Table of Contents for
Gaming Hacks

Version ebook / Retour

Cover image for bash Cookbook, 2nd Edition Gaming Hacks by Simon Carless Published by O'Reilly Media, Inc., 2004
  1. Cover
  2. Gaming Hacks
  3. Credits
  4. Contributors
  5. Acknowledgments
  6. Foreword
  7. Preface
  8. How to Use This Book
  9. How This Book Is Organized
  10. Conventions Used in This Book
  11. Using Code Examples
  12. Comments and Questions
  13. Got a Hack?
  14. 1. Playing Classic Games
  15. Legal Emulation
  16. Play Commodore 64 Games Without the C-64
  17. Play Atari ROMs Without the Atari
  18. Use Atari Paddles with Your PC
  19. Run Homebrew Games on the Atari 2600
  20. Create Your Own Atari 2600 Homebrew Games
  21. Play Classic PC Graphic Adventures
  22. Play Old Games Through DOSBox
  23. Play Reissued All-in-One Joystick Games
  24. Play Arcade Games Without the Arcade
  25. Add and Manipulate a MAME Frontend
  26. Keep Your ROMs Tidy and Organized
  27. Learn Game-Specific MAME Controls
  28. Filter Inappropriate MAME ROMs
  29. Autoboot into MAME Heaven
  30. Play Emulated Arcade Games Online
  31. Play Classic Pinball Without the Table
  32. Emulate the SNES on the Dreamcast
  33. 2. Playing Portably
  34. Play Games on Your iPod
  35. Mod Your Game Boy
  36. Take and Print Photos with Your Game Boy
  37. Compose Music on Your Game Boy
  38. Explore the GP32 Handheld Gaming System
  39. Take Your Console with You
  40. Explore the Bandai WonderSwan
  41. Play Real Games on Your PDA
  42. Install a PlayStation 2 in Your Car
  43. 3. Playing Well with Others
  44. Practice Proper MMORPG Etiquette
  45. Understand MMORPG Lingo
  46. Grind Without Going Crazy
  47. Make a Profit in Vana’diel
  48. Write MMORPG Macros
  49. Build an Effective Group
  50. Catch Half-Life FPS Cheaters Redhanded
  51. 4. Playing with Hardware
  52. Build a Quiet, Killer Gaming Rig
  53. Find and Configure the Best FPS Peripherals
  54. Adapt Old Video Game Controllers to the PC
  55. Choose the Right Audio/Video Receiver
  56. Place Your Speakers Properly
  57. Connect Your Console to Your Home Theater
  58. Tune Console Video Output
  59. Tune Your TV for Console Video
  60. PC Audio Hacking
  61. Optimize PC Video Performance
  62. Build a Dedicated Multimedia PC
  63. Use a Multimedia Projector for Gaming
  64. 5. Playing with Console and Arcade Hardware
  65. Play LAN-Only Console Games Online
  66. Hack the Nuon DVD Player/Gaming System
  67. Play Import Games on American Consoles
  68. Find a Hackable Dreamcast
  69. Play Movies and Music on Your Dreamcast
  70. Hack the Dreamcast Visual Memory Unit
  71. Unblur Your Dreamcast Video
  72. Use Your Dreamcast Online
  73. Host Dreamcast Games Online
  74. Burn Dreamcast-Compatible Discs on Your PC
  75. Burn Dreamcast Homebrew Discs
  76. Buy Your Own Arcade Hardware
  77. Configure Your Arcade Controls, Connectors, and Cartridges
  78. Reorient and Align Your Arcade Monitor
  79. Buy Cart-Based JAMMA Boards
  80. Programming Music for the Nintendo Entertainment System
  81. 6. Playing Around the Game Engine
  82. Explore Machinima
  83. Choose a Machinima Engine
  84. Film Your First Machinima Movie
  85. Improve Your Camera Control
  86. Record Game Footage to Video
  87. Speedrun Your Way Through Metroid Prime
  88. Sequence-Break Quake
  89. Run Classic Game ROM Translations
  90. Change Games with ROM Hacks
  91. Apply ROM Hacks and Patches
  92. Create PS2 Cheat Codes
  93. Hack Xbox Game Saves
  94. Cheat on Other Consoles
  95. Modify PC Game Saves and Settings
  96. Buff Your Saved Characters
  97. Create Console Game Levels
  98. 7. Playing Your Own Games
  99. Adventure Game Studio Editing Tips
  100. Create and Play Pinball Tables
  101. Put Your Face in DOOM
  102. Create a Vehicle Model for Unreal Tournament 2004
  103. Add a Vehicle to Unreal Tournament 2004
  104. Modify the Behavior of a UT2004 Model
  105. Download, Compile, and Create an Inform Adventure
  106. Decorate Your IF Rooms
  107. Add Puzzles to Your IF Games
  108. Add Nonplayer Characters to IF Adventures
  109. Make Your IF NPCs Move
  110. Make Your IF NPCs Talk
  111. Create Your Own Animations
  112. Add Interactivity to Your Animations
  113. Write a Game in an Afternoon
  114. 8. Playing Everything Else
  115. Tweak Your Tactics for FPS Glory
  116. Beat Any Shoot-Em-Up
  117. Drive a Physics-Crazed Motorcycle
  118. Play Japanese Games Without Speaking Japanese
  119. Back Up, Modify, and Restore PlayStation Saved Games
  120. Access Your Console’s Memory Card Offline
  121. Overclock Your Console
  122. Index
  123. Colophon

