[PSX] Chrono Trigger - Script

[Alb_a_tort]

Hello,

I'm a French translator working for Chaos ROMhack (http://crhack.romhack.org). I'm currently trying to ROMhack Chrono Trigger on PlayStation. I would like to know if any of you had an idea about :
- the location of the script ;
- the kind of compression used.

My aim is not to translate the game into French (later maybe ?) since we already have a translation for the Super NES version . I'm just curious ^^.

Thank you.

[Mitchr90]

Chrono trigger on the playstation?
I'm pretty sure it already exists

[ZeaLitY]

It doesn't exist in French. That's the whole point; he wants to translate the PSX version to French.

[justin3009]

I'd recommend translating the SNES version...PSX is just pretty much a waste of time..

[FaustWolf]

I seem to remember something being said a long time ago that the PSX version simply executes the ROM on the disc -- it's the same size as the SNES ROM from what I can tell. Maybe it's possible to use Temporal Flux on an SNES ROM and then burn that as data over the ROM file in the PSX version?

Anyone know what the hell I'm talking about?

In any case, I've taken a quick look-see at the various files on the PSX disc and couldn't find any uncompressed text save the names of the developers. I think I saw that Tetsuya Takahashi of all people worked on Trigger in the graphics department. My, my. Did Masato Kato work on the Ninja Gaiden series waaay back in the NES days, as a graphic designer? Intriguing how these people get their start.

EDIT: Whoops, I'm totally wrong. Alb_a_tort, this article will be of some interest to you probably:
http://www.chronocompendium.com/Term/PSX_ROM_Notes.html

The SNES ROM sitting on the game disc isn't executed at all. Bummer.

Hmmm...from halkun in that article:
"Due to the changes in the dialogue script, the English is external to the ROM now. (Actually is just a chunk of the US SNES ROM.) The kernel calls that as opposed to the original data inside the whole Japanese ROM. "

If I'm reading this right, the PSX version uses the same script data as the SNES version. There weren't any differences in the script or anything, right guys? So we might be able to run a comparison between the script as stored in Geiger's NA Offsets guide and the data stored in the various files on the PSX CD.

Alb_a_tort, do you have a hex editor capable of running comparisons between files? My hex editor has search features powerful enough to handle this sort of thing, so drop a line here if you'd like some help snooping around in the PSX files. We should be able to find them in a jiffy, though I won't get around to looking for the data for a few days.

[Alb_a_tort]

I searched the script but nothing. The relative search give nothing. I have done a search with the same DTE as the SNES Version too but nothing and I searched with a word which isn't compressed inside the the SNES Version.

The PSX version doesn't exist in french.

(scuse for my english speaking :p)

[Mitchr90]

oh sorry i read "My aim is not to translate the game into French " and that got me a little confused!
yeah thatd be great, im half french so if you ever succeed in this id be interested

[FaustWolf]

No luck on my end either. It's intriguing that the developer credits are exactly the same between the PSX and SNES versions though. Not only the ASCII text, but also the mumbo jumbo that comes just before the ASCII text:

001150A0  11 80 40 01 FF FF 11 80-42 01 FF FF 11 80 44 01  ..@.....B.....D.
001150B0  FF FF 11 80 46 01 FF FF-11 80 48 01 FF FF 11 80  ....F.....H.....
001150C0  4A 01 FF FF 11 80 4C 01-FF FF 11 80 4E 01 FF FF  J.....L.....N...
001150D0  11 80 60 01 FF FF 11 80-62 01 FF FF 11 80 64 01  ..`.....b.....d.
001150E0  FF FF 11 80 66 01 FF FF-11 80 68 01 FF FF 11 80  ....f.....h.....
001150F0  6A 01 FF FF 11 80 6C 01-FF FF 11 80 6E 01 FF FF  j.....l.....n...
00115100  50 52 4F 44 55 43 45 52-2F 2F 4B 41 5A 55 48 49  PRODUCER//KAZUHI
00115110  4B 4F 20 41 4F 4B 49 80-44 49 52 45 43 54 4F 52  KO AOKI.DIRECTOR
00115120  2F 2F 54 41 4B 41 53 48-49 20 54 4F 4B 49 54 41  //TAKASHI TOKITA

I can only hypothesize that the game text in the PSX version must be compressed in a different way than it is in the SNES version. Geiger reported that the SNES version had Huffman-compressed text. I wonder what other text compression schemes could be used in a videogame?

Tech names are also stored differently in the PSX and SNES versions by the looks of it. Justin3009's alphabet for the techs doesn't produce any results for me when I look up tech names in the PSX version. Thus, a different "alphabet" may be used, or the tech names are just compressed.

[justin3009]

Yes, a different alphabet is used from the PSX and SNES versions.  And it looks like PSX Menu is different from PSX actual dialogue (same thing in SNES version).  So i'm pretty certain this is the hex.  I'm not so sure about 2D-3E but i'm damn certain that those capital letters are correct

Not sure about these
(Grammatical)
=================
2D = !
2E = ?
2F = /
30 = :
31 = "
32 = '
33 = -
34 = .
35 = ,
36 = ...
37 = ;
38 = &
39 = +
3A = (
3B = )
3C = %
3D = ~
3E = :

Capital Letters
=================
41 = A
42 = B
43 = C
44 = D
45 = E
46 = F
47 = G
48 = H
49 = I
4A = J
4B = K
4C = L
4D = M
4E = N
4F = O
50 = P
51 = Q
52 = R
53 = S
54 = T
55 = U
56 = V
57 = W
58 = X
59 = Y
5A = Z

Not sure but this might be the right hex for lowercase.
=================
61 = a
62 = b
63 = c
64 = e
65 = e
66 = f
67 = g
68 = h
69 = i
6A = j
6B = k
6C = l
6D= m
6E = n
6F = o
70 = p
71 = q
72 = r
73 = s
74 = t
75 = u
76 = v
77 = w
78 = x
79 = y
7A = z

I'm just taking a wild guess at that but i'm for certain that those are the capital letters.

[FaustWolf]

Whoa, this could lead to things. Thanks Justin!