sound a mouse makes is “chu”. Was that “squeekret” thing a best-possible-translation-option scenario? (I.E. like how earthbound’s “little girl in the alps” had to become “a beatles song XXXterday” because of “hai” and “yes” being different). I’m guessing a lot of things like that had to be done for this game as well, right? Heck probably all translations, especially anime too. Anyway I was just intrigued by this and am curious about the translation process, please don’t think I’m criticizing it or anything.
Maybe someday someone will make a “Mother 3 Japanese to English and Back Again” website explaining these slight differences. By the way, M2 to EB & Back Again is an excellent site. I’m a huge fan, Mato!
Huh, I thought “chu” was the actual word for “mouse,” rather than the sound it makes.
Part of my logic here is that I really doubt cats make the sound “kapu” (thinking back to Chu Chu Rocket, with mice called Chuchus and cats called Kapukapus).
But, then again, I apparently know nothing about Japanese.
@Exp HP
Nope, ‘chu’ is just the sound Japanese mice make. Ref: the Pika variety. ‘nezumi’ is the actual word for mouse/rat. Cat is ‘neko,’ but I’m not sure on ‘kapu.’ All the Japanese cats I know say ‘nyaa.’
And yes, I too think squeekret is ingenious.
How hard will draft 3 be?
Actually, “nya” is the Japanese onematopeia for meowing.
Oops, beaten to it! XD
Mouse is nezumi in Japanese and squeek is chu. Also, cat is neko and meow is nya. I can’t remember if the vowels in chu and nya are long. They might be.
Ha ha. Me too.
G.Wicks: Yeah, I’ve mentioned it before, but you can expect very detailed translation notes the same day the translation patch is released. I’ve always liked to do stuff like that with fan translations I’ve worked on, Bahamut Lagoon for example. The online version of the notes will even contain pic comparisons, so there won’t be much need for an M2EB-ish site, since it’ll all already be there.
And to answer skankpit’s question, yeah, that mouse talks all mouse-like in Japanese, and I think it was himichu or at least lots of chus in places. I thought it was almost a lost cause to try to make the English version mousey, but then when I was looking through the text again before taking screenshots, inspiration hit. What’s cool is that he even says “secret” twice in his line, so it really fit well. I also like how Google turns up no hits for it π
Fantastic work.
Feels like you’ve really taken Fan Translations to a whole new level. Even if Nintendo were to release an official translation I still think you’re translation would be the better one, because of your knowledge of Earthbound Nintendo would probably not understand.
That being said, of course I still wish they’d do it!
Since it is spelled “squeak”, should the word used be “squeakret? I’m not really sure which looks better, just throwing it out there.
I think it would be even harder to get the joke that way, to be honest.
π
Oh and Squeekret looks better if my opinion matters. The double ‘e’ looks better.
I love detailed translation notes too! I’m actually really excited even to read through that! I can’t get over how much love you’re giving this project. I can’t wait. =D
I shall refer to this mouse controversy as squeekret-gate.
Good job mato. I like squeekret.
Keep cranking along, when you have time.
Squeekret…I like it, it sounds great…secret, squecret, squeekret…Yeah, definetely. In 3 months the tension will be over, and Mother will continue.
In the mean time, is it worth playing the original Famicom ‘Mother’? I’m playing Earthbound, but am not sure whether Mother, the original, could surpass it…
Anyway, once again: crackin’ job!!!
erm, I think you mean “at least 3 months”
You guys are amazing, I can’t wait until this patch comes out!!!
Amazing. First it was 91.03 % done, now it’s 93.01 % done! Can anyone sense the strangeness of this progress?
Hey Mato, on the to-do list it mentions somethign called “sprite text morphing.” What exactly is this?
On another note, how difficult do you believe your Mother remake using the Earthbound ROM will be compared to the hacking and stuff in this project? Any idea time-wise?
Working through the night, jeffman fixed the blinking sprites and the script size. after being fixed, the game became the translated game! *cue sound effect*
@ alex: Don’t play mother, play earthbound zero, the official but unreleased translation of mother. Unless you’re japanese. It’s a good game, but harder and I still think earthbound is funner. But judge for yourself. The story also explains quite a bit of earthbound’s story.
Yay! You’re doing such an awesome job <3
I bet it’s really challenging and rewarding to work on a project like this.
Looking forward to this ! !
Is there any specific reason why the ghost text is the last to be finished?
Mm mm wine…
An official translation would say that rootbeer is the water of life. lol.
The testing is gonna be quick if you do it also about lighter
saying Dammit think like a localizer
And nintendo woul squeekretly steal mato’s Idea and make it say “a sqweekwet passage way connects all the fire places in this castle” by the way, is that castle more RPG dungeon like than the ones in earthbound?
Awsome work!!!! Im playing Mother 3 right now in Japanese and trust me I’m really looking forward to this patch. Keep up the great work guys!
YAY
Haha, ‘ghost dialogue’ makes it sound like dialogue that isn’t really there.
Keep up the excellent work, Mato, and thanks for constantly keeping us updated. :]
Me want to test! Haven’t done the third yet, loved the other episodes, i’m eager to go through it, thanks for the hard work.
Goldcheese: from what I understand, the dialogue is grouped together by map. The translation has been progressing by the order of the maps in the memory. The Osohe Castle maps must occur fairly late in that list.
^_^ i just finished the Japanese Mother 3 rom, but i’m totally looking forward to the full patched version. Great job guys!!! can’t wait ^_^
How about instead of having the dialog say percentage complete, say Draft 2 Completion? Just a suggestion to save you from typing a dozen times that it is draft two not total completion.
whoa. i’ve been coming to this site for over at least. One thing I have never done is look at all the comments. I’m just so happy to see so many people interested. YOU ARE A GOD! much love my friend!
why exactly whould ghost dialougue be at the end? :0
The game’s text and maps aren’t organized in any really logical manner. It’s most likely simply the order in which things were developed, removed, added, changed, etc. that determined the final order everything was stored in.
menz i really envy ya…you need to be really focused to do that until the end…i would quit in the first week…
that why we all <3 ya…(not in a sexual way tho)
KAAAAAAMEEEEEEHAAAAAAMEEEEEEEE…..HOOOORAY!!!! I can’t wait, thanks for all your efforts guys!
JKringleman: There isn’t a way of determining what % of the whole patch is complete yet. Even now. Some things left to do are a little ambiguous when it comes to how big or time-consuming they could be.
Kak: YOU ARE A GENIUS, THANK YOU
Kak: “that why we all <3 yaβ¦(not in a sexual way tho)”
Oh, Mr. Kak, you say that now…..
…But I do shudder to think at how many people probably would (VARIOUS ACTS ALL OF WHICH ARE CENSORED HERE) with Mato for an early, exclusive secret download of the patch so far. π
Not like Mato would take up any of those offers…
At least.. i don’t THINK he would. :O
Gasp! Mato replied…
I’ll never wash this… Message… board… thing… again…
Cough…
Ahem, always kind of wondered how the layering of data worked in a game, if it had to be uber specific or if the data had to just be set to be read a certain way, so thats some cool info to know.
“I’ll never refresh this page again” might be a good analogy.
Will name entry still be in this game? I really hope so.. because:
http://mother3.fobby.net/2008/07/03/hacking-still-going/#more-722
makes it seem its not, it doesnt bother me too much, but when I have multiple files (first being default names) I usually like renaming them.. I’m sorry if this sounds like i’m bitching here.
Is there any link between mother 2 and mother ?
