#25632 - ^pb^ - Thu Aug 26, 2004 10:26 am
hi. i am new in GBADEV and i want to know:
*with what program can i convert GBA to C?
*with what program can i convert C to GBA?
*if i want to change the lang of the game, use ascii?
#25643 - Krakken - Thu Aug 26, 2004 2:57 pm
1. You can't.
2. www.devkit.tk (DevKitARM)
3. ???
#25644 - Lord Graga - Thu Aug 26, 2004 3:01 pm
3: Google for translation tutorials.
#25652 - ^pb^ - Thu Aug 26, 2004 6:07 pm
what do you mean in you cant? sure you can!
you cant to get the GBA code?! it that true, so how i see so much hacked games?
#25654 - poslundc - Thu Aug 26, 2004 6:36 pm
^pb^ wrote: |
what do you mean in you cant? sure you can! |
And so it begins.
Quote: |
you cant to get the GBA code?! it that true, so how i see so much hacked games? |
What makes you think they were hacked by converting them to C?
That is a rhetorical question; you don't have to answer it. Suffice to say that this is a forum for actual programming. If you want to hack games, this isn't the place to learn how.
Dan.
#25655 - ^pb^ - Thu Aug 26, 2004 6:42 pm
poslundc wrote: |
^pb^ wrote: | what do you mean in you cant? sure you can! |
And we hit the ground running.
Quote: | you cant to get the GBA code?! it that true, so how i see so much hacked games? |
What makes you think they were hacked by converting them to C?
Dan. |
so... what lang i need to use to hake them? and can i get some program that convert GBA to the lang?
#25656 - ^pb^ - Thu Aug 26, 2004 6:46 pm
poslundc wrote: |
^pb^ wrote: | what do you mean in you cant? sure you can! |
And so it begins.
Quote: | you cant to get the GBA code?! it that true, so how i see so much hacked games? |
What makes you think they were hacked by converting them to C?
That is a rhetorical question; you don't have to answer it. Suffice to say that this is a forum for actual programming. If you want to hack games, this isn't the place to learn how.
Dan. |
i just want to convert some GBA game form english to hebrew.. cant you help?
#25657 - Miked0801 - Thu Aug 26, 2004 6:56 pm
Not really. I'll let the thread live a touch longer.
To do what you are asking is not trivial. Actually, it would be nearly impossible without intimate knowledge of the game in question. IF, you had the source code to the game already and IF you had all the tools to build it correctly and IF you had a month or so to spend you MIGHT be able to do what you are suggesting if you were really, really good.
If you have a ROM you found off a Warez site, then you're chances of translating the ROM are roughly 0. Text often is compressed, put into graphics, and such so you can't just look at data and translate it. Also because it more than liekly is read from fixed size arrays, if the new translation is a different size, it won't work either.
Sorry, buy the game in the language you want, or petition the company who made it to do a differnt language. Or reverse engineer it and write it yourself :)
#25658 - poslundc - Thu Aug 26, 2004 7:03 pm
If you're determined to do it, then like Lord Graga said, google translation tutorial.
As Mike says, most commercial ROMS are extremely difficult to convert. If you really enjoy a challenge you might be able to pull it off eventually, but I can pretty much guarantee you won't find anyone to do it for you in the forums here, and discussion of hacking of illegally obtained ROMs is neither relevant to actual GBA programming, nor is it welcome in these forums.
Dan.
#25660 - ^pb^ - Thu Aug 26, 2004 7:09 pm
Miked0801 wrote: |
Not really. I'll let the thread live a touch longer.
To do what you are asking is not trivial. Actually, it would be nearly impossible without intimate knowledge of the game in question. IF, you had the source code to the game already and IF you had all the tools to build it correctly and IF you had a month or so to spend you MIGHT be able to do what you are suggesting if you were really, really good.
If you have a ROM you found off a Warez site, then you're chances of translating the ROM are roughly 0. Text often is compressed, put into graphics, and such so you can't just look at data and translate it. Also because it more than liekly is read from fixed size arrays, if the new translation is a different size, it won't work either.
