Legend of Xanadu II Translation Patch announced!

[johnnykonami]

Looking forward to this!   I just got a copy of Xanadu I a couple weeks back, but I've wanted Xanadu II forever and never got around to getting one.  Gotta pick one up before the rest of the world hears of your efforts and prices skyrocket.

[ParanoiaDragon]

Falcom is still a small company.  I wonder how much they would want for the licensing compared to someone like Square or Capcom, etc.?

[esteban]

Falcom is still a small company.  I wonder how much they would want for the licensing compared to someone like Square or Capcom, etc.?

Even though they are small, they know their brand is strong.

They are like a boutique, premium brand.

Also, I wonder if the bigger obstacle is not money, but convincing Falcom that the the quality of work would match (or exceed) Falcom's expectations.

Protecting the legacy/integrity of an IP might be Falcom's priority.

Of course, you may laugh at what I just wrote since you played some (most) of the console/handheld Ys games (with have not been of the highest quality.

[elmer]

Also, I wonder if the bigger obstacle is not money, but convincing Falcom that the the quality of work would match (or exceed) Falcom's expectations.

Protecting the legacy/integrity of an IP might be Falcom's priority.

It's always the easiest and safest option for anyone in a company, at any level, to "just-say-no".

Especially when dealing with an "unknown" licensor with no history and with little money.

IMHO, there's absolutely no point in talking to them until the translation is 100% done, and the potential packaging is 100% done, so they can quickly see exactly what they'd be agreeing to. There wouldn't be enough money on the line to waste their time with uncertainties.

If they get interested they may want changes ... but you can't go in expecting them to spend dozens of hours of their valuable time shepherding a "fan" translation for a dead platform.

And remember ... you only have to hit one person along the way that wants to "protect" their brand in order to get a "cease-and-desist" ... and if that happens, then SamIAm and I just "obey" and the translation disappears and nobody gets it.

Does anyone here really want to risk that happening just to get a pretty package?

[esteban]

Q: Take the risk?
A: Hell no.

[Gredler]

Doesnt sound like the good OBEY to me, an oxymoronic obey that ceases obeying... No, please keep it as above board and far away from the idea of marketing as possible. Packaging is worthless, its whats on the inside that counts

I completely agree that mentioning anything to the rights owners would open a can of worms and possible c&d the project, so unless its done it may get halted, and without a cpmplete product to present, any mention will get lawyer deflected.

Also, mednafan? Is that the pro emulator of choice for testing homebrew efforts?

...then SamIAm and I just "obey"...

Does anyone here really want to risk that happening just to get a pretty package?

[seieienbu]

If you could actually get licensing I'd gladly throw down money to buy real/legit copies.  That'd be the best thing to happen on this system in years.

[NightWolve]

Great to see progress here! Good thing I bought an original Legend of Xanadu recently. I'll have to look for the sequel some time as well.

Elmer, we'll need your help to hack the title screen of Emerald Dragon down the road, might as well ask now while you're in a hacking mood. I think I got everything else covered, except for such a graphics hack. I'm guessing the graphics blocks are LZSS compressed the same as the text, but I dunno for sure. But yeah, would love to get your help for that down the road.



Just would want to make that English and I think that's all. I don't care about credits rolls but I am curious, did you guys translate graphical credits rolls in any past projects you've done ?

[dshadoff]

Elmer, we'll need your help to hack the title screen of Emerald Dragon down the road, might as well ask now while you're in a hacking mood. I think I got everything else covered, except for such a graphics hack. I'm guessing the graphics blocks are LZSS compressed the same as the text, but I dunno for sure. But yeah, would love to get your help for that down the road.

I'm not so sure about that - I think it might have been stored as uncompressed graphics (although jumbled).  If I get a chance, I'll take a look....

-Dave

[elmer]

Elmer, we'll need your help to hack the title screen of Emerald Dragon down the road, might as well ask now while you're in a hacking mood. I think I got everything else covered, except for such a graphics hack. I'm guessing the graphics blocks are LZSS compressed the same as the text, but I dunno for sure. But yeah, would love to get your help for that down the road.

Haha ... I hope that SamIAm isn't going to get spoiled with all this programmer-attention these days! 

Looks like the community could have a good year with all the translations. 

I don't care about credits rolls but I am curious, did you guys translate graphical credits rolls in any past projects you've done ?

The Zeroigar credits roll is fully translated ... but I don't know if you'd call it "graphical", it's just a scrolling text layer on top of bitmaps that fade in/out.

I'm not so sure about that - I think it might have been stored as uncompressed graphics (although jumbled).  If I get a chance, I'll take a look....

Looks like you've already got the perfect person to take a look at it.

I'll be here in the unlikely event that there's any need for my help.

[elmer]

Good news ... the new logo is now fully working properly in the game ... i.e. title menu code and logo are both properly patched into the existing compressed data file and load/run from CD. 



That shows that the data in the game can now be successfully changed/rewritten, which is one of the big steps in getting the translation done.

If anyone wants to burn a CD and see it running on a real CRT, here's an xdelta patch that can be applied to the .iso track of a CD image.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/a5x4jedwf3sm93h/02%20Kaze%20no%20Densetsu%20Xanadu%20II%20%28J%29.iso.xdelta?dl=0

[johnnykonami]

Lookin' good!  Finally got my copy of Xanadu II coming in the mail, too.  Can't wait!

[NightWolve]

Still trying to buy one.

[SamIAm]

Real hardware test:


Way to go, elmer! We're rooting for you at every step! 

Thanks also go to Black Tiger for making a nice text graphic for us. 

[elmer]

Real hardware test:

Nice! It's really good to see that the logo doesn't get too close to the edge of the TV.