[v1.2 released] Translation project COMPLETE (Sakura Wars: Columns 2 / Hanagumi Taisen Columns 2)

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ateam
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Re: Translation project in the works (Sakura Wars: Columns 2 / Hanagumi Taisen Columns 2)

Post#31 » Sat Apr 17, 2021 12:07 am

The Shiro! Show streamed the latest beta build of the game and had me and my lead translator join them! Check it out:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ru81s-Dtxbg&t=3267s
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fafadou
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Re: Translation project in the works (Sakura Wars: Columns 2 / Hanagumi Taisen Columns 2)

Post#32 » Sat Apr 17, 2021 4:47 am

Awesome job.
It looks like an official english version

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ateam
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Re: Translation project in the works (Sakura Wars: Columns 2 / Hanagumi Taisen Columns 2)

Post#33 » Mon May 03, 2021 12:00 am

Well folks, the day is finally here! I proudly present to you, the fine members of this forum and the incredible lovers of SEGA's swan song console, v1.0 of my team's English translation patch for "Sakura Wars - Columns 2!"


Image


This v1.0 patch is fully translated and polished end-to-end. You can find a full readme here (or at the bottom of this post):
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/DerekPascarella/SakuraWarsColumns2-EnglishPatchDreamcast/main/read_me.txt

Please note that this patch also ships with a fully 100% unlocked save, as well as all DLC, available for download directly from the game menu itself. At the very least, I highly suggest you copy the full save to your VMU, as this game locks away over half of its content by default. Refer to the above linked readme for instructions.

This patch ships with its own custom patching utility that I whipped up. If you prefer patching your own GDI, please follow the instructions in the linked readme above. Alternatively, I have supplied the pre-patched (i.e. already patched) GDI and CDI images below.


DOWNLOADS:

Standalone Patch (v1.0)
https://bit.ly/3udaIpH

Pre-patched GDI (v1.0)
Mirror 1 - https://mega.nz/file/WQdUEBhS#mEX4vSHbOQvWyqKASq3ACLSjQcjI-3rqsfwJKt8ZhVU
Mirror 2 - https://drive.google.com/file/d/1wtKOvXUyabDNoAVPOpPpjQ8UIbwAJ54G/view?usp=sharing

Pre-patched CDI (v1.0)
Mirror 1 - https://mega.nz/file/GdVmmLoK#2NyMA4mr80wfciwmVd1790WePnzLOwhZd7ggSR6B7uo
Mirror 2 - https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Vjb-ykuS77E7PZDzTMuEU-boi6FQzSdD/view?usp=sharing


Sakura Wars: Columns 2 (Hanagumi Taisen Columns 2)
English Translation v1.0
Sega Dreamcast

Project Page:
https://github.com/DerekPascarella/SakuraWarsColumns2-EnglishPatchDreamcast


.------------------::[ Credits ]::------------------
|
| LEAD DEVELOPER / PROJECT LEAD:
| Derek Pascarella (ateam)
|
| TRANSLATION COORDINATOR:
| Chanh Nguyen (Burntends)
|
| LEAD TRANSLATORS:
| Chanh Nguyen Natsume38
| Danthrax4
|
| MAIN TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE:
| HaydenKow esperknight
| VincentNL nanashi
|
| MISCELLANEOUS TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE:
| SnowyAria NoahSteam
| TurnipTheBeet YZB
|
| MISCELLANEOUS TRANSLATION ASSISTANCE:
| cj_iwakura Ozaline
| SnowyAria Matatabi Mitsu
| ItsumoKnight Samantha Ferreira
| LettuceKitteh JoblessFloppy
|
| GRAPHICS:
| Derek Pascarella (ateam)
|
| MISCELLANEOUS GRAPHICS ASSISTANCE:
| GriffithVIII Patrick Traynor
| AnimatedAF Small Nerd
| Einahpets
|
`---------------------------------------------------


