#self log

First, I should rip the script. That way, I don't have to mess around in the hex editor trying to figure out wtf someone is saying.

Second, to do this, I'm going to have to make a table. Yes, make a table with like a defining column and row, but also not really. With hexadecimal, you essentially use two "spots" like in the picture above where we have "EC."

Where most games are English and make things easy, Japanese has kanji. What does this mean? This means that because there are over 255 kanji, some characters will actually take up two hexadecimal values. So it would be something like "00 11."

Following the general steps of this tutorial, I need to know 1) how the letters are organized and 2) a reference line from the game to then actually find in the hex editor. This tutorial uses a Gameboy emulator, which sucks because GB has been thoroughly picked apart by now.

(God, I hate all of these ROM hacking tutorials because they never explain anything like I'm five. Even though I understood and did CFW for my 3DS easily, this shit is hard.)

...So, basically, I have to make my own cipher to switch from hex to words. It's probably something that every translating ROM hacker has done, so I can't really complain.

In the tutorial, it shows a picture of the font, and essentially shows it all in order. So "00" would be blank (usually an indicator of some kind called a pointer), "01" would actually be 0. (Hexadecimal is hard in general because it goes "0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C D E F," where your 3 = 4 in hex and your 16 = F in hex)

Of course, things will be a bit more complicated for me because 1) text box for current person speaking and 2) variable box for Haikyu-kun's name.

Thankfully, the normal text has a small selection VS what the game calls "name" text. A later problem down the line, but, this text might also appear when selecting a skill. If I have to edit the font tiles later, I'll... have to think about it.

(Speaking of editing font tiles, Kuriimu2 didn't work, so I'll eventually be trying out Crystal Tile 2, infamous in the Pokemon hacking community. Crystal Tile 2 also has a hex editor, apparently, so I'll try that out eventually.)

Step 6: I can't use scans text for this can i

Okay, to preface this, I have a file from a long time ago. There are two important points to make. First, this game doesn't use their own in-game keyboard, it uses the 3DS system's keyboard.

Second, because the 3DS is region locked, you only get keyboards in your region. I have an NA 3DS because why wouldn't i living in NA

The first two search results really just said "get a Japanese 3DS," huh. You don't actually want to change the region of your 3DS--even with homebrew--because that has a lot of problems involved.

Thankfully, result three is the coolest option with "3DS-custom-keyboard." There is a warning to not uninstall CFW, but who would do that in this day and age

Although, all this might be unnecessary.

Going back to the "I have an old save file" point, the game does take English characters. My character's name is "Shujin," because that's close enough to the JPN word for protagonist lol

From what I know of the DS days of JPN>ENG fan translations, it's kinda stupid hard to use custom font in the text box. If you look at the TMGS3/Tenipuri translation by jjjewel, there's a section of text that's probably like two letters squished to make something like "Ki" and "Li." The size of the text needs to be able to fit in the box.

(Side note: Their website is down, and I think it's because Google Sites made some kind of change. I honestly don't know if they'll ever come back to restore it tbh)

Um. The point is, HQ!!CTT has English characters in it already, so it shouldn't be really necessary for a keyboard change. The real problem is you only have 6 letters to use for a name.

And the really real problem is I need to see how big the EN text is in relation to the JPN text.

Step 6.5: gaming

So, the intro of this game is that Momijihara High School was once a powerhouse like Karasuno. With the third years retiring, you are left all alone.

Your club advisor gets a call from Takeda--the Fukurodani Group is coming to Miyagi, so Karasuno is also inviting other nearby schools to practice match. You're only one person, but...

For now, you head to Karasuno.. Even if they say no, you can see how they play. Turns out, Nekoma's come early so they're doing a practice match.

Hinata, hearing your story, knows. Volleyball is played with 6 people on the court. They'll have to discuss with the other schools, and you won't be able to participate in every practice, but it's basically agreed that you can join in.

oh god they haven't said my name once, which is sad because i've decided to name him "Haikyu" this time around

So far with the name tag on the top screen text box, it looks like one hiragana = one letter. Which is... bad. It makes sense if "Hinata Shoyo" is equivalent to "Haikyu." lol

(3DS Screenshot tool is built into Luma, but there is a top/bottom screen merger tool. Originally made here, and improved here.)

Anyways, with Fukurodani's sudden arrival, it's decided that Karasuno will just have a practice match, with you joining their player mix.

