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ReadMe-DvD_Translations-Cleopatra.txt

This file should be viewed using a mono-spaced font like "Courier".
Use a font size where 79 columns are visible.

Please don't distribute the ROM file in patched form.
Please don't distribute the DvD_Cleopatra_revA.ips file without this file.
Thanks.

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                        THE CURSED TREASURE OF CLEOPATRA

                      for the Nintendo Famicom Disk System
                            Copyright 1987 by Square

             English Translation Copyright 2018 by DvD Translations
             Patch Version: Rev A       Release Date: April 9, 2018

                                DvD Translations
                      dvdtranslations.eludevisibility.org

                                      GAME

                     Script Translation: NintendoComplete
             Script Translation Editing: aishsha, harmony7
                         Script Editing: DvD
                           Code Editing: DvD
                       Graphics Editing: DvD
                          Alpha Testing: DvD
                           Beta Testing: RadicalR

                                 ReadMe: DvD

                                     MANUAL

        Manual converted to HTML by: www.geocities.jp/frnyanko/setsumei
                 Manual Translation: aishsha, Ryusui, DvD
       Graphic Editing & Formatting: DvD
	           Production Support: Pennywise

----------------------------------- CONTENTS ----------------------------------

INFO 

(1)  Historical Significance of the Game
(2)  If You Read Anything, Read This

USING THE PATCH

(3)  Patching the Disk Image file
(4)  Playing the Game on a Flash Cart or Emulator

TRANSLATION DETAILS

(5)  Why DvD Chose to Translate THIS Game
(6)  Why YOU Should Bother Playing THIS Game
(7)  DvD's Hacking & Script Editing Comments
(8)  Nintendo Complete's Translating Comments
(9)  aishsha's Translation Editing Comments
(10) RadicalR's Beta Testing Comments
(11) Project Timeline
(12) Software Used In This Translation

------------------------------------- INFO ------------------------------------

(1)------------------ Historical Significance of the Game ---------------------

The Cursed Treasure of Cleopatra is not part of a game series; it was the only
Cleopatra game that Square made.  Cleopatra is the last RPG that Square made
before Final Fantasy.

Final Fantasy was so titled because there was a good chance it was going to be
Square's last game.  The had stopped work on every other game they were working
on and put all their effort into one last game.  Had they failed, they would
have gone bankrupt.  Instead, their gamble paid off.  But why did they think
this gamble was going to pay off?

The Cursed Treasure of Cleopatra is also the last game Square made before
Nasir.  Nasir was a legendary Iranian American 6502 programmer who Square
hired.  He saved Square.  After Cleopatra was released, Square released three
3D games, all programmed by Nasir: Highway Star, JJ Tobidase Daisaksusen, and
JJ Tobidase Daisaksusen II.  The first two are better known by their US names:
Rad Racer (released in the US by Nintendo) and The 3D Adventures of
Worldrunner.  (DvD Translations has translated the third.)  The next game Nasir
programmed was Final Fantasy.  He then went on to program Final Fantasy II and
III as well.

One of the RPG games Square was working on that was cancelled for Final Fantasy
was to be a whopping 5 disk FDS game called Seiken Densetsu.  Square went as
far as releasing a screen shot, copyrighting the name and selling pre-orders
for the game.  Every store that had pre-ordered Seiken Densetsu, had their
orders switched to Final Fantasy.  Less than 3 years later, Square released
their first action RPG for the Gameboy titled Seiken Densetsu (released in the
US as Final Fantasy Adventure).  Seiken Densetsu's sequel is better known by
its US name: The Secret of Mana, Nasir's only SNES game and his last game for
Square.

(2)-------------------- If You Read Anything, Read This -----------------------

For this game, DvD Translations has released a fully translated html version of
the manual.  Please read it before playing the game.  It's available from our
website on the web page where this patch was found.

