***************************************** * The Novice Translation Document * * * * By: Crazy Child * * (crazychild457@usa.net * * http://www.vulcantrans.com * ***************************************** §***___Contents___***§ I. Introduction 1. Preface 2. Introduction 3. Disclaimer II. Tools 1. NO$GMB 2. Tile Layer 3. Naga 4. Hex Workshop 5. Serch Relative 6. Thingy/Thingy32 7. SNES Tool III. Translating 1. Select The ROM 2. Change The Font 3. Make A Table File 4. Changing The Text 5. Patching The ROM ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ §***___Introduction___***§ A. Preface I've finally found the time to write this, and I don't even know what to begin with! I guess I should start with the purpose, which is to teach all of those who want to ROM Hack or Translate how to. It is a very simple process, but requires a lot of time. Another reason is because all of the docs online are a pile of SH*T, except for a few. If you find and bugs or other things in this document, feel free to e-mail me at crazychild457@usa.net. I will also any SERIOUS questions about ROM Hacking. B. Intro. I will not go over anything other than basic steps on how to translate or hack a simple, uncompressed game. It will only work for gameboy, and if these methods don't work for you, expect a full refund. Since this document was free, you won't be getting much back, will you? C. Disclaimer 1) The author is not responsible for any illegal activities related with this document. 2) The author is not affiliated in any way with any programs or companies mentioned within this document 3) This document MAY be copied and transmitted electronically, so long as everything included is INTACT and NOT MODIFIED. 4) This document MAY NOT be distributed as a hard copy. This includes paper, books, or magazines. 5) This document MAY NOT be modified to another format, such as HTML or Adobe's Post Script, without prior written consent by the author. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ §***___Tools___***§ NOTE: All of the tools mentioned here may be obtained from the source site, or my website, which is listed at the top of the file. A. NO$GMB This is a very good gameboy emulator. It displays the HEX addresses for the alphabet that you will need to use in your table file. http://www.work.de/nocash/ B. Tile Layer This is, in my opinion, the best sprite editor available. A sprite is an image in the game. This handy tool has a clipboard available if you want to take a font from a different game and insert it into the game being translated. http://www.zophar.net/trans/transutils/tlay050b.zip C. Naga This is another good sprite editor, but it doesn't have a clipboard. http://www.zophar.net/trans/transutils/nagav18.zip D. Hex Workshop This program is a very good HEX editor. The HEX system is just like the decimal system, except it's base 16 and not base 10. You do not need this program for this tutorial, but it is a good program to have just in case. http://www.bpsoft.com/ E. Search Relative This program finds english text in a ROM and also gives you the correct HEX values of them. This requires Vesa2. If you need a driver, goto http://wwww.scitechsoft.com/ and download Scitech Display Doctor http://www.zophar.net/trans/transutils/searchr.zip F. Thingy/Thingy32 Thingy and Thingy32 are almost the exact same program, but Thingy 32 is better and for windows. In this tutorial, Thingy32 will be used, but the same functions apply in Thingy. http://members.aol.com/sabindude G. SNES Tool This is a great tool used to make patches of files, and patch files, for any system. It is so easy to use that if you can't figure out to use this, you are a fool and should be locked up! ;) http://taichu.dynip.com/snestool.exe ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ §***___Translation___***§ A. Selectin The ROM It is very vital to select the ROM you want to translate or hack. It's kinda pointless to do a hack without a ROM =). For this tutorial, I will use the Pokémon Blue JAP ROM, which you can obtain easily by searching. I have chosen this ROM because it is extremely easy. B. Change The Font Changing