ばか！バカ！　馬鹿ー月！

I want to start a visual novel translation project, but I'm not sure how to go about it. Google hasn't been very helpful, so I was hoping someone would be able to help me.

Thanks in advance!

I haven't been there in ages, but I guess the gemot forums are still a good point to start. That being said, TLWiki is probably a much better place to start a VN project than B-T because that's their home ground, thus you'll find more knowledge there.

That aside: you'll definitely need a programmer for your project. There are tools you can use for extracting/repacking the eroge of your choice (see here), but for most VNs you'll need to make some adjustments, if not write a repacker from scratch. For the latter case, asmodean has a bunch of useful extractor scripts (+ source), but you'll have to figure out how to get the stuff back in yourself.

Also, there will be a need for a graphics editor for the menus and such.

Anyways, how I would go about it:
1. Extract the text (should be easy using one of the aforementioned tools or crass/extract data)
2. Translate a few scripts. I'd say at least 10% of the whole thing -- to show that you're serious about the project.
3. Go to gemot or some other VN community and ask for help. Mainly for a programmer. (If you can't do it yourself / can't find an appropriate tool.)
4. ...
5. Profit.



Also, maybe take a look at this here. It's rather old, but still an interesting read.

My first instinct would be to find social connections in forums and the like. Try to get people together who know some programming, Japanese, typesetting, editing, etc. Obviously, mining the existing VN forums would be a good place to start for that.

Next, once you have the people, decide whether or not you want to do this fully legally or not. If you are planning to do this through the publisher in Japan and make a business out of it, I would suggest making sure that one of the people on your team is fluent in Japanese and has connections in Japan with the people who can make decisions, even if this means going out to party with them. No importing business will survive without a certain degree of social networking. In the meantime, decide what your business model will be like, including philosophy, retail modelling, venue(s) of business, costs and benefits, etc. Also, it is important that you register your business with the government for tax purposes and legal reasons. If you lack the funds, Kickstarter might be a good way to start you project/company.

If you are planning on doing this as a non-business activity, I would just say that you will be in your team's care by that point. So, disregard the above paragraph, if that is true.

If cant find your VN txt dialog file in google, then mine it by your self...

Use AGTH to mining the text file from the VN, and translate it...

I have no idea on how to start stuff but I think keeping a project going until completion is a lot harder than starting it, so of course be very sure that you are up for it, and that whoever you find to work with you on it (because you will most likely need the help of other people) are dedicated and motivated to finish it, or you can find replacements if they drop out.

That said, be sure you can actually create a patch before translating anything. Sure you can extract scripts with AGTH and translate them, but it's all pointless if you can't put it back in after.

Power point can do the job, am i right? Photoshop too.

One way that I thought of back then was to remake the whole thing (yes, everything, including graphics and audio) using Ren'py but that would take way too long, The easiest way really is to assemble a team who you can work with.