Tester

Oh, actually, I just remembered an obscure tool for both archives and scripts of DDSystem engine -- DDWSystemTool. Well, it is written that for DDWSystem, but it seems to be pretty close to DDSystem (it can even be another name of DDSystem or such). Also your "scn" scripts are actually "hxb" scripts (see header), so the tool should support them (and at least export/import strings properly). If thou have some problems with it, write in the issues, since it does not seem like an abandonware.

First, there is a great number of visual novels not on KiriKiri or NScripter engines. Thou cannot hope that every game will be on them. Also, NScripter may be somewhat painy (if you want to translate on original NScripter without making any ports on some ONScripter). Your engine is, actually, DDSystem. Seems to be PIL-used engine. Second, these scripts are not encrypted. (Well, some strings may be obfusificated, but not message ones). It's just byte-code script file SCN. True name of format is DDW, by the way. Basically, you tried with the wrong encoding. Try using UTF-16LE. Proof is below the points. Third, thou probably cannot edit them with simple text editor. Why, thou ask? Because they are bytecode scripts. Therefore editing them with simple text editor likely break them (not in 100%, but in many, depending on the script format). Try some HEX editor instead, like MadEdit. Forth, I do know some tools for DDSystem, like these or that, but none of them can deal with scripts properly, if I am not mistaken. Thou may try to hack them yourself, though.

One more script format has fallen. One of xlvns engine. Many games of Aquaplus and Leaf use it, yet not all. The scripts are quite easy, actually. Here is the tool: XlvnsScriptTool. Works fine at least with Shizuku...

I am truly surprised that I could deal with AI5WIN scripts withing so little time. I though it'd take about a week. Scripts of AI5WIN, as archives, are more complicated then AI6WIN's and Silky Engine's, definitely so. I understand now why no proper decompilers&compilers or at least disassemblers&assemblers were done by now. You cannot just properly disassemble "complex structures" (as I call it) as plain opcodes here (or it's just me who could not). Still it is not as problematic as in SLG System scripts. Also it is not only the scripts themselves that are hard, there is also a big version difference. I managed to get quite a few games, 6 of them (3 different releases), so I think I supported not all versions. But by now that three would be enough. Here is the tool: AI5WINScriptTool. === These screenshots proof that it works (from Shangrlia)...

Now, having hacked all Silky/Elf line archives (AI5WIN's, AI6WIN's and Silky Engine's) and totally upgraded tool for Silky Engine's scripts, I turn my eyes to AI6WIN's scripts. Yes, they were also hacked. Disassembler and assembler tool was written for them: AI6WINScriptTool. I admit, this is quite "lazy tool", but it is enough for fantranslations. Alas, they were rather dissapointing. They are somewhat close to Silky Engine's, but have only 1 header section instead of 2. There are also some commands differences. But... that is all. They were, actually, even easier than Silky Engine's scripts.

So long I was wanting to do that, yet only now I had time to. In the previous year I did hack Silky Engine's mes files and created a tool, mesScriptAsseAndDisassembler. Alas, it was (like gscScriptCompAndDecompiler) far from ideal. It worked with general scripts, but 1) it could not (dis)assemble any technical scripts; 2) it did not work with LIBLARY.LIB, specific script; 3) it did not worked if one of parameters had one unimplemented value. Also it had some problems with optimization, code style, strings, lack of mass conversion and such. But the time changed. Here is new mesScriptAsseAndDisassembler 1.2. Now this tool was fully refactored and all of them were fixed. Now you can use it without fear of common problems. Here is the change log... 1) Full code refactoring in both GUI and script managing class. 2) Normal tests in main. 3) Big optimization for mes script management. 4) Many mistakes, such as incorrect bytes or incorrect string returning, fixed. 5) Added directory management option. 6) Added some convenient functionality in GUI. For example, auto guessing name of other file after choosing one. 7) Now use threading system, so no locking GUI (well, almost... it can be for a very little time in case of directory management). 8 ) Completely new installation script. 9) More data in .exe. 10) Help data updated. 11) Now support more scripts and gives more correct output to some arguments due to implementing new argument parsing system (close to that in SLGSystemScriptTool). 12) Fixed very rare case then header contain one more section. 13) Some new commands were named. 14) Now work with LIBLARY.LIB like with any mes script.

Now you can use SilkyArcTool for that.

Hmm, so thou had problem with that text structure? Probably late, but I'll give one hint about this one structure. That description text "in the sea of 0x00" is somewhat close to... yes, "fixed string in the sea of 0x00", as I call it. Basically, there are N bytes in this structure (often 2^n, but not always). If the actual string is not "", then the structure begins from the string bytes. Basically, it has constant size unrelated to string size. To unpack it just... read all N bytes from the structure and from it take all non-0x00 bytes, then decode. You'll have string. I think you've already know how to pack it now.

