SFIII Translation Project: New SF3 Patcher beta

[knight0fdragon]

https://github.com/knight0fdragon/Shini ... ionPatcher" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Here is the location for the beta version of the new SF3 Translation Patcher.

Some improvements over the old ISOMaker

--Now auto detects Shining Force 3 games
--Properly creates CD Images and is no longer half ass-ed
--Adds the projects info into the header of the CD Image
--Creates a bin file instead of an ISO, forcing people to burn with the CUE sheet for less errors
--Uses .Net 2.0 Framework instead of MFC, so should be better compatible with Windows 7
--Added paul_met's view patch as an option. Currently 1-EU and 1-JP are not supported.

Note - The old translation patched discs will not work, you need an unaltered version of the game to apply this patch. This will support CD images made with this patch though, so you do not need an unaltered version every time.

This is currently using version 17 of the translation patch files, no changes were made to them.

[knight0fdragon]

As of right now, there is no simple support for the Non English patches, if you want to patch Non English, go to the directory where the executable file is, go inside the data files directory, and add the files to the appropriate directory. Please do not distribute a bundle with this version, currently trying to think of a way to auto update the app with the latest files. Also, C# developers are more than welcome to contribute changes

[BobT36]

My Comments:

• Should probably disable the "Patch" button while it's running. And ofc re-enable when finished or if an error is encountered.
• When picking the save path, tell the user they need to input a file name, or just use a FolderBrowserDialog instead, and use the same file name as on the disc the user has in, as the file name. Be a tad easier for nubs to understand what to put in. (I know it strips off the file extension at least). This could be sorted in a ReadMe though so not that much of a prob.
• You'll probably want to put a bit of info about Paul Met's ViewIncrease. (Either a tooltip, or a small form with a bit of text / credits to him, and a link to the thread(?)) I had to go looking up what it was.
• CRASH (Handled): The first couple of times I tried I got an exception where it starts mkisofs as a process. I foolishly didn't save the Message, but it was something like "Cannot use environment variables when shellexecute is x" (I think it was False). However I'm having trouble reproducing this now as it works when I run it again! If I manually set Shellexecute to False though it fails with a File Not Found exception. (Interestingly what I was getting with the previous version. I understand why that is, but not why it's suddenly working now if I leave it as the default).
• Related to the above, if an exception is caught in the "CreateImage" sub, it returns False, but then doesn't do anything with it, so the program looks like it hangs on "Creating Image". Need to capture if False is returned and display an error message, and re-set the progressbar.
• Would advise whipping up a simple bit of error logging code to help diagnosing problems when people get using this properly. Just write the log to the .exe directory.
• Set FormBorderStyle to Fixed3D or at least set the MinimumSize. No need for it to be re-sizable, otherwise can end up making it too small.

Nice code, I'm impressed how fast you whipped this up, and great comments too! It's easy to follow what you're doing. At work I'm forever sat scratching my head wondering wtf the person was thinking when they wrote their code, as it's never commented properly, grr.

I only tried with Scenario 2 at the moment, but that seems to have worked and starts up fine. I'll try the others later. Let me know if you need any more help testing the patcher.

[knight0fdragon]

Hmmm, that environmental variable bug worries me, since I do not use any.

Yes as of right now I do not bother error checking the mkisofs process, eventually there may be better diagnostics involved, but I doubt I will spend time working on that lol.

Yes I intend to give paul_met a lot more credit and info on what his patch does, this first run is mostly to find out if the folks are still having trouble patching after this.

[BobT36]

Yeah not sure why it was saying that, especially since it seems fine now, even when I run it straight from the pre-built .exe in the top level folder. May be something wrong with the path variable on my machine or something, could be why the old one doesn't work too. If it happens again for anyone, try experimenting with the ShellExecute property on the ProcessStartInfo.

Ah well it seems to be working fine now. Just patched all 4 discs successfully. Didn't have time to play and test them, but Scenario 2 seemed to start up fine at least, even when loading my finished Scenario 1 file. Lovely to see it in English.

Just added another point to the list up top:

"Set FormBorderStyle to Fixed3D or at least set the MinimumSize. No need for it to be re-sizable, otherwise can end up making it too small."

I patched with Paul Met's option selected too btw. Couldn't tell if there was a difference without directly comparing them though, I'll try get around to testing more thoroughly at some point.


Just basic error logging would suffice btw. Trap when False is returned from the Mkisofs process sub, (or just throw / allow any exceptions to float to the Patch button click event and catch them there), and then just write the exception Message & Stack Trace with a time stamp to a text file in the .exe directory, display a "Patching Error, check the log at x" message on screen, re-set the progress bar, and job done.

[Special T]

Thanks K0D, I have windows 10 and will test this out tonight after my kids go to bed!

[Swalchy]

Just used the Patcher on Windows 10 with absolutely no issues.

Excellent stuff as always, K0D

Edit:
Don't think it's the patcher, but to answer whether Paul Met's resolution hack works with PAL Scenario 1, I'm going to have to say that it doesn't. The patched Scenario 1 I have still has the black bars, but both Scenario 2 and 3 have the resolution increase expected.

Shall do some more testing to confirm.

[Special T]

I guess I'm doing something wrong. If I load the new program it auto detects the game then when I click the patch button it opens a save as dialog box. The file name is blank so I enter something like SFPD and click save but I get an error message stating "Translation Patch does not exist. Make sure you have a files directory".

