Famicom World

Family Computer => Famicom / Disk System => Topic started by: Jaek_3 on October 24, 2016, 09:48:49 pm

Title: Zelda FDS Translation?
Post by: Jaek_3 on October 24, 2016, 09:48:49 pm
Is there a Zelda FDS fan translation out there yet? I mean, Metroid has one
Title: Re: Zelda FDS Translation?
Post by: P on October 25, 2016, 02:19:57 am
Nope, but the script is out there.
Title: Re: Zelda FDS Translation?
Post by: aitsu124 on October 25, 2016, 09:35:14 am
I'm also interested in this, along with Zelda 2. How would one put this in? Is Zelda 2's script out there?
Title: Re: Zelda FDS Translation?
Post by: P on October 25, 2016, 10:47:57 am
Found them:

http://www.glitterberri.com/the-legend-of-zelda/retranslation-redux/ Zelda Translation

https://web.archive.org/web/20160610124435/http://www.lltvg.com/wiki/The_Legend_of_Zelda/ja-en Good translation guide for Zelda
The link was dead so I took the latest archive snapshot I could find.

http://legendsoflocalization.com/the-legend-of-zelda/ Manual comparison for Zelda (and other games)


http://www.glitterberri.com/adventure-of-link/retranslation/ Zelda II translation
Note that there is a mistake regarding the magic key as pointed out in the comments bellow.


Quote from: aitsu124 on October 25, 2016, 09:35:14 am
How would one put this in?

You need to know how to do ROM hacking (or disk hacking in this case) which requires some knowledge how the games are composed so you can find the place to put in the data you want. I can make Famicom games from scratch but I'm no good at hacking existing games.
http://www.romhacking.net/start/ should be a good starting point.
Title: Re: Zelda FDS Translation?
Post by: UglyJoe on October 25, 2016, 10:57:44 am
There are also specific tools (http://www.romhacking.net/?page=utilities&category=&platform=&game=712&author=&os=&level=&perpage=20&title=&desc=&utilsearch=Go) for hacking LoZ.  (and also Zelda II (http://www.romhacking.net/?page=utilities&category=&platform=&game=753&author=&os=&level=&perpage=20&title=&desc=&utilsearch=Go)).
Title: Re: Zelda FDS Translation?
Post by: P on October 25, 2016, 12:59:35 pm
I can see a string editor in there so that's good. The question is if it supports the FDS version.
Title: Re: Zelda FDS Translation?
Post by: Great Hierophant on October 25, 2016, 05:28:52 pm
It is doubtful that many tools support the FDS version of Zelda.  Remember that all the text is stored on one disk side in these games, giving you very limited room to work with, especially for Zelda II. 
Title: Re: Zelda FDS Translation?
Post by: P on October 26, 2016, 03:24:53 am
Technically it could be expanded into two disks if more room is needed, but that would require to reprogram the game quite a bit, moving things and inserting disk changing points. Not mentioning that the game would require you to change disks when entering certain areas and become more tedious to play because of that.
Title: Re: Zelda FDS Translation?
Post by: Great Hierophant on October 26, 2016, 01:58:49 pm
Is the text in the Zelda games compressed?  If uncompressed you could insert compressed English text to save space and run a routine to decompress it when needed. 

In Castlevania II that game switches disks sides frequently, giving you more room to work with.
Title: Re: Zelda FDS Translation?
Post by: UglyJoe on October 26, 2016, 02:13:30 pm
Quote from: Great Hierophant on October 26, 2016, 01:58:49 pm
Is the text in the Zelda games compressed?  If uncompressed you could insert compressed English text to save space and run a routine to decompress it when needed. 


