Well, a lot depends on how the game is coded.  The text is apparently in Unicode, so it's a standard format.  The only real question is 'is this thing capable of outputting all unicode, or just a limited subset that doesn't include English characters."  If it is, then anyone with Japanese knowledge should be able to just translate the unicode, and we plug it in and everything's good, although the menus won't be translated this way.  On the other hand, It's just as likely to throw up junk or crash if someone tries this.  I think, once I get my desktop back up and running, that it'll take me about a week to come up with a 'joke script' for the first scene or so that'll serve as proof-of-concept.

What stops us from translating the menus and such? Are they graphic images?

Then I'm guessing at best we'd be translating the dialogue and writing a faq to accompany the work, something to explain the menus.

If we can't manage to edit the code for the dialogue, I'm sure we can write a translation faq, although it will be tricky as hell in a branching game...

If you manage to do this I will love you forever. It is official.

Sey wrote:

You can use also smart ftp, it's very user-friendly.

Thanks! I used it...very easy.

junior wrote:

Hi everyone, I'm an anime fan whos been on a Utena kick lately, and I was thinking about the Saturn game, as, since I've seen the show a million times, its just about my only way to experience some new Utena material.

Amen, brother!

junior wrote:

I was thinking that the video game would be a good way to study Japanese (one of my part time goals) since it would display the text at the same time as you hear the characters talk, so you could look up the text while also learning the pronunciation.

You're unlikely to get the basics just from studying a video game, but once you have the basics, juxtaposing the text and its translation could be lots of fun and very helpful.  Good luck studying Japanese!  For me it's been a hell of a ride, and I'm not even very good at it yet!

junior wrote:

If anyone could put the ROM up on a torrent or FTP that'd be really cool.  If anyone wants me to set up a torrent, I'd gladly do that in return for being sent a ROM.

I think we're working on getting an FTP set up off of ohtori.nu -- see above.

junior wrote:

I was thinking that if we're serious about translating the game, we could set up a wiki or something.  We could put up the Japanese text file, and users could write the English translation below the lines of japanese text.

the other option is to load screen captures of the game up on the wiki, and English text below. 

(Maybe a wiki isn't the most efficient way to do a translation, I dunno, might be worth a shot though)

Good idea!  I think a wiki would be a really fascinating way to collaborate on translation projects.  I'm not sure it's practical in this case, though.  Context is critical whenever you translate something -- especially from Japanese, an incredibly context-sensitive language -- and when you're translating a dating game with tons of branches, putting quotes on a wiki for translation makes much of the context disappear.

There may also be technical problems, in that we aren't sure yet whether the game's text is stored in an easily readable text file, and it would take a LOT of screenshots to wikify the game if it's not, but the context problem is there regardless.

junior wrote:

Viva Utena!

Viva la révolution!

Last edited by satyreyes (11-18-2006 07:36:15 PM)

Dude, you're so awesome for hosting and Dani is awesome for... doing what she did, yeah.

Anyway, I downloaded everything and followed the instructions, but it says "fatal error" and won't play. Any idea why that happens?

Last edited by Hina the Prince (11-21-2006 10:54:50 AM)

I just bought a Japanese Sega Saturn. The game plays great on it. I think I can video capture footage right off the game. I'm waiting for a little gadget to come in the mail that will help with that. If any translators would like to take a crack at watching avi files of game moves and trying to translate, I can upload video clips. That's my Thanksgiving project hopefully. I'd like to know if there's interest in doing that.

Dani wrote:

Hina the Prince wrote:

Dude, you're so awesome for hosting and Dani is awesome for... doing what he did, yeah.

Sorry "she", thanks.

Right, sorry! ;

Hina the Prince wrote:

Anyway, I downloaded everything and followed the instructions, but it says "fatal error" and won't play. Any idea why that happens?

When does it say "fatal error"? What program is giving you that message? How far do you get in the process before you get that?

Also, what are your computer specs?

A second after I open the game with the emulator, the "New Load" screen shows and then the screen fades to black.

And... I seriously have no idea what my computer specs are. I fail at computers. D: Is there a way I can check?

Dani wrote:

Hina the Prince wrote:

A second after I open the game with the emulator, the "New Load" screen shows and then the screen fades to black.

Okay, so after the screen fades to black, then a message pops up and says "fatal error"? Just clarifying...

To be accurate, it says "_DriveStatus_Play() error. Fatal error."

Hina the Prince wrote:

And... I seriously have no idea what my computer specs are. I fail at computers. D: Is there a way I can check?

Yep, go to "Start" in the bottom left corner of your computer screen, then go to "Run". In the "Run" box, type in dxdiag.exe . It will run for a sec and then it will ask you if you want to check for blah, blah, blah. Say "no". Then you will get the Direct X Diagnostic screen with your specs. Tell me the Operating System, the Processor, the Memory, and the Direct X Version.

Dani wrote:

When you open Alcohol 120%, is Disk 1 mounted in the virtual drive so it says "Media Present" next to the drive letter?

Yes, it is.

Thank you very much for your help!

Sey wrote:

About images's translation, I think there is a chance, but it's like utopistic one.

All the games usually has "archives" coded in a different way to protect the files(Do you have world of warcraft, or simply warcraftIII? The MPQ files...). So someone must create an "extractor" to extract the protect files, and overwrite this with the translated files, and again create the "archive" file.

I know that this is possible because some patch for the hentai game works in this way, but the problem is create this extractor, of course

Right, CMK is working on that I think. That kind of in-game translation would be AWESOME. But basically I'd even be happy with some good old-fashioned handwritten translations right off the TV screen at this point, that's why I thought I'd work on screen capturing the game as a I play it. Then anyone could watch it and translate it.

Sey wrote:

For now, I found this.

SUH-WEET! You totally rock. I think I'll leave work early.

Also, I will email the creator and ask permission to include it on this site. Thanks, Sey!

UPDATE: The email address listed is no good so, Rurouni Kaji, if you see this, we thank you for the Sega FAQ.

Last edited by Dani (11-22-2006 08:15:45 PM)