the font is quite simple. First, put the ROM and Tile Layer in the same foldier. Then, in MS-DOS prompt, get to the foldier, let's just say the foldier is: C:\Tlayer we would type: cd c: cd \tlayer then we would type: tlayer (Name of ROM) (optional name of second ROM). Press F1 4 times, or until the bottom thing that displays GB, NES, SNES, 1BPP, SMS, VB displays 1BPP. Scroll down until you see some funky writing. It looks to complex to be random. Click on it once you find the font. In our case of Pokemon, it will be at approximately the address of( the numbers above the weird picture looking thing, that change when you scroll up or down) 010780. Now, on the clipboard, the box on the top-right side of the screen, draw an english alphabet. If you don't want to do that, quit the game. use the thing we typed for tile layer and use an english rom's font. C. Make A Table File After you have finished replacing the font, it's time to make a table file. To this, boot up the game in NO$GMB. Play through until you can change your name. Check if you did it right. If not, go back on a clean ROM and start over. Take note of the first and last letters on the caps and lower case fonts. Then, press Esc. Press F5. Then, press TAB twice, or until you are taken to a screen divited into two columns. Boot up good old NOTEPAD. Now, move the mouse over each letter. In the bottom right, you will see Tile No (followed by a number and a letter, two numbers, or two letters) ADR 1:(a four digit number) Move your mouse over the A. You should get 80 next to tile number. Put that down in NOTEPAD! as: 80=A do that with every letter that you put in. After you have gone through with with all of the letters, capital and lowercase, do the numbers and other symbols. This is an example of the Table File that I did when I hacked Pokemon Blue. It will not be the same as yours because my letters and everything are placed a little weird. DD= 80=A 85=B 8A=C 8F=D 94=E 99=F 9D=G A2=H 81=I 86=J 8B=K 90=L 95=M 9A=N 9E=O A3=P 82=Q 87=R 8C=S 91=T 96=U 9B=V 9F=W A4=X 83=Y 88=Z 89=~ 93=! A9=# A7=$ 84=% BE=^ A1=& D9=* 98=( 9C=) C3== C8=+ D2=_ 97=[ A0=] AB={ A8=} CD=\ A5=| F3=/ 8E=? D7=. A6=" 8D=: 92=; D8=' B1=a B6=b BB=c C0=d C5=e CA=f CF=g D4=h B2=i B7=j BC=k C1=l C6=m CB=n D0=o D5=p B3=q B8=r BD=s C2=t C7=u CC=v D1=w D6=x B4=y B9=z B5=é BA='d CE='v DE='i BF='l C9='t DA='r DB='j DC='m C3='c C4='s E1=PK E2=MN E4=VU E3=LC AD=PL AE=AY AF=TM DF=Male E0=Female F6=0 F7=1 F8=2 F9=3 FA=4 FB=5 FC=6 FD=7 FE=8 FF=9 D. Changin The Text Changin the text is a very basic and simple. First boot up the game in NO$GMB. Play to a part where you find some text. For example, translate the very first thing, the "New Game" and "Options" to New Game and Options, from the gibberish. Copy down the first few letters in where there's supposed to be "New Game". Skip any spaces. so if it was: cikbj hjnsd, then copy down "cikbj". Be sure to note the CASE SENSITIVE LETTERS! Now that you have what you want to change, load thingy32, with your changed ROM and your table file. Press S. Then, type in what you wanted to search for. In our case, it would be "cikbj". it will bring you to the first position in the ROM with that letter/number combination. now, move the little cursor thing to the first letter that you want to change. Press space once. Then move it right or left to the last letter that you want to change. Be sure not to type more than there is space for. If you type too much, you will screw with text from other parts of the game, or other info in the game, and it would not be wise to do that. ALSO: MAKE BACKUP COPIES OF YOUR CHANGED ROM!!! IF YOU SCREW UP WITH NO BACKUPS, YOU WILL HAVE TO REINSERT THE FONT AND REDO THE TABLE FILE, UNLESS YOU START OVER WITH THE EXACT SAME COMBINATION AS THE ORIGINAL. E. Patching The Rom. Now for the simpliest part, making the patch. Open SNES Tool. Press C select the unchanged ROM select the changed ROM it will compare and make the patch it shouldn't take more than a few seconds, a minute tops. (c) 2000 Vulcan Translations. This document may not be modified in any way without prior consent from the author.