Print

[madmab]

Somehow I get the feeling I'm talking to myself here.  But..

I've been thinking of changing the format of the Synopsis.txt.  Right now the current format is.

CODE

Start symbol
CRCs
Title
Number of description lines
Description Line 1
Description Line 2
etc...
Number of detail lines
Detail Line 1
Detail Line 2
etc...
End Symbol

An example:

*
c575a831,dc5723ab
The Legend of Zelda
3
Genre: Action Adventure > Fantasy
Developer: Nintendo
Release Data: 8/22/87 US - 11/15/87 EU
10
Welcome to the Legend of Zelda. Where the only sound you'll hear
is your own heart pounding as you race through forests, lakes,
mountains and dungeonous mazes in an attempt to restore peace
to the land of Hyrule. Along the way you'll be challenged by
Tektites, Wizzrobes and an endless array of ruthless creatures
who'll stop at nothing to prevent you from finding the lost
fragments of the Triforce of Wisdom. But don't despair. With a little
luck and a lot of courage, you'll conquer your adversaries, unite
the Triforce fragments and unravel the mystery of the Legend of
Zelda.
*

Now from my experience if there are two things I've found annoying about "editing" the synopsis.txt file.

1.  Hitting the enter key every 60 characters so it lines up correctly.  
2.  Counting how many lines there are and updating that number.

I find when it comes to errors, those are the two most common areas.  CRC's are easy to fix without really having to "recheck" them in the emulator.

I've also found that the most that can be fit on one screen is 60 characters across.  1 title line, 3-4 description lines, and  12-13 detail lines.  For a total of 19 lines.

Now the text file viewer has some code for auto "word wrapping" text.  So I figured I could probably use a little bit of that code to auto "wrap" the text at 60 characters per line.  I could then just have the code "count" the number of lines and when it reaches 19 just stop.

That way when checking the synopsis.txt in the emulator all one would have to worry about is maybe removing a few sentences or rewording a few things.  Rather than "reformatting" the text with cr/lf's every time text is removed or added.  That and correcting or adding any CRC's.

These changes should make maintaing and creating the synopsis.txt file alot easier.  Here is what the new format would look like.

CODE

Start symbol
CRCs
Title
Description Line 1
Description Line 2
etc...
Delimiter Symbol
Detail Line 1
Detail Line 2
etc...
End Symbol

An example:

*
c575a831,dc5723ab
The Legend of Zelda
Genre: Action Adventure > Fantasy
Developer: Nintendo
Release Data: 8/22/87 US - 11/15/87 EU
*
Welcome to the Legend of Zelda. Where the only sound you'll hear is your own heart pounding as you race through forests, lakes, mountains and dungeonous mazes in an attempt to restore peace to the land of Hyrule. Along the way you'll be challenged by Tektites, Wizzrobes and an endless array of ruthless creatures
who'll stop at nothing to prevent you from finding the lost fragments of the Triforce of Wisdom. But don't despair. With a little luck and a lot of courage, you'll conquer your adversaries, unite the Triforce fragments and unravel the mystery of the Legend of Zelda.
*

Comments?  Suggestions??

[gilles9999]

Yes just one comment:

-GOOD

Now, you have created one "synopsis.txt" for atari 5200, you see how boooring it is to count the number of lines right?
It will be a loot easier  for the future synopsis,
Just one thing madmab, for the "colecovision synopsis.txt" (wich is complete and cover all the colecovision games), we could add the crc of the similar adam games versions like buck rogers, campaign 84, donkey kong etc..., it's the same synopsis, and i have no succes finding any adam games description anywhere on the web

[ressurectionx]

Very nice.  Who likes having to hit enter every 60 characters?  Good fix.

Any way we could get it to display more instead of ending abruptly?  Say by using the left joystick to scroll up down if there is an overrun of the main text area?



I've been collecting some of the synopsis information for hacks since last night.  Some of that stuff is really long, but worth reading for those interested.  It would be a shame to cut any of that off.

Here's an example...

QUOTE

*
Contra - Hard Corps [Enhancement Hack]

Contra - Hard Corps (USA) [Enhancement Hack v20080924 by MIJET]

http://www.romhacking.net/hacks/450/

Description

It’s a hack, not a retranslation, although the script has been cleaned up. Lots of minor tweaks and things to make this my ideal version of the far superior USA release. There may even be some undocumented stuff I added…

    * Copyright screen edited slightly.
    * Copyright screen can now be skipped by pressing the start button.
    * Minor rewording in options menus.
    * Maximum number of lives in options menu increased to 5 (default is still 3).
    * Got rid of the annoying “press start to exit” feature in some menus.
    * Start button can now be used to confirm some options.
    * Start button can now be used to select your character.
    * Mission briefings can now be skipped by pressing the start button.
    * You can now hold buttons B & C to skip through text faster.
    * In-game font fixed such that lower-case characters are now usable.
    * Added an alternate font (activated with a code).
    * Added ‘e accent aigu’ for ‘coup d’état’.
    * Script corrected, edited, and optimized.
    * Soft reset added.
*

Of course, I'm not sure if those "*" bullet points can stay there or not, and I'm not sure how the other stuff would work as far as formatting or anything.  I've merely been collecting the information for the future.  

