SD-Snatcher retranslation "Project Melancholia" released

I've started playing it... and its great!
But i was just wondering: i'm at the the warehouse now where I need to find Gibson.. I found little John that has metal creatures running around them.. I didnt want to fight them straight away because I was about to level up..
I left the room to fight some other creatures but when I got back the creatures that where running around little john where gone! As soon as I "touched" little john (i know..I know.. that must sound weird...) I still had to do the fight though..
But was this already a bug in the original?

Works fine too on VG8235 with the same configuration.

The conversations are much more detailed compared to Oasis's translation, it really makes it worth finishing the game again to see what we missed at that time Proportionnal fonts are beautiful, this is just perfect ! Maybe the only tiny issue is that on a real TV, during the demo, some wide texts do not fit entirely on the screen (well, just half a letter, everything remains readable and understandable).

Congratulations Melancholia team for your awesome job, 2014 starts well

PS : Does anybody know if an english translation of the manual has been released ? I'd like to make myself a nice package with UGC box, printed disks and manual !

@ Hrothgar: I couldnt make a proper dump of my original disks so I did some searching too..
I found a version that is clean (no hacks or "old" translation patch done to it, but copy protection removed) on an "MSX Archive" (google!)
This works fine so far!
It's fun! but to bad it was released the day before I had to start working again.... I'm tired now ! hahahaha

Wonderful! Works fine with Turbo R from Sunrise CF cartridge and Runit. There was issues with imputting the name on the start screen as the letters didn't somehow fit on the screen and were on the right side instead. Otherwise great job overall! I'm happy!

I had kind-of the same problem when I first patched non-originals disk-images. Find the right one and it should be fine.

Of course there is some dimensions missing, but on the other hand many fun and playable dimensions are added, which were lacking on the original Snatcher. Because of that, both games offer enjoyable experiences on different levels and should be seen as two sides of the same coin, both as important as other.

A masterpiece translation for a masterpiece game. It is worth every penny! Kudos for Team Melancholia!

Please keep high quality translations like this coming!

The only (small) problem I seem to be having is that the level music stops after saving (when changing levels or when starting a fight, the music starts again). But other then that: wow! What a great translation.

@ Edwin: I did tried on Playsoniq and its works OK on most configurastions. But you need to run normal version, not the mapper version. So it will work as original SCC-I cartridge and use 64KB of its memory (even Playsoniq have 512KB there). The mapper version works too, but only if you play on computer without memory mapper (like regular MSX2+ with 64KB of RAM). So PlaySoniq memory mapper will work and SCC-I will work. But I don't see the point to use mapper version even on 64KB MSX system, because PlaySoniq have like "orignal" SCC-I + RAM inside. The only configuration when PlaySoniq will lock up is when you play on system with memory mapper (Turbo-R, for example). The lock up happens because of 2 memory mappers present in the system.

@ Maggoo: I believe sd_snatcher had a similar issue with demo version. But we was never able to replicate it. And you are the second person to have it. Could you please provide your configuration and when exactly you jump of the window, so we can try to understand if problem with the patch or the source version of SD Snatcher that you using to patch it.

I've tried the normal version now and it works like a charm with the playsoniq.

Works for me too! So now you won't be hearing from me anytime soon

Thnx guys for this release!!!

Fray (be it turbo R version) is already in the pipe line...

I have finished the game today. What a nice translation!
I noticed the music problem Creepy mentioned. I used a real SD Snatcher Sound Cartridge for the sound/RAM and MegaFlashROM SCC+ SD for loading the DSKs.

Beer: check!
Sigarettes: check!
Comfy chair: check!

Ready for the Elijah demo!

P.s: My vote (as we even have a vote.. its up to them what they want to translate) would go to a game that hasnt been translated yet.. (Randar 3, Illusion city etc..)

@TheWhipMaster: I don't think we will make a retranslation of Dragon Slayer VI. In order to check the quality of the Oasis translation of that game, I played the game in Japanese two or three years ago and I found that the Oasis translation of that game is actually relatively accurate. Therefore, I think the effort that would be needed to retranslate the game would not translate itself into the merit of having a more accurate translation. This was totally different for SD Snatcher.

