It’s been quite some time since the last update. There has been a lot going on, and a lot to update about. For starters, anyone interested in Dual Orb 2, I advise you to check out this page immediately! It is the BEST Dual Orb 2 page on the net! It is very comprehensive, and very nice looking. It contains a lot of good info about Dual Orb 2!

Dual Orb 2

• Best Do2 page on the net!

As far as Dual Orb 2 goes on my end. I have fixed several bugs reported to me since the patch release. I will most likely end up releasing one last patch that mainly fixes the Hilandian Church and a few misc. script bugs. Thanks to all whom reported bugs. No more reports are necessary.

I recently acquired a full time job in the beginning of January, so time is limited for me. None the less I’m still kickin’ and slow and steady progress continues. In any event, I’m still looking for some able bodies to help out with some of the more time consuming hacking tasks, so anyone interested in helping out, let me know. Emerald Dragon has befallen ill fate as D-boy has quit the scene or something. I guess that means I’m looking for a new translator, so things have been a bit frozen there.

2003 looks to be a big year for Transcorp as good things are coming. The big news this time around is the announcement of a new project. WOZZ! Thanks to hard work by Bongo’ and myself, the funky text compression has been cracked on Wozz. So everyone can rejoice as the screenshot above shows some oh so wonderful Wozz progress. Another text compression scheme has indeed bitten the dust via the hands of Transcorp.

That’s NOT the font I’m going to use. It was just a quick test font I threw in there. Wozz has built in VWF which is VERY nice.. although I didn’t bother to optimize it, so the screenshot text isn’t spaced correctly. In other Wozz related news, I have already written a de-compressor and full script extraction is possible! If Akujin still agrees to translate the script, progress should be very quick on this one as the nice people who coded Wozz coded it very nicely and have alot of built in features that I would have had to otherwise add such as 8×16/VWF and various script formatting items. Not to mention, the menu’s are plain as day and no challenge for this hacker! Wozz in English is soon to become a reality! Check out the Wozz project page for some good info and screenshots of the game.

-Nightcrawler

Seasons Greetings everyone!! Today is Christmas in Transcorp land!! You’re all going to be getting your present a bit early this year! The day has finally come! You can play Dual Orb 2 in full English glory! It’s my contribution to the ROM hacking/translation community and my gift to the public(all of you!). This game is a wonderful, overlooked gem amongst Japanese SFC/SNES RPG’s!

Are you sick and tired of today’s cheesy easy RPG’s? Do you want a challenge? Dual Orb 2 is for you! I challenge everyone out there to beat this game without cheating. I think most of you will fail! This game puts the HARD in hardcore! Sure, you’ll think it’s easy at first, but by the time you get to the second half of the game, you’ll be begging for mercy from those nasty bosses!

It’s been a long year and a half of working on this game almost exclusively! Much technical evil was vanquished! = ) Akujin did a great job on the script! I’m proud to finally release this beauty to the public and shine some light on this game! I am very pleased with how everything turned out! Please read the readme. It has a wonderful monologue/speech from myself about the project and game! It also has some information you will probably want to know. While the patch is fully translated and playable, it is not without several small glitches described in the readme. I may or may not ever release a follow up patch, so this very well may be final! I turned out to be the only reliable beta tester, so if you find any bugs OTHER than those pointed out in the readme, please report them!

I have released 2 versions of the patch. The only difference is a few dialog lines from the ending. The translator was unhappy with my SLIGHT(about 4 lines or so were edited) alteration of the ending, so I have included a version with the original ending. I thought the original translation did not quite fit the character’s actions on screen correctly, and didn’t quite make sense. If you are a purest, chose the original, or use both! A save state easily allows you to see both. The rest of you will probably be content with my version :) But, you can chose whichever you prefer.

