Need help with stuff...

If you aren't aware, (you probably aren't, as I haven't really told anyone) I've been tinkering with possibly doing a translation of Grandia for Saturn. As you can imagine, I need help.

First off:

Does anyone know anything about the ADX audio format? I know many DC games use it, and Grandia on Saturn uses it. I know there's tools out there to decompress it (to WAV) but are there any tools to convert/encode to it?

Also, I found where Grandia probably stores all its crap - in a big packfile called GM1.STZ (on the first disc anyway). I am still unenlightened as to what's really in here, but I'm guessing the text is probably in here, because it wouldn't be practical to put it in the executable, and I've searched all the other files, and haven't found anything resembling a script yet. The file is 278MB. There is also a small 4kb file called GM1.IDX, and going from the name, is probably an index for the packfile.

Thirdly, what format are the videos in? On disc they are *.mov files, and browsing with a hex editor, I can see the word 'Apple' towards the beginning of the file... are they some form of QuickTime? I vaguely recall hearing somewhere that early (like 68k Macintosh early) QT movies used Radius's Cinepak compression. However, when viewing the movies in-game, they have a very low framerate and the compression artifacts look almost like MPEG... ? Strange stuff. I can't use any program to play them.

Any help is appreciated.
 
hey, i think i can help. the adx format is the same as that other format...umm *.sfa, the file extensions are interchangeable. to encode it, you need the Dreamcast SDK movie maker, i have it if you need it. I am very interested in your project, seeing as grandia is one of my favorite games. i have both the saturn and psx versions if you need them for resources.
 
Djidjo: I am really wanting to play it in English too, that's why I'm trying to do this.

sonic1687: That movie maker sdk would probably come in handy. There was an English language PSX version right? It would be a good idea to possibly use the translation from it as the text itself would be most compatible (likely to fit textboxes, etc.). If you would like to help immediately, I need to know if there is, on the PSX disc 1, a file called GM1.STZ in a directory called 'FIELD'. I just want to see how similar the structures are between PSX and Saturn. Thanks!
 
ok, ill look asap. you think i could help you on the project...ya know, like be a team? also, what would you do for voices? use the english psx ones (which are very well acted, atleast i think so) or keep the japaneese ones?
 
ok, i just checked. disc one has the same files:

FIELDGM1.STZ 251mb

FIELDGM1.IDX 4kb

i hope that helps. i dont have a hex editor at the moment, so i cant explore the file
 
If we could get the PSX english ones that would be good.  I may leave the Jap original voices though, because there are purists out there that would like that more... and I'm not sure how hard it's going to be to get the voices in there...

I am kind of curious... I wonder what would happen if we just replaced the Saturn file with the PSX one? Probably nothing good but I would like to try, out of curiosity.

Oh, and for the team thing... consider yourself part of the team.
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 The more, the merrier.

Strange note:  the files are almost the same size.  Could you send me the file GM1.IDX from the PSX version?  My email is radsil@crackdealer[dot]com.
 
yea, ill send it when i can...my cd-rom in this pc dont work, so i gotta wait to use my other one.

yey, I'm part of a team!! heh

i also thought about just replacing the file, maybe that might work...who knows, i doubt it though...i should try it sometime
 
Well, now that we have a team, hopefully something will get done.
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 I have a long history of not finishing things I start...
 
Radsil, the .idx files are exactly the same size (they both end at the same spot on line 00000FF0) but they are very, very different from each other.
 
Hmm. I was goofing around with Grandia on the Saturn, and I found out that if you remove the disc while the game is running, the music stops after a second. Unfortunately, this means the music is streamed from disc, and I'll bet this is what that huge file is... also, I can't find any text in it.

Also, FLEABttn, could you check the GM1.STZ file on the PSX version? The Saturn's GM1.STZ begins with the first three bytes 'ST5'. I just want to know if the PSX version uses the same type of file. Oh, and thanks for the help.
 
Not exactly sure what the saturn version uses, but in the psx version, it's all streaming vab contained within GM1.STZ(voices, music, etc.). I found this out back in the day when messing around with a few psx utilities I had.
 
hey radsil, im reeeealy sorry about not doing anything...thanks for not yelling at me! but i dont browse these boards regularly so, if you need me, please e-mail me a sonic1687@aol.com sorry that i took so long to respond, and yes i am still looking foward to helping out.
 
It's OK, believe me.
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 Current progress is at like 0% because I can't find the text.  If anyone knows of a good viewer for different formats of Japanese text, I'd like to know about it.
 
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