BABYSITTER TANAKA I AM SO SORRY LOLOLOLOL

OH okay i get it

At the beginning of the match, you flip a coin to see if you serve first. If you get volleyball, that's heads and you serve. If you get the word "volleyball," that's tails and you receive.

[on defense] So you press X to see the current rotation. At the beginning of the rally, they will note a dangerous player. (In this case, Asahi because of his spikes duh)

When you receive the ball, you have to hit Y, B, or A to give it to the setter. The same thing happens when setting to the spiker. Oh my god, you have to choose a receiver to target? I'm so sorry ennoshita

[on offense] Okay, now I have to serve, great. Also, Daichi is the dangerous player now because of his receives ofc. In this case, you can choose a type of serve to do. Tanaka only has an Overhead Serve, but I assume Yamaguchi would have the Jump Floater. I type these with capitals like they're special moves.

damn i made suga receive so that he couldn't toss to asahi but kinoshita got it up

oh shit i got yamaguchi to block it, but I wasn't fast enough to make Tanaka react to the receive. The crosshair moves faster depending on the ball, which, okay, yeah, that makes sense (resets game)

oh i was on offense and then I made Suga receive it again, Narita set this time--OH NO ASAHI FREE--thanks for receiving kageyama but who will toss--ME ME I'LL DO IT--i fucked it up (turns power off)

listen, I said i'd take it, and then i fucked up the toss. like, kageyama's thing--my bias's thing. i made an absolute dogshit cake. do not come to the castle.

btw there isn't a soft reset like Pokemon in this game, so you're probably better off playing the whole match and learning reaction timing, then reloading the save and trying again.

this game is so inaccurate. hinata could never get a service ace on suga /hj

There is straight up "Bad/Fail" when you miss the button press, "Good" for... good, and then "Just" for perfect timing.

When you get perfect timing, you fill up the Tension meter. Then while the ball is being passed to the next person, you can then use X to use a skill by using Tension.

Skills are dependent on certain things. (e.g. Kageyama was in the front row, but Hinata was in the back, so I couldn't make them do the broad attack. But Kageyama could do the dump/two-attack.)

(e.g. obviously, Tsukishima cannot block if he's in the back row.)

Step 7: stop gaming. text.

(obligatory eating break)

Okay, so I've gotten to the point where you go out with a character to a location, so uh, I'll just assume they never say my name. RIP my protagonist Haikyu-kun

(I think it's because a lot of lines in this game are voiced. That's why I got this game in the first place)

(But if Oikawa comes over and calls me Haikyu-chan I will laugh and cry)

Okay, I'm going to go into the romfs/main/name_entry folder because it gives you a preview of your name on the top screen.

So theoretically, there should be some kind of file that has all the text somewhere. My second guess is the romfs/main/common folder because that has stuff like "chara_data" and the potential cash money file: "hiq2_text."

Side note, that abbreviation is so cute. hiq.

This time, I'm going to try using Karameru. First, I need to open it up in Notepad/++. It has a prefix of ustcomp.

Now I can use QuickBMS to get rid of the right prefix. With the new (S)ARC file, I can now use Karameru to see what's inside... and there's a font folder!

The font folder has a file ending of BFFNT though...

If I think about it, if we ignore the "BF" part of the file name, I've gotten "lyt" = layout, "lim" = ???, and now "fnt" = font.

the common folder also has just a plain BFFNT file too. I probably have to find something that'll open this file. I'll try it in Kukkii first.

wait why does this v1.0.15 release say upgrade to version 2

OH there's the GBATemp thread i was looking for!!!!!

(holds head in hands) why have a link to your new thing that just leads to github...

it's me. it's my problem because i don't code.

(holds head in hands) this one only doesn't work for 3DS...

Fine. Let's go. The literal first result. "3dsfont."

ugh none of these are working!!!!!!

okay maybe it was my fault because of my search of "3ds bffnt to ttf." You don't actually want it as a TTF file because it's like normal strokes VS vector lines in a drawing program. You'll want to convert one of the BFFNT tiles (that contains a letter) into a PNG or something, edit, and then put it back.

(but i will also have to replace text that's hard-baked into graphics which is why i wanted TTF in the first place)

There is also something that usually comes up alongside this search called a BCFNT file. It scares me.

i need a moment

Step 7.5: contemplate life but also think about the goal.

What do I need to do? Or rather, what in the game needs translation?