With that in mind, again, please read the readme. I put a lot of thought and effort into the project and the readme, not to mention reading the readme is the only thing I ask in return for this wonderful translation! Merry Christmas everyone! I hope you all have happy, safe holidays! Good things are ahead for Transcorp rolling on into 2003, that I can assure you! Enjoy!

-Nightcrawler

Akujin came back from the dead and gave me the final script revisions! What did I do with them? I inserted each and every one of them! =) What does that mean? That means Do2 is DONE! FINISHED! Do you mean done as in you could release it today? YES! I do! A completed Do2 patch will be my Christmas gift to the translation scene! I am going to play though and test the game one final time and the next update you read on this page will contain the long awaited do2 patch release! When will that be? Well it’s going to be my Christmas present, and it’s also going to be a surprise! The finished patch will be in your hands sometime between tomorrow and Christmas morning! In 19 days or less you will be playing one of the lost gems of the SNES. The hardest SNES RPG ever! So, keep your knickers on and keep your eyes open for one of the greatest holiday treats ever here in the Translation/romhacking community!

-Nightcrawler

Once again I bring you an update from Transcorp land. Honestly, it is a sheer coincidencee that I am doing this update on Halloween, but I have turned it into a Halloween themed update anyway! First off, no new news on Dual Orb 2. Akujin has been MIA for the past month or so. So, still no final script. If I don’t hear from him soon, I will just release the current patch and release the script in hopes that someone else will finish editing it. I have made a little progress in one of my unofficial projects. I was hoping to announce it this update, but I wasn’t able to show any visual progress for it. For anyone interested, I graduated college last week! = ) I’ve been going to school full time for the last 3 years. And exactly 1 day after graduation, I was involved in a car accident. I was rear-ended by a limo. What luck I have.. at least this time time around, I came out of the accident in good health!

Now we get to some actual news! The news this time around is for Emerald Dragon. I have spent quite a bit of time recoding the font routine. Originally, I had intended to simply do an 8×16 hack, but my drive for quality drove me to go all out and code a VWF(Variable Width font)! So, as you can see below, the game is now ready for English text to be inserted! As you can also see, some menu translations have already been accomplished. Things are moving right along on ED. So, for your Halloween enjoyment, give your eyes a visual treat and behold English goodness in Emerald Dragon! I apologize for the rather dull choice of screens! = )

-Nightcrawler

Well, it’s about time I got around to updating the site! Things sure have been a little rough in life lately. I’ve had tons of other things to deal with from.. *drum roll*’real life’! In any event, things are still happening around here in Transcorp land. I updated the site a bit. I added a new image map for the menu. That really doesn’t mean anything to you except there is a new downloads section for everyone who complained they couldn’t find the downloads!! And.. In that new download section, as promised, you will find a complete Dual Orb 2 Soundtrack in SPC format! The game really does have some wonderful music. You should give it a listen!

I’ve made a second round revision of the beta patch for the beta testers, and it appears most all non-dialog bugs have been fixed aside from a few remaining ones. The only thing really holding the release back now is the final script revisions. Akujin has been missing in action for a little bit now, I don’t know what the status is on the revisions. So, a release is certainly eminent for sometime in the near future.

In Emerald Dragon news, There have been several blocks of dialug translated, and plenty of work on the menu’s. Slow and steady progress there. I’m hoping to maybe get some screenshots up for the next update. There are a few ‘unoffical’ happenings going on still, but it’s too early to tell yet if anything will come from it. I pride myself in only announcing title which I have the full intentions of completing.

The last order of business is the doors are still open for hackers. Remember, you must have basic hacking knowledge before applying. I’m not training newbies here. I’ve gotten a few worthy recruits that seem to be doing some good work, and learning a good amount from me. But, we can still use more. So, apply if your interested. You will most likely be working on one of the ‘unoffical’ projects. It’s a great learning experience for hackers whom know the basics, but want to take the next the next step, where the docs don’t help anymore! And on a final note.. Visitor number 33,333 gets an early beta patch! Time to get back to ‘real life’ for awhile. Sometimes I feel as though I have a split identity!