What the HTML manual doesn't explain is that a new function has been added to
the game to allow font substitution on the fly.  Any time the main menu is
displayed, the font for the menu and body text can be changed to one of three
different fonts.  The can be changed independently of each other.  To change
the menu text, simply hold the SELECT button and press UP.  To change the body
text, hold SELECT and press DOWN.  The menu text will change immediately.  The
body text will change the next time any new body text is shown.  The SELECT
button is not used for any other function in the game.  The SAVE file will not
save the fonts chosen.  The three fonts are:
- Arabic                   - Since this takes place in modern Egypt, it looks
                             lower case because that better matches what real
                             Arabic letters look like
- Unknown Upper Case       - It's a nice easy to read font
- Final Fantasy Lower Case - because this the English font that Square
                             actually used

The fonts are single case because we consider the Arabic font to be the main
font and Arabic script is only one case.  But, this is also done because single
case fonts compress much more than mixed case.

------------------------------- USING THE PATCH -------------------------------

(3)---------------------- Patching the Disk Image file ------------------------

For this translation, before patching the ROM file, you'll need to expand the
ROM file first using a ROM expander.

Game file size: One 2 sided disk
                 65,500 bytes on each side (36 bytes less than 64k)
		  = 131,000 bytes
              =      72 bytes less than 128 kBytes

How to patch the FDS (Famicom Disk Image) file:

You need:

1) A FDS file.  The file may or may not include the standard 16 byte iNES
   header followed by the program disk image data.  With header, the FDS file
   is 131,016 bytes in size.  The data in the header doesn't actually matter
   because ROM Expander Pro is going to replace it anyway.

   I'm not telling you how to get the FDS file, but once you do, call it
   Cleopatra no Mahou.fds.

2) "ROM Expander Pro.txt" which is included with this patch.

3) For PC users, use ROM Expander Pro.exe, which you can get from the
   DvD Translations website.  It's pretty self-explanatory.

   Just make sure your FDS file, called
   "Cleopatra no Mahou.fds",
   "ROM Expander Pro.txt" and
   "ROM Expander Pro.exe" are all in the same directory and then run
   ROM Expander Pro.

   Regardless of whether your FDS file has a header or not, always choose
   "Expand and Add/Replace Header" as that is what the patch is expecting.  You
   will get an error saying your MD5 is doesn't match if you don't have a blank
   save file in your game.  It will still expand the FDS properly.  Now, if
   you save the game right after starting a new game and then try to use that
   for expansion it still gives you a MD5 error, your file wont patch properly.

   Headers are pretty silly on FDS games as all the information is stored in
   the FDS file, but we've standardized on releasing FDS patches with headers
   as the patched FDS files with headers are better supported by flash cardts.
   
   ROM Expander Pro will not modify your original FDS file.  It will instead
   make a copy of the file and modify it calling it
   "The Cursed Treasure of Cleopatra.fds".
   Keep your original file for backup purposes.

   This is normally where in the ReadMe I explain how to expand the game
   manually.  Well, this game is not easy to expand manually.  If you don't own
   a Windows PC you'll have to run a Windows virtual machine on your host to
   run Rom Expander Pro.

4) Patch File: DvD_Cleopatra_revA.IPS

5) An IPS patching program
   Remember to patch the file only AFTER it has a been expanded.

   Recommended IPS patching program for IBM PC:  Lunar IPS.exe by FuSoYa
   Recommended IPS patching program for Mac:     UIPS          by Lucas Newman
   
   Using Lunar IPS / UIPS:

   a) Double-click "Lunar IPS" / "UIPS"
   b) Click  "Apply IPS Patch" / "Apply Patch"
   c) Choose "DvD_Cleopatra_revA.ips"
   e) Choose "The Cursed Treasure of Cleopatra.fds"
   
(4)------------- Playing the Game on a Flash Cart or Emulator ----------------

All emulators and flash carts that can play the original FDS file can play the
translation.  The game is a single 2 sided disk.  Even if your emulator or
flash cart automatically flips the disk when necessary, no content will be
missed because disk flips only occur after the user takes an action.