Tutorials. But thankfully, the tutorials are all graphics as a BFLIM file. This is exportable with Kukkii, and then I can edit it in (an old version of) Photoshop to keep transparency on them.

Locations. Not like, super important, but the names. Descriptions less so. I think these are also graphics.

Player Profiles. You have to make a team of +5 others to make a cool team at the end of the two week practice period. It would be good to know the strength/weaknesses of the players.

Skills. How else will you know when to use them? This is broken down into a lot of things, like name and description, so I suspect that this'll be some kind of text file.

Options. It's not major, but there are little things like "how many points do you want each set to end on?" And you can choose 6 (default) or 25 (irl). I think these are at least graphics, so it's not hard.

Story. lol yeah, you know, the main part of the game

Okay, then let's move onto another question. Why are we looking so hard for the font? Why not relax and edit some PNGs?

I'd like to keep things looking consistent with the graphics, because they're all this sharp, blocky text.

I could bullshit the general text because it looks like, you know, "generic Japanese video game text." But I'd still need to come back at some point.

Step 8: back to work.

It's time to finally download Python. I'm finally going to try out 3dskit by Tyulis.

OH I SEE they say Python 3.5+ because they probably coded it in 3.5, so that's the lowest version number you can use. ...what do you mean we're onto v3.12.4

python why didn't you tell me there was a packaged version on the Microsoft store before i installed the thing that looked like a command prompt

...microsoft store, your preview picture just looks like a command prompt.

Okay, never mind. Let's stick with the website. ...I think I'm doing something wrong--ohhhhh!!!

You can open up Python as-is, or you can open something called "IDLE Python" which is the version with the gui/the thing that makes it look like a program.

...oh god how do i feed the code (aka the instructions) into Python (aka the machine)

Okay on 3dskit, it also says I need NumPy and Pillow. But also to install these to... I guess, work with Python like how you give an internet browser add-ons... you need something called "pip"? oh god i don't code

Honestly, at this rate, I might try downloading Github Desktop...

I get tired of looking at this BFFNT file and open up all the other BFLIM files in Kukkii. And, yeah, they're what I thought they were.

very much a "These require you to extract the game font to replace the font in the box."

Out of desperation, I go to the romfs/main/common folder and open up hiq2_text.bffnt instead.

o-oh my god, there it is!!!!!!!!!

(Sorry the background is so hideous, I needed a better way to see the white font.)

Okay, so as I suspected, all of these characters are kinda sized to match each other. If 繋ぐ is technically "(to) connect," i can't fit all those letters

Important. In the bottom left corner, there are katakana that are half-sized.

Also in the common folder is a file called hiq2_name.bfflim, which is where that blocky font I wanted was. Yes!

...uh now what

Well, if you look at "Haikyu"'s name, the spacing between the letter i is actually close together rather than pixel separated.

If anything, I need to find a way to access the prologue text, so I can fuck around to find out.

Step 9: please be a hex editor, i know that shit more than python

I suspect the actual story and dialogues are is in romfs/test/script. But I have no clue what this INCS file is.

...Apparently, no one else does either.

In a perfect world, I could open something in Kuriimu and I could use it as a text editor. There is always the possibility, but first, I'll have to get rid of the ustcomp/ustarc prefix header at the beginning of all the files.

I think it's time I restored that FE11/12 hack documentation folder. Because I know there were files that could go in a hex editor... but I wanna know what tipped me off.

Step 1: extract files from game

easy. i already have a 3DS with custom firmware because why wouldn't you have one at this point, nintendo loves to kill everything they ever once loved

extra easy. i actually have a cartridge. back in the day of Fire Emblem Gay Fates, i used OOT3DS to use a launch method called HANS. it also let you bypass region lock. and then i never touched the game again because i was a plebian in japanese. now i am an elementary schooler.

First, search "3ds game hacking basic." thank you, reddit post. i recognize the "romfs" folder from the Gay Fates days.

Second, get confused as to whether I have GodMode9 or not. (Did not.)

Third, using the "Universal Updater" app on my 3DS, download "GodMode9" so I can actually do the steps listed on reddit.

Fourth, to actually access GodMode9, hold SELECT while booting 3DS and then you can follow the tutorial.

(You're gonna press B a lot to back back in the directory. To actually copy the romfs folder, make sure to scroll up to the "SDCARD" folder because the beginning is the /root folder.)

oh no these files are different than the ones listed in the table of the reddit post

Step 2: wtf are ".arc" files

After discovering that NARC =/= .arc files, I went down a long rabbit hole.

