Changing OOT and MM (Collector's Edition) from English to French language while keeping the NTSC-U format?

[NitroHedgehog]

Long time no see,

I have seen patches that changes the language of The Wind Waker and Twilight Princess into French (and a few other languages) while retaining their NTSC-U and original GameID. However, it's been a week since I am trying to do the same with OOT and MM from Collector's Edition...with no success.

I used Gamecube ISO Tool to extract files of both discs (I own the USA, a friend has the PAL one), saved both folders while making a backup, then I converted the .tgc of both games into .gcm to go deeper in the files. I got 4 .gcm files (2 from each disc), opened NTSC OOT as an example to view the files, Then I opened the PAL one, extracted the FRENCH folder of the TPL folder, renamed them to match the NTSC version, replaced them in the original NTSC folder, did the same with zlp_f.n64 file (remaned it to zle_f.n64), rebuild it, test it in Dolphin... but it stays on a black screen forever.

Being billingual is neat, but when some of your new friends have not much clues about English... well, this project was for them, but seems like I'm unable to port the French language of the PAL version to the NTSC version. Can someone help or know if I am doing anything wrong?

[Andross89]

Long time no see,

I have seen patches that changes the language of The Wind Waker and Twilight Princess into French (and a few other languages) while retaining their NTSC-U and original GameID. However, it's been a week since I am trying to do the same with OOT and MM from Collector's Edition...with no success.

I used Gamecube ISO Tool to extract files of both discs (I own the USA, a friend has the PAL one), saved both folders while making a backup, then I converted the .tgc of both games into .gcm to go deeper in the files. I got 4 .gcm files (2 from each disc), opened NTSC OOT as an example to view the files, Then I opened the PAL one, extracted the FRENCH folder of the TPL folder, renamed them to match the NTSC version, replaced them in the original NTSC folder, did the same with zlp_f.n64 file (remaned it to zle_f.n64), rebuild it, test it in Dolphin... but it stays on a black screen forever.

Being billingual is neat, but when some of your new friends have not much clues about English... well, this project was for them, but seems like I'm unable to port the French language of the PAL version to the NTSC version. Can someone help or know if I am doing anything wrong?

The version of Dolphin I use does not allow starting an ISO without a valid start.dol. The easiest way would be to convert the ELF of this ISO to DOL and make the necessary change. But I suspect that the version of Dolphin you use will not recognize this generated DOL. Although it works perfectly in Swiss.

The other alternative would be to extract start.dol from Frontline so that it can start the renamed Collector's ELF. This is how I start these converted TGCs.

But before all that, you should just change the ROMs and see if the game starts in Swiss. Changing the language folder only changes the few system warnings I think.

[Papy.G]

Are you sure the way the NTSC disc's emulator is fine with PAL ROMs?

What's wrong with the PAL version? Why won't you just use the PAL disc ISO? It runs in 60Hz anyways, so…

[NitroHedgehog]

Are you sure the way the NTSC disc's emulator is fine with PAL ROMs?

What's wrong with the PAL version? Why won't you just use the PAL disc ISO? It runs in 60Hz anyways, so…

The thing with the PAL disc is that Link's name is all messed-up when I import my NTSC save and convert it to PAL. And when Link's "name" appear on screen, the game freezes...

The version of Dolphin I use does not allow starting an ISO without a valid start.dol. The easiest way would be to convert the ELF of this ISO to DOL and make the necessary change. But I suspect that the version of Dolphin you use will not recognize this generated DOL. Although it works perfectly in Swiss.

The other alternative would be to extract start.dol from Frontline(or rising sun, I don't remember precisely) so that it can start the renamed Collector's ELF. This is how I start these converted TGCs.

But before all that, you should just change the ROMs and see if the game starts in Swiss. Changing the language folder only changes the few system warnings I think.

Huh? I'll try this ASAP and see if it works. I'll let you know later.