Any way this could be done?

[ressurectionx]

Yeah... I figured some of that stuff would have to go.  I'm not really volunteering my services for any intense synopsis work or anything, but I figured that while I was looking at good hacks I would get a description.

Any idea if we can put more text on it and scroll with the joystick to see it all for the synopsis?

EDIT:

Here's a sample of the translations that I've collected information for and what they would look like in the synopsis (I'm sure that I don't have the format right and there would be errors until it was fixed).  But as you can see, there would be too much info on these for the synopsis window without the scrolling capability.

QUOTE

*
Bio-Warrior Dan - The Inkliezar Battle
By Abstract Crouton Productions
Version: 1.5; Release Date: April 15, 2003
Original Name: Bio Senshi Dan - Increaser Tono Tatakai (J)

http://www.romhacking.net/trans/642/

Game Review (By Spinner :

The whole game's got a Metroid kind of feel, but just does it all wrong. You're running around in a series of nonsequential corridors, while being attacked from all sides by a whole crapload of enemies, and all you have is a sword that takes you forever and a day to swing around. And when you jump, you just kind of pause in midair and then fall, like the game's telling you “okay, this is how far you go when you jump and that's it.” And did I mention these enemies? There's tons of them! And they keep respawning! Forever! And most of them take two hits, which means that you hit it once with your sword, wait a few moments for your sword animation to finish, get hit by the enemy, and then kill it with your second hit. Maybe I don't have much patience for these games anymore, but this wasn't very much fun.

Translation Description:

This translation is finished and complete.
*

*
Castlevania III - Legend of Demon Castle
By Vice Translations
Version: 1.0; Release Date: October 12, 2003
Original Name: Akumajou Densetsu (J)

http://www.romhacking.net/trans/730/

Game Review (By TheFreak):

Castlevania 3...the best NES Castlevania game since the original Castlevania. The Japanese version here happens to have a bit of an edge over it's American port in the form of the VRC6 chip, which does most of its job improving the sound quality to that which would have given competition to the likes of the Sega Mark 3 (Japanese Master System) and the MSX2. Alas, most likely due to expense costs, the US Castlevania 3 never saw the VRC6, and in Japan, only three other games were ever given such an improvement.

Translation Description:

I'm certain we have a hack of Akamajou Densetsu somewhere around here, but unlike that patch, which was just the english script cut-n'-pasted into the Japanese ROM, this one's from scratch, translated from the original script. Of course, this also means the original names apply (Trevor Belmont is now Ralph Belmond), but also gone are the dubious errors (”Bad world full of evil”). But yeah, whether be it Trevor,

Ralph, Bad world or evil, Akamajou Densetsu is a game to play. Only now there's no Nintendo censorship to get in the way of things. Wee! Version 1.0 features a title screen replacement courtesy of BMF54123.
*

EDIT 2:  I have just finished my first runthrough of translated NES games and their synopsis.  Somewhere around 130 games and the synopsis for them so far is 151kb.  That's quite a bit larger than the ADAM synopsis information.

I really hope we can get this to work with the synopsis mode.  All of this information is too little for individual txt files (and the text files would be better suited for any faqs anyways), and I think it adds a bit more history to the emu because the reviews are written by translators themselves, usually about games others have translated.  They've got their own little thing that's been going on over there for years.

BTW... Killer beta madmab

EDIT 3: LOL  I just noticed your message in the PM.  Glad to know you're working on the scrolling man.  Here's hoping it works....

[madmab]

I was wrong about the bullet points.  I forgot the code also checks the length of the line.  So an * only creates problems when there it is on a line by itself.

I scrapped up some scrolling code the other day.  If it works the way I want it oughta be pretty nifty.  Hopefully I wont have to wrestle with it too much.

[ressurectionx]

That's the type of thing you should post at the top of your thread too man.  

I've finished the translated games, and I will probably do all of the FDS games too.  I'm not ready to commit to the entirety of the NES project just yet as there's stuff with Genesis I want to wrap up, and I have a great deal of PSX testing and artwork gathering to do still.  You're doing great work though man.  I'll lend a hand with this project when I get an oppurtunity.  

The only thing I'm really missing on mine is the number of players, but I'm not really going to play each one and test for two players.  Anyone can feel free to jump on that one.  I've got stuff like Original Title, Translated By, Version, Release Date and stuff more important for a translation anyways, so it's cool.

