[ FF7 ] Japanese support

[julianxhokaxhiu]

Square-Enix did release an eStore Japanese edition of the game, although in order to inject Japanese fonts they had to customize completely the driver.

It seems that the eStore release, different than Steam has a bigger stock AF3DN.P driver, which has the code to inject into the font system. What it does it seems to inject some special TEX files that you can find inside of menu_ja.lgp named jafont_X.tex ( X goes from 1 to 6 ).

There is a need to figure out how to achieve this on our end without requiring to patch the overall font engine, but maybe fixing correctly the relative window.bin file.

[Hundarzbarbar]

Hello! I was working on my e-store version of FFVII and noticed that it was unable to play the Japanese version. I know with the latest update of FFNx that you can now start the JP exe, but all the characters end up buggy. I was wondering how things are progressing and if there have been any breakthroughs.

I love all the amazing work you guys have achieved!

[julianxhokaxhiu]

Hello @Hundarzbarbar unfortunately no progress on this side. We lack time and resources to understand how that part was implemented. I wish Square-Enix would at least give us some help on this side. If you know anyone in Japan willing to cooperate, I'm more then open to talk about what has to be done, I'd be fine implementing it myself.

[Hundarzbarbar]

Dang. I live in Japan myself and would LOVE to help. I do have a high level of Japanese, but sadly my computer skills themselves may be quite far from enough for this project. Below is a link to a Japanese site that briefly mentions the FFNx progress that has been made and asks for someone to reach out if they know more about the text side.

http://hal51.click/game/ff7_mod

[julianxhokaxhiu]

That's awesome! Maybe you could try to reach Square-Enix Japan and ask them if they're willing to help yourself? Or engange a bit more the community over there to make SE aware of our situation here? Unfortunately not knowing the language myself would make it impossible to reach out unless I use Google Translate ( which may produce bad results ). Any help on this side is appreciated.

[Hundarzbarbar]

I will do my best and try to see if I can find someone who is willing to help! I can message Square-Enix Japan directly and see what kind of response they give as well.

[Hundarzbarbar]

Do you mind providing further details on what question you would like answered regarding the AF3DN.P Driver? I will make sure it's well translated when sent to Square Enix

[julianxhokaxhiu]

If they have source code to share of that driver code would be the best, otherwise info on what they patched so we could potentially replicate it. Or if they can speak English either getting touch with me would also be great. Thanks!

[Hundarzbarbar]

I wasn't able to get a response from Square Enix yet, but I sent a few messages out on the Japanese app Line, and they had some interesting information. One was saying that if you are able to look at the binary data and see the memory dump information that it would probably really help. He isn't sure but says that 86 assembly might be able to read it.

[Hundarzbarbar]

They were also wondering if you were using a decompiler?

[julianxhokaxhiu]

@Hundarzbarbar Thanks for this interesting feedback! Yes I'm using a decompiler and yes I did try to look at the assembly code, but it's very hard to catch what is going on. If they could at least share the AF3DN.P source code, would be helpful! Thanks for pushing forward!

[Hundarzbarbar]

@julianxhokaxhiu Do you think you could send me the assembly code so that I can have them take a look at it and see if someone can identify which part exactly if the AF3DN.P code?

[julianxhokaxhiu]

What is the point of me giving them a completely impossible to identify code? If it was that easy to be identified I would have done it myself 😅 I'm asking for them to share exactly because that assembly code the way it is, even after being decompiled is much harder to be understood unlike for eg. FF7 decompiled code. If they can help sharing the source code, or the part I need for, fine. Otherwise we'll push this topic for another moment.

[Mimimirin]

Just saying that I'm also interested in this and probably many others as well. I don't see a point in modding everything from models to adding voice acting when you're still playing with a localization and not the original language.

[julianxhokaxhiu]

@Mimimirin I totally share the pain with you but unfortunately it's not on me. If you follow up the discussion here, I'm asking for help in understanding some parts of how Square-Enix managed ALREADY to do that. If they would share, or someone else figures this out, I'll be happy to add the support on top of FFNx. Until then, this will remain a WIP item that will eventually be tackled, one day.

[frodobakinzu]

Does it not support Japanese yet?

For example, can't you do a Japanese translation MOD even with the English version client?