RomTranslate Studio
free open source test version
RomTranslate Studio is a desktop app. You drop your game file onto its window. It works out which console the game is for, finds the dialogue, translates it with the AI you choose and writes everything to a copy. Your original file stays as it was.
This is a test version. See what has been measured and what it cannot do yet.
Example with a made-up line: “Press START to light the lamp.” becomes “Aperte START para acender a lâmpada.”, in Brazilian Portuguese.
Made-up lines from the demo game just below, translated into Brazilian Portuguese.
This is the app's real screen, running inside this page. The game (“Brisa e o Farol de Papel”) and its lines are made up, the answers are simulated, and nothing is sent anywhere.
The app recognises which console the game is for and shows the clues it used to decide.
It separates the text from the rest of the file. Anything that only looks like text is thrown away.
You pick the AI. It gets several lines at a time and is told how much room each one has.
The app checks the size, the codes hidden in the text (for example, the spot where the player's name goes) and the letters the game can write. Lines that do not fit go back to the AI on their own. You can also fix any line by hand.
The app writes the translated lines to a working copy and checks the result. Your original file is never modified.
A small file that holds only what changed (in IPS or BPS format). You share the patch instead of the game.
The digital copy of the game, stored as a file on your computer. The app works with a file you already have. It does not download games, and this site does not offer any.
Running macOS, Windows or Linux. The app is installed on it and the work happens there.
You pick one of these three options:
With the online options, the app asks for your permission first and shows which text will be sent. Only the extracted lines go out, never the game file.
You do not write code or open a byte editor, the kind of program that shows a file number by number. The work is done with buttons. Some games still need manual adjustments: see the limits.
The game file stays on your machine. With an online AI, only the lines go out, and only with your permission.
The app works on a copy. The file you dropped in stays exactly the same.
Each line has limited room inside the game. If the translation is too long, the app asks the AI for a shorter one, without you doing anything.
The game's internal names and pieces of the file that only look like text are not sent to the AI.
You can stop the translation at any time. What has already been translated stays saved.
A small file with just the translation. Anyone who has the original game applies the patch and gets the same result. You share it without distributing the game.
MIT license. Anyone can read the code and see what the app does.
All support is experimental. Each game stores its text in its own way, so there is no promise that any given game will work.
The last column matters because, in most cases, the translation has to fit in the room of the original line. Wii and Wii U are only recognised: the app cannot read their text yet.
| Console | Reads the text | Writes the translation | Translation longer than the original line |
|---|---|---|---|
| Game Boy Advance | Yes | Yes | For part of the text |
| Nintendo DS | Yes | Yes | For part of the text |
| NES | Yes | Yes | No |
| Super Nintendo | Yes | Yes | No |
| GameCube | Yes | Yes | No |
| PlayStation 1 | Yes | Yes | A little |
| PlayStation 2 | Yes | Yes | No |
| PSP | Yes | Yes | No |
| Wii and Wii U only recognised | No | No | Does not apply |
The app is in its testing phase (alpha). These numbers come from a single commercial Game Boy Advance game, from the maintainer's own cartridge. No data from that game is on this site or in the repository.
The installers are not code-signed: this is a personal project, and certificates are paid. That is why your system complains the first time. Each block says what to do.
macOS says the app is damaged. That is its warning for an unsigned app.
xattr -cr "/Applications/RomTranslate Studio.app"
Windows shows a SmartScreen warning. Click “More info” and then “Run anyway”.
.deb
.rpm
.AppImage
Give the file permission to run. In a terminal, in the folder where it is:
chmod +x RomTranslate*.AppImage
Only the macOS installer has been opened and used by a person so far. The Windows and Linux ones are built automatically and still need someone to try them. If you do, tell us what happened on the project page. Every version is on the releases page.
It is the digital copy of what is on a cartridge or a disc, stored as a file. Many people call it a ROM or an ISO. It comes from the copy of the game that you have. This site and the app do not offer games, do not download games and do not point to where to download them.
We are not lawyers, and this is not legal advice. What we can state is what the app does: it does not distribute games, it works only with the file you already have, and what gets shared is the patch, which holds the translation and not the game. The app's license covers only the app itself: it grants no rights over any game, trademark or translation of third-party work.
No. The whole path is done with buttons in the app's window. For some cartridge games you still have to point out by hand where the text is and which letter table the game uses. That is not programming, but it takes work, and it is on the list of what the app cannot do on its own yet.
No. All support is experimental. Each game stores its text in its own way, and there are cases the app cannot read yet: compressed text, Japanese games and text drawn as an image. So far, only one real game has been through the whole process.
The game file, never. With the AI that runs on your computer, nothing leaves. With an online AI, only the extracted lines are sent, and the app asks for your permission first, showing which text will go out.
The app is free. The AI can be free (the one that runs on your computer), it can be the ChatGPT subscription you already pay for, or it can be an API key, billed per use by the service you choose.
It depends on the AI. With a ChatGPT subscription, the measured pace was about 5 lines per second. At that pace, a game with about 9 thousand lines takes around half an hour.
RomTranslate Studio is free and made in spare time. If it helped you, there are two ways to support it.
It costs nothing and helps other people find the project.
Open the project on GitHubPix is Brazil's instant payment system. The key is a phone number:
13982286871