Sorry, buy the game in the language you want, or petition the company who made it to do a differnt language. Or reverse engineer it and write it yourself :) |
oh :|
i just want to convert english to hebrew... just need the code of the GBA game... i want to convert like here:
[Images not permitted - Click here to view it]
[Images not permitted - Click here to view it]
[Images not permitted - Click here to view it]
please help me!
#25672 - tepples - Thu Aug 26, 2004 9:33 pm
Try asking on a ROM translation board. This is a development from scratch board.
_________________
-- Where is he?
-- Who?
-- You know, the human.
-- I think he moved to Tilwick.
#25676 - Abscissa - Thu Aug 26, 2004 10:19 pm
^pb^ wrote: |
just need the code of the GBA game |
Ask the company who made the game for the code. If they won't give you it (and they won't) then you're SOL.
Try asking the person/people who did the translation you posted pictures of if they would be willing to do a translation of the game you want. The only way it would be even remotely possible for you to do it yourself is if you were an expert assembly programmer and an expert at reverse engineering but it would take years and years of experience to get to that point, and even then it still would be difficult to do and take a LOT of work. And that's just for translating it to a language that uses the roman letter like English, German, Spanish, etc. - Hebrew uses a totally different set of letters so a lot of graphics would have to be replaced as well.
And like everyone else has said, this isn't the right site for that kind of thing. Try: http://acmlm.overclocked.org/
#25690 - phonymike - Fri Aug 27, 2004 2:18 am
first you need to find out how the text is stored. to do this you can use a relative serach program and find words in the rom. more than likely this won't work because as was said before, there's probably compression on the text.
at that point you need 2 things:
1.experience and skill with the gba hardware (which you don't have no offense.)
2. a gba debugging or decompiling program (which creates code you don't understand.)
from that you can see the program code in raw assembly (totally different than C,) and you can see where it grabs the compressed data, does the decompression algorithm, then displays the font graphics according to the output. This will all be in assembly, using gba registers, so if you don't know either, you're SOL. then you create your own program (for the pc or mac,) that will decompress the dialog out of the rom into a file you can edit, could be a plain text file. then you translate the file, and have your program recompress and insert into the rom. then you also gotta change the graphics from english to hebrew, which is easy as pie. then you're done.
if you wanna translate text that's cool, but if you wanna insert it into a gba rom then you have a problem. you'll want to find someone willing to do all the mentioned things to get your script into the rom. you will not find someone like that at gbadev.org. you could maybe try the forums at zophar.net namely "rom hack".
#25718 - Ethos - Fri Aug 27, 2004 6:24 pm
Hehehe,
I wish you could just decompile a game straight to C with code and data chunks.
I'd then give all the games 1337 translations. j/k.
If you can't mess with the source, reverse engineer.
Example,
My FF2 RE project.
Can't make a "usable" (sorry Loopy), gba rom from a snes, so I am reverse engineering the game by rewriting the whole game.
My guess is that you would not want to spend the countless hours learning how to develop from the ground up, and since petitioning is a larger waste of time....my advice is.....give up on translation, and make your own cool Hebrew games from scratch.
I won't even give an example of a game to make, cause this post would be edited and locked due to some "political correctness" movement ;)
#25730 - Abscissa - Fri Aug 27, 2004 7:15 pm
Ethos wrote: |
so I am reverse engineering the game by rewriting the whole game. |
Umm...FYI, rewriting is not reverse engineering.
#25737 - Ethos - Fri Aug 27, 2004 10:24 pm
Abscissa wrote: |
Ethos wrote: | so I am reverse engineering the game by rewriting the whole game. |
Umm...FYI, rewriting is not reverse engineering. |
Ok, so what is it, if it is not mimicing the output for the same input.
FYI, rewrite is the proper term since the form of my creation will be different, even though with a black box test it should mimic the original game.
You would rather have the work recreate, well then, get admin so you can correct everyone's posts.
Please stop slinging to boost your ego.
#25740 - poslundc - Fri Aug 27, 2004 11:06 pm
Ethos wrote: |
Please stop slinging to boost your ego. |
Ethos mintutes beforehand in another thread wrote: |
Duh! He knows that, he is wondering why they address only 256 tiles, READ THE QUESTION! |
...
Dan.