Run Classic Game ROM Translations

Fansubbing for video games is not only possible but very popular.

In addition to level hacking ( [Hack #71] ), there’s an entirely separate subculture devoted to ROM language hacking, generally from Japanese to English, but also sometimes from English to other common languages (Spanish, Finnish . . . Okay, also to some not-so-common languages!). There are several major reasons for this activity, but people do it mainly to play Japanese console games that will never, ever have an English-language version. These translations allow people who don’t know Japanese the chance to try out a playable version of the game.

Once you know how to patch your ROMs ( [Hack #71] ) to apply these translations, where can you find them?

ROM Translation Legality

Be aware that translation hacking of any ROM apart from a clearly freeware title is fraught with legal peril. IPS files are perfectly legal to distribute, but the copyrighted ROMs are not, whether or not you’ve modified them. Applying an IPS patch to a ROM doesn’t release it into the public domain.

Even if you’ve tracked down and bought the Japanese-only version of a certain Super Nintendo title you want to try translation hacks on, the laws of your jurisdiction may prohibit or at least frown on such an activity. Nintendo interprets these laws more strictly.

However, translation patches are often released separately from the actual ROM, in add-on files, which means that translation patches bypass the thorny issue of downloading full ROMs to your PC. In any case, you can practice all these techniques on homebrew ROMS freely, without worrying about legality. Poking in the innards of games is actually plenty of fun, and it’s surprisingly simple to run and edit translated ROMs in a basic fashion, though, of course, the sophisticated stuff is still pretty difficult.

Finding ROM Translation Groups and Sites

A whole host of sites claim to offer the best ROM translation information. Only a few actually deliver either finished, high-quality translations or decent databases of everyone else’s work. Here are the ones I’ve found:

The Whirlpool (http://donut.parodius.com/)

I consider this site to be the number-one ROM translation site out there, because it’s not specific to one group of translators. It features a massive database of IPS file for tens of different consoles and hundreds of different translation groups. It’s also a lifesaver for the scene because it mirrors the IPS files locally, meaning that even when an obscure ROM group loses its Geocities account, Whirlpool will save its work for posterity.

The Whirlpool also provides descriptions of how far along a translation is, minireviews, and sometimes even comments from the creators. Overall, it’s extremely impressive, and its FAQs and news items are also well worth checking out.

DeJap Translations (http://www.dejap.com/)

DeJap is one of the best-known individual translation groups; its impressive projects page (http://www.dejap.com/projects.php) shows a range of the most sought-after SNES translations (see Figure 6-1). The Square title Bahamut Lagoon, never available in the West, is one of the highlights. Elsewhere, Namco’s classic Tales Of Phantasia is another important translation, although the insanely complex Star Ocean is probably the most technically impressive work thus far.

DeJap.com, an excellent translation site despite the name

Figure 6-1. DeJap.com, an excellent translation site despite the name

DemiForce Translations (http://www.demiforce.parodius.com/translations/)

This is another of the seminal translation groups, though it’s actually only one guy. He doesn’t have individual pages for his translations, preferring to link to individual Whirlpool detail pages. His particular highlights are a stylized translation of Final Fantasy I and II, as well as a standalone page for Radical Dreamers (http://radicaldreamers.sourceforge.net/), the largely unknown Chrono Trigger side story for SNES.

Aeon Genesis (http://agtp.romhack.net/)

Aeon Genesis has released a whopping total of 40 translations for everything from the Sega Game Gear to the NES and SNES. Although several titles, such as Magical Drop (http://agtp.romhack.net/mdrop.html), have little text to translate, a lot of know-how and work have gone into all these translations. Five years and 40 releases after they started, they’re still going strong. Romancing SaGa 2, another Square title, is also in the works.

This should give you a good idea of the kind of resources available for playing Japanese games with translated English text, even if the title was never released in the West. The next step is to try your hand at translation; at least, change the title screen of a game to something obscene, the stock-in-trade of lame ROM translation hackers.