EDIT - ...my GC short-circuited thanks to spilling water from the ceiling, so I now only have 2 Wiis and Dolphin to test my games out... *sigh...* 3 hours wasted for nothing... I also discovered that BOTH regions uses a NTSC ROM, as the original PAL Zelda only had 3 languages; English, French and German. The ROM withing the .gcm files is only in English, has no language changing option, but there IS something that triggers the other languages in the PAL version to replace the English one when playing the game... However Link's name is STILL MESSED-UP, so my final conclusion is that it doesn't appear to be doable AT ALL.

[Andross89]

...my GC short-circuited thanks to spilling water from the ceiling, so I now only have 2 Wiis and Dolphin to test my games out... *sigh...* 3 hours wasted for nothing... I also discovered that BOTH regions uses a NTSC ROM, as the original PAL Zelda only had 3 languages; English, French and German. The ROM withing the .gcm files is only in English, has no language changing option, but there IS something that triggers the other languages in the PAL version to replace the English one when playing the game... However Link's name is STILL MESSED-UP, so my final conclusion is that it doesn't appear to be doable AT ALL.

Did you open these ROMs in the emulator? Or in HxD? They never seemed the same to me.

Anyway, if you can load the game save with Dolphin, you can find out the memory address of any saved word and make changes. It is relatively easy to find by doing a text search with HxD after creating the MRAM Dump.

[NitroHedgehog]

Did you open these ROMs in the emulator? Or in HxD? They never seemed the same to me.

Anyway, if you can load the game save with Dolphin, you can find out the memory address of any saved word and make changes. It is relatively easy to find by doing a text search with HxD after creating the MRAM Dump.

I opened the Memory viewer, launched Collector's Edition USA (just for a test), chose OOT to play, paused the game at the File Selection Screen (all 3 files are named ''Link''), but... the Memory viewer is still blank. I can't search for anything nor dump anything. Sorry if I am a bit noob at this, but my hopes on fixing this are getting higher. ''Link'' is ASCII is 4c 69 6e 6b, so I got what I wanted for the 1st step. Next was opening the save file in HxD and do a Hex Search for ''4c 69 6e 6b'' but it can't find anything.

But what I feel the most proud is finding THE reason why save files get messed-up upon NTSC/PAL region changing: When converting a save from NTSC to PAL, Link's name become glitched-up. However, when doing PAL to NTSC instead, they become a bunch of Japanese symbols with no particuliar meaning, as they do not exist in the PAL version of the game but does in the NTSC. What remains is maybe to create a cheat code that would either change the name or access the naming screen after choosing a messed-up file (like ''Press R to rename file'' or something like that, then get access to the naming screen, edit the name, fix it like that.)

[Andross89]

I opened the Memory viewer, launched Collector's Edition USA (just for a test), chose OOT to play, paused the game at the File Selection Screen (all 3 files are named ''Link''), but... the Memory viewer is still blank. I can't search for anything nor dump anything. Sorry if I am a bit noob at this, but my hopes on fixing this are getting higher. ''Link'' is ASCII is 4c 69 6e 6b, so I got what I wanted for the 1st step. Next was opening the save file in HxD and do a Hex Search for ''4c 69 6e 6b'' but it can't find anything.

Let's forget save + HxD. It will only waste your time.

Open Dolphin in Debugger mode and start the game. When Link appears, use the MRAM Dump. Find the file and open it in HxD. The file name SHOULD be there.

Create new files... Something like "1A2B3C"... See if it helps with the search.

The address will always be the same. Knowing the address, you need to create the ARM code. I'm guessing you already know this part. After entering the code, check if the memory has changed. Save the game and close it. Now just start it with the code disabled.

This is how I changed all my Mario Party saves. In theory, it should work.

I'm sorry if you've already tried this. I just wanted to be sure.

[NitroHedgehog]

I opened the Memory viewer, launched Collector's Edition USA (just for a test), chose OOT to play, paused the game at the File Selection Screen (all 3 files are named ''Link''), but... the Memory viewer is still blank. I can't search for anything nor dump anything. Sorry if I am a bit noob at this, but my hopes on fixing this are getting higher. ''Link'' is ASCII is 4c 69 6e 6b, so I got what I wanted for the 1st step. Next was opening the save file in HxD and do a Hex Search for ''4c 69 6e 6b'' but it can't find anything.