^ Gyigas
Keith: what??? That post says nothing of the sort. All it says that, when displaying names of characters in the credits, that it doesn’t use the same method for displaying the names of nameable characters as it does for NPCs, for technical reasons. Even if there WERE a problem displaying the nameable characters’ names properly in the credits, how in the world would that justify removing the ability to name the characters entirely?
Anthony: er, the second game and the first game? Giygas is the main villain in both. If you meant the second game and the third game, yes, there is, but it can’t really be discussed here.
yes, sorry I mean mother 2 and 3 ?
Where it can be discuss ??
Thanks Zinco!
Woot! Go Mother Series!!!
Anthony: Take it to the message board, this isn’t the place to discuss that.
Keith: The naming screens are still in the game.
Hey Mato, I think you might have overlooked my previous post:
Hey Mato, on the to-do list it mentions something called βsprite text morphing.β What exactly is this?
On another note, how difficult do you believe your Mother remake using the Earthbound ROM will be compared to the hacking and stuff in this project? Any idea time-wise?
Not to be impatient, but those are two things that I was either curious or confused about.
Yeah, I know I still have to answer a lot of questions, I won’t have time to get to them all until tomorrow evening. Sprite text morphing is something that makes menu text look ugly and unprofessional. It’s gotten worse since the old sprite text demo videos. It’s going to be very tough to fix this.
EB0 project will be very hard and this isn’t really the place for that anyway. Assembly hacking won’t be needed hopefully, though.
cool story bro
And afterwards… Mother 2 in Mother 3! Hacking the M3 rom to be a remake of Earthbound. ^_~
(Implementation of “Mother 1 in Earthbound in Mother 3” is left as an exercise to the reader. Likely one even more insane than I, which is saying something!)
…Joking aside, I’m still eagerly awaiting the patch completion, no matter how many months it takes. I’ve waited this long, a little more isn’t going to kill me. Take your time, Mato, and I know you’ll polish it so it shines. As the song goes, “I Believe In You”. ^_^
Wow, this blog has certainly given me an appreciation for Nintendo’s decision not to translate this game! You guys are awesome. Keep up the good work!
Great job Mato! Any chance you upped a few %’s since update?
Jon: Just be patient. π
I’ve been observing this site for some time now, and I have to say I’m very pleased with what I’m seeing, both in the previews and in how quickly this is progressing. Keep up the good work.
~SL
3 months? you suck
Nintendo has had years (with years to go) and they haven’t even started yet. They suck iirc.
Lol, some of you ant mato to keep commenting, which will take valuable time away from translation.
@mato:…
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YOU WON!
Just curious, what IS Draft 3?
Just curious, what IS Draft 3?
The third revision of the English script. Nothing more, nothing less.
Tomato you are a God. Once you guys are done with draft 3 and the minor left-over hacking, have you considered beta testing? It could be helpful, but I also kinda just really want to finally get my hands on this… Then again, if it’s really glitchy, it might ruin the experience. Still, a closed beta among all of Starmen.net’s admins could help, right?
Best news ive heard all week! Thanks, u guys PSIROCK!!!
Well, the To-do list says they’re doing testing before they release, and I believe the FAQ or something says that testing won’t be open to the public.
Mato, you really have to add “What is draft 3?” to the FAQ. Every time somebody asks that (there are at least 3 people each day), I feel the obligation to answer. It’s so annoying.
Speaking of which…
Zach: Read the FAQ.
Oh well… I probably won’t download the translation until later, I’m busy with EB0 and FF3(FF6).
As I mentioned, I’ll explain what Draft 3 is and what it’ll be in a few days. And no, I haven’t done any more lines since the update, like I said, I’m very busy until the weekend. By which I mean, a few days this week (and the last few weeks) I’ve gone without sleep at night. Please don’t get on my case π
Ouchu, Mato. =<
Here’s hoping things lighten up in your near future.
Sheesh, all that work with no sleep? That’s unheatlthy! And to think you are doing this for mother fans and tomato fans.
someone I know this isn’t relvant to the post but I can’t post on starmen.net (thats my problem) and I can’t post anywhere else so can someone help me please?
Awesome work 93% is an A at my school so you get an A…
Awesome. Now I won’t get grounded!
Looks Like Mato Needs More Meth…
Nah, not really.
It’s been a while since I’ve checked here. The progress is lovely, but… Mato. This was supposed to be the relaxing part. Why did you have to go and burn yourself out? You’ve been obviously strung out lately. Forgive my temerity, but I have to wonder if you can be at your best while under such stress. I suppose I can see what you mean about not being able to take a break, but please. For your own health, if nothing else. Relax a little.
I had a dream last night I was playing Mother 3 in English… but only the first and last chapter. That was really weird.
Brilliant update. Loving the mouse. Keep up the awesome work man! Getting down to the finish line on Draft 2!
In my opinion, the sprite blinking problem is a huge issue, and I’m glad you guys finally found the solution.
Great job, you guys are so close I can taste it…
..Mmm…
i vote for max 1 line comment here so Mato dont need to loose time readin and thinkin about it
let his brain be free and quiet ^^
I miss ok . . .
Maby off topic but, what exactly is the word that pops up in the explosions in the video? right at the beginning, i thought it was bomb but i cant really maby out anything past the bom. Almost looks like bomz
Oh, now I get why my post won’t get through… okay, fixed it. And added two more things in (which I hope won’t be affected by the filter).
Boy, this mysterious filter is a real pain. So unpredictable.
Like I was saying, anybody can post as ok (in fact, I would bet the posts after his first one were all by imposters). Nobody found it strange when someone bugging Mato suddenly started typing in correct English and apologized to him, or when the owner of a Spanish website posted here in perfect English, using the same name as his website.
It’s a shame identity is so ambiguous with this system.
You guys are awesome. Good luck with the next three months. Have a cold one on me. (Seriously, got a six pack in the fridge with your name on it)
Effluvium: then again, some people also operate at their very best under pressure, maybe even extreme pressure. I know that i’m like that.. I’m sure Mato is a big boy and can regulate his own work-stress environment. I have full confidence that his work will be of the highest quality either way π
Yes, I know. It just seems like Mr. Tomato is so driven to finish this that he’s damaging himself. You can’t deny that if any project would take on a life of its own, this would be one to do so. Perhaps I worry needlessly, but worry I can’t help but do.
Heh, I’d be lying if I didn’t say it’s tough juggling this, work, life, etc. all at once lately. Luckily, the project is actually winding down now, so it won’t last much longer. Once we can get the Block 0 hacking and the menu text hacking done, everything’ll be all downhill from there.
I seriously respect that most of all –
You have a freelance job, social obligations, AND somehow the time to devote to this project – for no real gain other than to allow a whole bunch of non-Japanese-speaking people like us to enjoy this game.
Really, thank you.
@ “winding down” comments
now THAT’s what I’ve been waiting to hear. jeesh. Now I can stop worrying for mato’s health. 80
80 wins, that is. not 08
Mato, if you’ve really been going without sleep on numerous occasions, then I think that many of us would agree that you should take a break. Not only for the emotional stress caused, I belive that not sleeping for extended periods can also increase the risk of heart disease by weakening the immune system. Not only that, but people tend to pay less attention to small details when losing sleep (I know I do), and that could cause both the translation and your real job to suffer.
So for the sake of you and everyone reading trhis board, get some sleep man!!
Is there a way to donate coffee for those sleepless nights?
Heh, I appreciate the concerns, but it’s fine, don’t worry about it. This isn’t anything new at all, I’ve been doing this since the project started, and even before that. That’s why I can’t wait for the project to be done though, if it hasn’t been obvious enough for a while π
I think I’d rather donate a plush, comfy bed instead of coffee. Maybe a trip to a spa or something on top.
