Message from DarkForce.

[Cidolfas]

Well... I'm now in contact with DF. It took a bit of doing, but it's fine now. I quite a bit of news which I think everyone should hear.

First off, both DF and I now have access to the website. DF has been wanting to make a main page update for some time, but he hasn't been able to think of how to say what he wants to say. In the future, I may be taking over the website duties.

Essentially, what he wants to say is that DeJap is pretty much dead. As some of you may know, DF is basically the only member as of now. As some of you may also know, DF was in an accident several months ago. He's pretty much okay now, but he has to go through constant physiotherapy, which eats through his time, energy, and money. The sad fact is that he does not have the time to dedicate to any of DeJap's projects. He's been doing a bit of work on and off (mainly on Star Ocean, although there really didn't sound like there was a *lot* of stuff done), but he can't keep the whole DeJap running alone any more.

Individual projects can be handed off to other groups, but DF is also looking to see if anyone specific is willing to take them over, possibly under the DeJap umbrella. Here's a quote from his most recent communication with me.

about the projects.. let's see, I'm in the process of giving feoez to
ynt(group) lead by kammedo. he's a bit reluctant but I know he'll
accept eventually. kam might not accept or not accept fully, so some
kind of equal partnership is available for feoez.
I've already handed over all my dq3r material to chrisrpg and I also
gave him the dq5 and dq6 works. he'll be converting dq5 to non-english
and hopefully will be able to finish up the last 10% of dq6 (that
project has been going on about 10 years now, it's just sad). since
chrisrpg is not dedicated to dq6 (only dq3) he wont be touching it
this year anyway so if we could find someone to at least finish up the
translation for it that would be great. many have offered, ALL have
failed and quit with no reason after a couple months.
I also gave tactics ogre to chrisrpg but again it's not on his
priority list so we can still find someone to help with hacking it,
tho chris is enthusiact about TO a whole lo more than DQ6.
samurai "shodown", whoever wants it can have it. in fact, I've been
busy/lazy and have not responded to the translators who had
translations to send back to me. I think I waited so long now that
they've given up and moved on and don't have the translated scripts
anymore.
wedding peach: if someone tackles that game I'll laugh. my only reason
for keeping it as a project is that I wanted to replace the cheesy
intro music with the full orchestrated version, which is a very
interested hack to do.
daikaijyu monogatari 2: if you give gideon long enough, like another
year or two, he'll do this game.
tales of phantasia stays with dejap always.. it's our claim to fame.
I'm still handling the delegation of multilingual translations for it
though I'd prefer if someone else can do it, it takes a lot of time
and management skills though.
star ocean however... I don't know anyone who can take over and manage it. sure there's lots of good
hackers out there but none have the vision I do for what the "proper
final patch" should be, and few would be able to understand all the
work that currently makes up the modified systems, not to mention
managing non-english translations (this is something that will have to
be done). the voice handling part tho is easy and any reasonable
hacker could take that part over.
also.. I was wondering if you could ask for people who know some psx
hacking, able to modify r3000 code (or whatever the psx cpu is).
there's only one squaresoft rpg on psx that never made it here which
really needs a translation (soukagi) and I wanted to at least try to
get a group together for it but not try to put it under the dejap
banner.
also for psx, I just need some help cracking a PAL game which I own to
run on my NTSC psx (i.e. modifying the signal output setting which is
set in code)

So... there you have it.

[Shogetsu]

Kammedo is more than willing to hold FEOEZ, he was very excited when he talked with Darkforce about it around a month ago , although he was a bit sad because of him practically quitting the scene, but he understands his reasons.

I'll advice him about this thread .

[Tallgeese]

Tell Darkforce to take it easy. He's done a lot and deserves an extended break.

[kieran_]

This is incredible news. it should be reported to zophar and the Whirlpool.
Keep up the good work on Star Ocean, Cidolfas. We await your vision!

[Noxious Ninja]

I reported it to The Whirlpool about an hour ago.

[badinsults]

I wish Dark Force the best of luck in recovering from his injuries.


Stickied.

[Joe Camacho]

Good to hear about him, glad he is getting better.

[Agozer]

Well, now we know for sure. Best of luck to DF in his recovery.

