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

[kremiso]

Originally Posted by TCD

...The game isn't the easiest one to get into

you are right, but that's part of his value imo
hope the rest of the story is ok like the first one

when you want, thanks

---
i see about the spoiler, ok
i'll share the next hints via pm maybe, then

[epithetic]

Originally Posted by kremiso

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

Yeah, all text I've provided should be truncated/formatted properly for the game in terms of line breaks. Includes the executables as well.

If going over the default by one character is an issue, you may have to fix a couple of the desc/ texts as I converted a couple of the double line breaks to single ones for formatting reasons. Opted to replace one of them for a space instead of altering the file size/potentially screwing up following offsets.

edit: you can simulate a spoiler tag manually by setting the text colour to "transparent" like this <spoiler text here. >

[kremiso]

Originally Posted by epithetic

Yeah, all text I've provided should be truncated/formatted properly for the game in terms of line breaks. Includes the executables as well.

If going over the default by one character is an issue, you may have to fix a couple of the desc/ texts as I converted a couple of the double line breaks to single ones for formatting reasons. Opted to replace one of them for a space instead of altering the file size/potentially screwing up following offsets.

i'll make a try and report with your files replaced as they are then
thanks

[kremiso]

i have uploaded a new test release in the zone, part1
@epithetic translated files used this time

restored the intro icon, to test also that part (as translation)
the intro crashes at the end, but it's not a translation problem, it happens the same on the original if runned via hdd after workbench loaded
it works ok runned from disk (without WB)

i need to fix some few minor errors, but the translation seems yet very good, surely better than mine

also some repeated text lines (almost at the end of each file) need to be disabled

feedback requested thanks

[epithetic]

Originally Posted by kremiso

i have uploaded a new test release in the zone, part1
@epithetic translated files used this time

restored the intro icon, to test also that part (as translation)
the intro crashes at the end, but it's not a translation problem, it happens the same on the original if runned via hdd after workbench loaded
it works ok runned from disk (without WB)

i need to fix some few minor errors, but the translation seems yet very good, surely better than mine

also some repeated text lines (almost at the end of each file) need to be disabled

feedback requested thanks

I wasn't sure what was up with that; is it an artifact from using the extract tool? This is what I end up with after running the game files through dl.

I kept the duplication with its original offset because I figured maybe it's intentional, but if it's just garbage data I'll get rid of it for the following disks (less work for me, too).

[kremiso]

Originally Posted by epithetic

I wasn't sure what was up with that; is it an artifact from using the extract tool? This is what I end up with after running the game files through dl.

I kept the duplication with its original offset because I figured maybe it's intentional, but if it's just garbage data I'll get rid of it for the following disks (less work for me, too).

i think there is an hex code that works like an end of file input, i mean to jump those parts;
btw, playing with the original, some text are ok and some not, with the repeated text, so they didn't care too much at the time

seems everything has been shortened, causing that you are right 'garbage data' effect

[epithetic]

Originally Posted by kremiso

i think there is an hex code that works like an end of file input, i mean to jump those parts;
btw, playing with the original, some text are ok and some not, with the repeated text, so they didn't care too much at the time

seems everything has been shortened, causing that you are right 'garbage data' effect

Makes sense. The original text wasn't exactly proofread in terms of spelling either.

Either way, here's an updated version.

Zip now includes world2, as well as all the previous files with some fixes - a couple of typos, a few strings I overlooked originally, and truncating the 40b of garbage data at the end of all extracted texts.

[kremiso]

Originally Posted by epithetic

Makes sense. The original text wasn't exactly proofread in terms of spelling either.

Either way, here's an updated version.

Zip now includes world2, as well as all the previous files with some fixes - a couple of typos, a few strings I overlooked originally, and truncating the 40b of garbage data at the end of all extracted texts.

incredible fast, congrats

i'll test it asap, trying to go deep into

I haven't asked you yet if you can run the game, to test it also yourself?
it would be a shame if you cannot see the results of your great work

[epithetic]

Originally Posted by kremiso

incredible fast, congrats

i'll test it asap, trying to go deep into

I haven't asked you yet if you can run the game, to test it also yourself?
it would be a shame if you cannot see the results of your great work

In theory, yes. I did give it a quick test initially but as you've discovered it crashed after the intro for me with the extracted files. I don't really have time to troubleshoot or do in depth testing so that's pretty much on you

With that said, here is the (tentatively) final update of the translated files:

- Complete script has been translated (now including world3)
- Went back to fix a few mistakes due to lack of context (I skimmed the youtube longplay)
- Removed garbage data from extracted .blt files as well

As previously stated, files are as-is and will require troubleshooting and thorough playtesting. Interface prompts and commands (story/ files) require particular attention as I have zero context translating these, there's a lot of garbled text in the files and space is very constrained so things might either be broken or lead to nonsensical text in some cases. I tried my best at guessing, but let me know any issues you find.