Great work man,
~Rx

[ressurectionx]

Hey Gilles,

Here's the current version of the NES Update Hacks part of the synopsis.

Give me an example of how I would currently have to set things up.....

QUOTE

*
Bionic Commando '99
By Chris Covell
Version: 1.0; Release Date: February 21, 2006
http://www.romhacking.net/hacks/82/

Description:

The original Japanese version of Bionic Commando (Hitler no Fukkatsu: Top Secret) underwent quite a bit of censoring before being released in English. Due to Nintendo's strict censorship policies, all references to the Nazi Party, such as swastikas and the word “Nazi”, had been replaced with inoffensive material. This hack attempts to make the game be more like its Japanese counterpart. A few graphics have been switched, and the Badds are now Nazis. A few colors in the pallete were darkened, too, as Nintendo felt it was necessary to brighten everything up a bit. Also, a few parts of the script were rewritten/corrected, which

unfortunately includes a famous quote by a soldier in one of the neutral areas.
*

*
Blaster Maseter - Pimp Your Ride
By Jigglysaint
Version: 1.1; Release Date: January 1, 2007
http://www.romhacking.net/hacks/199/

Description:

Blaster Master: Pimp your Ride, is an assembly hack for the NES platformer Blaster Master. Changes to most of the areas are minor save for areas 1 and 2 tank section, which are re-done. The changes are made to utilize the full effect of the ASM hack, and premise of this hack which is the 8 new additional upgardes the tank can get.

Yes, 8 new upgrades. That means the game has a total of 15 upgrades in all, and almost all of them are going to be needed to finish the game. Along with that are some other ASM changes, one that would need explaining is the gun powerup system. Instead of one gun unit equaling one level, you must collect many gun units to raise you gun power. The upside is that you do not lose your gun level if you get hit or die. This means that any powerup you find will not be wasteful.

There are also other changes as well that will become apparent when you play. This hack was started sometime last spring or summer and deamed complete on December 31 2006. If there are any bugs, don’t hesitate to point them out.
*

*
Castlevania III - D Curse [Uncensored]
By Dragonsbrethren
Version 1.0; Release Date: November 20, 2005
http://www.romhacking.net/hacks/88/

Description:

This patch fixes a small number of graphical oversights in Castlevania III. Most of these are related from reusing graphics from the first Castlevania game but forgetting to reorder two colors in their palette. Whether these are actually bugs is debatable, I made this patch for my own personal use but decided to release it publicly. The archive also includes a patch to use uncensored graphics in CV3 and a few patches for Akumajo Densetsu.

Bugfixes:

- Holy Water: In CV3 this suffers from two colors being reversed, in Akumajo Densetsu it is missing a color entirely.
- Candlestand: Suffers from two colors being reversed. Possibly intentional, it still looks good this way.
- Rosary: Better known as the Cross, this is the item that kills every enemy onscreen. It had two of its colors reversed.
- Money Bag: In CV1 two of the money bags use a dark colored bag with a light colored dollar sign, the other reverses the colors. CV3's money bags all use a light bag with a dark dollar sign, this reverses the colors in CV3.
- Points: The points when you pick up a money bag or kill more than one enemy with a subweapon were light-colored in CV1 and future CV titles, leading me to believe the blue numbers in CV3 were a mistake–they do look better, however.
- Censored Graphics: All are related to topless women, mostly just statues except for Medusa, who was made a male in CV3.
*

*
Dragon Warrior III [Modernization]
By Reiska
Version: 1.0; Release Date: October 18, 2008
http://www.romhacking.net/hacks/462/

Description:

This patch has three noticeable effects:

It changes all the spell names, where applicable, to match the translations used in Square Enix’s most recent Dragon Quest series translations (Dragon Quest VIII and Dragon Quest IV: Chapters of the Chosen for DS).

It changes the class names to reverse Nintendo of America’s censoring of some of the NES version’s religious references, to those used in the English version of the Game Boy Color remake.

Where appropriate, it changes the 2-letter class abbreviations that are displayed on in-battle status screens to match the changed class names.
*

*
Earthbound Zero [Update]
By Starmen.net
Version: 1.2Beta; Release Date: 2001
http://starmen.net/v...te.php?id=17876

Description:

This is an old hack (circa 2001). It was meant to make all the game text more palatable, which it succeeds in. It was also meant to double the experience you get from enemies, but it turns out this feature doesn't work right. There are other little changes here and there as well. It's also a little buggy in places, so only try this hack if you're bored and have nothing better to do. I was planning to do more work on this hack, but it's pretty much a dead project at this point.
*

*
Faxanadu [Facelift]
By Ice Ranger
Version: 1.0; Release Date: March 30, 2005
http://www.romhacking.net/hacks/136/

Description:

This is a hack of Faxanadu that improves the color palettes and restores graphics that were censored for the US release.
*

*
Final Fantasy [Facelift]
By Goongyae
Version: 1.30; Release Date: August 24, 2001
http://www.romhacking.net/hacks/12/

Description:

FinalFacelift is a fun patch that changes the look, but none of the gameplay, of Final Fantasy for the NES. It's not a game itself, but only a patch file specifying minor changes.