As for Fray, Max and Tsunami are still working on their English translation of Fray MSX Turbo R.

Xak 1 was translated by me in cooperation with Sonic_aka_T for WOOMB, so that game doesn't need a (re)translation either (it just needs to be rereleased ).

Xak 2 and Tower of Gazzel certainly are titles that might be worth the effort of retranslating.

@latok: http://www.msx.org/news/software/en/sd-snatcher-save-game-ed... :)

Weapons, Options, Drugs and Money are working flawlessly, but I'm experiencing some strange values when you change character stats, but I guess that's just because I don't know how the data is stored ^^

@d-fader: many kudos!!

@ Moniz: "Draken Slager".
(sorry, Dutch joke)

Still beats een draak van een schlager though

Few people posted their set-up of how they playing the translation:

http://i.imgur.com/imob116.jpg
http://www.mobypicture.com/user/Artemio/view/16420008

I think it's a nice initiative. If you want to post your configuration on how you playing, you can post it here or in http://www.project-melancholia.org/guestbook.html

We may even create a special page on the website to show all of them.

First of all, congratulations for this great translation! It's evident you put a lot of love and effort to make this one

I'm having some problems trying to make it work on my TR-GT using Padial's SDMMC interface and its disk emulation tools. Both intros work fine, but when the second intro finishes and the MSX switches to R800, it loads a little bit and that's all (the screen stays black).

I also downloaded and tried RUNIT, but intro music gets a bit corrupted and I can't pass from the screen where you enter your name.

Has anybody with a TR managed to play it with any disk emulator tool?

BTW, it works ok loading from floppy.

I solved it! ... there's some kind of bad interaction with the Padial's SDMMC interface running at R800 speed and the original Snatcher SCC+ cartridge inserted. I tried patching the game with the 128Kb RAM patch and it works like a charm with a normal SCC and the Megaflashrom SCC+

I have my patch!

Thanks for this work guys!!

it works with a orginal Sharksym interface and a orignal SD Snatcher soundcart too

What can I say? Awesome, awesome, awesome and... oh yes... AWESOME!

Yep, can't keep myself from "touching" the painting everytime I'm there

Obviously we would very much appreciate comments on the translation itself as well! How did it feel to play the game with our translation? Were there any surprises? How was your experience?

I finished the game in 1993-5 . Only found the bug from the music after saves (not after shaves ) states and one moment corrupt graphics in factory place, but im solve with a load state.

I appreciate much the new translating. Its very nice! 10 Euros in a good inversion

I preffer than better Fray, Rune Worth, Xak II retranslation,Angelus,Psy-o-blade,Dragon Quest or other´s

Thank you very much!

Great stuff dudes. !! Love playing it again.

Finished? I mean fixed.

What is the ticket buy bug?

@MSD and Max_Iwamoto: I had noticed the stairway "in the wall" in Queen Hospital. The thing is from the sewers you climb up to ground level (dark floor). And from there you go down to the basement where you find what you came to find. The sewers are below the basement. That is why you can see stairway in the basement. It's the one leading up from the sewers to the dark part.

@MSD I should know: I was there Judging you from your avatar you were too

Don't miss the texts at Survival World (the castle in Syd Garden) They are somehow... disturbing ^^!

BTW, did you saw the text with the guy asking you to visit his daughter? So, they planned to have Survival World open originally, and somehow decided to close it at the last moment. But the message with the girl stayed.

Also one of the NCP's suppose to show player text about hidden stage, but they also removed it at the end from the script, but left it on the disk. We translated it and also left it there, so anybody could see it if look from the disk viewer. Some other scripts also had unused texts, but nothing special. We maybe post them on special section of the website.

Also there is 2 texts in "Abandoned Factory" that we were unable to trigger even they presented in the script. Based on those texts you should be able to see Randam there. Based on the script it should happen after you saw him at Baran's Apartment, but before you go to the casino. So, if anybody manage to see it, please let us know. Thanks.

Cool translation!

I have the same issue as Moniz, when I reach little John there is not the robots around him, moving in circles. Maybe it will be an patch upgrade? Anyway nice translation

Finished , now what to do :-p .

MSX version of Snatcher is still better to play than Sega.

