Dracula X (Rondo & SotN) - lack of translations?!

[Ziggy]

Part I: Why has the original TurboGrafx CD version of Dracula X: Rondo of Blood never been fully fan-translated?

edit: The translation has finally been updated and it's pretty much complete now!

http://www.racketboy.com/forum/viewtopi ... 75#p529775

Any one that likes old school Castlevania games would have to agree that Rondo of Blood is the best, or at least top three of the series. I mean, many people refer to it as the Holy Grail of old school Castlevania games. Usually when a game has such status, it enrages people to translate it. So why has this game never been fully fan-translated?

I read some where on the interweb that there's two work-in-progress translations for the game but I'm only able to find one of them. The one that I know of calculates that only 30% of the game is actually translated, and has not been updated in 5 years now. I just find it hard to believe that a game like this has never been fully translated.

I am fully aware that there's an official English version of the original Rondo included in Dracula X Chronicles for PSP, but this doesn't do it for me. I have a hard time enjoying a game on a small screen while having to use headphones (or else I wont be able to enjoy the music at all). Of course, I usually opt to display my PSP on my TV via the component cables, but this too kinda sucks. First off, the image does not fill the screen. Secondly, there's the borders because of the original 4:3 aspect ratio of the game. Having the borders while the image doesn't fill the TV screen really makes it look bad to me.

I could get over these two things, but lastly, the image quality is bad. It's all blurry and the colors look faded. Not at all as good when I play Rondo on Magic Engine or Virtual Console (which both look great to me). So although this version is fully translated, it's not playable in my opinion. At least, it's not as enjoyable as Magic Engine or Virtual Console.

I'm just scratching my head wondering how tons of games get fan-translated, even very minor games that aren't nearly as popular, but Rondo only has an incomplete translation? Granted, I know the work isn't easy, and much praise to any one that works to translate video games, but no one cares to get Rondo finished?

Part II: Why has Dracula X: Nocturne in the Moonlight (AKA Symphony of the Night) for the Saturn never been fan-translated?

For those that don't know, Symphony of the Night was ported to the Saturn. The Saturn version contained many extras not seen in the PS1 version (ex: four more areas in the game, new enemies, new items, new bosses). So this is another one that boggles my mind. Symphony of the Night is arguable more popular than Rondo. I can understand that the Saturn isn't popular compared to the PS1, but really, no one has cared to translated this version?

I never minded that it never got a translation, although I would like it, but then I found out that the JPN version of SotN for the PS1 has been re-translated. What the hell?! The PS1 version has already been translated for us! The PS1 JPN version offers nothing over the Western release, other than the additional Faerie and Nose Demon familiars. Apparently it has been re-translated because people complain the original translation is bad.

I can live with the official translation for SotN, what would be useful is a translation for the Saturn version! Am I wrong? I can't even find a translation FAQ for it! I want to read the conversation between Alucard and Maria before they fight.

Any one else feel this way? Thoughts... comments?

[Dylan]

The problem with ROB would be that there isn't much text in the game, apart from menus and credits everything's just plain voice acting. Of course, that would make it a relatively small job to translate.

Now, as far as the Saturn version of SOTN goes, I have no idea. You could simply leave the original voice acting in and just change the text, one would think.

The one thing that should be considered is the difficulty of making translations. I suspect there might be a reason that we see tons of NES and SNES translations, while other consoles have comparably fewer. I would assume that it's much more difficult to translate a Saturn game than an older one.

[MrPopo]

The one thing that should be considered is the difficulty of making translations. I suspect there might be a reason that we see tons of NES and SNES translations, while other consoles have comparably fewer. I would assume that it's much more difficult to translate a Saturn game than an older one.

You hit the nail on the head. Saturn translation is apparently a BITCH.

http://www.romhacking.net/?genre=&platf ... e=&author=

There's THREE things listed there, two are incomplete and the SF3 Premium disc is a bonus disc of a bunch of boss battles, so minimal amounts of text.

[Ziggy]

Well it should be noted that Shining Force 3 Scenarios 2 and 3 are in the process of being translated at a pretty rapid speed. The team is even retranslating the first scenario.

You could simply leave the original voice acting in and just change the text, one would think.

And that would be perfect. That's all the retranslation for PS1 SotN did.

The one thing that should be considered is the difficulty of making translations. I suspect there might be a reason that we see tons of NES and SNES translations, while other consoles have comparably fewer. I would assume that it's much more difficult to translate a Saturn game than an older one.

I'm positive you are correct, but The PS1 gets a retranslation and the Saturn gets zip? Is the Saturn really that hard to work with? I understand that most people view the Saturn port as inferior compared to the original PS1 version, and I guess it's true that only die hard SotN fans care to play the Saturn version.