.-----------::[ Patching Instructions ]::-----------
|
| TOSEC GDI SOURCE:
| Hanagumi Taisen Columns 2 v1.000 (1999)(Sega)(JP)[!].zip
|
| Note that due to the way my custom patching utility works, checksums are not a
| necessary form of patch validation. Instead, this utility will always work with
| any TOSEC-style GDI containing a .GDI file along with two .BINs and a .RAW file.
|
| 1) Open the "Sakura Wars - Columns 2 (Engish Translation Patcher Utility).exe"
| program.
|
| 2) Click "Select GDI" and then select the TOSEC-style source GDI to be patched.
| Note that the original GDI will not be modified during the patching process.
|
| 3) Click "Apply Patch", which will create a copy of the original GDI and then
| apply the patch to it.
|
| 4) Once the process has completed, the newly patched GDI will be in the
| "patched_gdi" folder and ready for use.
|
`---------------------------------------------------


.------------::[ v1.0 Release Notes ]::-------------
|
| It is with extreme pride and excitement that I present to you the v1.0
| release of our English translation patch for "Sakura Wars: Columns 2" (known
| in Japanese as "Hanagumi Taisen Columns 2") for the Sega Dreamcast! This
| patch comes to you all, the wonderful members of the Dreamcast community, as
| 100% complete. Aside from hiring new voice actors to re-record the original
| Japanese, and aside from the online battle section (which I'll be happy to
| translate if the protocol is ever reverse-engineered), no stone was left
| unturned. Everything from start to finish is fully translated and localized.
| On top of that, the original website, the original DLC, and even a fully
| complete/unlocked save, are all accessible from directly within the game itself
| (read on for more details).
|
| For those unaware, this is an extremely in-depth and full-featured puzzle
| game based on the world of "Sakura Wars." Not only does it feature a myriad
| of unlockable content and extra bonus material, but also includes a full
| "Story" mode for all 12 playable characters. For those like me who love good
| puzzle games, "Sakura Wars: Columns 2" not only delivers in the department of
| fun gameplay, but also keeps on giving back to the player with a multitude of
| different ways to enjoy the game.
|
| Unlike most Japanese-exclusive titles, "Sakura Wars: Columns 2" is unique in
| that, without this patch, each and every piece of text, whether it be rendered
| during a dialog scene or as part of an image, is in Japanese. The one and
| only English phrase that previously existed was "PRESS START BUTTON" on the
| title screen. For what must be the most text heavy puzzle game of all time,
| this is saying quite a lot about the level of effort involved in making this
| translation patch a reality. My goal from the start was to produce something
| that felt as close to an official, fully localized English Dreamcast game as
| possible. If you ask me, we achieved that.
|
| Given that literally everything you see in English is the result of this patch,
| it may be a bit tough to thoroughly list each aspect of the game that's been
| modified and translated. However, I thought I'd at least try:
|
| -> All VMU icons have been translated from Japanese to English, including the
| main logo.
| -> Save games will be stored on the VMU with English labels and descriptions,
| which are visible from the Dreamcast's VMU manager. Note that this is
| also true of the bundled DLC.
| -> The main logo appearing on the title screen has been redone in English.
| -> All menus have been translated from Japanese to English, including the VMU
| save manager, the main menus, the options menu, and the in-game menus.
| -> The built-in web browser has been (partially) translated from Japanese to
| English and now points to a custom English landing page that contains links
| to the DLC and a fully complete/unlocked save.
| -> The "Extras" section content has been fully translated from Japanese to
| English.
| -> All "Story" mode scripts have been fully translated from Japanese to
| English, including LIPS responses and title screens.
| -> The introduction text for "Shonen Red" and "Director!" modes has been
| translated from Japanese to English.
| -> Whenever spoken Japanese dialog occurs, the image displayed will contain
| subtitles or manga-style speech bubbles in English.
| -> All character profile images have had their English names added.
| -> All images containing Japanese text that appear in the ending sequences
| for "Shonen Red" and "Director!" modes have been translated into English.
| -> All rank-up messages and puzzle description text has been translated from
| Japanese to English in both "Puzzle Variety" modes ("Puzzle Challenges"
| and "Load Puzzle From VMU" options).
| -> All combat-style icons (e.g. Fire, Shadow, Thunder, Wind, etc.) have been
| translated from Japanese to English with brand new icons created just for
| this patch.
| -> All text and images containing Japanese has been translated to English for
| everything seen during puzzle matches, such as character status messages,
| challenge messages, attack options, HUD labels, and more.
| -> The ending credits seen after beating "Story" mode with a character have
| been translated from Japanese to English and also now include the names and
| roles of the translation patch team.
| -> Even though its half-width and not variable-width, the Latin character font