Let's forget save + HxD. It will only waste your time.

Open Dolphin in Debugger mode and start the game. When Link appears, use the MRAM Dump. Find the file and open it in HxD. The file name SHOULD be there.

Create new files... Something like "1A2B3C"... See if it helps with the search.

The address will always be the same. Knowing the address, you need to create the ARM code. I'm guessing you already know this part. After entering the code, check if the memory has changed. Save the game and close it. Now just start it with the code disabled.

This is how I changed all my Mario Party saves. In theory, it should work.

I'm sorry if you've already tried this. I just wanted to be sure.

So, I opened Collector's Edition, loaded OoT, chose a saved file with the CORRECT name, paused the emulator after Link appears, opened the Memory Viewer, dumped the RAM (mem1.raw) then opened it with HxD, but the file's name or its Hex values are NOT in the RAM dump. However, I have taken screenshots of both NTSC and PAL versions at the File Selection Screen to show what I meant by ''messed-up'' names

Here's the PAL save, which the 1st and 2nd file needs fixing:

Here's the NTSC one, where the 3rd file has a bunch of Japanese characters:

And for some reason, Majora's Mask DOES NOT have messed-up names, as the save I use correctly shows ''Link'' even when the save is converted for the PAL version and back to NTSC. Only Ocarina of Time has this issue. Weird...

Back on topic, I use Dolphin 5.0 19870 for checking the Memory. Is there a version I should use instead of that one? And about making an ARM code, I Googled it to know how to make one, but stupid Google gave me unwanted unrelated results to my search. However, I DO know how to create cheat codes (AR & Wiird) for GameCube, as I did some for Collector's Edition, but lost them in a PC crash. No problem, I should be able to make them back. Such codes I created for MM was freezing time at Noon or Midnight. Maybe always staying at Day 1 is nice too (they *might* have been discovered by someone else, we are in 2024 after all, but if so, I do not know of these cheat code creators.)

[Andross89]

So, I opened Collector's Edition, loaded OoT, chose a saved file with the CORRECT name, paused the emulator after Link appears, opened the Memory Viewer, dumped the RAM (mem1.raw) then opened it with HxD, but the file's name or its Hex values are NOT in the RAM dump. However, I have taken screenshots of both NTSC and PAL versions at the File Selection Screen to show what I meant by ''messed-up'' names

Here's the PAL save, which the 1st and 2nd file needs fixing:

Here's the NTSC one, where the 3rd file has a bunch of Japanese characters:

And for some reason, Majora's Mask DOES NOT have messed-up names, as the save I use correctly shows ''Link'' even when the save is converted for the PAL version and back to NTSC. Only Ocarina of Time has this issue. Weird...

Back on topic, I use Dolphin 5.0 19870 for checking the Memory. Is there a version I should use instead of that one? And about making an ARM code, I Googled it to know how to make one, but stupid Google gave me unwanted unrelated results to my search. However, I DO know how to create cheat codes (AR & Wiird) for GameCube, as I did some for Collector's Edition, but lost them in a PC crash. No problem, I should be able to make them back. Such codes I created for MM was freezing time at Noon or Midnight. Maybe always staying at Day 1 is nice too (they *might* have been discovered by someone else, we are in 2024 after all, but if so, I do not know of these cheat code creators.)

ARM = AR. I always find it strange that this term causes problems and "PAR" doesn't...

Yes, the address is in the Dump. And it's easily found in the save too.

It works like this:

The empty slot has the sequence "3E3E3E3E3E3E3E3E". If we name it "ABCD", the game registers it as "0A0B0C0D3E3E3E3E". Do you understand how it works?

Unfortunately, we cannot modify using ARM code or change the values in the save. For some reason, the game starts and creates a save with an empty slot. Disabling this function only by creating an ASM, perhaps. And it's beyond my capabilities.