That's a very modest description of this hack. Here's a short list of changes:

- Five letter character names
- Default names for characters
- Retranslated names for items, equipment, and monsters
- Touched up dialog
- Enhanced graphics (With censored graphics restored)

It may not seem like a lot, but it has been the base for countless Final Fantasy hacks and offers an enhanced gameplay experience on its own.
*

*
Kart Fighter [Update]
By DvD Translations
Version: 1.0; Release Date: April 2, 2004
http://www.romhacking.net/trans/784/

Game Review (By Sardius):

Okay, here's a weird one. Kart Fighter is an unlicensed “pirate original” fighting game for the Famicom which features characters from Super Mario Kart beating the holy hell out of each other, Street Fighter style. Sound like Super Smash Bros? It shouldn't. This game predates Nintendo's own take on the genre by several years, and in fact could be cited as a source of inspiration for the creation of Smash Bros. Well, okay, maybe not. But still.

Anyway, Kart Fighter is…well, it's actually really good, surprisingly. Some would go as far to say that it's the best one-on-one fighting game on the NES, though its only serious competition is Joy Mech Fight, TMNT Tournament Fighters, and all that unplayable pirated crap like those “ports” of The King of Fighters, Mortal Kombat, and the dreaded Cony versions of Street Fighter.

Among its bootlegged peers, though, Kart Fighter reigns supreme. The game positively reeks of effort - all character sprites are original and unique to this game, and are large, colorful, and well-animated. The gameplay isn't perfect, but it's at least existent, which is more than you can say for any other pirated fighting game ever made for the NES. It's actually playable, for chrissake. PLAYABLE! Heavens!

It's not an excellent game by any means, but its mere concept and the decent amount of quirk contained within (dig the game's inexplicably capable and hot interpretation of Princess Peach) make Kart Fighter very much worth playing. If only for a few minutes.

And yes, the game has a two-player mode. Press left or right on controller 2 at the character select screen to enable it. Have a fun!

Description:

This isn't so much a translation as it is an “improvement” patch. The original game contained a whole bunch of weird (and possibly intentional) spelling errors in the character names, which apparently bugged DvD enough to make him want to fix things up. This patch fixes all the character names you see both during the game and on the high score table, and also makes a few small graphical changes, to further enhance your Kart Fighter experience.

Shame he couldn't do anything about the game's crippling flickering problem, though. Oh well, that's what FCE Ultra's “allow more than 8 sprites per scanline” option is for. You'll definitely want to enable that for this game, kids.
*

*
Recca - Pure
By Sliver X
Version: 1.0; Release Date: January 23, 2007
http://www.romhacking.net/hacks/207/

Description:

Most people don't know that there are alternate modes of the game Recca, which are accessed by very obscure means.

This hack makes them selectable from the start, adds a new title screen and translates the sound test mode as well (See the readme on how to access this).

New Modes:

Hard: 7 levels as opposed to the 4 normally available. Can be toggled on or off with Select on the title screen.

Zanki Attack: Same as either normal or hard mode with three differences enemies explode into bullets, you start with 50 lives and there is no ending sequence. Score is determined by how many lives you have left when you beat the game.
*

*
Super Dodge Ball [4 Player Hack]
By aka translations
Version: 1.0; Release Date: November 8, 2005
http://www.romhacking.net/hacks/71/

Description:

Plain and simply, this hack allows 4 players to play in “Bean Ball” mode.
*

Oh... and go ahead and copy this message to test it out yourselves too guys.  I'm still working on it though, so it's not complete.

~Rx

[madmab]

hehe.  I see you guys have adopted to my new "unofficial" format.  

I think I got some working code today.  Took a little tweaking to get the auto-wrapping right.  It still occasionally leaves a space at the beginning of a line and other little things.  But for the most part it works.

Scrolling seems ok.  I just need to do a little more testing.  I only altered two entries in my synopsis for testing purposes and all of them were kinda within the limits anyways.  

I didn't quite get it the way I wanted, but no biggie.  I'll provide an update later.