| sheet has been cleaned up for better aesthetics, including the addition of
| the accented "è" used when Iris calls Ogami "Mon Frère," and the accented
| "ó" used when Kayama says "Adiós."
| -> The trailer FMV shown in attract mode has been subtitled in English.
| -> VGA mode has been enabled, which mainly helps those who will be playing this
| patched game via CDI (i.e. burned disc), as all ODE solutions already have
| on-the-fly VGA patching.
|
| As is plain to see, this was quite an extensive undertaking. It's also highly
| likely that I accidentally left something off that list, which is why it may
| just be better to say "Everything was translated!"
|
| Speaking of extensive undertakings; compared to the previous two Dreamcast
| patches I did ("Neon Genesis Evangelion: Typing Project E" and "Taxi 2"), this
| was much more of a group effort, so much so that I have difficulty in even using
| the words "my patch" when describing it. Because of the varied contributions of
| the core group, as well as many others, this release is as polished, complete,
| and awesome as it deserves to be.
|
| Other than the technical contributors listed later in these notes, the core
| group that helped make this translation patch possible are as follows:
|
| -> Chanh Nguyen (Burntends) served as the project's Translation Coordinator,
| as well as one of the Lead Translators. He was eager to start helping
| with this project and was the very first person to volunteer. Not only
| was he integral in assembling a translation team, but also in his
| knowledge of "Sakura Wars" lore so that the patch would have the proper
| tone and feeling. He also served as Editor, making certain that grammar
| and spelling was accurate, while also giving the final sign-off for the
| various drafts that the script went through to ensure a consistent level
| of quality. You can find him on Twitter as @burntends2.
|
| -> Nastume38 had the role of a Lead Translator. She has the strongest
| Japanese language skills out of the group and thus was an essential piece
| of the puzzle. She worked diligently to translate hundreds upon hundreds
| of lines of text, match them up with recorded game footage, map out the
| LIPS responses, and offer up many fantastic takes on localizing Japanese
| humor and expressions. You can find her on Twitter as @blaster_mania.
|
| -> Danthrax4 assisted the project in the capacity of a Lead Translator. He
| caught my attention after his work with nanashi on the "Cotton 2: Magical
| Night Dreams" English translation patch for the Sega Saturn. While he
| joined our project in its latter third or so, he came to us with a
| fantastic background as an editor in the newspaper industry. His
| suggestions and decisions surrounding both style and form of our English
| text went a long way to give the game the almost-official feeling that I
| was aiming for. He is also responsible for the awesome custom logo you
| see on your VMU while playing this game! You can find him on Twitter as
| @Danbo_4.
|
| Others who aided translation in various ways, whether it be by identifying
| Kanji characters, or by helping to properly translate/localize various
| aspects of "Sakura Wars" lore, and everything in between, are cj_iwakura,
| Ozaline, SnowyAria, Matabi Mitsu, ItsumoKnight, Samantha Ferreira,
| LettuceKitteh, and JoblessFloppy.
|
| From a technical perspective, this game presented many challenges. Being the
| Project Lead and Lead Developer meant that I was solely responsible for
| making sure that all translated text and images successfully made their way
| back into the game to replace the original Japanese equivalents. However,
| such a large portion of my work would not have been possible without the
| fantastic efforts of other programmers and ROM hackers.
|
| Not only were there esoteric file formats to reverse-engineer (e.g. binary
| containers holding important assets), but also a form of file compression
| that kept some of the most important game data locked away and inaccessible
| without some very hacky workarounds I developed. The format of the Japanese
| text used in "Story" mode was even a hurdle to overcome! However, there is
| no mountain too high that hard work and perseverance cannot scale it.
|
| For their technical contributions, I would like to thank the following
| individuals:
|
| -> HaydenKow for the tool he wrote to combine a PVR and PVP combination and
| convert them into a properly indexed PNG, which allowed me to modify such
| images and then convert them back to a PVR/PVP combo. with the color
| palette in-tact.
|
| -> esperknight for not only helping me determine the formatting of the binary
| container files used in this game, but also for taking time to write a
| custom tool to extract/rebuild them in a much simpler way than I was
| previously doing it.
|
| -> nanashi for reverse-engineering the compression algorithm used for many
| key assets and then also writing a tool to perform the decompression of
| said files. He also later identified the compression algorithm, which we
| previously thought was something proprietary created by the game
| developers.
|
| -> VinecntNL for his tips on dumping raw PVR textures using FlyCast, which
| helped me develop the method I used to obtain original images for my early
| "trial and error" method of replacing compressed images with my own
| modified and uncompressed ones.
|
| Additionally, I'd like to thank SnowyAria, TurnipTheBeet, NoahSteam, and