#25749 - Abscissa - Sat Aug 28, 2004 2:12 am
Ethos wrote: |
Abscissa wrote: | Ethos wrote: | so I am reverse engineering the game by rewriting the whole game. |
Umm...FYI, rewriting is not reverse engineering. |
Ok, so what is it, if it is not mimicing the output for the same input.
FYI, rewrite is the proper term since the form of my creation will be different, even though with a black box test it should mimic the original game.
You would rather have the work recreate, well then, get admin so you can correct everyone's posts.
Please stop slinging to boost your ego. |
I was not slinging, flaming or anything like that. Just pointing out, that's all.
As I understand, reverse engineering implies at least some form of disassembly and/or mucking with the original binaries in some way. If cleanroom enginnering (basically just rewriting plus some formal stuff) is considered a form of reverse engineering, then perhaps I am mistaken about the exact definition of reverse engineering.
But it's not even important enough of a point to be taking this much of a detour on, so nevermind.
#25753 - Krakken - Sat Aug 28, 2004 2:51 am
Ethos you're not very good at accepting criticism are you? I thought the exact same thing when I read your post, Reverse Engineering is something different to what you speak of.
#25756 - Ethos - Sat Aug 28, 2004 4:01 am
Krakken wrote: |
Ethos you're not very good at accepting criticism are you? I thought the exact same thing when I read your post, Reverse Engineering is something different to what you speak of. |
lol, got ticked at this post so I edited my other, sorry guys, just in a bad mood
But I still believe reverse engineering exectuable code is just a single form. The definition is not perfectly set. Oh well, I think we got a bit off track in this post anyways :)
Just lock this thread and lets be done with this rom hacking garbage :)
#25763 - abilyk - Sat Aug 28, 2004 4:20 am
I find it astounding that as a new member of this forum, Ethos, you have the audacity to be blatantly rude to contributing regulars (such as Dan) and then bark out demands to "just lock this thread." I would not be surprised in the least to see a moderator ban you for behavior such as this if you keep it up, so I'd recommend you consider the consequences of your actions before offending the rest of the forum.
#25764 - Abscissa - Sat Aug 28, 2004 4:25 am
Ethos wrote: |
Krakken wrote: | Ethos you're not very good at accepting criticism are you? I thought the exact same thing when I read your post, Reverse Engineering is something different to what you speak of. |
lol, got ticked at this post so I edited my other, sorry guys, just in a bad mood
|
Happens to the best of us :) (Myself *definately* included ;) )
abilyk wrote: |
and then bark out demands to "just lock this thread." |
Dude, he had a smily attatched to that! Wasn't a demand, just a concession.
#25768 - dagamer34 - Sat Aug 28, 2004 5:09 am
abilyk wrote: |
I find it astounding that as a new member of this forum, Ethos, you have the audacity to be blatantly rude to contributing regulars (such as Dan) and then bark out demands to "just lock this thread." I would not be surprised in the least to see a moderator ban you for behavior such as this if you keep it up, so I'd recommend you consider the consequences of your actions before offending the rest of the forum. |
I go away for 2 days and stuff like this happens! :(
Anybody know about how long something shows up on the main page after you send something to news@gbadev.org? I'm just wondering...
_________________
Little kids and Playstation 2's don't mix. :(
#25770 - Krakken - Sat Aug 28, 2004 5:15 am
About a week I believe or whenever SimonB/krom find some time.
#25777 - Ethos - Sat Aug 28, 2004 7:53 am
abilyk wrote: |
I find it astounding that as a new member of this forum, Ethos, you have the audacity to be blatantly rude to contributing regulars (such as Dan) and then bark out demands to "just lock this thread." I would not be surprised in the least to see a moderator ban you for behavior such as this if you keep it up, so I'd recommend you consider the consequences of your actions before offending the rest of the forum. |
Hehehehe, i'm glad i'm in a better mood now! Or else I would have taken you seriously :)
(if you are wondering why I got in a bad mood, its because yesterday I collapsed my lung after football, can barely breathe, but now due to the miracle of painkillers, I am GREAT!)
Btw, dagamer34, what news did yah send? New source or demo?