I wonder if the professional translators who get paid to do this run into hacking problems like this. Like, do they have better tools available to fix problems like this, or do you guys have the same amount of resources? I wonder if there’s a hacking process like this for all translations, official or unofficial.
KingErikClusters, usually no because official translation team have access to the source code.
Hey Mato, When the FTP is finished, and there is NO flash carts left to buy, can we still play on the computer? without having to buy a flash cart.
King,
The difference between Mato and crew and the actual paid developers, the paid guys get the source code…having that makes it TONS easier to do whatever you want! It is still a bit difficult Im sure, but not nearly as tough as basically starting from almost scratch!
You’ve made sooo much progress
So Please baup your work every update!!!
Sorry I meant *Backup*
Actually, not sleeping at all can have more serious repercussions. After a certain point, you’ll start to go crazy :-/
Mice that are forced to stay awake for something like a month will die, even if they are otherwise healthy (i.e. they die from lack of sleep itself). Of course, at that point, they’re forcing them to stay awake, so it’s not like you could stay up that long even if you wanted to, but it is believed that humans would also die if they stayed awake for too long…
In other words, please rest if you can π
Forcing people to stay awake was torture in the middle ages.
Right up there with Japanese water torture.
Those crazy Japanese.
So…how exactly did Jeff manage to make draft 2 fit within the ROM? Forgive my lack of faith, but I just need a little more explanation here Mato. You know me: I need to know what’s going on in the hacking side of things.
He already explained it up above.
For one, the text for something (I believe the hot springs) was repeated a whole bunch, and he removed the excess instances of it.
Assuming it was the hot springs, it was like this.
On every single map with a hot spring, all the lines for every other hot spring was there. That was hardly necessary; it’s a bunch of repeated text.
So he removed all but one instance of each piece of text, and made sure that any references pointing to the now null copies of that text pointed to the copies in use.
Whoops, I went to go answer a technical question, and I’m wrong so often . . .
Well, only time will tell if I’m right.
wow so happy DEMI is helping. ToMato, I applaud your Tenacity. You’re dedication to this project, using your time for the benefit of bringing joy to others is applauded by admirers the world over!!
Sincerely, PT
I canΒ΄t find the post anymore, but whoever answered me that question about the battle themes, thanks a lot π .
In other matters, iΒ΄m so amazed that the project is progressing as fast, if not faster, than an official translation project. Mato, Demi, Jeffman and all the people working in this project must be really proud that this translation project is going to make lots of people happy, and give more people the chance to play this masterpiece and fall in love with the series.
Keep going Mato, Jeffman, Demi and all of you. WeΒ΄re all rooting π
You know who we haven’t heard from in a while? ok, that guy who was always going on about Mato being addicted to methamphetamines. He was always my favorite commenter.
Anyway, hell Mato, you know how much we appreciate this. We’re all behind you. Just…Don’t die of lack of sleep or something.
Wow, sounds like you’re on track to finish the patch by the end of the year! Keep up the good work, all of us really appreciate the time you’ve put into this.
Whenever you get tired, just think about how great the celebrations will be once this whole project is done. π
Dear God, it took me such a long time to realize what squeekret was supposed to mean!
I suddenly feel of failure. XD Yet, now that I get the joke, I think it is ingenious.
Mato backs up constantly. But maybe he should add calling his father to the list of backups.
“Mato? It’s your dad.
Well, lines to get to the next draft,
Mato…535.
Anyway, what did you need from me?”
> Record.
“All done.
Your dear old dad was thinking about hitting the hay for the night.
I have created a record of your translation to this point.
Good night, sleep tight.”
> Continue
“Mato, you like to work hard, just like your mother.
But, I don’t think it’s good to work too hard.
(Click! Beep-beep-beep…)”
Exp to get to the next level,
Mato…9000
No, that XP would have to be at least 9001…
*runs away*
Typhin….
excellent post
go back to 4chan!^
Blargablargoud finally finished this week’s work, did so much it doesn’t seem humanly possible. But now I’ll have the weekend free to finish Draft 2 hopefully. Well, I won’t really call Draft 2 done until I also do my context checks, but you know what I mean π
ΞMato used PK Translatin’ Ξ© on MOTHER 3!
ΞSMAAAAAASH!!!
Ξ84549 pts. of damage to MOTHER 3!
ΞThe FTP for Mother 3 was even more completed and Reggie threw a
Ξtantrum, knowing that now he’d
Ξhave to listen to the less mainstream gamers and rerelease the Mother games on VC!
ΞYOU WON!
ΞMato and his friends recieved 28,532 exp.
Even though I know it’s not the end of the project obviously, I’m still pretty stoked that draft 2 is almost done. I can’t believe how much hard work you guys are putting into this thing.
How much leeway did NoA take between Mother2 and Earthbound? One of the best parts of EB was the localization, so I hope you keep that in mind for draft 3.
You’re talking to the guy who’s crazy and has had a site for comparing M2 and EB for almost 10 years now π
7% left. Almost there! well, im mexican & i fell a great love about mother series since i have played.
If you will make the game in different languages, is gonna be great, for DS too if NOA (nintendo america) distribuite it & make a game titled MOTHER Trilogy! I will play it in spanish or english.
HAHAHA
Good luck. Viva Mother series!
Mato, when did this project start? I haven’t followed the progress of this site and all you guy’s (and gal’s…?) hard work since day 1, but everything seems to be going along at an increasingly rapid pace π
And also, that is real dedication to the fans, working without sleep for no material reward. I admire you lot. Keep up all the excellent work!
Is the third translation going to be compared with this one while it’s being worked on, or will they be brought together once both are done?
^???
Oh, wait, I get what you mean.
Demi is not re-translating the Japanese text. He is revising Mato’s translation to make sure it all sounds nice.
So there is no comparing separate translations or anything like that.
Toad King is asking if the third draft will be translated while comparing it to the second draft or if they will completely translate the script again for the third draft.
I’m guessing the third draft will consist of comparing Tomato’s second draft to the original script…but Tomato said that he will explain the third draft when the time comes…so just wait until he explains I guess.
I’m thinking that with “misc hacking” and “testing” you’ll be able to call upon all the many people who were briefly involved in the overall effort. Let me know if you want me for any of that anyway.
Dude, you don’t need to ask, just check out the project stuff and at some point when bugs are finally fixed it’d be great if you could try it out on your PSP emu, I’m sure many people will be playing it on there π
Alex: The project as you see it now began in late June/early July 2007. Stuff happened before that of course, but it wasn’t really this project. If you want a more detailed history of the earlier stuff, see here.
Here’s a comic strip I did between being tired from work and being bored and hot. Or something. Who are you people?!
http://i38.tinypic.com/2ep4l8w.png
Mitch: That somehow reminds me of Poo’s training by the end, where he gets his arms and mind and whatever else ripped off…
I just hope Mato knows that when you start hallucinating like that, it means you REALLY need some sleep π
Oh, and bubble gum monkey: it should be obvious, but PK Translatin’ Ξ© would do _7658 lines_ of damage to the script π
A fan: Here’s my version:
You confront MOTHER3!
Mato used PK Hack Ξ©!
MOTHER3’s Region Lock shield disappeared!
Mato used PK Translatin’ Ξ©!
MOTHER3 took 7657 damage!
MOTHER3 called for help!
Block 0 joined the battle!
WHO WILL WIN?
