Hey everyone,

VirtuousRage posted some screenshots for translating Virtual Lab some time ago. After that I was asked by several members of the community to do a translation patch. I didn’t really see the point as all the Japanese text is already translated on screen. When I checked for the first time I saw that the hack wouldn’t be as easy so I moved on.

However, I had a look again today and decided to do the absolute minimum. I didn’t do most of the proposed rearrangements and didn’t alter the English text. I just removed the Japanese text and moved the English text on the “Read Instructions” screen a bit.

I attached the patched ROM as well as my notes (in case someone cares).

Attachments:

1. 

   virtual-lab-e-0001.png
   

2. 

   virtual-lab-e-0002.png
   

3. 

   virtual-lab-e-0003.png
   

1. virtual-lab-e.rom_.zip
2. virtual-lab-e.patch_.zip
3. notes.txt

I’m impressed that you can make these modifications.

I may not be worthy to ask this question; but in layman’s terms – What are the steps between having a rom file, and having a code in front of you where you would actually be able to tweak certain things before re-compiling it into a rom file?

Is there a certain software used for this?
Does it look like crazy machine code when the rom is un-archived?

mips5000 schrieb:
I’m impressed that you can make these modifications.

I may not be worthy to ask this question; but in layman’s terms – What are the steps between having a rom file, and having a code in front of you where you would actually be able to tweak certain things before re-compiling it into a rom file?

Is there a certain software used for this?
Does it look like crazy machine code when the rom is un-archived?

I don’t decompile the code but read the machine code. There are ways to get a readable representation of the assembler code of the whole ROM but I usually just use Mednafen to look at it (hit Alt+D while a game is running). Usually I start with Reality Boy to look where images are on the BGMap and in the char memory. I then set breakpoints to figure out when that data is written. After that I analyze the code that writes the BGMap/Chars to figure out where it loaded the data from. Depending on what I’m doing I then change the data that is loaded or the actual code. Usually I use a Hex editor for the simpler tasks (like with this one) or I write a tool that does the patching for me.

If you’re interested in doing more reverse engineering, my notes might help: http://matejhorvat.si/en/vboy/vlab/

HorvatM schrieb:
If you’re interested in doing more reverse engineering, my notes might help: http://matejhorvat.si/en/vboy/vlab/

I actually read through your password posts after I finished everything. You are absolutely right with how confusing the programming is. I’m not sure if they disabled optimizations or wrote everything in asm and copy/pasted their code. There is this function that writes the Japanese text into the gameboard. Every single char of a line is written by its own line of code. The code is the same over and over again.

Thunderstruck is truly a god among us.
Thanks dude!!

Awesome! Maybe with this i’ll try the game…i guess XD (Seriously, i don’t like this game). Good work though 🙂

Thanks for making the patch!

thunderstruck wrote:

HorvatM schrieb:
If you’re interested in doing more reverse engineering, my notes might help: http://matejhorvat.si/en/vboy/vlab/

I actually read through your password posts after I finished everything. You are absolutely right with how confusing the programming is. I’m not sure if they disabled optimizations or wrote everything in asm and copy/pasted their code. There is this function that writes the Japanese text into the gameboard. Every single char of a line is written by its own line of code. The code is the same over and over again.

That’s kind of funny actually, it truly is a “my first game” sort of scenario is seems =P

retronintendonerd wrote:
Thanks for making the patch!

Always happy to help.

KGRAMR schrieb:
Awesome! Maybe with this i’ll try the game…i guess XD (Seriously, i don’t like this game). Good work though 🙂

I think it has potential. Just the execution is not that great.

speedyink schrieb:
That’s kind of funny actually, it truly is a “my first game” sort of scenario is seems =P

I think they rushed this allot.

Great work on this, and thanks for posting the patch and ROM.

Needless to say, late to the game, but I’m thunderstruck by thunderstuck’s work. A very appropriate nickname for a forum more than most I’ve seen in a long time.