#25792 - Abscissa - Sat Aug 28, 2004 5:47 pm
Ethos wrote: |
if you are wondering why I got in a bad mood, its because yesterday I collapsed my lung after football, can barely breathe, |
Eechh, that'll do it ;)
#25793 - sajiimori - Sat Aug 28, 2004 5:57 pm
Quote: |
Hehehehe, i'm glad i'm in a better mood now! Or else I would have taken you seriously :) |
You still should.
Glad you're feeling better.
#25800 - sgeos - Sat Aug 28, 2004 7:22 pm
Ethos wrote: |
so I am reverse engineering the game by rewriting the whole game. |
Reverse engineering to rewrite, perhaps?
http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=reverse%20engineer
http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=rewrite
-Brendan
#26214 - expos1994 - Thu Sep 09, 2004 6:08 pm
Just for the sake of discussion, I'll chime in.
I think reverse-engineering is a relatively new term without an exact definition. The definition given in that link is broad as it should be. The definition of an engineer is also broad. It could mean someone who drives a train and also someone who designs a train. And even someone who has nothing to do with trains. So to say that in order to reverse-engineer something one must disassemble executable code would be a little too restriciting.
I think it's safe to say that anytime you try to figure out how something works in order to change it or create something similar you are reverse engineering. In Ethos' case he is trying to figure out the inner-workings of a Final Fantasy game in order to create a similar one.
I think a rewrite isn't really a term that applies or I'd say there is a better term: porting. Which is also what he is doing since he's taking a game from one platform (SNES) and converting it to another (GBA).
But to describe porting the game as re-writing would cause me to think that it is an official port, and the original code has been provided by the game's creator, because without the original writing, how can one re-write?
This leads me to deduce that what Ethos is doing is actually something that leans a little more towards the reverse-engineering side of things, considering he has no original code to work with and can only figure out how the rom works by attempting to break it down piece by piece starting with the final product and working... in reverse.
Just my two cents.
#26239 - tepples - Fri Sep 10, 2004 1:12 am
Reverse engineering ("RE") means discovering and documenting the functionality of a given program.
RE that does not involve disassembling a program is called black-box RE because it treats the original program as a black box with inputs and outputs. Because it does not involve access to the original work, no "copying" can occur.
RE that does involve disassembling the original program is called white-box RE. Copyright law seems to prohibit a team performing white-box RE of another person's copyrighted computer program from publishing any code at all, but it may publish specifications.
Making a second program with similar functionality to a first program, based on information learned through RE of the first program, is called "cloning." Cloning can be white-box or black-box. Examples of black-box cloning: - Most people outside of Blue Planet Software and its licensees haven't seen the source code to Alexey Pajitnov's game Tetris, yet people make clones of it all over the place. (Disclaimer: I've made one too.)
- In the same way, StepMania is a clone of Konami's Dance Dance Revolution.
White-box cloning involves a "dirty room" where white-box RE takes place and a "clean room" where reimplementation takes place, and all communication from anybody on the "dirty room" team to anybody else is logged. Examples of white-box cloning: - Compaq's clone of the IBM BIOS.
A clone can use ripped assets (as in the case of StepMania with DDRUK bumper packs or this FF2 project) or original assets (as in the case of TOD, StepMania with simfiles from Bemanistyle.com, or new games made with the tools created as part of this FF2 project).
Black-box RE with permission of the original copyright owner is called "porting." In the case of ports of proprietary software, confidentiality agreements may govern what people with access to the original computer program can publish.
_________________
-- Where is he?
-- Who?
-- You know, the human.
-- I think he moved to Tilwick.
#26258 - keldon - Fri Sep 10, 2004 12:57 pm
Doesn't the laws on RE also state that is allowed in the case of trying to find new information that is not readily available. But if however there is sufficient code and documentation on creating a game with the same mechanics then there is no reason, and legal right to do so.
#26262 - tepples - Fri Sep 10, 2004 5:50 pm
A judge will also look at how available the "sufficient code and documentation" are to a member of the general public. If they are available only under $1,000,000 + NDA, then RE may become more justified as fair use.
_________________
-- Where is he?
-- Who?
-- You know, the human.
-- I think he moved to Tilwick.