Possibility of Japanese Language patch for P99?

[zander358]

Hey everyone, I used to play during Luclin launch back in 2001, and then later saw myself getting busy on Green server with guilds such as Ancient Blood, Safe Space, and Castle from around 2019 to 2022.

I'm trying to prompt interest/pick brains for some knowledge about creating a Japanese language patch for Project 1999. The aim would be to create an experience that is 100% intelligible to a native Japanese speaker that possesses near zero English language proficiency. Optimally the patch would include:

• UI reworks for the original buttons in the classic 1999 interface, as well as other shop and crafting menus.
• Item names, item descriptions
• Spellbook
• NPC names, zone names
• Quest dialogue text
• System messages
• Support for naming a character in Japanese

Some obvious concerns that come to mind:

1.) Font character support

EverQuest was built in 1999 when UTF-8 wasn't standard, so Windows-1252, ASCII? The graphics engine might not even be able to support the complexity of Kanji character strokes. There might be issues with proper resolution for both small and large sized characters (like NPC names vs running battle text).

I suppose we would have to identify what sort of font format the server uses, probably bitmaps, but not TTF/OTF files? Would we need to use a hex editor to find how the game data stores the font files? Maybe this stuff is moreso common knowledge than cryptic knowledge. Would we need to patch the executable file to support a higher memory load? We may have to make width adjustments, and replace font rendering routines due to resolution issues?

2.) Identifying client side vs server side text

Fully client-side strings should be easy to modify
Then you have server-sent triggers that use client-side text lookups (Think monster death messages... You'll never defeat Andross!!!!!!!)

And then there is fully server-sent text would require server side modification or creative client-side interception. This would more than likely be outside the scope of this patch project, sadly.

3.) Toon naming

For the same reason as the point I just made above, I don't think we would be able to support Japanese players naming their toons using Japanese characters, due to the server side modification that would be necessary to allow other players to see the characters...would probably just appear as a bunch of blocks. They will have to settle for using the currently legal latin character set for naming conventions, essentially Romaji without some of the specialized Romaji characters.

4.) Legality

I'm assuming a language patch would all be perfectly above board, provided that there aren't any modifications to the server code that alter gameplay from a mathematical standpoint. Still, perhaps the P1999 staff has prior contractual stipulations preventing something like this from seeing use on their servers.

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Anyway, obviously the scope of something like this would be ginormous, considering the amount of text in the game. It would take time and dedication, but at least P1999 stops at Velious [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.] I can provide help with providing authentic translations, but the issues listed above are the more pressing matter. Lastly, although there may not be a huge demand for a Japanese language patch, I remember Akatsuki being a guild on Green 1.0. Thanks for reading, curious what you legends have to say about the whole idea. If it ends up being dead in the water for xyz reason, I can come to terms with that.

[loramin]

Originally Posted by zander358 [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

... but the issues listed above are the more pressing matter. Lastly, although there may not be a huge demand for a Japanese language patch, I remember Akatsuki being a guild on Green 1.0.

I think this is your real issue: even if you solved everything and localized EQ, it would only benefit like 100 Japanese, plus maybe ten gaijin that want to improve their language skills.

It's a lot of squeeze for very little juice .. but it's still a fun idea, so gambatte!