[ressurectionx]

QUOTE(gilles9999 @ Dec 10 2008, 02:23 PM)

No prob rez,
IF you want to add synopsis fot the hacks,  
example of bionic commando'99:
It should look like this

*
game crc here
Bionic Commando '99
Release Year: 2006   
Publisher: Chris Covell
Players: 1
*
The original Japanese version of Bionic Commando (Hitler no Fukkatsu: Top Secret) underwent quite a bit of censoring before being released in English. Due to Nintendo's strict censorship policies, all references to the Nazi Party, such as swastikas and the word “Nazi”, had been replaced with inoffensive material. This hack attempts to make the game be more like its Japanese counterpart. A few graphics have been switched, and the Badds are now Nazis. A few colors in the pallete were darkened, too, as Nintendo felt it was necessary to brighten everything up a bit. Also, a few parts of the script were rewritten/corrected, which
unfortunately includes a famous quote by a soldier in one of the neutral areas.
*

So....... All I have to do is put an "*" in between the paragraphs?  When I looked at the ADAM one there were always numbers before each paragraph (I assumed it was how many lines were in the next paragraph, but figured that would be subjective now with the word wrap)

I don't want to get rid of any of this information though, and I noticed you stripped some of it out:

QUOTE

Bionic Commando '99
By Chris Covell
Version: 1.0; Release Date: February 21, 2006
http://www.romhacking.net/hacks/82/

It took me about 12 hours to make about 200 synopsis because I had to copy each one from about 3 spots and I had to physically type most of what you see above for each one.  I'd rather not strip out any of that information.  If I do regular games A-Z like you were talking about, I'll use your format, but I don't want to drop the version number, release date, website information, and to say that "Chris Covell" is the publisher isn't exactly accurate in this case.  

I'm just basically asking what is needed to be done to my text to get it to actually show up in the synopsis?  Is all I'm missing a "*" between the paragraphs?


Also, are we going to be doing this by CRC madmab, or are we going to be doing it by romname?  I thought there was going to be a problem with the CRCs because of how many there are or something like that.  I'm not even sure how to get the CRC number, now that you mention it.


I'm asking for as much information as you guys can give in the next 2 hours because I will be going to work soon and on the off chance that the synopsis website is not blocked I may do a little of this in my free time.  (No promises though because my work blocks most sites having anything to do with games).

Later,
~Rx



EDITED TO ADD:  I will be putting the web url and the game reviewer's screenname in all of my synopsis.  I suggest that you do as well Gilles.  I figure those people put just as much work into their site and the reviews as we're putting in here.  It's only right we give them some props for all the work they did.  (Imagine having to write all that stuff ourselves...... there's no way I'd ever do it)

I think doing this preserves the history of the previous work rather well and since we won't be limited to one screen worth of text with the scrolling code I don't see any reason why we should leave that information out now.

EDIT 2:  Oh well.... I'm going to work now.  hopefully I can get on that site from there.  If I can, I guess I'll just play it by ear and fix stuff later.

[ressurectionx]

Thanks for clearing that up guys.  

So we are going with game CRC's this time then?  (Maybe it was just the playstation we were talking about doing the image name.... soo much stuff we do here I get them confused sometimes if it's not all written down)  That's actually pretty cool, because in the Synopsis then I can have the full gamename instead of the abbreviated names.  

Unfortunately, I'm not able to hit that site up for the NES games like I suspected I wouldn't be able to.  I got so much "protection" put on my computer now that it barely has any processing power to do work on.  Sad really....  Funny how it lets you go to womenshealth.com but not menshealth.com (It blocks that for "Sex Education")  

Oh well.....

So I'm sorry Gilles... I likely won't be helping myself with the NES anytime soon.  Got too much other stuff to work on in my "free" time.  I know you like that site for the synopsis so I don't want to be pulling from wikipedia for the ones I add.  I think we like our formats a bit different too, so this allows us to continue on doing them the way that we each like (Sorry, but the translations and enhancement/update hacks are already all done in the format I was showing you, but I figure that is okay because probably nobody would have done them if I didn't.  I know you're focusing on the main ones, at least for now).

I did start on the SNES one tonight though.  It will be slow moving since I'm taking the time to read and check for errors (not too many so far, just mostly footnotes "[1]", image names "nesconsole.jpg", image captions "The Nintendo Entertainment System" and other things like [edit] and [back] links that always copy over when I'm moving the work).  A bunch of other little things I'm doing is making sure the words are wrapping and there weren't hard returns used (that can be iffy, and tricky to spot unless you take time to resize your notepad window a bit to make sure it's not just breaking at the end of your notebook window), I'm replacing * bullets and usually bringing them all the way to the left side lead by a "- ", and a few other little text enhancements that make all the entries look professional.  I'm also including the wikipedia link at the bottom.  I'm not putting a reviewer's name on there though, because unlike the other sites I've seen that deal directly with games, I don't know where the author's names are.    

I know you know most of that stuff already though if not all of it.  I checked out the site you were talking about and I noticed that if you just copy out of the document that you have to edit it quite a bit to look good like I've been doing.  