-Nightcrawler

Lots of goodies to report this time around! For starters, although most of you probably already knew about it, the first new project on Transcorp’s list was announced today! It’s Emerald Dragon.. a very nice game if I do say so myself. The text compression has been owned and I am working on churning out some script dumps for translation! So that means a decompressor and a custom script dumper have already been coded! Plenty of Emerald Dragon stuff going on right now. If anyone is interested in knowing more about the game, check out the projects page and probably the best English ED pages out there D-boy’s ED page.

In other news, 100%.. yes that’s right 100% of the script has been inserted in the ROM. That’s all 343 text blocks… all hand touched by myself to verify working order! Only thing left is to fix all the bugs that spring up during beta testing and out pops a 100% English translation of Dual Orb 2!(Ok.. I’ll be realistic.. 99% is probably what I’ll churn out, as I doubt I’ll find and fix everything!) I am definitely joyful that Do2 is finally finished! It’s in a buggy state, but I played all the way through to the end and beat the game over the last few days. Let me tell you, this game is HARD! And I don’t mean hard as in hardOCP!(most people probably won’t get that joke) It’s probably one of the most difficult RPG’s I’ve ever played through… and I’ve played them ALL! (Ok.. reality check number 2.. i’ve played ALOT.. but not ALL!)

The last news blurbs are: A Dual Orb 2 SPC sound track is just about complete, and I’ll be releasing that next update. The game really does have nice music. I’m still taking more hackers if any semi-experienced hackers want to join the team. Visitor number 25,000(by the Red digit counter) e-mail me a screenshot for an early do2 beta patch!! I’ve also heard from a number of people that the downloads are hard to find on the site. (They’re at the bottom of this very page!!) I think I will make a downloads section by the next update. Oh, and don’t you worry… there are still more ’sekret’ projects in the works for Transcorp going on right… NOW! hehe : ) They will be announced soon enough when substantial progress has been made.

-Nightcrawler

Today is the one year anniversary of the return of Translation Corporation!! That also means I’ve been working on Dual Orb 2 for a full year! Translation Corporation was originally started back in 1997 and was abruptly killed in 1998 when I was in a near fatal auto accident. For the years to follow after recovery, I pursued other interests, however remained in the scene as a silent entity. Then on July 15th 2001, Translation Corporation returned better than ever!

What does this mean for you? Well, I initially attempted to try and complete the Do2 translation by today, however that just wasn’t going to happen. I’m still awaiting the remainder of the script. 225 blocks totaling 65% of the script is inserted. The projects been on hold on my end as I simply await the rest of the script. So, instead I decided to revamp the web site a bit and open up a new projects section and a few other changes. Why do I need a projects section you ask? Because Translation Corporation is taking on more projects!! The future is bright for Transcorp. Good things are coming. Several new projects will be announced in the coming weeks as soon as significant work is completed. In the past few weeks, I’ve designed a new multi-game Win32 utility for myself to really save some time and get some good work done!

Because we here at Transcorp are taking on new projects, we have opened the doors for more hackers to help out. Anyone interested in joining the team under my tutelage for a valuable learning experience, be sure to E-mail me! Some experience is required. I expect any applicants to at least know the basics such as what a table is, how to edit text. How to derive an SNES offset from a normal hex offset, and the CONCEPT(you don’t have to be able to program one!) behind dumping/inserting a script. Intermediate level hackers are my preference. Programming experience is also a plus!

God, I sound like something outta the classifieds! Basically, I would just like some help. I would also like to educate some people, but I don’t have the time to educate complete newbies : ) People helping out would be doing the easier work, while I handle compression/ASM modifications or any other complex things that need my attention. I could however, even teach my ‘helpers’ a bit of the more complex stuff such as compression or ASM. Stay tuned for the good things to come in the next few weeks.