The text in the NES versions are not compressed.  I'd be surprised if the FDS version had it, but I haven't looked.  I dunno if there would be room for a compression scheme without looking at the ROM first.  You would at least be able to use squishy tiles (fitting three or more characters into two characters) since you'll have leftover characters after dropping in an English font.
Title: Re: Zelda FDS Translation?
Post by: toadhall on October 27, 2016, 08:12:11 pm
I kind of wish Dracula II had a fan translation. I mean, Castlevania II got a retranslation, why couldn't it be reused for Dracula II?
Title: Re: Zelda FDS Translation?
Post by: P on October 28, 2016, 02:54:55 am
Yeah I've been playing Dracula II for a while now, it has much cooler music using the FDS sound channel. The script by Bisqwit is quite a bit bigger than the Japanese script though.

Quote from: Great Hierophant on October 26, 2016, 01:58:49 pm
In Castlevania II that game switches disks sides frequently, giving you more room to work with.

So if there are free space left on side B of Zelda I and II, maybe it could be used by adding more disk flipping. I think both games only use side B for save file data and maybe data for the last dungeon or so (I don't remember).
Title: Re: Zelda FDS Translation?
Post by: Great Hierophant on October 28, 2016, 07:10:47 pm
Quote from: P on October 28, 2016, 02:54:55 am
Yeah I've been playing Dracula II for a while now, it has much cooler music using the FDS sound channel. The script by Bisqwit is quite a bit bigger than the Japanese script though.

Quote from: Great Hierophant on October 26, 2016, 01:58:49 pm
In Castlevania II that game switches disks sides frequently, giving you more room to work with.

So if there are free space left on side B of Zelda I and II, maybe it could be used by adding more disk flipping. I think both games only use side B for save file data and maybe data for the last dungeon or so (I don't remember).


I discuss disk swapping and loading of various games here : http://nerdlypleasures.blogspot.com/2015/08/swaps-and-loads-famicom-disk-system.html

My conclusion is that CV2 suffers too much from the issue.
Title: Re: Zelda FDS Translation?
Post by: P on October 30, 2016, 09:03:28 am
Oh so the Zelda games play mostly on side B, not side A, I had forgotten that. Sounds like side A is only used for the attract screen and, in the case of Zelda II, the staff roll. Should be plenty of space on that disk side, shouldn't it?

I haven't come as far as to a disk swap in Dracula II, but I remember that it has annoying loading times at Mansion entrances, and that there are often enemies close to the screen border on the neighbouring screen that knocks you back and you have to go through the loading twice again.
Title: Re: Zelda FDS Translation?
Post by: UglyJoe on October 30, 2016, 06:51:05 pm
The FDS LoZ also uses the Japanese text display code, which crams all of the text into the upper-right of the screen (sort of like an implied speech bubble).  So not only would you have to figure out how to replace the Japanese with English, you'd also have to work in the US text display code (or else you will end up with a terrible translation due to screen-space restraints).
Title: Re: Zelda FDS Translation?
Post by: P on October 31, 2016, 05:30:00 am
I see what you mean https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrmX_VujJO0&t=3m16s.
Title: Re: Zelda FDS Translation?
Post by: Great Hierophant on November 05, 2016, 05:41:42 pm
Quote from: P on October 30, 2016, 09:03:28 am
Oh so the Zelda games play mostly on side B, not side A, I had forgotten that. Sounds like side A is only used for the attract screen and, in the case of Zelda II, the staff roll. Should be plenty of space on that disk side, shouldn't it?

I haven't come as far as to a disk swap in Dracula II, but I remember that it has annoying loading times at Mansion entrances, and that there are often enemies close to the screen border on the neighbouring screen that knocks you back and you have to go through the loading twice again.


I made a mistake about Zelda 2, you swap back to side A when you enter The Great Palace.  There are no further swaps unless you save and start the game again from the main menu.  Dracula II gets pretty nutty however.   
Title: Re: Zelda FDS Translation?
Post by: P on November 06, 2016, 07:16:16 am
I knew it! I remember that I had to swap sides in the final dungeon in at least one of the games.
Title: Re: Zelda FDS Translation?
Post by: Jordiway73 on April 22, 2017, 01:33:50 pm
Zelda FDS English Translation.   http://www.romhacking.net/translations/2958/

This was my first hack so go easy, You wouldn't know it by looking at it but a lot of work went into this project. rainponcho was nice enough to do most of the research and I would have never completed it without his help. FlashPV did the title screen and the map at the end of the title / weapons  scroll which looks really cool compared to the NES.

