Flies - attack on Earth ... sigh...

I've been fascinated by that game ever since I played it at a friends house ages ago. But I've never been able to get anywhere and there are no walkthroughs on the internet.

The game is german, but I don't mind that, I can read/understand some german. But I just can't be able to make any progress in this game.

Anyone know how you get out of the office?
I've picked up a ID-card which needs to be initialized... how to do that?
How do you use the computer? you add the mouse, but nothing happens. (I know I have to turn on the computer, but other than that you can't interact).

Anyone? Any help is appreciated.. I'd really love to get this game going as it's been haunting me for 10 years and counting.

Anyone please?

[bird]

same here, ever looked like a fascinating game to me, even if you dont manage to leave the first room

where did you find the computer? is it beyond the first door? if so whats the code for the door?

edit: nvm, silly me didnt try the go back button so i didnt see the backside of the room ><
to use the mouse select it and press the talk to button 8)

[kremiso]

necropost just to agree
a real shame this game was released only in German language

cool soundtrack, sci-fi story
fast interface, everything works greatly
zero delays/slowdowns when clicking on whatever

darn

here the pc dos longplay (also German)
maybe can be useful to proceed into, also on the miggy :

[ Show youtube player ]

[TCD]

Originally Posted by kremiso

a real shame this game was released only in German language

Maybe somebody could check if the text can easily be translated? I assume for such a text heavy game the text won't be hard coded into the game.

[kremiso]

Originally Posted by TCD

Maybe somebody could check if the text can easily be translated? I assume for such a text heavy game the text won't be hard coded into the game.

worth a try
there are some infos about the data files into the whdload page :

Flies whdload page

from StingRay, probably he remember some better details then

maybe a check also on the pc dos files

[kremiso]

i made a quick check
the text files are custom powerpacked too
microfragmented (as many little files) and contained into the 'story' directory of each disk

they can be extracted with the 'dl' command, already in the disk1
this is an example of how they are structured :

[TCD]

Hmm, doesn't look like there are limiters, but rather like the game reads the strings at fixed positions in the file. At least it seems to be ASCII. Maybe a coder could check how the game reads the text?

[kremiso]

Originally Posted by TCD

...the game reads the strings at fixed positions in the file...

yes, this could be a trouble

i found other text files are also on 'desc' and 'mail' folders
in these last cases, the files structure seems a lot easier to manage
just a contiguous cut of text

the intro sequence text seems into the main file, and that's not good too

also, i need to check if the game can accept the depacked text files instead of the packed ones, cause the lack of a pack command like the depack (dl) one;
there is an option to install the game on hd already depacked, but this involves just the bigger graphics files, and not all the files

[kremiso]

Originally Posted by kremiso

also, i need to check if the game can accept the depacked text files instead of the packed ones

checked this, it seems work fine too, and that's a good thing;
just a single file (out of the folders previous mentioned) required the .pp extension to let proceed the game start in my tests

there are probably some more, but the files in those folders seems recognized the same

time for some little translation attempt
let's see what happen

[TCD]

Originally Posted by kremiso

time for some little translation attempt
let's see what happen

Fingers crossed it'll work Let me know if you need help with the translation.

[kremiso]

Originally Posted by TCD

Let me know if you need help with the translation.

it would be awesome, thanks
my knowledge of German language is below zero
the web can help, but for sure a native is another match

i have tried on the main interface icons :



translated from :

[kremiso]

Originally Posted by TCD

Fingers crossed it'll work Let me know if you need help with the translation.

i have uploaded a first try into the Zone, for everyone to judge if a translation worth the effort lol

definitely the worst thing are the strings at fixed position thing
btw, with some hexedit it can be done imo

to test it, you need to mount the folder as virtual hard disk on WinUAE
and launch the Workbench before

i have translated the interface icons, some of the logic, and some dialogues of the first part, just to check too

both original German and English first try folders are included (the equivalent of the first gamefiles disk)

feel free to report errors, hints, opinions or whatever thanks

[TCD]

I'll check it in a bit. Thank you for trying to do this

[epithetic]

Hey kremiso, this is a cool effort and certainly looks interesting.

I had some free time over the weekend so went ahead and translated the first two disks for you (more or less) in case you want to give this a proper go.

- It's a little rough, a single pass with no proofreading or editing to speak of.
- Files are completely untested, I've never played the game.
- Tried to preserve offsets, but game logic may still be broken, especially in story/ files due to how they're structured.
- I may have missed some strings while trawling through the files
- I won't be able to troubleshoot or properly implement any of this ingame

Either way, files are attached. I could probably finish translating the remaining strings over the next couple of weeks if you're interested.

[TCD]

Just had a go and it's pretty good The note that you can pick up isn't translated, but the rest of the text looks good.

[kremiso]

Originally Posted by epithetic

Hey kremiso, this is a cool effort and certainly looks interesting.

I had some free time over the weekend so went ahead and translated the first two disks for you (more or less) in case you want to give this a proper go.

- It's a little rough, a single pass with no proofreading or editing to speak of.
- Files are completely untested, I've never played the game.
- Tried to preserve offsets, but game logic may still be broken, especially in story/ files due to how they're structured.
- I may have missed some strings while trawling through the files
- I won't be able to troubleshoot or properly implement any of this ingame

Either way, files are attached. I could probably finish translating the remaining strings over the next couple of weeks if you're interested.

thank you very much, this can help in fasten everything

yes, every translated cut of text needs to be 'adapted' when replaced to the original;
ie the 'wrap to the next line' hex command (0A) must be added every specific amount of characters, or the text itfelf will be truncated and not displayed

obviously, the original contains that command in different positions

after a couple of truncated lines, the game will crash

apart this, having the already translated cut of text should help, having both text files opened side-by-side

[kremiso]

Originally Posted by TCD

Just had a go and it's pretty good The note that you can pick up isn't translated, but the rest of the text looks good.

thanks
can you try to proceed a bit into the story?
basically, you must physically take the place of the dead doctor, getting rid of the corpse

the code to initialize the id-card is 12345 (should be in the game manual, but i'm not completely sure)

when you have time of course, this is definitely a long term project lol
btw, the game is in 4 disks, but the wall of micro text files is just on disk 2 and 3

about the note, you mean the first screen, with the object data, or the second one, with the text info?
the first is yet untranslated, but the second it should be;
with the left mouseclick, you'll go to the next page, with the right mouseclick, you'll skip completely the second page closing the text info

[TCD]

Originally Posted by kremiso

about the note, you mean the first screen, with the object data, or the second one, with the text info?

Sorry, what I meant is when you examine the note:


The text that appears when you try to take something while carrying the doctor is also still in German:


I put the doctor away, but I'm not able to sit down on the armchair.

[kremiso]

Originally Posted by TCD

The text that appears when you try to take something while carrying the doctor is also still in German

I put the doctor away, but I'm not able to sit down on the armchair.

got it thanks
yeah, the helping text, displayed in red, is almost totally inside the main executable file, i'll get rid of this, carefully

you are wearing a weighty suit, impossible to sit down;
leave alone that armchair

an hint, if you still read German text, you are not in the basic path to proceed in the story

you need to reach to make work the scanner on the right (and get rid of the corpse),
setting the first four settings (xray power and intensity iirc) to max
and the last two (timings) 4/5 mouseclicks over the zero value (at middle level from zero and the half value)

also you can try to open the door without getting rid of the corpse before

EDIT how to add a spoiler text here on EAB? i don't see the icon atm

[TCD]

Good question about adding spoiler tags. I'll have another go maybe tomorrow. The game isn't the easiest one to get into

Edit: Guess spoiler tags won't be implemented: http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=47311