I'm really impressed with some of the English skills of the game review writers on wikipedia where anybody can post things.  Though the reviews there don't have the personality of the site I was using for the hacks/trans (you actually start feeling like you know their history there after reading enough of them), these wikipedia quotes look more professional and don't make me cringe when I read them thinking that one of your kids are going to read this someday.  They don't stray too far from vanilla, but ya know there is always that one rabid parent that might find out that her kid learned how to swear playing a modded XBox (all while failing to see the irony in the fact that she never blinked an eye or foamed at the mouth when her kid was sitting on his fat McDonald's eating ass for 15 hours straight cutting people up in Manhunt.

Anyways...........

Can't wait till were done with these Gilles.  Lots more work ahead we've volunteered for ourselves, but I know you got a pretty good idea of how killer these are going to look with all the new features, your skins, the Xtras and now a legitimate and professional game synopsis that hopefully someday will contain reviews written about every game we got on here by everyday people who took the time to talk a game up or recall for anyone who didn't know just how much a game truly sucked.  (Race ya to the finish line.  I got quite a few less SNES games, but I have to do all the translations and hacks for it and I already have those done for you on NES  .... and you got a head start )

A few questions for you guys though before I do any more serious work on this...

1) So you're saying only 3 "*" per game then?
2) I have to use a space on any empty line and then it will show a blank line?
3) I can have as many lines as I want between the 1st and 2nd *, as well as the 2nd and 3rd *?
4) Which characters, if any, besides the * are taboo?
5) What's the best way to get all of the game's CRC's listed out next to the romname in alphabetical order so I can add all of them when I'm done?
6) CRC lines cannot exceed 42 characters

And now the more in depth questions....

7) Does it matter if my synopsis file ends up being 5MB or larger (it very well might)?  I don't know how this document effects memory, if at all, or if there is a way we can "fix" that problem if it arises.   The synopsis' I am coming up with here are very lightly edited (only for some grammatical errors and cosmetic fixes), so many of them can be quote long.  

Here's an example of one of the synopsis that is on the LONG end of the spectrum:

QUOTE

*
The 7th Saga
Genre: Role Playing Game
Release Date: September 1993
Developer: Produce
Publisher: Enix
Number of Players: Single Player
*
The 7th Saga is a role playing game for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, known as Elnard in Japan. The player chooses one of seven playable characters, all of whom separately embark on a quest to locate seven magical runes. As the player progresses through the game from one town to the next, they will encounter the other six characters on multiple occasions. The player may partner with one of the other playable characters to fight as a team, and they may also fight against other playable characters for the runes.

7th Saga is a traditional RPG in the vein of the original Dragon Quest game, rather than a story-based RPG such as the Final Fantasy games made for the SNES. The emphasis is on dungeon exploration and combat, rather than story or character development. There are almost no scripted sequences or cut-scenes, and most of the story is conveyed through simple "sign post" conversations with townspeople. The American version of the game has been criticized for poor translation, but this does not play a noticeable role on gameplay.

Notable unique innovations include the use of a crystal ball "radar" that allows players to see enemies approaching their character in dungeons and in the overworld. This means that combat is not totally random, as players may theoretically avoid enemies (although enemies move extremely quickly and randomly, making combat difficult to avoid). The game also uses Mode 7 graphic effects to create the transition between exploration screen and battle screen.

The game is particularly known for its unforgiving difficulty, considering that you might spend a great deal of time leveling up to advance in the game.


Gameplay:

There are 3 modes of play: Safe area, enemy-infested area, and in-battle.

When the player is in a safe area, usually in a city, they can walk around as much as they want. The player can talk to NPCs, buy and sell items, search for hidden items, and rest at an inn. Also the player may duel the other characters, or even convince one to assist in the search for the runes.

When the player is in an enemy-infested area, the Magic Crystal item in the top-left appears. That crystal shows where enemies are, where cities and dungeons are, and where a rune is located. If a white dot gets too close to the center, a battle will break out. The player must move around quickly while grabbing chests and finding the way, since the enemies are always getting closer.

When the player is in battle, the perspective shows the character and ally, if any, from behind looking at one to three enemies. Players then select an option and take turns with the enemy and ally. The goal is to kill the enemy and not die in the process. The player can attack, defend, cast a spell, use an item, or run. If the player wins, their character gets experience points and gold. If he loses, half of their money will be gone. If the player loses to one of the other main characters, his/her rune will be taken by that character. One common tactic before talking to a potential playable ally is to save the game first, then to talk to see if that character is hostile, and if they are, reset the game.

Gaining experience results in attaining levels which improve a character's skill. Buying better weapons and armor with the money improves a character's fighting ability. Note that due to space constraints, most equipment you obtain is severely abbreviated.