I love you γγγ
mitch, that is your best comic yet. You should work for a newspaper or something, I swear :O
Hey Mato, quite a bit off topic, but with the amazing amount of work you’ve poured into this hack, you deserve a break and should go off to see The Dark Knight. I just got back and HOLY CRAP it was definitely worth the hype.
Did you not read the huge “PLEASE NOTE!” image right above where I am typing this?
I’ve beaten this game twice now, and it still won’t be the same as playing it in English. It’ll be like a whole new game. And an official localization would rip the whole game apart. Lighter, for instance. “Dammit!” would become “Oh, the searing pain!”
…Wait, what? Let me try that again.
If an official translation were being made, I’d vomit, cringe in pain for hours, then buy it.
…I’m not making any sense because its five a.m. and I’m bored.
mato.. use methamphetamine.. why do this to yourself
so much sacrifice
to produce hack of mother..
why???? take it easy my friend..
we still respecting you
Mato, if I’m correct, you aren’t working on draft 3, right? Someone else is. During that time, are you working on the hacks?
I think he’s going to go over all of that in detail soon sandman. But along the same lines, i really hope Demi’s schedule proves to be accommodating.
*starts to dance*
Thanks Mato, I (for some reason…:-() forgot to search the site for more info. Anyway thanks for the response…can’t believe how fast everything has progressed! π
You guys make me proud to be a translation enthusiast :3
ok is back.
My prayers are answered.
Finally finished all the ghost/castle text. Pretty much just leaves the last 2 hours of the game and random lines here and there.
WOOHOOO!
OMGASDJKLFS!!!! GO AMTO!
IT’S OVER 95%!!!!!!
That, Mato, is an A+. Not only do you make fans happy, but your parents will take you on a trip to Six Flags. (Or Veggie Land, or wherever tomatoes go for fun)
tomatoes are fruit
however, you will never find tomatoes in a fruit salad π
Everytime I make a salad at my work that requires dicing tomatoes, I get emotional. T_T
Don’t say that. I’ll feel bad when I have a BLT for dinner tonight π
I hope the rest of the text goes down quickly, so that Mato can finally get some well-deserved rest and we can all play this thing π
@MATO
“That pretty much just leaves the last 2 hours of the game”
Is that stuff really text heavy?
Because games tend to wrap up a bunch of stuff near the end.
That’s all for now. I’ll probably go up to 96% late tonight before bed, and I’ll try to finish the rest all tomorrow.
Wow! Way to go Tomato. You rule! \m/
Amazing job! Keep it up, team!
Hey, I heard on the news you don’t have salmonella after all, Mato! I knew you weren’t poisoning us!
Just gotta watch out for those jalapeΓ±o peppers, now.
Finishing Draft 2 Tomorrow I’m impressed!
Now do you feel like translating Mother 1+2?
I hope Demi’s ready!
Progress is just non-stop with this project. Incredible work.
Hey, what is your plan for the Beta? Are you going to give it out to only people you know, have sign ups, just test it a bunch internally, make it open?
Read the FAQ. It’s 100% internal.
This is awesome. I have only recently fallen in love with the Mother/EarthBound series. I’ve taking EB0 for a spin and I like it. Now I’ll be able to try out M3, too. Thanks!
I finally got a Sword of Kings today. Just thought I’d let you guys know.
Now for the Gutsy Bat…
I’m sorry. Remind me why anyone would want to translate a musical disaster like MOTHER 1+2? The point of this translation is to make it possible for the MOTHER 3 to be played by English speakers.
EarthBound and Earth Bound Zero already exist. There’s no reason to translate a cacophony like their poor-quality GBA ports.
Good job Mato.
Dr
wow, amazing work Mato. I remember back when the projects were split and progress was minimal, you’ve progressed so far. I cannot wait until this is finished.
also, I agree with DrΓΌ, a translation of Mother 1+2 would just be unnecessary. The GBA ports are nothing compared to their original Famicom/SNES counterparts…
JeffMan: What about these guys? http://www.romhacking.net/trans/868/
They *claim* they need only a translator. I don’t know how accurate that claim is. Of course, I remember how easily harmony7 hacked some things like the sprite text, so if he thinks it’s nearly undoable… π
What was done there was Hacking 101 stuff. By now you know doing the real stuff is a lot more difficult. Not to mention the hacker there passed away a year ago π
I thought Mother 1+2 were basically the english prototype of Earthbound 0 and Earthbound translated BACK into Japanese. Why Nintendo Of Japan did this, I don’t know.
I heard in the original Mother 2, Ness walked around nude in Magicant but I don’t know if that was true. (I do know that when Pokey and Picky get in trouble for being out too late at the start of the game in Mother 2 their father can be heard spanking them , and in Earthbound it sounds like he simply yells at them. I guess NOA somehow thought spanking was bad even though it is common in the USA). I have seen the part of Mother 1 where the enemy crows smoke.
I am kind of glad to see Mother 3 isn’t going to be censored to appease our ESRB overloards. I just hope Mato is as quirky as the translators were. Earthbound 0 wasn’t all that funny, but boy was Earthbound. Maybe being tired helps mato achive maximum quirkyness? That would explain a lot. Of course here is one way to program better:
http://xkcd.com/323/
I consider this an appropriate explanation for Windows ME, but Microsoft Bob would require either pot or more likely LSD to explain.
Ness is not naked, but an NPC is. I think.
Ness is naked in Mother 2.
Sleep now. Next up immediately is some tough stuff, I didn’t realize how tough and wordy some of this stuff at the very end would be. After that is my favorite dungeon in the game and then just some other neat stuff. Then scrolly text text and other misc Block 0 text. I *hope* I can finish it all today (Sunday), but even if I can’t, I can probably sneak some Monday time in.
mato: 99%, guys!
*nintendo announces mother complation on ds
mato: crap!
*everyone cries
Wordy? It’s a Mother game for Pete’s sake. Of course it’s wordy!
But, please, get in your hours of sleep and get ready to finish this big mofo!
Are you the same Mato who made that RPGMaker game for starmen.net? I remember the hero being called Tomato or Mato something like that and if so that is REALLY odd that I’ve come across your path once again on separate occurrences.
Not only did I play and beat the game you made for the community of starmen.net, but it led me into the RPGMaker world where I have yet to finish an RPG for five years.
If it is the same Mato, I don’t know what else to say other than “wow, that’s crazy”, but if it isn’t then my apologizes.
Man, I remember seeing this back when you guys first started, and being all like “Man, that’s gonna take forever.” And now, to see it very near completion, well, let’s just say I need a new pair of boxers, I’m so happy. Keep up the good work, get some bloody sleep, and hopefully you guys can crank this one out by the end of the year.
Less than a month later ninten power says they were ust joking
Mato, I thank you. Another step closer towards the end, and it’s so close now I can taste it. And it tastes of tomato π
What is up with nintendos obsession with neogeo.
you should see what get priority over Earthbound
Duuude, you’re really pushing it lately, eh? You must love doing this, or something. I’d say take a day off, but if you want to finish it all today, good luck. After you’re done draft 2, you have plenty of time to rest.
The latest issue of nintendo power is out and they were joking about Mother3 being part of it, just joking. No seriously. Go Mato before Nintendo announces and Nintendo Power informs everyone. Go squishy red dude, go.
Not that this is belonging here but I lack access to starmen.net forums.
Frank West: I’ve never worked on any RPG Maker stuff, but I *am* Tomato from starmen.net. You’ve probably encountered my name in other ways there though and just associate it with that game for some reason.
GO! We’re all for this! We have waited so long to finally see this game in English! Once Draft 2 and 3 are complete, that’s about everything that you have left (according to the to-do list). Go!
