Ah, yeah, we'd probably run into encoding issues. Wonder how tough that'd be. Well, in any case, we can focus on the English TL for now.
Yeah, I realize this would be a lot of work, I can't 100% say whether or not I'd truly see it through until I get a feel for the workflow and get started, but I'm not a stranger to translating RPGs with massive amounts of text. It'd probably take me quite awhile, but FF7 is timeless, so even if it takes a couple years and perhaps I have to deal with NT version ups, I'd still be willing to sit down and try it.
I'd love it if you could point me to a place to get me started on text insertion, in terms of tools and perhaps any tips/recommended workflows you've developed. Getting off the ground is usually the hardest part so any assistance there would be highly appreciated; then I'd probably be in contact about stuff while I'm working on it...
Like right off the bat I'd have to ask if you can think of any novel/interesting/easy ways to implement translation notes without them being obnoxiously inserted in the middle of a dialogue box. There are a few initial thoughts I have, such as putting an indicator at the end of the line that signals "this line has a TL note"... then either pressing a special button to open new dialogue boxes, or just having an external reference PDF or whatever. Anyways I completely lack any FF7 modding experience so yeah, there's a lot to learn, but that's OK.
The big issue is that text is heavily linked to the game's event scripting. In FF8, text boxes size themselves dynamically but in FF7 they are manually sized so a change to the text itself may require the box to be bigger to accommodate it. The parameters for the text boxes live within the event scripting, so changes to text usually require editing of the text box (unsure if this has been changed as of the latest Makou builds, I remember reading something about that in recent release notes).
Translation notes in a separate window or on button command would require that every field carry some field script to support this. Also, there's a limit of 255 text lines per field, so they'd need to be added sparingly if in their own text entry. The script could be very lightweight, but it'd take time to cover all instances where it needs to be used and may not be practical during scenes where text auto-progresses (for instance, scenes where Movie Frame is used to progress scenes and pausing it isn't a practical option).
First thing to do is touch base with the tools:
Field Script - Makou Reactor:
https://forums.qhimm.com/index.php?topic=9658.0 (probably best to start here and leave enemy data/kernel data for now)
Enemy Data - Proud Clod:
https://forums.qhimm.com/index.php?topic=8481.0Kernel Data - Wall Market:
https://forums.qhimm.com/index.php?topic=7928.0(Requires Visual Basic Power Packs 3.0 and perhaps some .DLL registration through Admin CMD window).
There's this tool as well, which can pull out all the text into plain text then re-encode it. I'm unsure if it works with mods as I found it would break on a certain field during extraction:
https://forums.qhimm.com/index.php?topic=11944.0I would recommend testing the insertion step of this tool before committing to translating its output. Do some edits to various fields around the game then test that the re-insertion was successful.
Any progress on this? I would really want to buy this particular version instead of steam all the hassle having another game client/launcher just for one game :-/
Not been able to get info about it, so I'll just buy it now and have a look at it myself.
no. but hopefully that may change
It probably shouldn't be winnable at all, tbh.
Enjyoing 2.0 greatly
Does the do anything or is it just a reward for completing the side content?
Also any tips for the ?
The counters are destroying me. I tried using stop but it only hits very rarely.
I set up barrier/m-barrier and regen and using strong attacks (e.g. omnislash and mimi)
It's just a collection item; there's a couple in there, some from Gold Saucer minigames.
For that battle:
So they both have 55k HP; Omega is weak to Bolt, Water, and Earth but will null Bio, Gravity, and halve Wind. He can be Stopped as you've seen, but it's tough to land due to his high level of 119. If you still have Aeris, then Seal Evil is a guaranteed Stop that can be useful here, or perhaps combining Stop with MP Turbo for a better chance (more stars = higher chance). Stop + Quadra Magic can also be a good one if you have it though it'll only be good for a couple of casts.
Shinryu is weak to Wind only, and absorbs Holy. He nulls Gravity & Earth, and halves Bio (he can be poisoned which should be handy as it'll deal 1/32 of his MaxHP per tick). He can also be Slowed which should be done early though this also slows down the rate that poison ticks at.
Both bosses are relatively slow at 76 and 87 speed so if you have a party with fairly high Dex then you can get a nice turn advantage. However, Omega will always counter-attack when struck by an ability and Shinryu will use certain one-off abilities when his HP falls below a certain mark so you'll still need to be careful not to get overwhelmed. Omega counters pretty much anything, so you can avoid taking some damage by avoiding him but Shinryu will also attack Omega which triggers those counters.
There's a lot of nasty attacks flying around so deciding what to guard against will be important. Fire is a good one as it covers two of Omega's attacks, or Holy as Shinryu's biggest attack, Almagest, carries this element. Shoot, Cut, and Hit elements are used frequently by Omega so Armour/Accessories that reduce these are also worth considering. For status ailments, Petrify is used by both bosses so that would be a good one; Confusion and Silence as well so you don't lose a character's input at a crucial time.
So first thing to decide is whether to deal with Shinryu first or deal with Omega first and this may depend on what death counter you want to deal with; when Shinryu dies he'll use Almagest which is a heavy-hitting Holy element attack if Omega is still alive (but will also have used other nasty attacks while his HP falls, such as Lv?? Old which reduces a character's stats to 0 and Zombie Breath which prevents reviving except through the Phoenix summon). Omega, on the other hand, will use Encircle which renders one character inactive for the rest of the battle so you'd only have two characters to finish off Shinryu.
I think what people tend to do is keep Omega locked down with Stop as best they can, deal with Shinryu, and then mop up Omega but may be wrong about that.
To start, I'd try to Slow & Poison Shinryu, and land Stop on Omega with an MP Turbo Stop, Quadra Magic Stop, or Aeris' Seal Evil if that's available. While Omega is stopped, he can't counter-attack at all so that'd be the time to start hitting him with Bolt, Water, and Earth attacks. You can tie these to physical attacks with Elemental, or use weapons with those elements already aspected to them (Cid should have a bunch of these) or just stick with spells like Break.
I'd maybe be wary about committing all 3 characters to attack when dealing with Omega, as his Stop may wear off and you'll suddenly be facing 2-3 counter-attacks + any turns Shinryu or Omega get while that happens. Try attacking with one at a time so the other two can deal with any consequences that come back. You can probably be aggressive when Stop is freshly applied, but after some turns I'd maybe start to hold back a bit.
There's a few things to note with Shinryu as well. First of all, he'll counter limit breaks with Lv?? Flare so be careful about using those against him. At certain HP increments he'll use a special ability: At 4/5s, he'll use Big Guard (you'll want to dispel that ASAP). At 3/5s, he'll use Zombie Breath which renders any character that is KO'd from that point on unable to be revived except through the use of the Phoenix Summon. At 2/5s. he'll use Lv?? Old which reduces the Strength, Magic, Defence, and Magic Defence of one character to 0 (while this can be cleared by KOing and then reviving the character, remember that the Zombie Breath effect is in play by this point). And finally, at 1/5 he'll use Maelstrom which reduces a party member's HP to 1. When he dies, and if Omega is not dead, he'll use Almagest so make sure you're topped up and got MBarrier or Shield up before finishing him off (Sense should work on both of these guys if the .exe is patched so you can track when they're about to die).
Hope that helps.