[kremiso]

great, thank you

i have a savestate here, where the game asks for the gamedisk3 (world2);
it can be useful to directly test for the world2 textfiles, so skipping the first part;
in reality is quite easy (time talking) to reach that point, btw i could add that save in the next rebuilt release, or just share here for who wanna test it.

yeah, the main icons are a bit problematic to be correctly translated, cause some of them (all?) have multi function;
ie i think the first one starting from the left should be translated as 'INTERACT', cause it's needed to talk, or use the fingerprint, eyescan, and also to open a door sometime (and there's already an OPEN command );
sometime one command take the place of another, you need to test a couple of them everytime, just to be sure, and that's an hint for the game in general

i still don't know how to test the last part (world3) lol, the lab itself on the second part, is like a maze, and the map contained in the original (and available on HOL) is imo essential to proceed into

i could put in the zone a part1+part2 hd install, or directly the three parts, with the last untested;
in any case, we could update this if needed

[epithetic]

Originally Posted by kremiso

yeah, the main icons are a bit problematic to be correctly translated, cause some of them (all?) have multi function;
ie i think the first one starting from the left should be translated as 'INTERACT', cause it's needed to talk, or use the fingerprint, eyescan, and also to open a door sometime (and there's already an OPEN command );

They're probably not very precise in the original either.

'Interact' sounds about right for the general purpose button. What (if anything) is it translated as right now? If it has a string, it doesn't appear alongside the six main buttons as far as I can tell.

Originally Posted by kremiso

i still don't know how to test the last part (world3) lol, the lab itself on the second part, is like a maze, and the map contained in the original (and available on HOL) is imo essential to proceed into

i could put in the zone a part1+part2 hd install, or directly the three parts, with the last untested;
in any case, we could update this if needed

Speaking of essential to proceed, since the manual is required to legitimately complete and make sense of some parts of the game I've also given it a go. I think it's complete, at least as far as required information goes. Let me know if anything needs added or if I mistyped a number making the game impossible to complete.

It's your call, but I'd recommend holding off on more widely circulating the game until it's been at least tested to be playable throughout without any major issues. The last thing you want is several broken versions floating around making it impossible to find the finished working release.

Either way, enjoy the manual!

[vulture]

@epithetic

Just to let you know there are problems with the translated unextracted file "1.blt"

As a result you don't see the 2 x screens of text or the few screens of spaceship animation before seeing the lady at the base.

Cheers!

[epithetic]

Originally Posted by vulture

@epithetic

Just to let you know there are problems with the translated unextracted file "1.blt"

As a result you don't see the 2 x screens of text or the few screens of spaceship animation before seeing the lady at the base.

Cheers!

Not sure why from a quick glance at the file, unless it does need the duplicated/garbage data at the end. If you replace the file with the one attached here, does it work as expected?

[kremiso]

Originally Posted by epithetic

...It's your call, but I'd recommend holding off on more widely circulating the game until it's been at least tested to be playable throughout without any major issues. The last thing you want is several broken versions floating around making it impossible to find the finished working release.

good point
ok, let's keep to use this thread to check deep into then first, like @vulture did

thanks for the manual work, truly appreciated

[vulture]

No, same issue unfortunately. I also tried editing the german extracted file myself with uisng a hex editor but incurred the same issue. ...but I looked the at English text you used, then adjusted in order to make it match as best as I could in terms of length per line:

 kurz bevor diese schrecklichen Shortly before these terrible geschehnisse auf der erde ihren events on earth took place, anfang nahmen. startete der world renound professor juri weltbekannte professor juri sarkov sarkov embarked upon a journey to eine resise zum mars. wo er an mars, where he intended to work der praktischen umsetzung seiner on the practical implementation neuen theorien arbeiten wollie of his new theories

I'm really not sure how to make this work, even if I edit the "1.blt" file and only change "kurt" --> "1111", it still has the issue Anyway, in The Zone you will find "Flies - Attack on Earth EN.lha". Just extract to hard drive and use this to test.

[epithetic]

Originally Posted by vulture

No, same issue unfortunately. I also tried editing the german extracted file myself with uisng a hex editor but incurred the same issue.

I'm really not sure how to make this work, even if I edit the "1.blt" file and only change "kurt" --> "1111", it still has the issue

That is not great news, sounds like it does some sort of checksum verification. Is this the only .blt file with this issue, or are all others affected as well?