*starts getting watery eyes*
Nice Mato, keep up the good work.
U da Man Mato…….
Mato are you gonna play the patch when it’s done? I remember you saying that you’ve actually never played Star Ocean, or some other games you’ve been involved in. Does translating the games put you off from them?
today might be the day (for draft 2)! Go, go, go!!!
Mato… words cant describe my appreciation! I never thought this translation would be done and now its coming to a close! Drink some coffee or tea and rejoice with its knowledge.
Ran into some really important and really wordy lines back there, spent like half an hour on some individual ones each, ick. Getting very close to the end of the stuff though. Now on Map 839-ish right now. Last map is 899.
good job mato!
Hurray for more progress! I’m rooting for you Mato! Here’s hoping you get your goal of finishing Draft 2 today! -Though by no means will I be disappointed or sad if you can’t =)
Almost done! Just do it!
Mato you’re amazing <3
I can’t post my comment!
MAN OH MAN OH MAN.
Seeing that percentage in the upper nineties makes me really excited.
2.9 to go…
keeep on truckin man! great work Im so excited to play this game in english, the japanese version is starting to drive me nuts lol π
When the time comes for the translation to be released, will you guys make some sort of trailer? I’m just asking because I thought it would be cool for the original Mother 3 trailer from 1101.com to be re-made in English.
I don’t have anything productive to say, but I felt like I had to post because I’m so excited! These mini-updates are really great, and I find myself checking this site more than any other site nowadays. Good job, thank you, you’re awesome, Mato!!
So Mato, you’re probably never going to want to translate anything ever again after this, but uh… *cough* Giftpia…
“Frank West: Iβve never worked on any RPG Maker stuff, but I *am* Tomato from starmen.net. Youβve probably encountered my name in other ways there though and just associate it with that game for some reason.”
Why do you put * * around am? Someone else can answer this for mato if it’s some internet thing i don’t know about.
Poo: The ** denotes emphasis.
Poo: It’s a way to show emphasis. Tomato put stars around “am” because he wanted that word to stand out. It’s the same as putting words in bold or all capitalized.
All of us hanging around here while Mato blazes through the last few lines reminds me of a drinking contest where everyone is yelling at the guy to chug.
Chug! Chug! Chug!
Oh em gee. The light at the end of the tunnel is like 1.97% away. Don’t forget to equip sunglasses.
wow. just wow.
go Mato go :p
π
You’re winner!
A winner is you!
You guys are awesome :]
98%
It makes me so happy =)
Good job Mato
You’re kidding me. You can’t possibly be getting that much done in one day! @_@
Oh wow, 1.97%! Don’t give up now, Mato! :p
This is so exciting. I’m on the edge of my seat! will Draft 2 get done today?
Please take a picture at 99.99%
Awesome! Way to go!
*chirp chirp*
Mato, you know what would be funny? Take a video of you doing the last line of Draft 2 and then posting it here so we can all celebrate in your glory! π
It’s one more step closer to playing Mother 3 in English. We’re all supporting you!
Or can you at least post a picture of the Draft 2 at the final line and then post it at 100%?
The only bad thing is it may be Spoiler-ish.
I have faith that you can finish today Mato!
I imagine that when it reaches the point of having one line left, Mato’s not going to want to stop and post a snapshot, and will just do the last line and sigh a great sigh of relief. That’s what I’d do, I mean. π
Well, unless there’s another chirp chirp in there somewhere.
The long road is finally coming to its destination…you are my hero, Mato.
ZOOM! I are nothing! You are power! Zoom!
Holy Poo! (pun intended) .99 left!
Now comes block 0, right?
It’s coming up, I still have maybe 50-ish lines before that though.
What is Block 0 anyway?
see here
So like, if draft 2 was a game, block 0 would be the final boss battle?
If this project was EarthBound, we’re just about to beat Ness’ Nightmare.
Woo! Battle on mighty warrior!
ah man i cant stand 3 months why god why PLEASE DONT HAVE TO DO DRAFT 4!!!!!!!!!!!
Ahh! Thank you. so around 20 lines cause those glitches?
nerdyness: I hope you like Draft 9, just because you asked π
well sorry i sounded so impatient but still everyone else probaly is getting restless not tryin to get mad but nevermind
OH CRAP NO GOD NO PLEASE NO I TAKE IT BACK I TAKE IT BAAACKKK
NO PLEASE NO I TAKE IT BACK PLEASE THE FANS WILL KILL ME OR YOU HOPEFULLY NOT ME!!
Will Demi be giving us prog reports on Draft 3’s progress?
I’ve never seen him post here so i’m thinking no? π
Well I doubt that the later drafts wouldn’t be that hard. Since it’s probably wouldn’t be much other than spelling and Useage errors
I’ve waited since 06 to play the game, another won’t kill me. Mato and the others, I really appreciate all the work you’ve put into this, and seriously cannot wait to play it π
woot almost done Draft 2 ^^ keep up the good work guys and take a coffee brake by the hot spring every once in a while.
Wohoo! Only a few hours and a BIG part of the project will be completed!
@VGK
I’m sure Mato will update us on draft 3.
He’d never be that cruel (or so we think :D)
Tomato… please keep your mind as intact as possible for this last bit of the project… please don’t go all psychotic and murderous at the very end… please?
Dear GOD! It’s like counting down the last minutes to new year and everyones going crazy!
Mato you should take a break. Now >:O.
It’s like you’ve been working non-stop all day today :P.
Finished all of the maps. Now to go back and do 40 or so lines in Block 0. Some of them will be tough and wordy. I also anticipate there’ll be another chirp-chirp incident. I won’t be working on this anymore for the next few hours, probably will get a bunch done before bed. Probably will update tomorrow.
Sweet! Later.
So you will realize how to teleport by running in a circle after this, yes?
Joking aside, though, holy dang. Almost there. I feel so useless just sitting on my rear while you’re hammering away at it! Keep going, Mato!
I have a small question about the program that is tracking the Draft 2 progress: how does it tell if a line is completed or not? I’m just curious.
Awww… updating tomorrow when you’re so close? π
Edit (to my post above)
Dont want to overwork you. But I just read this post today and was scrolling down through the comments and I was like…
96%!
… 97%!
… 98%!
99%!!!!!
…. UPDATING TOMORROW!!!?!
Just a bit of a let down when seeing the countdown π … Please, make the post when you feel you should. I hate feeling like I might be guilting you into making the post now in any way (peer pressure or something weird like that?)
Wow! We’re so close i can almost taste it!
Only Block 0 to go! Another Update’s coming! I would think that the project % is in the 90’s by now.
GO MATO! GO JEFFMAN! GO MOTHER 3 TEAM!
And Mato….GET SOME SLEEP!
whoa you almost got up to 100%. I want to thank you for doing this and I cannot wait until I will be able to play this on my wii because I already got earthbound zero and earthbound on my wii and I cannot wait to get mother 3 on my wii too thank you for doing this fan translation thank you and i cannot wait to play mother 3 in english
42 lines left? Heheh. Figures.
I don’t get what you mean by “chirp chirp.”
Are you referring to that bird that caused all sorts of glitches because of how much it said?
Woah, I just checked a few hours ago, and it was at 95%. I check it now, and see 99.45% and go “WOWZERS” just like Inspector Gadget.
YIPEEEEEEE
While still working on draft 1, matoo made a program that showed how much he had translated. He found he was at 99.9% And spent hours trying to find the untranslated line. It ended up to be “*chirp chirp*”.
Chirp Chirp was when Draft 1 was done, I believe, when it came up as 99.99% done, meaning he missed ONE line. It was a bird, and all it said was. ‘Chirp, Chirp.’