First let me say because of space limitations most text had to be shortened, I'm really hoping that someone will figure out a way to use compression to make it exactly like the NES version.

The text had to be repositioned to the left and after that was accomplished the text was not erasing like it was supposed too so that had to be fixed. Then it wouldn't let me use English letters so that had to be changed from Japanese to English. The text is also really picky about not having a period or exclamation mark or comma at the end if you do not do this it just bleeds continuously into the side of the screen.  Some Japanese letters were erased and replaced with new English punctuation  marks.

Also a known bug was fixed, when moving blocks in dungeons to open doors the chime sound was missing.
There is a patch if you wish to fix the original version of this game found here.  
http://www.romhacking.net/hacks/3427/

Everything is documented in the readme file for anyone willing to take up the challenge of making it perfect, I hope you enjoy it!
Title: Re: Zelda FDS Translation?
Post by: Great Hierophant on April 28, 2017, 08:50:24 am
If you are going to do a translation of the FDS version, then your text must bear some semblance to the Japanese text.  The Level 1 old man says "You can't use arrows if you run out of money".  You have him saying "Aim for the head".  The English cart completely changes this to "Eastmost penninsula is the secret."  I think you could get "Arrows cost money" to fit into the existing characters."  Also, the White and Master Sword old men could say something like "For masters only" instead of "Take this."

Zelda Side A seems confined to the title screen and saving/loading code. I bet there is a lot of room on that disk side that goes unused.  Perhaps you could obtain the space you needed by relocating the dungeons to Side A.  That would give more space for text for both the Overworld and Underworld.  Or vice versa, which would delay the disk swap.
Title: Re: Zelda FDS Translation?
Post by: Jordiway73 on April 29, 2017, 06:19:31 am
Most of the dungeon text wouldn't fit or be condensed to make any sense so I changed it to give hints on how to beat the final boss of that dungeon. level 1 "aim for the head'  level 2 "use bombs" the limited amount of space provided was very confined. My goal after finding out the space limitations of this game was just to make the FDS version playable for the average user. I have had a few people contact me already saying they are working on a way to expand the rom and it sounded very promising so hopefully sometime in the near future it will be just like the NES version.  :link:
Title: Re: Zelda FDS Translation?
Post by: P on April 30, 2017, 11:21:38 pm
Quote from: Jordiway73 on April 29, 2017, 06:19:31 am
I have had a few people contact me already saying they are working on a way to expand the rom and it sounded very promising so hopefully sometime in the near future it will be just like the NES version.  :link:

Or better, a correctly translated version. Besides messing up some of the lines (like the peninsula secret, the 12th enemy has the bomb thing and the wrongly placed spectacle rock hint), the NES version also changes the level 5 hint about defeating the Pols Voice (power is in the arrow in the NES version). Because you are retranslating the FDS version it would make more sense to retranslate that hint accurately instead.
Title: Re: Zelda FDS Translation?
Post by: Jordiway73 on May 02, 2017, 12:01:21 am
Very true and those Pols are a pain to kill without the use of the mic, unlike the NES version where one arrow kills them.
Title: Re: Zelda FDS Translation?
Post by: Ashura Mage on May 30, 2020, 11:15:09 pm
Sooooooo, anyone has ever tried to do a more accurate translation?
Title: Re: Zelda FDS Translation?
Post by: L___E___T on May 31, 2020, 03:07:30 pm
I think there is one in the works - there's also that Legends of Localization Zelda book that outlines a better one I think.
Title: Re: Zelda FDS Translation?
Post by: Ashura Mage on June 01, 2020, 06:38:18 pm
Quote from: L___E___T on May 31, 2020, 03:07:30 pmI think there is one in the works - there's also that Legends of Localization Zelda book that outlines a better one I think.


do you know where i can see this new translation?
Title: Re: Zelda FDS Translation?
Post by: L___E___T on June 02, 2020, 02:35:33 pm
There are a number actually, seems the book was influential and various people wanted a crack. 

