SCUMM: ZAK FM Towns: Untranslated original GUI parts in German translation

[GermanTribun]

System: Windows 10 Pro
ScummVM: 2.9.0
Game: Zak
Version: FM-Towns
Language: German Translation

Here is a problem with hte original GUI in the FM-Tows version of ZAK. While the Pause screen and the quit game message work as intended and are translated to German (I even made sure the game is registered as German by selecting the language), the message for restarting the game and the text in the save menu (is that part of the translation that was forgotten by the translator, or part of the menu itself?) are not.

Since it does work with Loom (which also is a fan translation), it could be that something was forgotten there and it didn't get translated.

Btw., in this and Loom on the FM Towns, I couldn't alter text speed with + and - and had to use the global menu.

Edit: With the text in the menu I mean the actual text, and not the buttons, which are a graphic.

[dwatteau]

Hi,

That's the la-patches.de fan-made translation, right? The one with the "fixed" parquet floor in both Zak's kitchen and the aliens' secret room?

I can't reproduce the English text problem, when playing with the v1.2 release. Which version of the translation are you playing? (it should show up on the first screen).

The "liesmich_lap_zaktowns_de_v12.txt" README file that's included with the v1.2 translation seems to indicate that this was fixed with this v1.2 release:

(translated)

v1.2: This version corresponds to the GoG patch v1.0, which is also available from me.
The GoG release of the game is based on the FM-TOWNS version.

[...]
The save menu is now also in German. Thanks to Simon Sawatzki for the great work!
[...]

If you want to see for yourself what the translation contains, you can grab a copy of ScummTR (see <​https://github.com/dwatteau/scummtr/releases/latest>), put it inside the game directory, and do this from the Command Prompt:

> scummtr.exe -g zaktowns -ch -of zak-towns-de-v1.2.txt

> chcp 1252
> findstr /B /L /C:"[049:SC#0001]" zak-towns-de-v1.2.txt
[049:SC#0001]Zak McKracken TOWNS v 1.00 1/23/91\013
[049:SC#0001]Spielpause. Leertaste zum Weiterspielen.\013
[049:SC#0001]Insert Disk %c and Press Button to Continue.\013
[049:SC#0001]Unable to Find %02d.LFL, (%c%d) Press Button.\013
[049:SC#0001]ERROR: Insert Disk %c, Press ENTER to Continue.\013
[049:SC#0001]Das Spiel wirklich neu starten?  (J/N)J\013
[049:SC#0001]Demo Modus, Speichern/Laden deaktiviert.\013

> findstr /B /L /C:"[050:LS#0203]" zak-towns-de-v1.2.txt
[050:LS#0203]Spielstand gesichert.\013
[050:LS#0203]FEHLER: Spielstand NICHT gesichert.\013
[050:LS#0203]FEHLER: Spielstand NICHT geladen.\013
[050:LS#0203]Kein Spielstand gefunden.\013
[050:LS#0203]Spielstand zum \255\002\013
[050:LS#0203]SICHERN\255\002 auswählen.\013
[050:LS#0203]Spielstand zum \255\002\013
[050:LS#0203]LADEN\255\002 auswählen.\013
[050:LS#0203]Bitte Namen f\252r den Spielstand eingeben.\013
[050:LS#0203]Leerer Speicherplatz ausgewählt.\013
[050:LS#0203]Spielstand zum laden auswählen, dann \255\002\013
[050:LS#0203]OK\255\002 drücken.\013
[050:LS#0203]Spielstand Slot auswählen und den Namen eingeben.\013
[050:LS#0203]Eingabe beenden, dann \255\002\013
[050:LS#0203]ENTER\255\002\013
[050:LS#0203] und \255\002\013
[050:LS#0203]OK\255\002\013
[050:LS#0203] zum Sichern.\013
[050:LS#0203] zum Laden.\013
[050:LS#0203]Lade "\255\007\001\064"\013
[050:LS#0203]Sichere "\255\007\001\064"\013
[050:LS#0203]Kein Spielstand gefunden.\013
[050:LS#0203]Put a save-load game disk in Drive \255\007\004\064.  Wähle\255\002\013

with 049:SC#0001 being the pause menu script, and 050:LS#0203 the script for saves, in Zak TOWNS.

Here, most of the strings appear to have been properly translated, in the v1.2 release. (Some of them remain in English, but I think they're the ones being printed in the DOS window by the original interpreters; the ones being displayed in the original GUI being translated).

So, I'd be interested in knowing which precise release of the German (fan-made) translation of Zak TOWNS shows this issue for you. Thanks.

[dwatteau]

v1.2 la-patches.de German translation _not_ showing the issue, in ScummVM 2.9.0

[dwatteau]

(part 2) v1.2 la-patches.de German translation _not_ showing the issue, in ScummVM 2.9.0

[GermanTribun]

It's actually not the translation from la-patches, but a different one. The one I have is a pure text translation, no doctoring with the graphics. It also does not have the overflow bug that the la-patches version has in the end credits.

Would it help if I hand you over the lfl files? I have no idea which version this is (long forgotten it) but maybe you know when looking at it?

[dwatteau]

Thanks! So, I had a look at the German release you have.

I'm pretty sure your version is just an earlier version of that "LucasArts-Patches" DE release:

• When dumping both their text content with scummtr I obtain around 2040 lines. Only 225 lines differ between the two, which is 11%. Everything else is identical.
• Between the two, I see some small adjustments, typo fixes, and... proper translations for Save/Load/Restart (etc.) settings.

So, well, if fans make translations but don't translate some strings, I don't think it's ScummVM's job to fix that. Especially since, here, LucasArts-Patches did provide an update that translated those strings, back in 2015.

So here, to me, the fix is: update your translation, i.e. use the v1.2 update from the same source.

(If you don't like the graphics doctoring they did along with that update, well... it's a fan-made modification, so we just can't add code for everyone's preference and every fan-made change out there, it's just too much, sorry. We mostly focus on official releases -- with some exceptions such as the Ultimate Talkie Editions of Monkey Island, because they have a pretty big user base. If fixing your problem just took a few lines of code, I wouldn't mind adding them, but it's more than that, and a translation update does fix this detail.)

So this is going to be a WONTFIX for me. Bringing fixes/changes to fan-made modifications is not in the scope of ScummVM. Sorry...

[GermanTribun]

OK, understandable.