[Pombar the Englishman]

I wish him all the best, and a speedy recovery

[Mexandrew]

I wish that Dark Force gets well, and that Dejap Team goes into schedule again soon.

Good luck to you all.

[Nach]

I send DF the best and wish him a speedy recovery. I also wish some capable SNES ROM hackers would join Dejap.

[adventure_of_link]

It sucks that DF was in a wreck though.. I wish him the best of luck.
As for a PAL game on an NTSC PSX, you can use a portable DVD player to output the image (IIRC they have PAL/NTSC settings, or at least mine does )

[Pombar the Englishman]

I send DF the best and wish him a speedy recovery. I also wish some capable SNES ROM hackers would join Dejap.

Maybe this forum is bringing up the next generation of SNES ROM hackers...?

[Oblivion]

The best of luck to Dark Force's recovery.

[snkcube]

I wish the best of luck to Dark Force and his recovery.

[Louis Cypher]

I also wish some capable SNES ROM hackers would join Dejap.

The problem with this is that there really aren't all that many people with the drive, time, or intelligence to -become- capable romhackers. Most of the people who'd be itnerested in SNES-era stuff have either obtained an undregrad degree and have gotten a job or are close to doing so, and they've got extremely little time to be bothering with a such a time-consuming hobby. Those that do have the time and intelligence are typically younger and aren't as interested in SNES stuff.

And the few that are currently around have our own stuff to work on already

[anewuser]

Cidolfas, thank you for letting us know.

DF take it easy, man. I hope you get well soon.

[darkbenny]

This is good news. I'm glad we heard an update.

[Nightcrawler]

I also wish some capable SNES ROM hackers would join Dejap.

The problem with this is that there really aren't all that many people with the drive, time, or intelligence to -become- capable romhackers. Most of the people who'd be itnerested in SNES-era stuff have either obtained an undregrad degree and have gotten a job or are close to doing so, and they've got extremely little time to be bothering with a such a time-consuming hobby. Those that do have the time and intelligence are typically younger and aren't as interested in SNES stuff.

And the few that are currently around have our own stuff to work on already

Agreed. The SNES romhackers are a dying breed as sad as that is to say. Those of us with higher level SNES skills are already doing our own things. And for each one of us that falls, there are less and less people to take our place. I could probably count on one hand the number of new SNES romhackers that started last year that will actually go on to do some serious work.

[Silensho]

Would documenting the SNES hacking knowledge take up as much time as using it?
Maybe in the (hopefully not so distant) future someone might become interested and find the documentation useful.

There are documents on the net, from what I've heard, but maybe you (or any other contributor) might add something else.

Or perhaps a magician wouldn't want to reveal his secrets.

[Nach]

I also wish some capable SNES ROM hackers would join Dejap.

The problem with this is that there really aren't all that many people with the drive, time, or intelligence to -become- capable romhackers. Most of the people who'd be itnerested in SNES-era stuff have either obtained an undregrad degree and have gotten a job or are close to doing so, and they've got extremely little time to be bothering with a such a time-consuming hobby. Those that do have the time and intelligence are typically younger and aren't as interested in SNES stuff.

And the few that are currently around have our own stuff to work on already

Agreed. The SNES romhackers are a dying breed as sad as that is to say. Those of us with higher level SNES skills are already doing our own things. And for each one of us that falls, there are less and less people to take our place. I could probably count on one hand the number of new SNES romhackers that started last year that will actually go on to do some serious work.

I could probably become a decent SNES ROM hacker if I wanted to

[Nightcrawler]

You probably could, but you've already proven my point. People with the skills such as yourself are already involved in their own projects.

[Pombar the Englishman]

And yet, there's a considerable community of younger people who, although lacking in intelligence(like me ) who would want to continue the practice. I disagree that younger people have less time though. I have way to much time on my hands. Although most of these people will never do anything, some will, and will become the SNES ROM hackers of the future... now there's a thought

[Oblivion]

You're going to *need* intelligence to understand what you're doing. Yes, young people have a shitload and a half of time, I know I do, but think about how many people use that time productively. Not many do. Plus, it takes more willpower than many have to spend that much time on one thing.

[LobStar]

Best wishes Dark Force. May your legacy come later and blossom well.