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MrRichard999 thanks again man, i'm playing Chronicle right now and enjoying it a lot. this would never have been possible without so many random variables working out. i'm currently thinking/looking for a new RPG to translate but i'm running into the problem that all the Wizardry games left (PoB, Five Ordeals, Wedge Of Life, "Grand Adventure", Asterisk,
Empire 3, Summoner, and Dimguil) aaalllll come w/ their game files in .bin/.pak/.etc compressed archives and I have no way of extracting them.
ordinarily this alone would not be a problem as one can still do a translation by simply hex editing the compressed archive itself, but all of the Wizardry games I just mentioned also feature a type of text-encryption; from what I've read it is called dictionary encryption (correct me if i'm wrong). For example, in Wizardry Empire 3 everything textual
except for inside-the-Dungeon-NPC-dialog can be found inside the compressed archive UMDDATA.bin and you can hex edit that .bin file with zero problems whatsoever. that's how i translated pretty much almost everything, except of course for the NPC dialogs that are found inside the dungeons.
the dungeon NPC text is found inside the Empire 3 "executable", which for PSP games is the EBOOT.bin archive. Now, this was when I first ran into what I later googled/learned is dictionary encryption or more simply put "text compression". I took screenshots of an ingame Empire 3 NPC conversation inside the game's 1st dungeon and then I used the search functionality of windhex32 and also crystaltile2 with pieces (i.e. japanese characters lifted from the conversation) of the text but it turns out everything is in there, but it's all scrambled.
Example would be, ok this is a normal looking NPC dialog text in X game, inside a compressed archive but without encryption:
「HELLO THERE! AWESOME SAUCE。。。\n
Now what i did was basically search for terms like "hello", and when it didn't find anything, I eventually ended up searching for "He" and "H" (in this fictional example i mean) and also It ocurred to me to also do searches for the 「 and for 。。。 and the like, and sure enough the conversation text from the Empire 3 screenshot is most definitely inside the EBOOT.bin buuuuut unlike with everything that's inside the other game .bin, the one with 80% of the game text, the dialog text found in the EBOOT.bin is all completely jumbled like so:
「Ｈｅｘｘ１３３ｆｆｆ．．．．．＃ｑｑ．．ＳＯＭＥ Ｓｘｘ１ｆｆｆｆｘｘ．．ｘ ｎ
Ｓｏ ｄｏ ｙｏｕ ｕｎｄｅｒｓｔａｎｄ ｗｈａｔ Ｉ ｍｅａｎ ｎｏｗ？ ａｎｄ ｔｈｅ ｓａｍｅ ｔｈｉｎｇ， ｓａｍｅ ｅｘａｃｔ ｔｙｐｅ ｏｆ ｔｅｘｔ ｃｏｍｐｒｅｓｓｉｏｎ， ｉｓ ａｌｓｏ ｔｈｅ ｃａｓｅ ｗｉｔｈ ｔｈｅ ｄｉａｌｏｇ／ｄｕｎｇｅｏｎ－ｔｅｘｔ ｆｒｏｍ：
－ Ｐｒｉｓｏｎｅｒ ｏｆ ｔｈｅ Ｂａｔｔｌｅｓ， ｂｏｔｈ ＰＳ２ ａｎｄ Ｗｉｎｄｏｗｓ ＰＣ
ー Ｗｉｚ ＸＴＨ １ ａｎｄ ２ ｉ．ｅ． ａｃａｄｅｍｙ ｏｆ ｆｒｏｎｔｉｅｒ ａｎｄ ｕｎｌｉｍｉｔｅｄ ｓｔｕｄｅｎｔｓ
ー ａｎｄ ｏｆ ｃｏｕｒｓｅ．．． Ｗｉｚａｒｄｒｙ Ｅｍｐｉｒｅ ３
ｓｏ ｙｏｕ ｃａｎ ｕｎｄｅｒｓｔａｎｄ ｗｈｙ ｉ ｆｅｅｌ ｆｒｕｓｔｒａｔｅｄ． Ｅｓｐｅｃｉａｌｌｙ ａｆｔｅｒ ｉ ｐｕｔ ｉｎ ａｌｌ ｔｈｏｓｅ ｄｏｚｅｎｓ ｏｆ ｈｏｕｒｓ ｔｒａｎｓｌａｔｉｎｇ Ｅｍｐｉｒｅ ３． （ｗｈｉｃｈ ｒｅｍｉｎｄｓ ｍｅ， Ｉ ｎｅｅｄ ｔｏ ｐｏｌｉｓｈ ｕｐ ｔｈｅ ｂｉｔｓ ｒｅｍａｉｎｉｎｇ ｏｆ ｅｖｅｒｙｔｈｉｎｇ－ｂｕｔ－ｔｈｅ－ＮＰＣ－ｄｉａｌｏｇ ｔｅｘｔ ｔｈａｔ ｉ ａｌｒｅａｄｙ ｈａｖｅ ｔｒａｎｓｌａｔｅｄ ａｎｄ ｗｏｒｋｉｎｇ ｆｏｒ Ｅｍｐｉｒｅ ３ ａｎｄ ｉ ｎｅｅｄ ｔｏ ｌｅａｒｎ ｈｏｗ ｔｏ ｍａｋｅ ａ ｐａｔｃｈ ｆｏｒ ｔｈｅ ｇａｍｅ ｓｏ ｗｅ ｃａｎ ｕｐｌｏａｄ ｔｈａｔ ”ｍｅｎｕ ｐａｔｃｈ” （ｔｈｏｕｇｈ ｉ’ｄ ｓａｙ ｆｕｌｌ ｔｒａｎｓｌａｔｉｏｎ ｏｆ ａｌｌ ｅｎｅｍｉｅｓ， ｓｐｅｌｌｓ， ｉｔｅｍｓ， ｅｔｃ ｉｓ ｍｕｃｈ ｍｏｒｅ ｔｈａｎ ｊｕｓｔ ａ ｍｅｒｅ ｍｅｎｕ ｐａｔｃｈ ｂｕｔ ｗｈａｔｅｖｅｒ．．．）．
ｉ ｈａｖｅ ｎｏ ｃｌｕｅ ｈｏｗ ｔｏ ｍａｋｅ ａ ｐａｔｃｈ ｆｏｒ ｉｔ， ｒｉｇｈｔ ｎｏｗ ａｌｌ ｉ ｈａｖｅ ｉｓ ａ ｐｓｐ ｅｍｐｉｒｅ ３ ．ＩＳＯ ｗｉｔｈ ｔｈｅ ｍｏｄｉｆｉｅｄ ＵＭＤＤＡＴＡ．ｂｉｎ ｉｎｓｉｄｅ ｏｆ ｉｔ．
ＡＮＹＷＡＹ， ｍｙ ｒｅａｌ ｐｏｉｎｔ ｈｅｒｅ ｗ／ ｔｈｉｓ ｐｏｓｔ ｉｓ ｂａｓｉｃａｌｌｙ ａｓｋｉｎｇ ｙｏｕ ｉｆ ａ） ｉｓ ｉｔ ｐｏｓｓｉｂｌｅ ｔｏ ｃｒａｃｋ ｔｈｅ ｃｏｍｐｒｅｓｓｉｏｎ／ｅｎｃｒｙｐｔｉｏｎ ｏｎ ｔｈｅ ｔｅｘｔ ｉｎ ｔｈｅｓｅ ａｒｃｈｉｖｅｓ， ａｎｄ ｂ） ｙｏｕｒ ｔｈｏｕｇｈｔｓ ｏｎ ｔｈｉｓ ｓｕｂｊｅｃｔ？
Digging the 'Sid's Bass' instrument as well, reference to Sid Vicious? 