In terms of trying to figure out where things are going wrong, the 'b' binary is the one to look at, as that is where the intro stuff is called/handled.

-- edit(s):

I can't seem to get the game running reliably in emulation at all, it likes to randomly crash or stop working altogether which makes any sort of troubleshooting difficult. That said, I can't reproduce the issue you're seeing. In my testing if I run the 'b' binary directly I simply couldn't get it to touch the uncompressed 1.blt at all. If I manually recompress it, it seems to work fine or inevitably decides to crash.

I've attached an updated part_two folder (minor fix in text, plus the recompressed 1.blt.pp file). While I was at it, I fixed the game font so it will display commas and apostrophes properly.

[vulture]

DamienD asked me to post this:


Heya epithetic,

Thanks for yours and kremiso work on translating this game into English

Before I saw your post very last night, I managed to get the "b" file working with the "spaceship.blt" and "1.bli" files

I basically took a copy of the original German ones, uncompressed them, and then inserted the English translation carefully in where required.

I also slighty adjusted some text and spacing etc:

Thanks for the amended "font" file that now allows , and '.

In The Zone! you'll find a replacement "Flies - Attack on Earth EN.lha" archive with everything completely set up. Just extract to your hard drive.

[epithetic]

Originally Posted by vulture

DamienD asked me to post this:

Heya epithetic,

Thanks for yours and kremiso work on translating this game into English

Before I saw your post very last night, I managed to get the "b" file working with the "spaceship.blt" and "1.bli" files

I basically took a copy of the original German ones, uncompressed them, and then inserted the English translation carefully in where required.

I also slighty adjusted some text and spacing etc:

In The Zone! you'll find a replacement "Flies - Attack on Earth EN.lha" archive with everything completely set up. Just extract to your hard drive.

I'm not sure I follow, how exactly did you get them to work when they weren't before? I can get the original file to work if I recompress it with powerpacker, then replace the header (pp20) with the uncompressed file size, which matches the original game resources.

If you want to fix up the spacing a bit that would be useful (it's not great since it was edited blind) but you need to take care to preserve the text. Just in the screenshots above you've introduced some bad grammar and spelling:

• kilometers - translation is using BrE conventions, so should remain as kilometres for consistency
• rearranged apollo object sentence is garbled grammatically
• renound - renowned is the correct spelling

The unkown typo is in the original (duh), so here is a fixed a2 file.

[kremiso]

Originally Posted by epithetic

...I can't seem to get the game running reliably in emulation at all, it likes to randomly crash or stop working altogether which makes any sort of troubleshooting difficult. That said, I can't reproduce the issue you're seeing. In my testing if I run the 'b' binary directly I simply couldn't get it to touch the uncompressed 1.blt at all. If I manually recompress it, it seems to work fine or inevitably decides to crash.

all the complete intro is the most finicky part to make correctly and entirely work;
seems to like SLOW RAM, try just adding at least 512K, here works fine in this way

the game itself works surely better instead (almost flawless), also smoother with a better cpu or AGA settings

[vulture]

Originally Posted by epithetic

I'm not sure I follow, how exactly did you get them to work when they weren't before? I can get the original file to work if I recompress it with powerpacker, then replace the header (pp20) with the uncompressed file size, which matches the original game resources.

If you want to fix up the spacing a bit that would be useful (it's not great since it was edited blind) but you need to take care to preserve the text. Just in the screenshots above you've introduced some bad grammar and spelling:

• kilometers - translation is using BrE conventions, so should remain as kilometres for consistency
• rearranged apollo object sentence is garbled grammatically
• renound - renowned is the correct spelling

The unkown typo is in the original (duh), so here is a fixed a2 file.

DamienD wrote this response.


Hey epithetic,

Re: how did I get it working. As mentioned, I took a copy of the original German files, uncompressed them, and then inserted the English translation carefully in where required.

Re: spelling mistakes. Both have been corrected; "kilometres" and "renowned".

Re: sentence grammatically incorrect. This was your original translated text:

A GROUP OF ASTEROIDS THE SOMETIMES VERY ECCENTRIC ORBITS OF WHICH CAN BRING THEM VERY CLOSE TO THE SUN.

I changed to below as surely "A GROUP OF ASTEROIDS THE SOMETIMES VERY ECCENTRIC ORBITS" isn't right:

A GROUP OF ASTEROIDS THAT SOMETIMES HAVE VERY ECCENTRIC ORBITS, OF WHICH CAN BRING THEM CLOSE TO THE SUN.

Anyway, a new replacement archive "Flies - Attack on Earth EN.lha" is now in The Zone!