Keeping Up With Red

HM:APL Patch Instructional Video

After getting several questions/comments on how to dump a game / apply the patch, I’ve decided it would be best for me to create a video outlining the process.

The video outlines each step, including dumping a game disc, downloading the appropriate patch, and applying the patch using the necessary tools.

Requirements

A Wii with The Homebrew Channel installed

If you don’t have the Homebrew…

After some research, I’ve figured out how to customize the save file header information for both AWL and AnWL.

Each game has a file named wlp1.rel, which is a relocatable module (similar to how .dll files function for Windows programs). This file has the information which dictates the header info when creating or overwriting a save file.

This information includes the chapter names, the…

Introducing a New Side Project: GC/Wii Disc Filesystem Catalog

Throughout my research for Harvest Moon: A Proud Life, I’ve come across numerous odd files.

Many of these file types are common across various other Gamecube and Wii games. Some are less common.

That’s why I’ve decided to start a new project. I’ll be analyzing any GC/Wii dumps I can get my hands on so that I can log their disc contents. I plan on analyzing/posting a different game each day.

New Discord Server for Harvest Moon / Story of Seasons Translation Projects

It’s recently come to my attention that some other projects are now using the tutorials I’ve written on this blog. This was always my intent and the primary reason why I’ve been documenting all of my findings while researching AWL.

I’ve now created a [Harvest Moon Translations Discord] where people can collaborate and discuss translating AWL, as well as other HM/SoS games into various…

Those of you following me on Twitter might have already seen, but I’m gonna presenting a talk at the upcoming 2020 Queerness & Games Conference (QGCON). This years conference will be hosted May 23-24, 2020 at Concordia University in Montreal, Quebec.

The conference is focused on the intersection of LGBT issues and video games. It brings together queer studies academics, video game industry…

After some research, we’ve determined that the save files for A(n)WL use a checksum to verify data integrity.

If the save data is modified and this checksum isn’t accounted for, a data corruption error when attempting to load.

This checksum is a 4-byte (32-bit) value stored at 0x40

Note: save files can be when using Dolphin emulator are located in “C:\Users\{USER}\Documents\Dolphin…

Harvest Moon: A Proud Life v1.0 Release

I’m proud to announce that I’ve completed all dialog review/edits for the lesbian variant pf the Proud Life mod.

With this, I’ve compiled a brand new build, dubbed v1.0.

I’ve also begun the process of submitting the mod to romhacking.net, so that should be live within the coming days assuming everything goes as planned.

The only aspect that I might address for the lesbian mod would…

Calculating xxHash64 Values from TPL texture files

I’ve been playing around with the “Dump Texture” feature in Dolphin recently.

When the emulator dumps textures, it creates a file name that includes a hash of the texture data. This hash uses the xxhash64 algorithm.

I’ve found that, using information about the TPL file format, I’m able to extract the raw image data from the TPL files.

Once I extracted this data (via manually copy/pasting…

Poll: Nami Model Variants

One item of consideration for the mod is whether or not I should modify Nami’s character model.

Her appearance in A Wonderful Life depicts her with neat short hair. However, her appearance in Another Wonderful Life depicts her with notably messier hair.

I’m currently running [a poll on Twitter] to look at which model players prefer.

I plan on using the result in each version of the mod (i.e. both A Proud Life and Another Proud Life).

That’s great to hear!

I’m glad that you’re enjoying the mod!

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There are a few ways for people to contribute to the project.  Perhaps the most helpful of these is reviewing dialog.

I’ve created dumps of the current game dialog, which are available for viewing.

A Proud Life (lesbian mod of A Wonderful Life)

Currently all dialog has been fixed except the item descriptions (e.g. itemdoc.mes.txt, itemdoc01.mes.txt, etc.) and the TV Shows (e.g. TV.mes.txt, tv_vd0.mes.txt, etc)

Report dialog to be fixed here

Another Proud Life (gay mod of Another Wonderful Life)

All dialog still needs to be reviewed

Report dialog to be fixed here

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We also have a Discord server, where we frequently walk about the mod, and where I’ll ask for feedback on various changes (e.g. animations, dialog edits, etc.).

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I don’t currently accept any financial support for the mod because, as soon as money gets involved, things can get messy when working on something involving another party’s intellectual property.

Cutscenes / Trigger Events

Cutscene / Event Files

After a bit of digging into the file formats of A Wonderful Life, I was able to figure out which files contain data for cutscenes.

The files in question are .sb script files. The versions of these files utilized in-game are compressed using CLZ-compression, resulting in .sb.clz files.

There are a few places where these files can be found.

.sb debug scripts at d…

I'm happy to announce that the lesbian version of Harvest Moon: A Proud Life (mod for Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life) has officially entered beta status!

This means that the mod is considered feature-complete, but might have some bugs/glitches