Here are the few that I found - check their reviews and see which one fits with what you're looking for.

Relocalization:   https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/4311/
Zelda DX:  https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/2836/
Another:  https://www.romhacking.net/reviews/3319/

As mentioned people have issues with each of these, it seems none of them really do the job


And the book:  https://legendsoflocalization.com/the-legend-of-zelda/
Title: Re: Zelda FDS Translation?
Post by: TDownit_Strider on June 03, 2020, 06:39:40 am
The Zelda DX one looks like an interesting combination of the GBC games and the original. Honestly, if it weren't for the grass(looks too weird to have it in patches for me) and the fact that I can only find gameplay in 480p or with a bad color palette, I'd like this about as much as the original game...

...but I still want that remake. Come ON NINTENDO! YOU COULD DO SO MUCH WITH A REMAKE D:
Title: Re: Zelda FDS Translation?
Post by: L___E___T on June 05, 2020, 01:00:46 pm
Really sorry that these are cartridge and the original topic is FDS.  I'm sure I've seen an FDS translation though somewhere as well.
Title: Re: Zelda FDS Translation?
Post by: P on June 05, 2020, 11:07:00 pm
Aren't they Jordiway's translation though?

Yeah a real retranslation of the FDS version of Zelda 1 and 2 is needed, so people can experience those versions with all the differences (especially Zelda 2, which is most different). Such as that Dragon Quest 1 got, not the relocalization of the NES version.

Looks like Jordi made a Zelda 2 as well: http://www.romhacking.net/translations/3177/

Is it a retranslation, just insertion of the NES text into the FDS version?
If it's a proper retranslation I wonder how they solved the word-puzzle. The NES version simply ignored it and spoiled the hint right away.

They say they fixed a bug of missing hearts and statues. But I think this is a bad dump that is floating around on the internet. Maybe they hacked that version.
Title: Re: Zelda FDS Translation?
Post by: Great Hierophant on June 06, 2020, 06:59:47 pm
Quote from: P on June 05, 2020, 11:07:00 pmit a retranslation, just insertion of the NES text into the FDS version?
If it's a proper retranslation I wonder how they solved the word-puzzle. The NES version simply ignored it and spoiled the hint right away.

They say they fixed a bug of missing hearts and statues. But I think this is a bad dump that is floating around on the internet. Maybe they hacked that version.

The Zelda 2 retranslation just reinserts the text from the NES version.  The No-intro dumps that people swear by are somewhat lacking for this game because they didn't clean the files properly.  So when you start a "new game" you will find all the items, heart containers and magic jars already taken because they did not reset that information when they cleaned the files.  Fortunately the game can clean the files with its own file creation and deletion utility.  Just make three characters and delete them and the game will write truly clean save files to the slots.
Title: Re: Zelda FDS Translation?
Post by: P on June 07, 2020, 01:37:18 am
Ah yes now I remember. So it's not a bad dump but they probably tried to delete the files manually instead of using the in-game tool.

Disappointing that they reinserted the text from the NES version. It's not even correct for the FDS version. For example the "IF ALL ELSE FAILS, USE FIRE" is a NES-only phrase. The fire spell has no special properties in the FDS version AFAIK, and Zora and Tektites can be defeated with the sword.
Title: Re: Zelda FDS Translation?
Post by: Ashura Mage on June 10, 2020, 06:29:41 pm
Quote from: P on June 07, 2020, 01:37:18 amAh yes now I remember. So it's not a bad dump but they probably tried to delete the files manually instead of using the in-game tool.

Disappointing that they reinserted the text from the NES version. It's not even correct for the FDS version. For example the "IF ALL ELSE FAILS, USE FIRE" is a NES-only phrase. The fire spell has no special properties in the FDS version AFAIK, and Zora and Tektites can be defeated with the sword.

Wow, that sucks