Question regarding hex editor

[Axel]

Being it is possible to edit game text in Ocarina of time using a hex editor. Does anyone know if it would be possible to open a Kingdom Hearts Final Mix ISO in hex editor in order to change the Japanese text into English?

 

If nobody knows I'll just go try it myself and see.

 

Because if it works, I'm going to try and make an English translation for Kingdom Hearts Final Mix.

 

I'm thinking that it should be possible being I have edited Ocarina of Time, Super Mario 64, Majora's Mask, and Super Smash Bros. Brawl via hex editor.

 

But I never tried editing an ISO with it.

 

So, what do you think?

[xdaniel]

First of, don't edit the ISO directly, rather look into correctly extracting and rebuilding it. I can imagine that'll save you headaches in the long run, ex. when you want/need to expand some files. Second, you'll need to figure out how the game stores its text, not just where it is but also in what format it is. If you're lucky, it's a standard like Shift-JIS or EUC or something, otherwise you'll need to figure out the format first - look up relative searching for that.

 

Next, there's probably a whole lot of text in the game, and not just some puny menus, so (like with the extracting/rebuilding) you'll be better off with dumping the script and later reinserting it into the game, as opposed to directly edit the file(s) using a hex editor. Also makes it way easier for any potential translator to read and go through, assuming you're not going to do it all alone.

 

That's all hints or whatever I can think of right now. You may find some more help ex. at RHDN's forums - http://www.romhacking.net/forum/ -, tho I'm not sure how many people there have experience with hacking PS2 games (that's PS2 right?).

[Axel]

Thanks for the advice, I'll look into that. And I do not plan to do it alone, that would be too much work and might result in me quitting half way through. Unless I had a lot of support on the project taking it on my own. But it would be nice to get a few people to help with it.

 

I may go ask for help from the people that did the Kingdom Hearts 2 Final Mix and Birth by Sleep Final Mix translations.

 

If they would be interested in helping, then that'd make it a lot easier getting started.

 

EDIT: Yes, it's PS2

[Armos]

Your looking into making a Japanese to English patch for Final Mix am I correct? From what I heard it's already been done I think. You can find plenty of them on Youtube. And not to mention have you tried using kh-vids for KH Hacking? They have allot of Kingdom Hearts hacks on their site. And they have allot of professionals so if I'm not mistaking maybe you can get help from there. If your interested in making full hacks for Final Mix, etc. Just letting you know. Also I'm a Kingdom Hearts fan as well. Nice finding another KH Fan. .

[Axel]

Yes, and I thought that Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix and Birth by Sleep Final Mix were the only ones with translation patch. I have hacks installed on my Birth By Sleep Final Mix ISO, but didn't know where to find any hacks for the other games. So thanks, that helps.

 

And I just need to find the text strings in the English one and the Final Mix one, and then swap them. That's all I'm going to do for translating it.

 

I failed and will not try again till I know for sure where it is, but I did manage enhance the English Kingdom Hearts like in Final Mix. Not what I was going for though.

 

Good to see others that also have interest in the game. I'm going to pre-order Kingdom Hearts 3D Mark of Mastery edition off of Amazon, I couldn't find it anywhere else. But the next game looks a lot of fun.

 

And so you know it was said in an interview that they will not make Kingdom Hearts 3D Final Mix, and that they aren't making Birth By Sleep Volume 2. They are going straight to Kingdom Hearts 3 from the sounds of it, but you can never be too sure with them.

 

Anyway, I'll go see if I can find an existing Kingdom Hearts Final Mix translation and see what I find.