What am I supposed to do to fix that error?

[Swalchy]

Make sure all of the files are in the exact same folder. I moved the LICENSE, README.md, SF3TranslationPatch.exe, SF3TranslationPatch.sln, SF3TranslationPatch.suo, SF3TranslationPatch.v12.suo files into the SF3TranslationPatch folder to get it to work

[legalize freedom]

Yes, your existing "files" directory and the new exe should be in the same directory. I believe the exe is the only file needed if you choose to move it into your existing patch directory. The other files are for viewing and editing the code. I'm guessing virtual studio (C#), but K0D can confirm.

When it is ready for prime time, these files won't be there to confuse you.

[knight0fdragon]

You only need the exe and the files directory, everything else is for anyone who wants to see the code and make changes.

As legalize_freedom said, this method is not the final version, this is only for the beta testing so that I know it works with the newest build of windows 10. Plus, if you guys have input on any changes you want, feel free to add it.

Currently, I am working on an auto update feature, so you do not need to download the patch every time, it will update it for you when you first sign in, and there will be a method that allows you to select the various languages, plus any custom ones



@Swalchy, my version will not patch the PAL version, but you know what, let me take a look when I get out of work today, I can tell you by lookin at the binaries if it will work or not.

[Special T]

Swalchy, legalize freedom, & knight0fdragon thanks for the explanation.

I moved all the files except the data folder into the SF3TranslationPatch folder and I was able to start the patching process however the patching program hung at about 66% for 5 minutes while a blank black commandline window appeared (mkisofs.exe) but didn't generate any messages or warnings. I shut down and tried again. Next I tried moving the data folder into the SF3TranslationPatch folder and overriding any files already present to see if that would fix the problem but I still had the same issue where it hangs at about 66% and a blank black commandline window appeared (mkisofs.exe) but didn't generate any messages or warnings.

It's no big deal though since this is just the beta version, it's probably user error on my part so I can always wait until the next iteration is released and try it again.

If you want me to test anything else on my end though, please let me know.

[knight0fdragon]

Special T, just have the exe file, and the files folder in its own directory, nothing else. no datafile or anything, because these will be extracted from the exe in the beginning of the app. Let me know if this is fixes your issue.

BTW it is reasons like this that I need beta tests lol

[Special T]

Special T, just have the exe file, and the files folder in its own directory, nothing else. no datafile or anything, because these will be extracted from the exe in the beginning of the app. Let me know if this is fixes your issue.

I re-downloaded the new patcher from the Github link in your first post, extracted the SF3TranslationPatch.exe and the "files" folder into it's own directory "SF3testpatcher" on my desktop. It still froze in the same spot as it did last time about 66% while the mkisofs.exe command window opens.

How long should the patching process take. I have a decent computer so I image it wouldn't take more than a few minutes at most to patch one of the games.

[BobT36]

Could be the same problem I was having.

Did ya trap the return bool from that sub? Haven't checked again yet.

Wish I could reproduce it. meh.

[cww80]

Special T, just have the exe file, and the files folder in its own directory, nothing else. no datafile or anything, because these will be extracted from the exe in the beginning of the app. Let me know if this is fixes your issue.

I re-downloaded the new patcher from the Github link in your first post, extracted the SF3TranslationPatch.exe and the "files" folder into it's own directory "SF3testpatcher" on my desktop. It still froze in the same spot as it did last time about 66% while the mkisofs.exe command window opens.

How long should the patching process take. I have a decent computer so I image it wouldn't take more than a few minutes at most to patch one of the games.

I am having this same issue.

[knight0fdragon]

What OS are we using here? If the process is locking on Mkisofs then we need to figure out why that program is not working. Try running mkisofs inside of command prompt and let me know if it works. We could be having issues with permission of files here.

[Special T]

I'm on windows 10 and I'm at work now but I'll test it out tonight after I get home. Should I grant administration privileges to mkisofs in the properties menu before I run it?

[knight0fdragon]

I do not think it is permission on the application, I think it has to do with permission with reading and writing to particular directories

[EricLegacy21]

I have been getting the same issue with it freezing at 60%. Mkisofs is where it stalls on as well.

Also I don't know much about the emulation and Mkisofs but is the file from 2005? I did some research and people are saying to change it to 2009 if that helps?

http://www.sarducd.it/forum/english-for ... t1927.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

This is a different program but uses Mkisofs.

*EDIT* I GOT IT! Here's what I did:

I moved the LICENSE, README, SF3TranslationPatch.exe, SF3TranslationPatch.sln, SF3TranslationPatch.suo, and SF3TranslationPatch.v12.suo files into the SF3TranslationPatch folder.

I downloaded and installed this: https://sourceforge.net/projects/cdrtoo ... p_redirect" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I went to the Program Files folder, cdrtools folder, and copied the following files:

cygiconv-2.dll
cygintl-8.dll
cygwin1.dll
mkisofs.exe

Open the SF3TranslationPatch.exe file so it creates the Data folder and close out.

I pasted those files into the Data and Resource folders for the patcher and replaced any files there. Started the patcher and it worked! I have Windows 10 Build 10586 The game patched successfully! I played it for about 20mins in SSF and no issues

The only issue I found if you don't do it exactly this way, you'll get a Patching Header error and the program crashes.