Carnage Heart too Easy? Try EZ!

[OKE Doke]

Carnage Heart Easy Zapping is a modified version of the original
Japanese Carnage Heart. The enemy AI is harder, enemy units will
appear and ambush your bases, Prowlers do back flips, new music, and
now tanks and flying OKEs can fire and move at the same time. I've
begun playing this version recently and so far I've adapted well, the
Japanese interface is easy to adapt to if your as familiar with the
English game as I am. Most of the menus and equipment are in the
same
place and behave the same way.
So if you've played CH to death, EZ will give you a fresh challange.
You can find the disk image at the address below.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/3416876/%5BPSX%5D.Carnage_Heart%20_Easy_Zapping.zip

you may need to copy the entire link to get the file.

I recommend using psX1.13 as it seems to be the only emulator that
works with this game.

[speedystevie]

I found some additional info for the game CH EZ which is an
interesting read.

An "English translation" for a "Japanese game" - by Jay West
http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/psx/file/572724/46564

I just downloaded it too and attempted to play. If you have not played
the maps in a while on the original game I advise playing the first
version maps ( in english ) as a refresher to memorize the layout of
the menus .

Also on the EZ game :
Bonus Music
hold L1 + L2 + R1 + R2

Manual OKE Control :
Same as first game, before going into battle, press select, then press
Select 10 times

On Feb 10, 1:05 am, OKE Doke <overkillengin...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Carnage Heart Easy Zapping is a modified version of the original
> Japanese Carnage Heart.  The enemy AI is harder, enemy units will
> appear and ambush your bases, Prowlers do back flips, new music, and
> now tanks and flying OKEs can fire and move at the same time. I've
> begun playing this version recently and so far I've adapted well, the
> Japanese interface is easy to adapt to if your as familiar with the
> English game as I am.  Most of the menus and equipment are in the
> same
> place and behave the same way.
> So if you've played CH to death, EZ will give you a fresh challange.
> You can find the disk image at the address below.
>

> http://dl.dropbox.com/u/3416876/%5BPSX%5D.Carnage_Heart%20_Easy_Zappi...

[OverKill Engineer]

Yep! i plan on posting links and reviews for the entire series.  There was a more recent psp game, which i really really, hope the devs bring it westward!  Another reason to rally the fans. a portable version one can just casually fiddle with?  Run a battle and stick it in ones pocket?  Now that just makes sense.  With the proper exposure it could be a huge hit and revitalize the genre for English speaking players.    

In the meantime translation guides are around for each game. which in my opinion means there are enough fans around who care enough to translate it. 

OK now I'm suddenly inspired.  The fan-site needs an article that sums up "The state of Carnage Heart".  Round up more info maybe a few words from those responsible for the translations.  Could generate some interest, maybe see a few more fans pop in. 

[speedystevie]

I'm looking out for the bios for PSP to install on emu. its out there
iir. will search and report in if found.
There are translation patches for asst japan games , unfortunately non
for CH EZ that I could find on line. :(

On Feb 10, 1:11 pm, OverKill Engineer <overkillengin...@gmail.com>
wrote:

[Watson]

Oh, on a related note, does anyone here know any details on Zeus:
Carnage Heart Second. I have acquired a copy of this, but I am not yet
to be able to play it or even figure out where to start programming an
OKE.

I've been trying to contact a friend of friend who can read Japanese,
but I don't even know if that's going to work...

[OverKill Engineer]

I've attempted to play it, even managed to find the programming, but there is an ingame quiz that is a show stopper for players like us who can't read it.  Stevie posted info on a translation guide I'm certain I've seen a guide for Zeus around somewhere.  shouldn't be hard to aquire.  post it here if you find it.  i'll be looking too.

[speedy stevie]

CH EZ translation:
http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/psx/file/572724/46564



 Possibly another way to translate-

Run 2 emulators at the same time - one running the English CH and the other running the EZ .
Use the Eng CH menus as a reference when navigating the same EZ menus.

I haven't tried this method but plan on playing EZ this way. Will also keep Jay West's translation handy too.

[OverKill Engineer]

I like it!  Like EZ training wheels.  That should work most of the time.  The order and arrangement of things are nearly identical, minus a few changes 

Here are the menu changes I've noticed.

• "Set as master card" is a new item at the bottom of the design menu
• End Turn has been moved to the bottom of the Tactcs menu (where it should have been)
• You can exit the game from the last option in the system menu. 

So far everything else seems identical menu wise. 

As for game play.  I have a few tips.

• There is a new message from the General warning the player that the enemy is about to ambush.  It happens a few turns before they actually appear on the map.  I scry into the future by quick-saving and then wasting a few turns to see what the fuss is about.  Quick-load back and lay down counter measures.  T.G.I.E. (Thank God It's Emulated) 

• If your looking at equiping your oke with something and thinking "Good god what is that thing!"  You can finally put the "view" option to good use, and visually identify the object you want to equip.  Literacy? Bah humbug!

These things may have been covered in the EZ translation guide. Like assembling furniture from IKEA. I haven't read it.  I enjoy the challenge.

[Watson]

This is an area where a little basic programming might come in handy.
I'm going to make a simple script that can translate the game on the
fly (a simple graphical overlay). I already made the basic structure,
so now it's just a matter of taking screenshots and making appropriate
translation pictures. If nothing else, this should make it very easy
for someone to start playing.

[speedy stevie]

Watson,  do you have C++ experience? I found the program Yarozze ( spelling?? ) , its the software released by s0ny way back for developers. I was wondering if the code on EZ could be hacked and insert translated gui's .  If your interested I'll find / fwd the zip file to you.

[Watson]

I do have some C++ experience. I've never tried that sort of hacking,
but it would be interesting to try some time. Unfortunately, I might
not be able to find time to learn a new system like that any time soon.

[OverKill Engineer]

I'm very excited to see what happens with that translation overlay.  This would be something running separate from the emulator?

[Watson]

Yes. The way I'm doing it will be a simple Ctrl+Alt+T (for translate)
hotkey that will cause the program to read the screen and show the
appropriate overlay. Then the overlay will stay up until the user
presses Ctrl+Alt+T again, which will remove it. It's basically a
toggle.

On Mar 15, 11:43 am, OverKill Engineer <overkillengin...@gmail.com>
wrote:

[speedy stevie]

I found the link to the PSX development kit just in case.

 http://www.snesorama.us/board/showthread.php?t=18779

[Watson]

A little bad news. I had the thing working for the level select
screen, but then I tried to start a game and found that the emulator
(ePSXe) would just freeze right there. I could just switch to pSX, but
this means that my reference pictures are no longer valid (because the
two emulators scale slightly differently). So, while the core is
intact, I will have to restart the screenshot process.

[OverKill Engineer]

There may be a compatibility issue with EZ and ePSXe, I  could never get EZ to run past the moon selection screen (it would freeze) PSX1.13 is the only emulator I found that can play EZ.

Idk what that means for your project.  Just letting you know what I've experienced.

[Watson]

Well, the thing works by reading images from the screen in order to
find pictures which match specific screens (at least small,
identifying parts). and then placing the appropriate overlays. Since
the display is different between the two due to different scaling,
this just means that I have to take new identifying pictures. Plus, I
also spent a lot of time trying to make ePSXe work, but I'm not going
to succeed on that one. ePSXe does have a few occasional
incompatibilities and this is one of them.

Overall, it doesn't really mean all that much, but it was a
significant delay.

On Mar 17, 8:52 am, OverKill Engineer <overkillengin...@gmail.com>
wrote: