Dumping the scripts from VNs

[dullian]

I'd like to know if there's a way to dump into a usable text format the scripts of VNs. I am able to access the script via hooking the games with hex editors like Cheat Engine or Ollydbg, and even in some games I'm even to access the script without running the game just by loading some files on the hex editors. The problem is that the scripts are in hex. Obviously I use Translation Aggregator to make selected text readable, but I'd like to know if there's a way I can dump all the script AND convert the whole thing to SJIS so I can use that text. And of course I'm aware that I'm bound to find 'garbage' in the scripts.
By the way, I've only been able to load files and see the script with PSP and PSX games, I don't remember having tried this with PC VNs.

And if you must know, I'm thinking of using the dumped text for generating frequency lists that could be used to optimize my kanji studies in Anki.

[Scorp]

Google for tools to extract resources from the games. If you're lucky, then the engine of your choice would be not crypted with open script format - in this case you can read everything.

Also someone (I think CryingWestern) had in his signature link to extracted scripts for some games.

[Kelebek1]

If you don't want to bother going into extracting files, you could use a text hooker which automatically copies things to clipboard, and make a program to paste that. Looks like even AutoHotkey can do it. You won't get the full 100% script, and it'll take you time holding Ctrl to skip through a VN, but may be easier and save you time in the long run.

[dullian]

I think what I most likely would need is a way to batch convert hex to Sjis. I don't really like the idea of copying and pasting large blocks of text. Let me see if I can dump something with Ollydbg.

[Kelebek1]

Hex and Sjis are just representations of numbers. The data is the same.

[Ningen]

tlwiki has a page with tools that can extract vn scripts.

However, the wiki is down atm.

[dullian]

Well, I tried last night with a PSX game and this HxD hex editor. With it I was able to dump the hex as txt among other formats, didn't try dumping the whole thing yet but it should be possible. Now, a problem that might arise is that the dumped txt includes an offset chart that might interfere with the syntax of the hex if I don't find a tool that obviates that chart. But at least for now I guess that's some kind of progress for me.

 

[dullian]

5 hours ago, Ningen said:

tlwiki has a page with tools that can extract vn scripts.

However, the wiki is down atm.

I've checked it in the past, seemed to cover specific game engines but I'd like to check again. Do you know for how long has it been/will be down?

[deepblue]

I've also been extracting scripts from the vns I finished reading in order to create a corpus of example sentences for a while.

Usually, I will check this page  http://asmodean.reverse.net/pages/tools_index.html and then google to see if the tool I need exist, if not I will try to reverse engineer the engine to get the script.

[mnakamura]

There's no universal way to extract scripts from an arbitrary engine: assets (including the script files) could be compressed, obfuscated, encrypted, etc. One usually has to deal with it on per-game basis. Usually it's not very hard, but requires some basic computing skills. There's an excellent tool named Kaitai Struct which can be used to aid reverse engineering of both container files and script files.

I'm currently extensively using it to investigate formats of many visual novels. Feel free to ask me to get down to a particular VN, if you'd like a script from that.

[Ningen]

On 14.6.2016 at 7:52 PM, dullian said:

I've checked it in the past, seemed to cover specific game engines but I'd like to check again. Do you know for how long has it been/will be down?

It`s back.

https://tlwiki.org/index.php?title=Tools