Keep it up LG30!! I can't wait to play thru this on the Saturn! It's awesome to see some of the lesser known titles get this type of love for the Saturn!
(HELP) Translate the game "Phantasm"
- Thread starter LG30
- Start date
I'm very interested on this project, as I love Phantasmagoria (well, adventure games in general, especially LucasArts and Sierra ones) and fortunately this got a Sega Saturn version. I wish some of them would have followed the same path. I own both the PC and Sega Saturn version of this game and have played both until completion. It's not so difficult to do it with the Sega Saturn version once you know the PC version.
Unfortunately I lack the skills to properly help you. You remind me when several years ago, I attempted to do the same with DarkSeed II, which runs a similar problem to this game. Even managed to convert most of its videos. Unfortunately, in that game the issue is much worse because the game is riddled with Japanese text everywhere. At least you won't find the same problem here.
You mentioned you uncensored the intro, which is a good thing as that's very noticeable. It won't be the only censored footage you'll find in the Sega Saturn version. Essentially the last chapter is very censored in the Sega Saturn version. In fact, I seem to remember there are cut things which I don't know if they will be possible to recover in the Sega Saturn version. Not shortened videos like the intro, there are some of them you will be able to recover, I mean there are scenes which don't even appear at all. But oh well, I suppose at least some of the censorship will be able to get removed (some scenes in which Adrienne is killed are like graphically garbled or something like that).
You mentioned the only aspect remaining to have a full English CD1 version (I would be interested in this, as this game never got a dubbed Spanish version but a subtitled one, and I don't think subtitles will be possible to implement in this Sega Saturn version like they are in the PC version) is all the speech of the skull assistant. So you manage to change all the speech of Adrienne and other characters (when she speaks to her husband, or when she goes to town, for example) that is in-game and non-FMV? This game is structured in a way that it has full FMV sequences (like the ones on the start of each chapter), and then simpler conversations in which the filmed characters are overlapping the backgrounds (ie, "in-game" sequences), and I believe those are not full FMV files. For example, the Spanish PC version has proper subtitles functions for those "in-game sequences" (plus everything the skulls speaks), but in the case of the FMV it has hardcoded subtitles directly into the FMV itself. So, did you manage to dub the "in-game" sequences and how come you are not able to do the same with the skull, anyway? Are these so different in format?
Unfortunately I lack the skills to properly help you. You remind me when several years ago, I attempted to do the same with DarkSeed II, which runs a similar problem to this game. Even managed to convert most of its videos. Unfortunately, in that game the issue is much worse because the game is riddled with Japanese text everywhere. At least you won't find the same problem here.
You mentioned you uncensored the intro, which is a good thing as that's very noticeable. It won't be the only censored footage you'll find in the Sega Saturn version. Essentially the last chapter is very censored in the Sega Saturn version. In fact, I seem to remember there are cut things which I don't know if they will be possible to recover in the Sega Saturn version. Not shortened videos like the intro, there are some of them you will be able to recover, I mean there are scenes which don't even appear at all. But oh well, I suppose at least some of the censorship will be able to get removed (some scenes in which Adrienne is killed are like graphically garbled or something like that).
You mentioned the only aspect remaining to have a full English CD1 version (I would be interested in this, as this game never got a dubbed Spanish version but a subtitled one, and I don't think subtitles will be possible to implement in this Sega Saturn version like they are in the PC version) is all the speech of the skull assistant. So you manage to change all the speech of Adrienne and other characters (when she speaks to her husband, or when she goes to town, for example) that is in-game and non-FMV? This game is structured in a way that it has full FMV sequences (like the ones on the start of each chapter), and then simpler conversations in which the filmed characters are overlapping the backgrounds (ie, "in-game" sequences), and I believe those are not full FMV files. For example, the Spanish PC version has proper subtitles functions for those "in-game sequences" (plus everything the skulls speaks), but in the case of the FMV it has hardcoded subtitles directly into the FMV itself. So, did you manage to dub the "in-game" sequences and how come you are not able to do the same with the skull, anyway? Are these so different in format?
Thank you for your feedback and your analysis.
In terms of translation, the FMV sequences are translated via the English audio of the PC version and concerning the other scenes during the game, they are also translated into English via the PC version. As for the skull, on the PC version, the audio of the skull is put in an xxx.AUD file which contains 3 minutes for the first CD with all the clues. As for the saturn version, no file has any similarity and I can't find or hide this famous file.
I am stuck at this stage and I cannot move forward. I will try to help myself with a translation team because it exceeds my skills now.
In terms of translation, the FMV sequences are translated via the English audio of the PC version and concerning the other scenes during the game, they are also translated into English via the PC version. As for the skull, on the PC version, the audio of the skull is put in an xxx.AUD file which contains 3 minutes for the first CD with all the clues. As for the saturn version, no file has any similarity and I can't find or hide this famous file.
I am stuck at this stage and I cannot move forward. I will try to help myself with a translation team because it exceeds my skills now.
So, you mean that the "other scenes during the game" are done in the Sega Saturn in a straightforward manner pretty similar to the ones of the PC version, while the skull messages are the ones that differ the most and are Sega Saturn specific? Interesting they did that. Video (FMV) is pretty easy to localize in any game as long as you have the required codec/program to convert. But the "other scenes during the game" are not full video files as you may have noticed, they work most similar to how the Sierra interpreter does in other similar games of that age (this is the SCI2 and onwards variant of the engine).