Characters:

Characters in The 7th Saga run along a spectrum from predominantly physical to predominantly magical. They are, in that order:

Wilme Pelin (Alien): An alien with a fiery, lava-like spiked body. Arrogant and aggressive, he seems to want the runes for power and to prove his superiority. He's strong and has the highest HP of the seven, but suffers from a fixed set of equipment, and a low Magic rating causes his Fire magic to be quite impotent.

Lux Tizer (Tetujin): A 5000-year old robot created by a long extinct civilization. Lux is polite, logical, and inquisitive. He searches for the runes in the hopes that their power may help him unlock the secrets of the Tetujin's origins. Lux is physically very powerful especially in defense, but has a poor selection of (Laser and Thunder) magic spells and equipment, although he is the only one that can use those spells. Along with Esuna, Lux can never be the "traitor" apprentice.

Olvan Jaess (Dwarf): An extremely old Dwarf warrior, with a pleasant personality. He joins the search for the runes in the hopes that they can restore his youth. Statistically, he is similar to Kamil, but with more HP and Defense, and less MP and speed, and a few differences in equipment/spell selection.

Kamil Dowonna (Human): A human knight. The most average, well-rounded character, Kamil has access to a large selection of equipment and can cast both offensive and defensive magic. He wears blue armor and the instruction booklet says that he is best paired with a stronger ally.

Lejes Rimul (Demon): A power-hungry demon. Sly, manipulative, and unapologetically evil, Lejes wants the power of the runes in order to rule the world. Lejes equips very strong weapons and eventually learns every single attack spell (except Laser and Thunder spells), but his selection of armors is quite poor, and his attack spells hit with less force than Esuna. Lejes never learns any healing magic.

Valsu Saizer (Human): An elderly priest who has dedicated his life to the cause of good, Valsu wishes to use the runes to bring peace and prosperity to the world. He has excellent healing magic and one powerful Ice spell, but lacks skill in physical combat.

Esuna Busy (Elf): An elf magic user and the game's only female protagonist, Esuna seems to regard the search for the runes as some sort of fun adventure. She begins the game cocky and headstrong, but becomes more uncertain and less confident as the story progresses. She has extremely high Speed and Magic potency, and can use both kinds of magic, but her attack spells are exclusively Ice-elemental and she is physically very weak. Like Lux, Esuna never turns out to be the "traitor" apprentice.


Story (Spoiler Warning):

The game takes place on a world called Ticondera. 5000 years ago, a divine being named Saro defeated an evil entity named Gorsia with the power of seven runes. In the years since then, the runes have been scattered across the globe. Lemele, the son of Saro, was born 100 years ago, and became a hero when he defeated the demon Gariso. Now 100 years old, Lemele has become the benevolent and powerful ruler of the world.

The seven characters are recruited from various walks of life and corners of the globe by the elderly King Lemele. After 5 years of training at his palace, Lemele dispatches his seven apprentices in a quest for the seven runes. Each rune possesses a great power that can be used by the person who wields it. The one who collects all seven runes will become Lemele's heir. To find the runes, the king gives each character a Crystal Ball to assist them in their search.

Retrieving the runes means confronting the various powerful tyrants who have come into their possession, including wizards, kings, and dragons. The apprentices are also being hunted by a persistent bounty hunter named Pison, who has been hired by one of the apprentices to eliminate the rest (the identity of the "traitor" apprentice is randomized with each new game).

After defeating a resurrected Gorsia and collecting all seven runes, the player is confronted by Lemele, who reveals that he is actually Gorsia. Gorsia traveled to the present from 5000 years in the past, killed Lemele and took his identity, then recruited the seven apprentices to locate the runes for him. The power each rune contains is actually a trapped portion of Gorsia's power. Gorsia destroys the runes, re-absorbs his lost power, and zaps the player with lightning, sending them to a strange, unfamiliar world which turns out to be Ticondera 5000 years in the past.

After passing through several towns, the player eventually ends up in Melenam. This city was originally explored as ruins by the player early in the game. The player witnesses the destruction of the city.

The player eventually learns that although Saro had recently defeated Gorsia, Gorsia has returned from the future and fatally wounded Saro. Saro's disciples give the player the seven runes, which the player uses to seal Gorsia's powers and eventually defeat the evil being.

The dying Gorsia kills the player in one last act of revenge, but 4900 years later Saro reincarnates the player's soul as a young baby and Saro's son: none other than Lemele.

http://en.wikipedia....ki/The_7th_Saga
*

 And finally..... wouldn't it be cool if that link above someday opened up a linkxbox window to the website?

9)  Maybe I'm missing the point and these are supposed to be shorter.  I just think this is some real good info for the most part and it wont' make it into the emu otherwise because the text files should be used for FAQ's instead of info and trivia about the game.