| YZB for their miscellaneous tips and tricks along the way.
|
| Other categories where assistance was so graciously given to our project
| include graphics/video and testing. While I personally did the majority of the
| graphics myself, I want to thank the following individuals for their
| invaluable contributions:
|
| -> GriffithVIII for his beautiful, stylized text used before and after a
| match starts, such as "SHONEN RED SCRAMBLE!", "NEW RECORD!", and
| "GAME OVER."
|
| -> Einahpets and Small Nerd for the custom English logo seen not only on the
| game's title screen, but also on the disc art PVR that users of
| GDEMU+GDMenu will see. They also created the custom cover art that is
| included with this release.
|
| -> AnimatedAF for doing the awesome, manga-style speech bubbles for the
| images seen in the ending sequences for "Shonen Red" and "Director!"
| modes, as well as the background image with the repeating logo used for
| the "LOADING" screen.
|
| -> Patrick "TraynoCo" Traynor for subtitling the trailer FMV that plays
| during attract mode.
|
| For game testing, both myself and Chanh Nguyen (Burntends) did the majority of
| the playthroughs, but I still want to acknowledge the early assistance from two
| well-known "Columns" experts: Trevgauntlet Neu and RoyTheDragon.
|
| In terms of "known issues" or current limitations with this v1.0 release of
| our English translation patch, presently there is only one. Similarly to the
| initial release of "Sakura Wars" for the Sega Saturn, the lip movement for
| on-screen characters in "Story" mode is currently nonfunctional. While I did
| develop a method for restoring lip movements, it ended up only being a partial
| solution and fell short in several cases where limited space is available in
| memory for storing English text.
|
| On this topic, I actually spoke several times with NoahSteam, the lead developer
| on the "Sakura Wars" Sega Saturn project, regarding the method he used for their
| team's upcoming patch update, which, among other things, restores lip movement.
| Unfortunately, "Sakura Wars: Columns 2" does not follow the same format as the
| earlier Saturn game. Still, his method employs essentially the same concept as
| the one I devised. I'm happy to know that he was able to implement this
| improvement in his patch. Perhaps one day in the future I will revisit this
| topic and develop a method that suites this game, as well.
|
| The last important tidbit to know about this release is that I included with
| it a cached version of the original website, the three original DLC puzzles,
| and a fully complete/unlocked save, all of which are accessible from directly
| within the game. The original website is actually still archived and hosted
| on the official "Sakura Wars" website, so deciding to include it was a
| no-brainer for me. Similarly, it makes perfect sense why I would want to
| include the original DLC, too (thank you to DreamcastLive.net for continuing
| to host Dreamcast DLC). However, some may wonder why I'd want to include a
| complete game save, rather than force players to grind away and hone their
| skills in order to enjoy the plethora of amazing unlockable content. Well,
| firstly, I'm not that sinister, and secondly, I wanted players to be able to
| experience and enjoy all of the incredible things that "Sakura Wars: Columns
| 2" has to offer. Perhaps my motives are slightly selfish, but it felt wrong
| to work so hard on this game only to have players see and experience half of
| it.
|
| To access this VMU content, go to the "ONLINE" entry on the main menu and
| then select "WEBSITE AND DLC." From there, the Japanese DreamPassport web
| browser will launch, which I partially translated in order to make navigating
| this section easier. Once the browser launches, select the "Exit" button at
| the top-left of the screen. You'll then be presented with a custom landing
| page I created which includes links to all three DLC puzzles, a fully
| complete/unlocked save, and a cached version of the original Japanese
| website. To copy the DLC or the save to your VMU, simply click on the
| respective link with the "A" button and then select the VMU onto which the
| file should be written.
|
| Once you've downloaded all of the desired files to your VMU, you can exit the
| browser by pressing the "L" button and then selecting the last option on the
| bottom of the menu that appears. If you view these save files in the
| Dreamcast's home screen menu, you'll notice that all of their names and labels
| appear in English, too!
|
| In summary, if you've made it this far in the release notes, let me end by
| thanking you on behalf of the entire team. The Dreamcast itself has given me
| many, many years of joy, and the incredible community that has continued to
| live on remains a huge part of my life today. I gave over 200 hours of my
| time to complete this translation patch and truthfully, I would do it all
| again. Giving back to the community is a pleasure and privilege. I may never
| be able to accurately distill down and put into words what Sega's swansong
| console means to me, but something tells me that if you've downloaded this
| patch, you just might already know how I feel.
|
| Keep Dreaming, my friends...
|
| PS: All custom tools developed by me and other technical contributors for this
| patch are available with permission in this project's GitHub repository.
|
`---------------------------------------------------