I can't even find a translation FAQ for the Saturn port! I would really like to read the dialog.

The problem with ROB would be that there isn't much text in the game, apart from menus and credits everything's just plain voice acting. Of course, that would make it a relatively small job to translate.

Well the current "30%" translation has most of the actual text translated. What is left is some text and sprite text. As far as the voice acting goes, is it not possible to add subtitles? I would assume it would be easier to replace the audio tracks with new voice acting, and I assume since most translators work by themselves or in small groups they don't care to record new voice overs. I'd totally be down for getting a cast together to record new voice overs for a game. In fact, I would actually love to record new voice overs for something.

But my main point with ROB is that it hasn't been updated since 2005. You would figure something as popular as that would keep getting updated, if only slowly. If the author lost interest in the project, you would think that others would be willing to pick up on it.

You hit the nail on the head. Saturn translation is apparently a BITCH.

This is how I get into a lot of things, but if that Saturn really is that hard to work with I don't think it'd be a good starting point for me to learn how to translate a game (especially a game like SotN, not just the dialog but the HUGE amounts of items).

I might look into Rondo though. I've said countless times on this forum that I wish I knew how to hack games and whatnot, a few times the response has been, "The information is on the web, learn how to do it." Maybe I'll look into it and find out if it's above my head. I've always been a hardware guy, I don't care much for software. But if I could learn, the author of the 30% patch has some tools for Rondo on his site.

I also forgot to mention that I'm pissed that Konami translated Rondo for us on the PSP, but then gave us the JPN version on Virtual Console. Why the hell couldn't they have given us a translated version? Bastards.

edit: I'm currently reading through the "Getting Started: So, you wanna be a ROMHacker?" guide on RHDN. The tutorial I'm reading now for hex just told me to load up Castlevania (NES) in a hex editor. Is this an omen?

[Anapan]

http://www3.telus.net/anapan8/Dracula%2 ... lation.txt

Rondo graphics can be edited with Tmod2 + PC Engine Plugins
http://pages.interlog.com/~daves/pce_dev/plugin.html
http://www3.telus.net/anapan8/tmod2_0280_plus_pce.zip
CHR Mode (load file, press F3, press "8")

Rondo audio can be extracted using PCMConvert
http://www3.telus.net/anapan8/pcv10020.zip
Run the Rondo of Blood ISO through it using this command line: "pcmconv -ir8000 -or8000 -if 9 -of 4 dracx.iso converted.wav" and you get an 80 megabyte wav file. All the sounds in the game are in between large blocks of garbage static. Cutting and pasting chunks of raw data with a hex editor could make that a viable solution for the audio portion. The only thing is the audio it spits out has it's DC offset (the center point of the audio's waveform) is way out of whack. The audio is also at all different sample rates, tho most seem to be between 8000 and 11025 hz.

[Dylan]

I'm positive you are correct, but The PS1 gets a retranslation and the Saturn gets zip? Is the Saturn really that hard to work with? I understand that most people view the Saturn port as inferior compared to the original PS1 version, and I guess it's true that only die hard SotN fans care to play the Saturn version.

My guess is that when people say that the Saturn is hard to develop for, they aren't kidding. If writing software for it is hard in the first place, making a functional hack job must be really difficult, especially for only one or a few people. Maybe the Playstation is easier to develop for?

Well the current "30%" translation has most of the actual text translated. What is left is some text and sprite text. As far as the voice acting goes, is it not possible to add subtitles? I would assume it would be easier to replace the audio tracks with new voice acting, and I assume since most translators work by themselves or in small groups they don't care to record new voice overs. I'd totally be down for getting a cast together to record new voice overs for a game. In fact, I would actually love to record new voice overs for something.

He probably just thought that having all of the regular text was sufficient for the job. As far as adding subs goes, I believe that implementing more features into a game is harder than modifying set ones. Really, it's no mystery why so many people lose interest in their work.

[MrPopo]

He probably just thought that having all of the regular text was sufficient for the job. As far as adding subs goes, I believe that implementing more features into a game is harder than modifying set ones. Really, it's no mystery why so many people lose interest in their work.

This is more a problem for cartridge based games, because of the nature of ROM chips. You have to find some unused space om the ROM chip for the new code. This is less a problem for CD games since many games don't use the full 700 MB of space. With carts if they only need 8 Mbits they only use an 8 Mbit chip.

[aaron]

there are about 50 saturn games i'd want translated before SotN.

[GSZX1337]

there are about 50 saturn games i'd want translated before SotN.

Wanna make a list? I'd like to see Assaults Suits Leynos 2 translated myself.

[MrPopo]

there are about 50 saturn games i'd want translated before SotN.

Wanna make a list? I'd like to see Assaults Suits Leynos 2 translated myself.

End of list, since SFIII is already getting the translation treatment.