The PowerPak flash cart emulates it perfectly, automatically flipping the disk
when necessary.  The EverDrive-N8 flash cart unfortunately cannot properly
display the title screen of the original FDS file and so it has the same
problem with the translation.  But, after the title screen there are no other
issues.

----------------------------- TRANSLATION DETAILS -----------------------------

(5)------------------ Why DvD Chose to Translate THIS Game --------------------

The translators I normally work with were not interested in taking on the
primary role of translator in a new project especially since while we were
still trying to complete Pocket Zaurus.  So, I looked to see who wanted
hacking help.  NintendoComplete was asking for help with Square's Tom Sawyer
which was a game I was interested in working on.  I contacted him and he was
interested in working with me, but someone else had already started working
with him on Tom Sawyer.  So, I listed the four Square games I wanted to see
completed which included Cleopatra, Hanjuku Hero, and Romancing SaGa 1 (now
completed by others).

We talked and decided that we'd also both like to see Cleopatra done.  No one
had tackled Cleopatra at the time, it was the most historically significant and
it was the oldest, so we chose to work on it.  I had messed with Cleopatra in
the past and knew it wasn't going to be easy, but since I'd have some dedicated
translator support I was willing to give it a try.

This was the oldest Square game that wasn't translated that I wanted to play.
I also really wanted to see what game must have been so terrible that it caused
Square to almost go bankrupt.  While translating the game, I was pleasantly
surprised to find that the game was actually pretty good.

(6)---------------- Why YOU Should Bother Playing THIS Game -------------------

It is a fun, short, unique, RPG by Square with nice graphics and good music
that we never got to play in the US.  The music was done by the same composer
as Final Fantasy.

(7)---------------- DvD's Hacking & Script Editing Comments -------------------

I dumped the MTE compression table, the menus, the items, the location, and
the scripts from each of the 8 locations.  I gave these to NintendoComplete
and eventually he translated everything.  Other things in my life kept me from
working on the project for about a year.  I had come up with an Arabic looking
font that I liked, but it was difficult for others to read and it was suggested
that maybe the game took place in the time of Cleopatra, so I made a classical
Roman font, which proved to be even harder to read.  I realized that I could
hack the game to swap between the two fonts.  But, then I wanted a font that
was easy to read, so I added in the Final Fantasy lower case font.  As I played
through the game I could tell it took place in modern times, and so the Roman
font didn't really make sense, so I replaced it with an all caps font.  The
funny thing is I can't remember where I found it!

When I came back, NintendoComplete was unavailable, (tuns out his email
program was blocking my emails) but aishsha stepped up and offered to help
with any lines that I felt seemed off.

After I played through the whole game, I went back to write a custom
disassembler for the context which allowed me to know exactly which pieces of
text were used in the game, and how to display them.  It also made it so I
could re-insert all the unused text back into the game that made sense (which
was most of it), by hacking the context scripts.  Fun times!

After finishing that, I added a final hack to the game that made the text 8
single spaced lines instead of 4 double spaced lines.  What a change this
made! It made everything look much better and the battles flow much more
smoothly.

(8)---------------- NintendoComplete's Translating Comments -------------------

It was quite awhile back when DvD first contacted me as I was looking for
someone to help with a translation of Square's Tom Sawyer.  If my memory
serves me correctly, I had just found some to start Tom Sawyer when he
messaged me over at ROMhacking.net, but since he had a few other Square titles
that he wanted help with, and given my love of Square's old games, I decided
give this one a shot.  I wasn't terribly familiar with the game at the time,
but I was up for a challenge.

It was fairly straight-forward and easy to hash out the first pass of
Cleopatra's translation, though I did do a bit of research to ensure that I
had a grasp of what the gods represented in Egyptian culture.  I thought it
important to handle the text in a way that was both contextually appropriate
and respectful of a culture entirely foreign to me.  Because of this, instead
of merely transliterating the names from Japanese, I was careful to ensure
that names remained consistent with their accepted English renderings.

