This project (if we even decide to invest in it) is far off into the future. However, since Joy Division is now actively assisting in the translation of Snatcher, we'd like to get our hands on the original OASIS text dump in order to evaluate the material.
Any help in this regard would be appreciated.
In other news, work on the Metal Gear translations is slow but steady. We promise: it'll be worth the wait. 
-Dr. J
I'm looking forward to Metal Gear retrans. Finally, we'll get to know the full story behind Metal Gear one 
Anyway, uhm... about SD-Snatcher retranslation... could you hint some things of the plot, some details that were not translated in the Oasis version?
Aaaaaaaaaahh.......So many times that magical word in this thread 
Snout,
It's not so much that the entire Metal Gear story hasn't been already translated, it's just that it hasn't been translated -well- . There aren't going to be any startling plot revelations in Metal Gear Redux (final title), but there will be vibrant, concise, and eloquent characterizations.
It should, at least, tide everyone over until the release of Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake Revisited.
As for SD-Snatcher, it's more or less the same story. I'm not sure of any plot points that weren't conveyed, but the entire presentation could use a major overhaul. (You'll see what we mean when we release MG:Redux)
OASIS deserves major props, but when (or if!) we work on SD-Snatcher, our aim is to blow them out of the water! Quality is our top priority.
BiFi wrote:
I may have missed some stuff though.
The Oasis translation (which I already fixed btw):
Hmmm... what do you mean by "fixed" ? I understand that there was a hacked version devised for fMSX a while ago, but wasn't aware of any bugfixes.
Takamichi has said that he is -considering- working on SD-Snatcher, but only with a proper text dump. That's why I turned to the forums here.
-Dr. J
Well erhm....As far as SD Snatcher storyline is concerned, there is one issue I would like to be solved.
At a certain point in Dutch MSX society 
storylines of SD Snatcher appeared in several Dutch MSX magazines. In those magazines people claimed Harry is actually Gilian his father.....
I believe this is the bollocks. Although Harry is 50 years old, he is in fact Gilian and Jamie's son, right? Gilian & Jamie were frozen in that capsule, while their son Harry lived his life....That's why Harry is now older than Gilian & Jamie Seed.....
And where does this Gilian come from anyway? We know Japanese don't like the 'L' but who are we to change Girian into Gilian because of that issue?
These are SD Snatcher things which pop in my mind so now and then 
Hmmm... what do you mean by "fixed" ? I understand that there was a hacked version devised for fMSX a while ago, but wasn't aware of any bugfixes.
The original translation had the bugs I listed. I ran the patch disk on a Star Cracks version and fixed these. Later the new patch disk I made (sector based, it's on Funet somewhere) I ran on copy's of my original disks, corrected the changed portions of code due to the sector based patching and I actually never made a patch for that version.
Some time ago a small group of dutch people (one of which is myself) decided to retranslate the whole game again, removing all bugs and translate everything. Though due to too much other things no start was made sofar.
Takamichi has said that he is -considering- working on SD-Snatcher, but only with a proper text dump. That's why I turned to the forums here.
With a proper text dump I think you mean screenshots? It would still be great to have a proper and correct translation of SD-Snatcher, no matter who is working on it. A lot of work.
Hmm so I understand there are two SD Snatcher retranslation projects about to start at the moment. How about some co-operation?
and.. with a proper text dump I assume Dr. J (or Takamichi) wants a .txt file with all the texts in it?
Hmm so I understand there are two SD Snatcher retranslation projects about to start at the moment. How about some co-operation?
As I've done some work to fix the first translation I have info on how some things are stored and which sectors differ (meaning the positions of the texts on the disks) and some of the things in the code to (for example) disconnect the 'E' from 'END'. If they wish I can look these things up to make it at least a start. I did notice some more stuff was changed when I patched it, but that somehow negatively affected the game since parts didn't work anymore. So I do suggest sticking to the translation and the minor code issues related to the translation without any other stuff that might do negative things to the game.
and.. with a proper text dump I assume Dr. J (or Takamichi) wants a .txt file with all the texts in it?
Kinda hard for us non-japanese to do, a .txt file with the japanese texts in it (that's what you'd need for a retranslation). At least that's how I see things.
Mwa, it depends, I think.
To me it would seem that they've stored the texts in a data structure, which you can find out if you disassembly the text display routines. Based on that I think it shouldn't be too hard to write a 'text-extractor'. Or maybe you don't even need to disassemble, you might just find out by looking at the disk its sectors with a Japanese font. Getting scripts this way also seems much more thorough than by making screenshots - what if you forget to make a screenshot? Not to mention the huge work that has to be put into it, you need to play through the game and make the shots manually.
Also, not everyone of us is totally ignorant of the Japanese language (I like to include myself in that group - the nonignorant one that is ;p), so it doesn't nessecarily have to be a hard thing for everyone. You don't need to know the exact meaning of everything that's said to be able to understand a little of it, or at least the structure of the text. It's not for nothing that the actual translating is someone else's job .
Oh, one thing I don't understand. You want to translate SD-Snatcher with the help of Takamichi. However, Metal Gear was also translated by Takamichi, yet you think that one needs to be done 'better'? Personally, I think that both translations are quite ok, although the SD-Snatcher one is perhaps a bit lacking. A retranslation would be *nice*, but I would actually rather see that effort go into something else, translating a game which is still untranslated for example, or creating a new (MSX) game...
Just my personal thoughts.
~Grauw