At least, that’s what I remember.
Heh, and 42. That’s it! That’s the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything! =P Dang, now I want to go back and read those books again.
Mato is probably referring to when the first draft was finished. Mato thought that every line was 100% finished, but the stats window showed that the draft was at 99.99%. The missing line: “Chirp chirp chirp.”
More info here:
http://mother3.fobby.net/2007/08/31/interview-stuff-hacking-woes/
Holy crudclay! Mato’s finally getting finished with Draft 2!
YAHOO!
Ye-Ay Mato, u rock my socks off!!!!!!!!!!
(continuation)
Block 0 used evil text!
Mato took 250 damage!
Mato called for help!
Jeffman joined the battle!
Jeffman used PK Hack Ξ©!
Block 0 took over 9000 damage and was defeated!
Mato used PK Translatin’ Ξ©!
MOTHER3 took 76 damage and was defeated!
YOU WON!
omg ima wait here until its over..i know you to cannot sleep with that 0.nothing % left ^_^
gratz gl good work…you rulez
just bought trism
Even if it’s not done by now
This
It feels so nice
To have found out about this 2 months ago, and now, it’s nearly done.
I don’t think I’ll add in the kutgw, more like, finish the good work. It feels like a marathon doesn’t it? And you can see the finish line– But you feel out of breath and sick of walking… In comparision…
Oh well. At least you get a well deserved break, and demi does the other half.
I have a theory that when draft 2 is done mato will go into hibernation
Ouch! I just had eye surgery recently, but even though it hurts to look at the computer, I just had to check on your status mato. I cannot believe how talented you are. I just hope the last part isn’t hard, you said this was like the Nightmare boss in Earthbound, well that was one of the few bosses I struggled to beat (the first time he beat me, the second time around I kicked his butt, heck my flying man didn’t die the second time).
I wonder what the last word you translate will be.
So there’s the 3rd draft and the final script checks, some of the misc. hacking and testing? How long do you think that “testing” will take, if I may ask?
Alright, I’m back. I’m pretty tired so I probably won’t do all 42 lines before I hit the hay, it doesn’t help that the really time-consuming stuff is the stuff I gotta do right off the bat.
I haven’t read any comments yet, but if people are asking about details about future things, I’m going to explain stuff later on, probably in the next update. The “and then?! and then?!” type of questions gets tiring quickly, especially lately π
Just don’t let the damn birds chirp at you this time π
42 lines? thats not that much, really
Woah, great work.
I… have nothing else to say. π
Whew, I thought you were actually going to finish tonight! @_@
Good job getting a lot done though. =D
Mato, your statement on the ‘And then?’ questions made me think of this (and I *JUST* had to share):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZbYZ_NDoE8
And theeeeeeeeeeeen?
Okay, did the easier lines of the ones left. So now the only ones left are the wordy, long ones that I don’t feel like working on this late at night/early in the morning. Some of them are so wordy that they break the text editor program and we have to store the text in external “include” files, if that’s any indicator π
But I’d rather sleep now than do those lines all drowsy-filled so I’ll do them in the morning. Later in the morning, I should say :X
Godspeed Mr. Tomato; godspeed.
*salute*
Hmmmm that’s odd. It was quite some time ago so maybe my memory isn’t as good, but anyway, keep up the fantastic work and I am definitely keeping an eye/ear open for the completion!
Get some sleep Mato. I’m sure the wordy text will be a piece of cake come tomorrow/later today π
Sooo Cloooose!!!
http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/jj107/hadoken_zero/lucasenglish.jpg
Hey Mato:
I found that picture of the mouse curious; how was that line, with the “squeekret” pun, rendered in Japanese?
Whoops.
I should search more before I post.
Whew! 20 Lines! I’m in shock!
Hey lavkian, he mentioned before that the mouse said “chu” alot in it’s speech, similar to say how moogles say “kupo.” It was probably a pun in the speech, that he rendered that way to stay true to the original intent of the japanese.
I was gone but I’m glad I’m back before 100% π
Wow, the project is getting really close to completion! Only ~%10 left! Great job guys!
You know that feeling? The feeling you got when you played through EarthBound for the very first time on a breezy summer day? The feeling you got when catching a whiff of those awesome scratch-and-sniff’s because the player’s guide was sitting between your open window and your SNES-playing, Onett-wandering self?
Yeah, I just got that feeling again. And to think, all I had to do was cycle through the countless blog updates here while looking at the many screenshots of Mother 3 and realizing just how far Mato-san has come.
guess what Mato you have the website listed for squeekret
Almost done, I’m excited, after draft 3 and some testing, Mother 3 will be fully translated.
By the way, I just thought of something. If Nintendo smokes some pot and announces Mother 3 in english, will the project be pulled if you are under testing?
How could a company smoke pot? And yes he would pull the project like is said all over the website.
I think it’s supossed to be a Metaphor for “Being INSANE” but yeah, what Vagn says is true.
Nintendo will never released a translation of Mother 3. There’s no cash to do with a GBA cartridge…
One more fourth of a percent! Yay!
If this were an adam sandler movie, rob schneider would be saying “You can do it!” right about now.
Holy mother of pearl, only .26% left on the second draft…
GO MATO!!!!!
KICK SOME~right, I shouldn’t cuss here, I hope draft 3 goes fast
2nd draft is somewhere between done and “ok now let’s check that context stuff and the like…alright NOW it’s done.”
Oh man oh man…I haven’t checked up on the progress since last night but it seems to have shot up!!!
When you update [Mato] with a blog stating “100%”, then there’s no combination of words that will express how I feel. On the other hand, there are no combination of words to express how I feel about the whole project, as this is truly exciting!
I think I’ll have a brawl on Smash Bros. as Lucas to celebrate (pun intended XD).
What would happen if Nintendo – and this is a VERY VERY long shot – asked you (everyone involved in the fan translation) to use your patch as the official M3 translation?
I’ve been wondering that for a while – don’t know why π
If you’ve been wondering that for a while, I guess you don’t read the comments too often.
Putting aside the various legal reasons why they couldn’t (much in the same vein of why video game companies can’t use ideas for video games that fans send them), they’d probably want their own translation. Which would go dramatically faster then this did, since they have the original source code to mess around with, and a team that would be paid to work on it as their actual job.
Looking forward to seeing that 100%, Mato. Keep up the good work.
lol i always had this tingling in the back of my neck saying “What if itoi and nintendo are waiting for this patch to finish” and then a week before fan patch release nintendo announces a official release for u.s….it would be a terrible joke! lol
“Nintendo will never released a translation of Mother 3. Thereβs no cash to do with a GBA cartridge⦔
Actually, as an employee at a game store, gba games sell like hot cakes for one reason and one reason only.
Parents are cheap. The Ds isnt as cheap as they are (yet). Gba’s and games/accessories are…or so they THINK until they realize that the only games their kids want (pokemon/mario/power rangers) are the games that are upmarked to $25-35 (so, really, they save hardly any money at all).
I STILL see circuit city and Best Buy selling NEW gba games all the time (for FULL PRICE too).
Tons of people are STILL peeved and confused when i tell them they cant find ORIGINAL gameboy games for sale in stores.
And if it came down to distribution, I’m sure that Nintendo still has at least ONE factory still capable of producing a few thousand gba carts (if not, “borrow” a factory from some of the black market flash cart companies they shut down everyday).
All I’m saying is, it’s not like the market isn’t there.
Nintendo’s just a bunch of stupid. That’s all.