For me personally, the biggest hurdle that the translation posed laid with
deciding on the player's agency within the narrative.  The original script was
often ambiguous on whether it was discussing things in the first or
third-person, so for tonal consistency and keeping everything true to the
spirit of the original text, I chose first-person whenever the player was
directly involved in the action.  Replaying the English version now for the
umpteenth time, I'm still think that it was the right call.

I was really pleased with how the game turned out, and thanks to DvD's
in-depth work on the game's text display routines, the full translation was
able to be inserted with no lines butchered or lost to technical constraints.

I really hope that all of you enjoy the game. It was a lot of work, but I'm
pretty proud of what we accomplished here, and I'm happy that our efforts will
allow a whole new audience to experience one of Square's earliest RPGs for the
very first time.

Happy Gaming!
NintendoComplete

If you'd like to contact me, you can find me at:
   http://www.nintendocomplete.com
and
   http://www.youtube.com/NintendoComplete.

(9)----------------- aishsha's Translation Editing Comments -------------------

I joined this project on the pretesting stage and did some polishing as well as
spot on translation works to the text on DvD's request.  That's all about my
participation in this project, apparently :)

(10)------------------- RadicalR's Beta Testing Comments ----------------------

When DvD asked me to beta tested this, I was initially skeptical until I found
out that this game was from Square.  As a long time fan of Square, I agreed to
try it out.  I first completed it on a flashcart for the NES (Note: the title
screen doesn't render correctly on some flashcarts.  This is not a fault of the
patch.)  Then I was sick for several months, holding up the testing.  My
apologies to DvD for this.  I completed the second run on an emulator, so it
should work fine any way you try it.  All in all, this is an interesting piece
of history that is finally available in English!  Very grindy at parts, and
frustrating when I was trying to figure out what the hell to do next.  All in
all, not a bad game.

(11)---------------------- Project Timeline Highlights ------------------------

Mar  9 2014 - Contacted NintendoComplete to work on Square's Tom Sawyer

May 22 2014 - Menu, Town & Shop original translations completed

Dec 12 2015 - DTE compression table made
              Project took a year and half break
	  
Jul 16 2017 - aishsha started helping with the script editing

Nov    2017 - DvD's first alpha test play through complete

Dec  3 2017 - Table Dumper Pro modified to dump context

Dec 30 2017 - All text context identified
            - Missing text added back into the game completed

Jan  1 2018 - Single spacing hack completed
            - First beta test version completed
            - Beta testing started by RadicalR

Jan  3 2018 - RadicalR passed the game

Jan  5 2018 - ROM Expansion file completed

Jan  7 2018 - Manual translation completed

Mar 25 2018 - RadicalR completed beta testing the final version

Apr  1 2018 - IPS patch file completed

Apr  9 2018 - Comments received from contributors
            - ROM & manual translation released along with Burnin' TwinBee

(12)------------- Software & Hardware Used In This Translation ----------------

* Emulator

  FCEUX 2.2.3
   by zeromus, adelikat

* Disassembler, Table Dumper, Script/Items/Menus Inserter, File Comparator

  Table Dumper Pro (ver 17.12.03)
   by DvD

* Hex Editors

  WindHex32 2005.4.20
   by Genecyst East Software

  Beyond Compare 4
   by Scooter Software

* Tile Editors
  
  Tile Layer Pro 1.0
   by Kent Hansen
  
* Disassembled code manipulation, script editing, ReadMe creation, &
   ROM Expander Pro file editing

  Notepad++
   by Don Ho and the rest of the Notepad++ team

* Project management

  Excel 2010
    by Microsoft

* IPS Patch File Creator

   Lunar IPS
    by FuSoYa

* ROM Expansion

   ROM Expander Pro 12.8.12
    by DvD

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