".arc" files are archived files, and every company has a different way of compressing these files. Oh no.

The default decompression pattern built into most of these tools is for Nintendo (NARC file), because duh you're on the 3DS

There is one extractor tool for some Capcom games like Monster Hunter and Resident Evil called ARCTool.

none of those worked :')

An important note is I tried using "Tinke," an old tool because it's for DS roms instead. I used it once for Princess Debut.

(Side note, I should really finish extracting all of those and upload them to Spriter's Resource.)

It took a long time tbh but this GBAtemp forum post helped to get to the next step.

As written in the forum post, grab the files to deal with the "ustarc" and "ustcomp" files. Search and get the "QuickBMS" thing also mentioned in the post.

Open a file using Notepad/++ to see which prefix is in the file. Using that same file in QuickBMS, choose the correct script that matched the prefix. Using it on romfs/main/tutorial/tutorial_upper.arc gives me... "tutorial_upper.arc." Huh.

Going back to Tinke, it told me that the file was originally a "ustc" file... like in "ustcomp." After using QuickBMS, Tinke now tells me it is a SARC file. That is suspiciously close to a NARC file.

Step 3: i hope SARC files exist

They do exist normally! Progress!!

The first search result of "SARC Tool" did not work for me. The second result of "SARC Extractor" did work, however. And it has a release on the right column! A boon for me, who doesn't code--hold on i'm gonna have to repack all these files after editing them.

...I hope SARC Tool works later, but anyways

Using SARC Extractor on the new tutorial_upper.arc gives me tutorial_upper/arc/blyt and tutorial_upper/arc/timg.

In the blyt folder, there are only two files called tu_a01_upper.bflyt and tu_title_upper.bflyt.

In the timg folder, there are 11 files all with the ending of .bflim.

Step 4: .bflyt and .bflim

A search of ".bflyt file" gives me this "(Switch) Layout Editor." It does work, but I also probably shouldn't mess around with this file if it's about a layout. That's not the goal here.

A search of ".bflim file" gives me "BFLIM Tool," but it doesn't work for me... (holds head in hands)

I do find "3dstools" and "3DSkit" but those require me to have Python. Which I don't. Because I don't code.

Out of desperation, I put all of these into something that didn't work with the compressed .arc files from before, called "Every File Explorer."

...Huh, it actually works! And the graphics are exactly what I thought they'd be!!

...But the buttons in each individual window are greyed out, which would've been really useful. By hovering over them, I can see that they are Save, Import, and Export. Damn.

Not to mention how all of them are in the wrong orientation and/or mirrored...

Well, it's time to try out 3DSkit, because it lists exactly what version of Python I need. There's just one thing.

Step 5: What is even in the romfs folder?

Yeah, maybe I should take inventory first. 3DSkit actually does a lot of files, so I should see what I can do with it. The main romfs folder actually has two folders: "main" and "test."

In the "main" folder, there are a whole bunch of folders which are self-explanatory, like "save_slot" and "mini_game." This is also where I got the tutorial_upper.arc file.

Most of the folders contain that compressed .arc file type. With the exception of...

common = .dat .arc .bffnt .incs

effects = .ptcl

mini_game = .arc .dat .bffnt

shader = .shbin .bch

sound = .arc .bcsar ...and has a folder named "stream" containing only .bcsar

vbl = .arc .bch

Now, I'm scared of the "test" folder because of one folder. The two folders in here are "fhq" and "script." The folder itself also has files in it, ending in arc, bch, ptcl, and incs.

The "fhq" folder just has another folder called "item", and going to that has three files that can probably be edited in Excel. Actually.

EnemyStateList.csv, ItemDataList.csv, and ItemDataTable.csv. When going through FE11/12 stuff, I saw something like this table, so it's not that unbelievable.

(Might need to restore that folder I deleted to doublecheck though. I'm not sure if they edited it, or if they romanized all the hira/katakana.)

Up next in log 2 because it's midnight now oh no: Step 5.5: oh god the "script" folder

Bonus: A GBATemp forum post was also suffering in BFLIM files, and they had tried a program called Kuriimu. I tried using it for compressed .arc files earlier, but got nothing. So I tried it out.

First, the Github release actually has three tools: Kuriimu, Kukkii, and Karameru. Kukkii is the one that deals with BFLIM files and it works omg

Second, Karameru can actually read the tutorial_upper.arc file that was made after using QuickBMS.