I don’t think they would, because as Anthony said above, there isn’t any money to be made by releasing GBA cartridges anymore. I don’t think any company has released a game for the GBA in like 3 months.
What I think is more feasible is that Nintendo might release some sort of compilation for some future handheld with a translation if they ever release it at all in the states.
OK, finished first scrolly line. There are like 10 of them. I tried it in game and it looks nice (though it could be formatted better, but the editor won’t allow it) AND the sprite blinking thing is indeed gone, thanks to Jeffman’s hack last week. Pretty exciting to see that first scrolly line working that well.
Still a few more to go.
All Nintendo would have to do to make a quick bundle.
Let Atlus Publish it.
Not only would they probably actually do it, BUT, there’s enough freaky atlus collector’s out there that think EVERYTHING ATLUS IS GONNA BE A COLLECTOR’S ITEM, this game would sell out consistently.
Sooo, thatd be like freaky Atlus fans mixed with our own buying this game, ie, A LOT OF MONEY FOR NINTENDO.
Not sure why I’m saying all this tho considering I’d really hate it if Nintendo had handled this themselves anyway…*shrugs*
^ We’d just have trouble buying it, as Reggie would be outside all the gamestores ready to smash us in the face with a baseball bat and destroy the cartridge so he can suck up the delicious tears of a Mother fan.
soo close for Draft 2 to be finished. next thing ya know draft 3 will be finished and everyone around the world will be playing the fan translation of mother 3.
hooray for mato.
Actually, only people who speak english would, but then people around the world because they’ve got most trans heads picked I think…
evansucks, if you look around this site Mato already explained why Mother 3 wont get a US release.
As for Atlus most of their game sales are not that great outside of Disagea and SMTs.
Tomato after this thing is done you should let us pool money together to buy you a golden throne.
High Cost of Localization + Poor Sales Prospects + Dead System = No official Mother 3 translation.
It is as simple as that. Why would Nintendo spend money to localize a game with a limited market when they had a brand new console on the way? Not to mention Zelda to worry about? Coupled with the DS… Nintendo make the right choice (from a business perspective) IMO.
Here, I’ll translate the last few lines for you:
*CHIRP CHIRP CHIRP CHIRP BURP CHIRP CHIRP*
<3 we still need a chirp chirp shirt :3
I second a golden throne and throw in a purple carpet.
99% *drools*
i feel like a lolrus nearing the end of the search for his bukkit.
These scrolly lines take so long to do. Right now at 99.8% with 15 lines left. I’d say about 6 or 7 are scrolly lines.
I LOVE YOU MATO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Fif…fifteen lines left?
Thanksgiving this year will be a riot:
“And I want to give thanks for everything, especially Mother 3 and Mato”
-My family proceeds to WTF in unison-
Please do us a favor: Even if Nintendo happens to announce a Mother 3 release for the U.S., DO NOT DELETE YOUR WORK! STORE IT AWAY SOMEWHERE SAFE! I would not put it past Reggie Fils-Aime to announce the game and then pull the plug on it, just to be evil to us fans.
π
ok, the home stretch! keep going! finish draft 2 and send it off to demi!
If this were rocky 2, you would be moments away from beating appollo creed.
I LOVE YOU!
Nice! After this it’s all easily downhill. Besides the Block 0 text, of course.
http://i36.tinypic.com/24dj6gy.png
How’s this for a Chirp Chirp shirt? Too subtle?
Also, if you don’t like that, let’s try this one:
http://i35.tinypic.com/2s0zlts.png
Mato what about including yourself in the staff credits?
sad: I hate to answer for mato but I beleive he said that he would not be adding names to the staff credits
They should name a fruit after you mato
Anybody want to take bets on the time of day that mato finishes? i say 6:30 pm (central time)
great.
Mato what are you going to do after you translate this? Perhaps translate the phantasy star portable for psp to english??? Just kidding hehe. Great Job im seeing here cant wait to play this game already!
I probably won’t finish until really really late tonight, and then I gotta write up the big huge update. The three days after that are super hard work days (thanks to today :P) so man I’m booked again all week. Can’t wait until this thing is ovaaaah
i think Mato should translate some of beers into pee on some island resort for a while after this.
Will draft 3 start tomorrow morning then?
You should get the other translators in gear while you do your paying job.
Also congratulations on almost finishing the second draft.
FYI for Mato,
I don’t know if you noticed or actually had something to do with this, but the Wikipedia entry for Mother 3 has been edited to remove any reference to the translation project. It must have been done recently as it was there when I looked at it about a week ago. Just though you might want to know.
gljoaiu @ all the “and then?!” stuff. I’ll explain it all soon.
DIGI01: That’s fine, it doesn’t really matter much. It was only added recently anyway. Wikipedia is pretty lame anyway.
Bill I beleive mato said that he will play through it once
15 lines whoo!
I added a link on Wikipedia to the translation project. Some jack ass (sorry) because it wasn’t relevant. Even though people interested in the game would clearly be interested in this. Whatever though. I’m gonna go change it again haha.
I mean to say some jack ass removed it.
It was reggie
At the wikipedia people:
It’s okay, there’s a list of sprite translation projects, popular that are completed and not, the mother 3 project and a link to mother3.fobby.net are included. Please don’t have a sparring match over who really deleted that link, wikipedia moderators are ruthless and cruel.
Very slow going with these last lines, some take an hour each. So close.
Nice !!! Thx a lot Mato !!! I hope someday you will join us … and the world will be as one!!!
So close, yet so very, very VEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERY far!
You are awesome. Keep pressing on. We’re rooting for you!
Mato will you go to prom with me? Yes, No, Maybe (circle one)
11 lines to go, keep it up.
We’re all rooting for you at these final hours of draft 2 !
Ouch towards the translation time. Continued thanks for doing it though!
A very strong storm came out of nowhere, hail, constant thunder… It reminds me of those movies where someone’s working on a big experiment/project and just as it’s nearing completion the weather goes crazy.
I hope your house won’t be hit by lightning π
Just don’t mix in any CHEMICAL X!!
OH GOD
IT’S THE TOWER
RUN MATO RUN
@Doc:
If you look at the revision history, you can see that the person who removed it is called Trogga. However, while I’m not sure whether or not the translation is really relavent (for example, the Live-A-Live page mentions no translation except for under External Links), Trogga provided no valid reason for removing the paragraph, just simply “What translation?”
I don’t think that’s reasonable. You can fix up grammar and wiki links or add in small bits of content whenever you want (of course, content you add may be removed if not noteworthy enough), but you cannot delete a whole paragraph without explaining yourself.
Darn, just as I thought I was done making my posts too late…
Well sir, It’s no *SQUEAK*ret that you are amazing.
Mato: Set up a lightning rod, so you can have lightning strike while you run outside into the rain and shout “IT’S ALIVE!!!!!!!!!” when you finish that last line.
If I had Mitch’s artistic talent, I’d draw it π Alas, even my stick figures look pathetic compared to the professional ones in XKCD or Order of the Stick…
My back hair tingles with excitement! o:
2 things:
1.) Awesome work Mato, I hadn’t checked in for a few days because of soccer tournaments, and you’re clear up to 99.86%!!
2.) How come you anticipate three months of testing? Are you checking playthroughs on ever single major method of playing from start to finish? Or are you just giving a several month estimate to prevent people from saying “quit the testing and just release it!!” Not to sound rude, I’m just curious as to what your motive was.
Aw, guys, give it up. This is NEVER gonna be done. I mean, he’s only 99% done Draft 2. I mean, it’ll be YEARS before this is done, if they don’t give up first.