[madmab]

It should be able to handle as many CRC's as you wish.  If for some reason we do bump into a limit you can just make another copy of the synopsis data and place the extra CRC's with that.

So it would be listed twice in the synopsis but with seperate CRC's.  I sorta did that with some of the Atari 8-bit/5200 stuff since some version either had more features, were remakes, or played better, etc.

[ressurectionx]

Hey Gilles,

I don't think the 12 CRC's should be a problem because people should be using either my roms or MM?'s roms using the datfiles.  I think the best way to get the CRC's would be to somehow use the two datfiles and pull the CRCs from those.  Most of those 12 versions are going to be crap hacks, bad dumps, or something else wrong with them that make them incomplete, damaged or otherwise useless.

Here's my questions again, since I think you missed them:

A few questions for you guys though before I do any more serious work on this...

1) So you're saying only 3 "*" per game then?
2) I have to use a space on any empty line and then it will show a blank line?
3) I can have as many lines as I want between the 1st and 2nd *, as well as the 2nd and 3rd *?
4) Which characters, if any, besides the * are taboo?
5) What's the best way to get all of the game's CRC's listed out next to the romname in alphabetical order so I can add all of them when I'm done?
6) CRC lines cannot exceed 42 characters

And now the more in depth questions....

7) Does it matter if my synopsis file ends up being 5MB or larger (it very well might)?  I don't know how this document effects memory, if at all, or if there is a way we can "fix" that problem if it arises.   The synopsis' I am coming up with here are very lightly edited (only for some grammatical errors and cosmetic fixes), so many of them can be quote long.  

Here's an example of one of the synopsis that is on the LONG end of the spectrum:

[See above post]

 And finally..... wouldn't it be cool if that link above someday opened up a linkxbox window to the website?

9)  Maybe I'm missing the point and these are supposed to be shorter.  I just think this is some real good info for the most part and it wont' make it into the emu otherwise because the text files should be used for FAQ's instead of info and trivia about the game.

[madmab]

Just a side note.  The game title and detail lines are not "word wrapped" by the code.  It is generally presumed that these lines do not consist of too many characters.  Although the code does "chop" of these lines if they exceed a certain number of characters.  (to prevent crashing).

The description text should contain no carriage returns or line feeds.  Unless you want a deliberate one (like the end of a paragraph or something), or for formatting the text.

I usually edit the synopsis in wordpad and just set it to "auto-wrap" to window.

[ressurectionx]

QUOTE(madmab @ Dec 12 2008, 02:51 AM)

I was just answering the easy ones cause I did not have much free time when I responded.

It's cool man.  I was actually replying to Gilles' post there, but it looks like your post slipped in there when I was writing mine.  (Just a 3 minute difference)

Awesome work there on all those synopsis there Gilles.  

Thanks for answering the questions.  I assumed 1 and 2 already.  Let me know if you fix the code so you don't need the space though.  It takes a little while to make all of them spaces.  Not a big deal though if it's a chore getting it working.

1) This "game title" line..... I know we're using it for the game title, but is there something special about this first line within the code?

2) So an * is okay for bullet points then?

3) About CRC lines being 42 characters.  I just meant if somebody were to add a whole bunch of CRCs.  I will only add the ones that I have and the different ones that MM? has in his datfiles.  Possibly an update hack or some other oddity and the max CRCs I would ever use on only a very small amount of roms is 3 or 4.  The rest of them anyone is free to add on their own since it doesn't effect anybody else to add the characters.  I don't imagine we should ever run out of space using good roms anyways.  

5) Know how many characters on the game title and detail lines?

6) Cool man. I'll have a long synopsis to test it with.  Let me know when you got something to work with.

QUOTE

Yep, wouldn't it?    

Just givin' the next team to come around stuff to tweak when they're running out of ideas....  

QUOTE

9) My understanding is a synopsis is just a brief description of a game.  But I usually like to add trivia and the occassional "easter egg".  I supposed ultimately it is a judgement call.  But in general the description should be something that tells the user what the game is about, and that is all.

Well... I've already done 0-B on SNES this way and it's about 120KB... I'll keep doing it this way until I get a chance to see what it will look like with the tweaked synopsis code.  Maybe I'll even make two versions someday (a short and a long one) if I really like how it looks shortened, and I find that the long version looks and works okay within a scrollable synopsis.   If it looks stupid long, then I'll just edit the ones I've already done and I'll just take small descriptions of the game.

Later,
~Rx

[ressurectionx]

Cool man.  I'll share what I got when I test it.

Can the CRC's only be 42 characters then?


Before I drive myself nuts here, can I use the format we discussed on NES yet?  I'm trying it with just the 3 "*" we were talking about, but it just keeps telling me No Synopsis Found.