Now AI5WIN's, father of AI6WIN and grandfather of Silky Engine, .arc archives had also fallen. Alas, I hath nor archives of ancient AI1-AI4 engines, nor the means (I could find only AI5WIN ports of the games) to obtain it. Therefore I hath no choice but to stop hacking archives of Elf-Silky archives line. But probably it is not the big deal, since games on earlier engines does not work on modern operating systems. Here is the tool -- AI5WINArcTool. As usual, unpacking and packing with correct (de)compression at both operations. AI5WIN's .arc probably is the most complicated from Elf-Silky archives line. Data compression and storing are like in the other archives in this series, and header not very far from AI6WIN's, but... creators of the engine decided to obfisificate header with 3 (!) different keys. Fortunately, the way they implemented it was not too problematic to deal with to the extend that I implemented system that authomaticaly hacks all three keys from any (well, there are some conditions, but I could not find any archives that does not match it) AI5WIN .arc archive (yes, even not from .exe) and therefore should work with all it's games.

Okay, also hacked .arc archives AI6WIN -- predecessor of Silky Engine. For them you can use AI6WINArcTool. No more thou need to suffer, packing it with raw files! If I feel like it, I'll also hack AI5WIN's.

Once more hath I created a new tool. This one is not so big as previous ones, but still very important. There is Silky Engine, on which where are many interesting visual novels. Some time ago I hath created a script editing tool for it's mes scripts and wrote an article of it... And all the time I through there were good enough tools for it. But I checked and... Some tools can just extract data from it, other (some tool from regonme) can pack, but, alas, without compressing files per LZSS implementation, used in Silky Engine. Therefore files was getting too big and there was no method to create actually normal enough Silky's arc archives. But that time hath come to the end. I hath tested this LZSS implementation and created SilkyArcTool, by using which thou can both extract and pack Silky archives, using this LZSS compression algorithm (I hath implemented not only decompression, as in many tools, but also a compression algorithm). Therefore Silky Engine's (and Ai6WIN/Ai5WIN's (probably) .arc archives has fallen completely. === Updated: AI6WIN (and probably AI5WIN) .arc not supported. Still I have already hacked AI6WIN .arc archives, so tool will be released soon.

Actually, there are two points about it to be noted. First, the engine, as far as I know, probably doesn't upgrading anymore. Gesen 18 games use Unity now (and probably all Unicorn-A's). Since about Sengoku Hime 7. Second, the SLG System scripts may have new offsets "types" or "categories" (I don't know how to call this correctly, but, for instance, I did call them "effect offsets", "event offsets", "label offsets" and such) in new versions (as it was with 0-1, 2-3, 3-4 versions), so even if I to create string tools for all 5 (0-4) versions of scripts, the string tool with new version could just break the newly appeared offsets or the script itself. So in case of SLG System script it won't be very stable either way.

Also, in case of anyone interested. I have extracted and decrypted main scripts (compiled) of Sengoku Hime 1-6 and Shihen 69. I have temporary uploaded them here (link currently unavailable).

After some time tampering with SLG System engine, I did create a tool to work with it's scripts. And not just simple string editor, no. SLGScriptTool is dual languaged GUI tool for (de)compiling and (de/en)crypting (with key finding) scripts of SLG System engine. Supports all known versions of SLG System: 0, 1, 2, 3 (3.0, 3.1), 4 (4.0, 4.1), but may lack of support of some it's variations. With this tool you can: decompile and compile script of SLG System, (en/de)crypt script of any game on SLG System, find key of any game on SLG System via cryptoattack. Link for the tool: https://github.com/TesterTesterov/SLGSystemScriptTool Built release (for x64 and x32): https://github.com/TesterTesterov/SLGSystemScriptTool/releases/tag/v1.0 Why SLG System is so noteworthy? Legendary series Sengoku Hime and Sangoku Hime (PC version) does use this engine (well, Sengoku Hime 7 and probably Sangoku Hime 5 does use Unity, but pay it no mind). Now with SLGSystemDataTool and some HEX-editing of supplement data files it is possible to translate whose game series.

Once again, this thread should be updated, because there was new tool created. See this topic. === After some time tampering with SLG System engine, I did create a tool to work with it's scripts. And not just simple string editor, no. SLGScriptTool is dual languaged GUI tool for (de)compiling and (de/en)crypting (with key finding) scripts of SLG System engine. Supports all known versions of SLG System: 0, 1, 2, 3 (3.0, 3.1), 4 (4.0, 4.1), but may lack of support of some it's variations. With this tool you can: decompile and compile script of SLG System, (en/de)crypt script of any game on SLG System, find key of any game on SLG System via cryptoattack. Link for the tool: https://github.com/TesterTesterov/SLGSystemScriptTool Built release (for x64 and x32): https://github.com/TesterTesterov/SLGSystemScriptTool/releases/tag/v1.0 Why SLG System is so noteworthy? Legendary series Sengoku Hime and Sangoku Hime (PC version) does use this engine (well, Sengoku Hime 7 and probably Sangoku Hime 5 does use Unity, but pay it no mind). Now with SLGSystemDataTool and some HEX-editing of supplement data files it is possible to translate whose game series.