If you try the MSX version with Turbo R and load it from some harddrive, it's actually very playable and smooth. I'm also not very fond of the english dubs on the Sega-version. Better to leave them for your imagination. Many great games have been ruined by terrible voice-acting, when they could have been just left silent.

I think MSX graphics and SCC sounds adds more old-schoolish feeling to it than the advanced Sega ones. Also, if it has any meaning, it is the original version (along with PC-88) afterall.

What app did you use? =)

On my 8255 (with MSX2+ gfx chip), SCC in Playsoniq gets recognized, but only rarely. Haven't tried the other version yet though... Probably that helps.

I used uips on the Mac, and it works like a charm. You can get it here.

@ Jupp3: Please look up in this tread. You will see comments from Edwin and my answer to him. In short, use IPS patch for original version with SCC-I cartridge. Do not use mapper version with Playsoniq. It will not working properly on MSX systems with 2 mappers.

Finally started playing on my real MSX Turbo R with the Megaflashrom SCC+SD. Disks are in flashrom; saving on real floppy disk. Excellent experience! Great job for the team!

Two minor comments:
1) I also encounter the "no music" bug after saving on the user disk (same as what Creepy reported).
The sound effects are still playing, but it looks as if the music start command is somehow skipped.
When playing from the real disk drive (with only a default SCC plugged), this is never happening.
2) The initial text menu only allows control by the keyboard. I play the game with joystick (The Arcade), so would it be possible to also add jostick port 1 support? The game also has full support for joystick port 1; joystick port 2 is ignored.

And two questions:
1) How are you planning to release patches?
2) As many people before pointed out: I would love to see a translated manual!

And to comment to Sama's request on the experience:
I am amazed how many hints the game actually gave you on what to do and where to go next. Quite a difference from the summer of 1990 when you endlessly wandered around until something changed and you finally could progress.

I have ordered from the website, performed the payment, and no response from project-melancholia....

I have sent two mails to the contact mail account... no response....

What should I do?

Guys, this project that you did is definitely a masterwork!
Absolutely fantastisc!! Thanks a lot. Like many, I played the game in the early 1990s and never finished it. I recall because of all the Japanese. Looking back to many Japanese games of those days, it's a shame playing such fantastic games without really knowing what is happening. I had the same threill with the Legend of Heroes translation. Both games are in my all-time top 5.

Thanks again guys! You truelly contributed something special to the MSX legacy.

I experienced this as well. I played the game on the blueMSX emulator with TurboR config. I solved it by loading a previous save game and then it worked.

I also apparently have that obsession

I think Feiraco meant, acquiring ? And keep in mind, you will buy a translation not the game!

Anny how, the translation is really great work and makes the game very playable indeed.
For those who want to order the translation , Please keep in mind that the hobbyist behind this great work have a live to and give them at least 5 days to respond. They will respond !
I played the game with a lot of fun and it reveals a lot more info in the game play.
More important, the story makes sens.

Greetings,

Emil Sokolowski

Nice find. Will check the final version.

That's a very nice gesture! Props!

Played a bit of the Oasis translation many years back. Going to have a revisit with the Project Melancholia translation. From the above comments I'm looking forward to it. Thank you for making the final release/full patch available for all to try.

This is great version and i played it on my msx2+ a couple of times allready.
One question though. I recently got a TurboR ST and when i try to play this version on my MFR there is no sound.
The menu in the beginning recognizes the SCC+ but there is no sound in the game.
When i plug in the MFR in my 2+ without changing anything the sound works just fine.
What am i missing here ?

what does shift pressing do?

Sorry, let me rephrase my question as I know presssing shift prevents MSX-DOS kernel from booting: why does shift pressing affect the SCC sound in turboR?

I think because of the context back then, this posting was sufficient. The project had been praised in several postings (and meetings, Event Eleven anyone?!) before this one, don't you think?

Thx Grauw. And this occurs only on turboR.... There is less upper memory available than on MSX2?

Dunno, there could be several variables. GreyFoxNL said he plugged the MFR into his 2+, maybe it is a Sanyo PHC-35J which has no built-in drives. Additionally, a turboR has DOS2 built-in while other MSX-es don’t. Lastly, different DiskROM versions may use slightly different amounts of memory.