I really hope someone can help with this. If the behaviour of the skull in this version is Sega Saturn specific, I'm afraid someone very skilled on the Sega Saturn side of things will have to help to figure out how this works and pretty much none of the SCI2 doings (which is very documented, especially by the work done implemeting the games in ScummVM) can do anything here.
I really hope someone can help with this. If the behaviour of the skull in this version is Sega Saturn specific, I'm afraid someone very skilled on the Sega Saturn side of things will have to help to figure out how this works and pretty much none of the SCI2 doings (which is very documented, especially by the work done implemeting the games in ScummVM) can do anything here.
Indeed, there are two different types of videos.
For FMV videos, the Saturn version is in .CPK and the PC version is in .VMD. Quite simple to read, after re-encoding for saturn is quite difficult but achievable. They are all 100% reduced. For in-game videos, these are videos recorded on a green background. For the PC version, they are in .RBT and for the Saturn version, they are still in .CPK. It is there, that the re-encoding is impossible because the Saturn version does not re-encode the green background and makes me a black clipping. So I went through ffmpeg to simply extract the audio from the PC version and paste it on the Saturn version and it works very well. However, we had to find a software that could read .RBT videos and there, I looked for a lot of time but I found. From there, all videos in the game are also 100% translated. And now, I just have that damn skull to decipher its audio location.
For FMV videos, the Saturn version is in .CPK and the PC version is in .VMD. Quite simple to read, after re-encoding for saturn is quite difficult but achievable. They are all 100% reduced. For in-game videos, these are videos recorded on a green background. For the PC version, they are in .RBT and for the Saturn version, they are still in .CPK. It is there, that the re-encoding is impossible because the Saturn version does not re-encode the green background and makes me a black clipping. So I went through ffmpeg to simply extract the audio from the PC version and paste it on the Saturn version and it works very well. However, we had to find a software that could read .RBT videos and there, I looked for a lot of time but I found. From there, all videos in the game are also 100% translated. And now, I just have that damn skull to decipher its audio location.
Just wanted to stop in to say good luck and that I also am very excited to play this when you release a patch!
Any progress on the project?
Well I am stuck on 2 points and it is way beyond my skills.
-- The first point is at the level of the skeleton head which gives clues in the options menu. In the PC part, it is a single 3 minute file. In the SATURN part, it is about several files and not only, it would be necessary that I get to know what each file means because the voices are in Japanese.
-- The second point is really more restrictive, it is a question of including the English voices in the playable scenes in FMV. The problem is that when re-encoding the video, the software removes the green background and replaces it with black and there the game becomes unplayable because it hides half the game.
So there you go, I really tried to charhcer a lot of solutions, created software suites with FFMPEG, found other software specific to SIERRA but here I am stuck. If someone more competent wants to give it a try, I could give them all the software and the progress of my work.
In any case, I thank the community for supporting me in this project.
-- The first point is at the level of the skeleton head which gives clues in the options menu. In the PC part, it is a single 3 minute file. In the SATURN part, it is about several files and not only, it would be necessary that I get to know what each file means because the voices are in Japanese.
-- The second point is really more restrictive, it is a question of including the English voices in the playable scenes in FMV. The problem is that when re-encoding the video, the software removes the green background and replaces it with black and there the game becomes unplayable because it hides half the game.
So there you go, I really tried to charhcer a lot of solutions, created software suites with FFMPEG, found other software specific to SIERRA but here I am stuck. If someone more competent wants to give it a try, I could give them all the software and the progress of my work.
In any case, I thank the community for supporting me in this project.
Hello. Any news about the project?
retrodadandmodernlad
Established Member
Fantastic work on the translation by all involved. It's one I have been looking forward to since I saw work had begun and I am really enjoying playing it throughFor those interested, the game is finally translated and available here for now 😉
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TrekkiesUnite118
Established Member
You should really host it as a patch instead of a fully patched ISO. That's just asking for trouble. If you need help making a patch myself or KnightOfDragon can help you.
TrekkiesUnite118
Established Member
It's pretty easy to make the patch with the patcher, you just select the disc image and click create patch, then drag and drop in the folders with your changed files in them. Then you select "Create Disc # patch" and it will create a patch for that disc number. When you have all 8 discs done make a new patch off of Disc 1 and select "add Disc patches" add in the patches you made for each disc. This will make it just one patch to do all 8 discs.
I have the English version already converted over to SSP. So I can upload it for you if you send me a readme. I can do the French one as well if you'd like.
I have the English version already converted over to SSP. So I can upload it for you if you send me a readme. I can do the French one as well if you'd like.
TrekkiesUnite118
Established Member
Finally got the English one uploaded, will try to get the French one done in the next few days.
Congrats on powering through this until the end! Very impressive. 8 CDs! Holy crap, I didn’t know there was ever a Saturn release with that many disks.For those interested, the game is finally translated and available here for now 😉
If anyone plays this on an ODE, like Satiator, let us know if there are any issues changing between disks.
TrekkiesUnite118
Established Member
As long as it saves there shouldn't be an issue changing discs.
