Dragon Quest 4 Classic patch v0.92 beta released

[Kosayntrue 4]

Project Home at RHDN

Here it is - v0.92.  Ready for beta testers.

1. You need XDELTA to apply the patch to the US RELEASE of Dragon Quest 4 for Nintendo DS. I recommend XDELTAUI.
( http://www.romhacking.net/utilities/598/ )  
2. You need WinRAR or some compatible archiver to extract the file.  Freely available online.  Worth supporting.
( http://www.rarlab.com/download.htm )

Buy any game in this great series this fall! Show the mighty Enix some love.

I know the file hosting site is basic - the first button  that says 'Download' has classic Dragon Warrior style spell names.  This is the intended main version of the patch.  The second button that says 'Old Spells' has the ordinary PS2 / DS style modern spell names.  Either of these can be applied to original rom.

Do not apply them to each other, I have not tested that.  Do not apply any of my patches to a game that is already patched by something else.

THANK YOU

I can't believe I've reached this milestone, the relief of finally having the project out on the internet rather than just on my own system - it's something.  All acknowledgements will be made in patch notes.  

Your feedback can be sent to dq4classic@gmail.com, or posted on this thread, or pm'ed to me.

My goal initially is to find GAME BREAKING BUGS, and text that's missing or garbled.
I know there's still a lot of content for me to get to.  Also, I know the writing will not necessarily be appealing to everyone.

All feedback is appreciated.

GoFundMe

This project, and the final version of the patch, is in no way contingent on funding - it is merely an optional way to say thank you by helping keep the roof over my head.  

I will be finishing through Chapter 6 and the optional content in future months.

[Liam 7]

Out of curiosity's sake, what actually changed? What game breaking bugs/missing text have you fixed?

[Kosayntrue 4]

Oh yeah, I probably should have summarized it!  To get the gist you have to read a pretty long RHDN thread otherwise.

This 4-year project is a rewrite of DQ4 DS's script using the old NES version's script and simpler, accent-free writing style as a basis.  Items, Spells, Names, and Monster names have been changed to their original versions.  Dialogue up to the end of Chapter 5 has been rewritten.  I have also converted it to use a large, easy-to read font that resembles the NES font.

Because so much text has been altered, I am asking for beta testers to help me look for any problems resulting from the changes.

 

For instance:

Text that doesn't display properly.
Dialogue or gameplay choices that freeze the game.
Lack of expository dialogue to indicate where the player should go next.

I'll be finishing up Chapter 6 and the immigrant town in coming months.

Edited November 28, 2016 by Kosayntrue

[Liam 7]

-snip-

 

This 4-year project is a rewrite of DQ4 DS's script using the old NES version's script and simpler, accent-free writing style as a basis.  Items, Spells, Names, and Monster names have been changed to their original versions.  Dialogue up to the end of Chapter 5 has been rewritten.  I have also converted it to use a large, easy-to red font that resembles the NES font.

 

Because so much text has been altered, I am asking for beta testers to help me look for any problems resulting from the changes.

 

For instance:

 

Text that doesn't display properly.

Dialogue or gameplay choices that freeze the game.

Lack of expository dialogue to indicate where the player should go next.

 

I'll be finishing up Chapter 6 and the immigrant town in coming months.

 

Wow, that's really cool. Nice job!

[Liamland 702]

accent-free writing style

 

You had me at this.  IV was always my favorite DQ/DW game, but the localization for the DS and mobile remakes was awful, mostly due to the phonetically written accents, which you then had to take time to translate in your mind to make any sense of what any of the NPCs (and in the mobile verison some of the characters) were trying to say.

 

Thanks so much.  Looking forward to trying this on my next play-through!

Edited November 28, 2016 by Liamland

[Liam 7]

 

accent-free writing style

 

You had me at this.  IV was always my favorite DQ/DW game, but the localization for the DS and mobile remakes was awful, mostly due to the phonetically written accents, which you then had to take time to translate in your mind to make any sense of what any of the NPCs (and in the mobile verison some of the characters) were trying to say.

 

Thanks so much.  Looking forward to trying this on my next play-through!

 

 

Actually that's one of my favorite things about DQ4 (and further), but opinions vary

 

Updating everything to have the same (or similar) strings as DW4 is really cool, though.

[Kronoan 8]

Hey I can't find the patch! I lost all my game files and have to get them again and now I can't play this! Can you help me please? Thank you!

[Burner 21]

On 11/10/2016 at 3:25 PM, Kosayntrue said:

Project Home at RHDN

Here it is - v0.92.  Ready for beta testers.

1. You need XDELTA to apply the patch to the US RELEASE of Dragon Quest 4 for Nintendo DS. I recommend XDELTAUI.
( http://www.romhacking.net/utilities/598/ )  
2. You need WinRAR or some compatible archiver to extract the file.  Freely available online.  Worth supporting.
( http://www.rarlab.com/download.htm )

Buy any game in this great series this fall! Show the mighty Enix some love.

I know the file hosting site is basic - the first button  that says 'Download' has classic Dragon Warrior style spell names.  This is the intended main version of the patch.  The second button that says 'Old Spells' has the ordinary PS2 / DS style modern spell names.  Either of these can be applied to original rom.

Do not apply them to each other, I have not tested that.  Do not apply any of my patches to a game that is already patched by something else.

THANK YOU

I can't believe I've reached this milestone, the relief of finally having the project out on the internet rather than just on my own system - it's something.  All acknowledgements will be made in patch notes.  

Your feedback can be sent to dq4classic@gmail.com, or posted on this thread, or pm'ed to me.

My goal initially is to find GAME BREAKING BUGS, and text that's missing or garbled.
I know there's still a lot of content for me to get to.  Also, I know the writing will not necessarily be appealing to everyone.

All feedback is appreciated.

GoFundMe

This project, and the final version of the patch, is in no way contingent on funding - it is merely an optional way to say thank you by helping keep the roof over my head.  

I will be finishing through Chapter 6 and the optional content in future months.

This is an astonishing accomplishment--give yourself and your team a pat on the back before anything else!

If you have the time though, do you mind if I pick your brain for a few bits of information? Specifically, I'm curious if you could post the entire scripts as documents, and how much knowledge of the game's engine you obtained during this undertaking. I've always assumed that the zenithian trilogy uses the same engine for all three games, and if that's true then you may very well have taken a sledgehammer to the largest obstacle in Dragon Quest hacking.