Lola dialogue editor and Azura cutscene editor for FOTAQ!

Vag · Post by **Vag** » Wed Jul 26, 2006 11:56 pm

Hello.
I'm Vag from GreekRoms (http://www.greekroms.net), the biggest greek translation group.
I am planning to translate Flight of the Amazon Queen in greek.
In order to do this, I will have to program the necessary tools myself. I have already written two of the needed three programs

The first and simplest one, can extract and insert the data files in queen.1c.
The second is a .DOG editor, named Lola. .DOG files are dialogue files. The program is tested and it works. You can select the font you want and the script (the language really) that you want. this means that if it matches the in-game font (they are extended ascii), what you type in Lola, you will have in the game (with one or two characters as exceptions). You can edit the files and you don't have to worry about their size. They can be expanded, they will still work. You can save your work in a temporary text file or extract the script. It automatically tries to do as many things as possible, like copying all the messages that have to remain the same, hide/show the control characters (that are really part of the text), check for invalid messages, it even shows you a picture of the person who's talking.

I am not going to add anything more before releasing it, it is ready (I was planning to add multiple undo/redo but I changed my mind as it has one undo/redo by default). I will soon release the program in the GreekRoms webpage. Of course, you can't translate or edit the whole game without the next (and last) editor, the one for the .CUT (cutscene) files.
Many thanks to Gregory Montoir for his initial help on the .CUT and .DOG files.

For now, here's a screenshot:

Kaminari · Post by **Kaminari** » Thu Jul 27, 2006 1:41 am

Amazing work. This looks like a simple yet powerful tool. FotAQ is already available in French, but the official translation is so poor that it might be interesting to rewrite it from scratch. Your editor would make this job dead easy :)

Vag · Post by **Vag** » Thu Jul 27, 2006 3:26 am

Kaminari wrote:Amazing work.

Thank you!

Kaminari wrote:This looks like a simple yet powerful tool.

It is exactly that. There are 73 .DOG files (plus 6 more in the Interview). From my previous experience, for such a "big" game, the tools have to save you the most possible effort and protect you from silly mistakes and typos. In this case, I mostly mean hiding the control characters. Here's how the above message really is (you can see it this way and work like this if you want):

My previous experience by the way was Flashback (SNES version). I wrote an editor which I used for the greek tranlsation (the editor wasn't released). By coincidence, Gregory Montoir had helped me a little then too - it seems we like the same games...

Kaminari wrote:FotAQ is already available in French, but the official translation is so poor that it might be interesting to rewrite it from scratch. Your editor would make this job dead easy

Probably, yes. While I was testing it, I found two or three silly typos in the FOTAQ Interview. They have to be corrected as well.

On the other hand, I wouldn't want many variations of the game, unless they are really really good. I don't know about the french version, does it have a talkie? If yes, you can't change the text dramatically. You can correct the mistakes though.

Another thing that can be done now, is to add or change control characters. They are animations really (at least some of them). So, if for example you want Joe to say something extra, you can play the moving lips animation one extra time

This is something I'm not going to do, I will only translate it.

clem · Post by **clem** » Thu Jul 27, 2006 10:33 pm

amazing!

Kaminari · Post by **Kaminari** » Fri Jul 28, 2006 3:30 am

Vag wrote:I don't know about the french version, does it have a talkie?

Yes, and the voiceover is amazingly bad :)

Thankfully, we also have a floppy version which can serve as a basis for a complete retranslation.

Vag · Post by **Vag** » Fri Jul 28, 2006 10:55 am

You can use the english version as well and maybe it's better.
In fact, you could open the english and the french files in two different windows, then translate the english messages while you know what the official french messages are.

I realized something is broken in the program as I changed something else

I will fix it and soon release it. I already have started working on the .CUT editor.

Post by **sev** » Fri Jul 28, 2006 2:36 pm

Definitely a cool tool.

Eugene

Vag · Post by **Vag** » Thu Aug 03, 2006 10:38 am

The .CUT editor is now finished!
The name of the editor is Azura.

Now, I really have everything I need to translate the game, which is:

1. A tile editor (Tile Layer Pro or Tile Molester), ONLY if you need to hack the ScummVM executable and modify the font. When the greek translation is finished, Gregory Montoir will officially add a greek font in the executable. The tile editor is needed only for the process of translation.

2. Sparky. This is the program that extracts the data files from the unified ScummVM data file (and then joins them again).

3. Lola, for the .DOG files.

4. Azura, for the .CUT files.

5. Notepad, for 2-3 text files.

6. Paint, for some pictures.

When I saw how fast Azura was progressing, I decided not to release Lola. Now I will release everything together

Currently I don't have FTP access to the GreekRoms website and I'm leaving for two weeks on Monday. Hopefully I'll release them before then

joostp · Post by **joostp** » Thu Aug 03, 2006 12:56 pm

Nice work! Looking forward to seeing/trying it.

Btw. If you want I can (temporarily?) host the files on my webspace.

Adventure_Knight · Post by **Adventure_Knight** » Mon Aug 07, 2006 1:03 am

Hm... I could use it to create my own spanish version, because no one here helps me to get it...

Vag · Post by **Vag** » Mon Aug 07, 2006 4:44 am

Hello everyone.
Unfortunatelly, I found a bug in Azura, that's why I didn't release it. Today I'm leaving for vacations, so you'll have to be patient for 2-3 more weeks...

saulob · Post by **saulob** » Sun Feb 25, 2007 9:54 pm

now news from this tool ?

anyone was able to get it ?

thanks.

Vag · Post by **Vag** » Mon Feb 26, 2007 12:44 pm

Hello again.
I haven't released the programs yet because Azura (the .CUT editor) has a bug and because of lack of time, I didn't even touch it.
I don't think it would be difficult to fix it, but I need to test it thoroughly. I'm planning to do it in the summer, when my wife will leave for almost two months :-))

As they are now, one can work with the translation, as the programs can save your work in a temporary text file with no problem. When I fix the bug, the translated text can be loaded again and then inserted back into the .CUT files.

I will do some cosmetic changes to Sparky today (the program that extracts and inserts all files from the ScummVM file), mainly translate it in english (two buttons and some text).
If you want the three programs now, even with that bug in Azura, please email me at vag.greekroms (at gmail).

saulob · Post by **saulob** » Mon Feb 26, 2007 4:13 pm

Hey Vag,
that's nice to hear from you again.

Thanks for the info on the programs.
I'm gonna wait you to fix these bugs (I really don't know how to... so...)

Thanks

Vag · Post by **Vag** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 12:11 am

Here are some screenshots of an unofficial (and unfinished) greek translation of FOTAQ Interview:

Lola dialogue editor and Azura cutscene editor for FOTAQ!

Lola dialogue editor and Azura cutscene editor for FOTAQ!

Azura - A FOTAQ cutscene editor!