Anyway, can’t wait. π I’m happy you’re almost done with Draft 2, and I hope you are very relieved after this project is complete, and not to mention, happy with how it turns out.
Mato, I know you said you’re used to lack of sleep etc., but don’t overwork yourself. Everyone has their own life as well, and I’m sure everyone hear would agree that sometimes you need to rest and live your own life.
I’m excited about the final product, but don’t over work yourself. Sorry if this sounds idiotic or anything like that π
i posted this on the spillover board (which you should all read, yes?), but in case someone missed it…
http://i36.tinypic.com/sb3mko.png
DrΓΌ: I was referring to Tomato saying that people keep thinking that the percentage in the dialog box was the total project. By changing the text to insinuate that it is only the completion of the draft that it would cut out at least half of the people that think that it meant the total progress. The rest would be people that just don’t read carefully.
Such as… Percentage of Draft 2: ##%
Thanks so much for all of the hard work. Earthbound was one of my favorite games of all time and I’m happy this is being done.
I will definitely donate when the patch is released. Thank you for all of your hard work.
Translate, Tomato! Translate for everlasting peace!
Heh. Ironically, around the time Mato did his thing about the storm, I heard thunder outside, too…
Wow that’s amazing, .14%. My head might explode from the sheer excitement.
That’s quite a storm. Better save twice and back it up in case of a power outage. I hope it’s nothing too severe. Anyways, good work on Draft 2 π It’s so close, I can almost see the game in English…
Oh wait, that’s the screenshots on the right. π Great job! Keep it up!
I’m assuming it passed, as it was 3 hours ago.
I WISH it would rain in damn Phoenix. At all ever . . .
http://img167.imageshack.us/img167/6015/whatxe3.jpg
what the heck?
http://mother3.fobby.net/2008/07/16/second-draft-part-10/#comment-17150
HOLY CRAP.
Nice, but the usage of Microsoft Word is a bit too obvious, and I think the bitmap of one of the images, as well as the chat room that convinced you to do it, are still open.
It looks like I’ve come back from vacation at an exciting time!
Trav: Thanks to you, I now have “I Lost On Jeopardy” stuck in my head. ^_^;;
(*snips the lyrics to said song instead of posting them* Whew, that was close! You were almost a Jill Sandwich!)
I didn’t edit that, actually. Ctrl+F5 seems to have fixed whatever the problem was, anyway. I’m usually in a chat room and I don’t know why one would convince me to edit a screencap of the mother 3 translation blog. >_>
Dru: What are you talking about, it has been raining in phoenix. We are expecting another big storm due to the hurricane in Texas.
Gwaaaaaa finally finished this one line that was 15KB long. That’s more text than some entire NES games have π― In fact, it breaks the text editor program, even when storing the text in an external include file. It’s also one of the Block 0 things that needs to be hacked still, as it’s what caused that Moonsidey glitch in that one video I showed.
That text sucks. But the remaining few lines aren’t nearly as long. I’ll probably have it done in the next 2 hours, then I’ll have to write up the huge update. Coffee goes in the mouth now.
Whatever god you believe in (or something else if you don’t believe in one) bless you, and I hope you’re just as excited as the rest of us. π
Awesome work Mato! I tried to think of something witty to say…but I’m speechless,,,except for what I just said…that was kinda witty I guess…
OMG OMG OMG Mato is my HERO! Keep going man this is the HOME STRETCH! You can do it!! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
99.9%!-and I was just thinking of going to sleep!
Now I have to stay up to witness the glorious moment of awesomeness. =P
There you go Mato
I was a little taken aback when you initially said that some of the lines take as much as an hour apiece to translate. That seemed rather excessive, but you’re the translator, so I figured I wouldn’t question you.
But now, you say that the game includes a 15KB line? I’m confused. A single line of text on the screen is, what, a couple dozen characters, max? No more than that would physically fit on the screen, and that would take up only a few bytes, so you’re clearly talking about something else when you enumerate the MOTHER 3’s lines. What exactly is a “line” in this context?
i love you, mato.
A line can be one letter (like that “!”) or it can be pages and pages of text. A line does not equal a sentence, and it doesn’t equal every line with a bullet. I don’t know how to explain it, it’s just a logical grouping of text. It’s such a basic concept in programming/translating that I don’t know where to begin π
In EB terms, you might say that a “line” of text would be each time a text window appears through to the time the text window disappears. So some text is real short (“Meow.”) while some will be very long, like Buzz Buzz’s text.
What buttfrenzy said, except less gay sounding. Also, 99.9%!! Jesus Christ, so close.. I can’t wait until the Third Draft begins!
Wow, I just had to see how much text is 15KB and I almost felt like crying when I put it into notepad.
Luckily, no chirp-chirp problems this time. The last line will be pretty easy since it’s kind of a cut-and-paste dealy from a line I just did.
BTW I’m going to bed now. see you next week.
just kidding
Ah! The last of the last!
I’m glad my endless refreshing has allowed me to see you cross the finish line of Draft 2.
Let me offer you an e-dixie cup of virtual water as you finish this digital marathon…
‘Bout time.
It’s gonna take me much time to write up update-san though. What’s neat is that just as I checked the percentage the rock part of Giygas’ song started. Seemed fitting to the mood and the context.
F YEAH
Mato, I’ve been here for a while, watching everything progress, and I’ve gotta say man, this is awesome, and keep up the good work π
Congrats Mato, thanks to you guys I’ll soon finally get to finish a story I started 13 years ago.
Get some sleep
*insert high-pitched, shrill, girly scream here*
ONE…MORE…LINE! That drool I did hours ago is nothing compared to this. (And let my mute myself before I get headshotted again. Oop. I’ve already said too much.)
Let’s hope I can breathe the day we all see the update:
“Project Complete. Enjoy Mother 3.”
Bravo dude π
Sweetness
Of course, as soon as I post, Draft 2 is 100% done. Let’s take my above post and multiply it by 9001. Now someone film a video of me running away from the snipers who are after me. Actually, don’t.
You know, its funny. The day Draft 2 is completed, I FINALLY lost that tooth that JUST WOULDN’T COME OUT. Apparently, my loose tooth was the theoretical final boss of this draft, huh?
…
I may have attracted more snipers. I can now see Elites in the crowd of Spartans. I-Is that a laser? OH NOES!
…
This is what happens when I post past midnight.
brb, gonna get some celebratory sparkling cider
Seeing that 100% was such an awesome thing that it was practically cathartic. I bet it must have been significantly more awesome for you though Mato. Congratulations. =D
grats on 100% for draft 2!
Just curious, but what exactly was that last line? Unless its spoiler-y, in which case, it’d be better not to mention it here.
Yeah, it’s not something I’d want to talk about here, but part of the text is actually on the official Mother 3 shirt, which is neat, because the shirt is entirely in English text. They had a cool guy we know do the English text for it, so I used some of the same phrasing on the shirt.
Anyway, I’ll try to get an update in the next couple hours. After that it’s mega sleep time and then mega real life work time for 2 or 3 days.
Be sure to update the to-do list. But sleep first. In fact, I should take that advice too. ‘Night pplz.
Congratulations on finally finishing draft #2. For some bizarre reason, I’m reminded of a cereal prize I received in 1996, but I’m really drunk right now.
Hoopla!!!
I’m trying to write something, but I keep erasing what I typed down… I don’t know, I guess I’m just at a loss for words right now…
OMG! It’s all done! Good job, and congratulations Mato.
Oh…. My….
I love you so much Mato.
Wait, that didn’t sound right….
I’m so excited that I’m on the verge of spewing excrement all over myself.