Description

Tools and hacks to allow fan translation and localization of the Game Boy Advance game, Tomato Adventure.

Basic usage

Beware: these are tools to translate the game, this is not a translation. Usage is meant for translators.

1. Download or clone this repo into a new folder.
2. Place the image of the game in the same folder, named ta.gba.
3. Modify the txt files found in the folder.
4. Run the i.bat command on Windows.
5. Review the test.gba image outputted.

Features

As of writing, some of these features are still in progress.

• Variable width font in menus, dialogs, battle, etc.
• Dynamic or increased lengths for names, descriptions, and other text.
• Inserter for text, pointers, and images.
• Longer character names.
• Save compatibility with the original game.

Missing features can be found in issues on GitHub.

Translation files

Text is grouped into multiple files. As of writing, files have an eng and jpn version. The jpn files can be used as referenced but are not used by the inserter.

ta_script_eng.txt

This contains the main dialog text, which is shown using an 8x12 font. A scripting language triggers these messages, but they are given IDs to facilitate translation.

Note that some messages are reused (for example, when getting a Gimmick.) Some messages are unused in the game.

See SCRIPT.md for the codes used in this file.

ta_enemies_eng.txt

This contains both enemy names and their attack names. Both are limited to 24 characters.

These names are shown during battle using an 8x8 font.

ta_battle_eng.txt

This contains messages shown during battle based on the scripting for enemies. They display using an 8x8 font.

May be prefixed with [CENTER_H] for alignment. Some original messages were manually centered.

Some strings may be reused by multiple enemies.

ta_menus_eng.txt

This contains menu text and related messages shown in:

• The primary menu
• Battle and battle menus
• Shops
• Naming screen
• The Gimica sub game

This text is all shown using the 8x8 font. See MENUS.md for format details.

ta_gimica_tutorial_eng.txt

This is a list of messages shown during the Gimica tutorial. These display using an 8x8 font.

The number of lines can be changed, but each much end in [BREAK] or [END].

Mock insertion

To force all known strings to be inserted, use --force, as in any of:

i.bat --force
armips tomatoadv.asm && a --force

This will replace all Japanese characters with an ID followed by As. The ID can be used to find the translation within files the inserter uses.

Images

Images are inserted as part of the process, but currently they have space limitations and must reuse the same palettes as the original images.

Emulator & hardware

The changes are intended to work on common emulators and on hardware, but have not been tested everywhere. Contributions are welcome to improve support.

A patch is included that fixes a game bug which breaks saving in no$gba.

Platforms

These tools were designed to be portable, but a compiler is required on platforms other than Windows. Steps to complete before the basic usage:

1. Install or compile armips.
2. Compile the inserter, similar to: pushd inserter && make && popd
3. Use armips tomatoadv.asm && ./a instead of i.bat.

Credits and licensing

• AlphaDream for creating Tomato Adventure.
• Kingcom (and team) for armips, licensed under MIT.
• Martin Korth for no$gba and its debugger.
• Tomato for the initial proof of concept, permitted for use under ISC.
• Samda Knowe, White Reflection, and El Jefe for the initial idea.
• otakuto for TomatoTool, licensed under MIT.
• Sean Barrett for stb_image, licensed under public domain.