-Nightcrawler

Hello boys and girls, NC here with the latest news. Here’s the status of the project:

Translated Script: 195 out of 343 = 57%

Inserted Script: 148 out of 343 = 43%

Things are moving along pretty nicely with the script. I’ve finally gotten past all that nasty town dialog text. The rest of the text uses nice standard formatted blocks and will be a breeze compared to what I’ve been dealing with. The project will finally at long last be officially entering the beta stage within the next 2 weeks.

In light of that news, I’m in search of some beta testers. So, E-mail me if you’re interested. The only qualifications I ask is you give me a list of a few bugs in the current patch(not looking for all, just a few) just to let me know you are actually capable of being a serious beta tester. After, that it’ll be first come, first serve.

In other news, I am in search of an SNES backup/copier unit. I’m thinking about purchasing a Super UFO 32meg copier for 127(includes shipping) dollars, however that’s a large chunk of change for me to shell out. I definitely want to be able to test the Do2 patch with a copier though. So, if anyone out there would like to donate a copier, donate some money toward a copier, or sell me a used one for a fair price, please E-mail me and let me know.

-Nightcrawler

Greetings once again! It’s been awhile since I’ve updated, it’s been overdue. I guess the ‘big’ news this time around would be that I have been working on the text compression on Emerald Dragon for Dboy. I’m fairly certain I have a working decompressor now, I’m still waiting on D-boy to verify some things. Quite a few people have inquired lately about what was going on with it. As far as any other involvement of mine in the Emerald Dragon project, it is unknown at this time.

On the Dual Orb 2 front, things are still happening. Akujin has done a very good job on the script over the past month. David Shook has also done a good job editing. There are currently 90 blocks translated out of 343 total. I have inserted 55 of them. I’m awaiting script editing on the rest. More misc things have been taken care of. I currently made a list of the last few misc things besides the script. There are 9 small items left for me to address. They consist of minor improvements, small changes, and missed/botched spots. So, this project really is winding down. They should all be addressed within the next few weeks when I work up some motivation!

Lastly, The new logo is brought to you by Satsu. Anyone who doesn’t like it…Show me one better! :P That’s about it for this update. Things are certainly going well. I have been considering my future ROM hacking plans after the closure of this project. What does that mean? Damned if I know! I’m sure I’ll figure it out when the time comes!

-Nightcrawler

The time has finally come for another public patch release! There have been a few misc additions to the patch since my last update. Mainly some menu expansion and improvements, as well as some revised dialoug. Again, I’ll let everyone know there isn’t anymore event text translated in this patch because of the translator issues I had. So, although all the town dialouge has been translated for a few towns, there are annoying gaps in the storyline due to the event text not being translated. So, if you don’t like partial patches, then this might not be for you, but you should be able to get most of the story from talking to the townspeople no problem ;) Basically, I decided to release this incomplete patch because it is light years ahead of the patch from last October and it’s a disgrace to still have that on my website considering the wealth of work that’s been done since then! :) So, enjoy the patch. There’s no major bugs that I’m aware of, but I’m sure there are some minor glithces, so please do send in bug reports because I can’t test everything myself! And please feel free to give me some feedback! If you get stuck in the game, post on the message board and I’m sure you’ll find your answers! A link to the patch can be found at the bottom of this page.

The other topic I wanted to address is that of a new logo. As much as I like that logo from years ago, I feel it’s time for a change and something new. If you read the readme for the latest patch, you will see an ASCII logo that I designed myself. While, I can do ASCII logos half decent, I suck at web graphics, so if someone out there would like to turn that logo into a cool looking web graphic for the page, or design their own, please so and send it in! If I like it, I’ll slap it up there on the page! It doesn’t have to say “TransCorp” It can say “Translation Corporation” or “Nightcrawler’s TransCorp” etc.. I look forward to hopefuly seeing some submissions from someone with some free time and a nack for web graphics! : )

-Nightcrawler