.-----------------::[ Changelog ]::-----------------
|
| -> 2021-05-03 (v1.0)
| -Initial release.
|
`---------------------------------------------------


Find me on...
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-> Dreamcast-Talk: https://www.dreamcast-talk.com/forum/memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=5766
-> GitHub: https://github.com/DerekPascarella
-> Twitter: https://twitter.com/DerekPascarella
-> Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/user/ate4m/
-> YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLLjIeHSQbBLEooQ83SrdfQ
Find me on...

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User avatar
fafadou
Gold Lion
Posts: 1652

Re: Translation project in the works (Sakura Wars: Columns 2 / Hanagumi Taisen Columns 2)

Post#34 » Mon May 03, 2021 3:56 am

Oh yes !
I didn't find the DLC in dreamcast live .net, could you share the link please ?
[EDIT] I'm terribly sorry, I find it.

User avatar
dubcity
Super Sonic
Posts: 1576

Re: Translation project in the works (Sakura Wars: Columns 2 / Hanagumi Taisen Columns 2)

Post#35 » Mon May 03, 2021 5:53 am

Congratulations to everyone involved with this translation. Thank you for bringing this to the community.

Can I make a suggestion? Please change title of thread to finished and update first post.

Again thank you all. I can't wait to play this later today after work.

User avatar
Nico0020
Sunday Shootout
Posts: 653

Re: Translation project in the works (Sakura Wars: Columns 2 / Hanagumi Taisen Columns 2)

Post#36 » Mon May 03, 2021 6:12 am

Excellent! Downloading now. Thanks for all your hard work!

User avatar
ateam
Heroine Console
Posts: 478

Re: Translation project in the works (Sakura Wars: Columns 2 / Hanagumi Taisen Columns 2)

Post#37 » Mon May 03, 2021 8:29 am

dubcity wrote:Congratulations to everyone involved with this translation. Thank you for bringing this to the community.

Can I make a suggestion? Please change title of thread to finished and update first post.

Again thank you all. I can't wait to play this later today after work.


Good suggestions, done!
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AlanH
rebel
Posts: 17

Re: Translation project COMPLETE (Sakura Wars: Columns 2 / Hanagumi Taisen Columns 2)

Post#38 » Mon May 03, 2021 8:32 am

What good is having the pre-patched CDI when the instructions only say how to patch the GDI? Can someone please post a patched CDI?

User avatar
ateam
Heroine Console
Posts: 478

Re: Translation project COMPLETE (Sakura Wars: Columns 2 / Hanagumi Taisen Columns 2)

Post#39 » Mon May 03, 2021 8:44 am

AlanH wrote:What good is having the pre-patched CDI when the instructions only say how to patch the GDI? Can someone please post a patched CDI?


Pre-patched does not mean "a CDI prior to patching", it means a CDI that has already been patched. Similar to a "pre-cooked meal", the work has already been done.
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fafadou
Gold Lion
Posts: 1652

Re: Translation project COMPLETE (Sakura Wars: Columns 2 / Hanagumi Taisen Columns 2)

Post#40 » Mon May 03, 2021 10:20 am

For vga, do you have change the ip.bin flag or it's a "true" vga patch ?

[Édit] : did someone has some issue with cdi version ?
Last edited by fafadou on Tue May 04, 2021 4:35 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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