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Box text
Post Posted: Sat Jan 23, 2010 3:33 pm
If you like typing, we are interested in getting the box text from your favourite games on the site for everyone to read and search. There are two ways to contribute:

1. Just post in this thread with the name of the game and (ideally) links to scans with that text on them so we can hook them up.

2. If you see an edit link or a pencil icon in various places then you can go and directly edit those pages.
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Post Posted: Sun Jan 24, 2010 12:23 am
Note that I have an archive of some English box text (mostly typed by me in 2000) that I am slowly adding.
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Post Posted: Sun Jan 24, 2010 11:52 am
Although the priority is typing the box texts in english languages, we will also want to do it for European languages (including Portuguese for brazilian games), Japanese or even Korean. As we gather enough of those data we can decide in which way we want to present it (so the average user doesn't have to see too much text he cannot read).

It may be too heavy to setup a formal review process for typography, so please pay decent attention when typing but don't let this discourage you from contributing as well. If any mistake is spotted when browsing it can always be corrected later on by anyone.

Also take note that in the theoritical case that original text has typos they should preserved.
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Post Posted: Sun Jan 24, 2010 1:30 pm
There are many such typos...
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Post Posted: Mon Jan 25, 2010 2:47 am
Hmm. Having the RetroCopy project in mind, I recently asked RetroRalph if he would like to have box text translations for the Tec Toy exclusive titles so people would know what the games were about. He asked me to create a thread on his forum and so I did; since then another brazilian member there and I have been adding translations and original box texts, which we could obviously use here.

So, will you need translations at some point? I've got to say that Tec Toy wrote some pretty lame texts back in the day, and they tend to get worse when translated. Anyway, regarding the original box texts from Tec Toy, would you want everything written in the back, including eventual nothing-to-do-with-the-story texts, or just the main paragraphs? Now regarding the typos (which Tec Toy texts also have a lot), should they be preserved with a "[sic]" notation by them or just left the way they were "conceived"?
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Post Posted: Mon Jan 25, 2010 1:20 pm
No [sic]s... the box text is displayed on the corresponding scan page, so it's easy to check such things.

Translations are interesting; for now, you are welcome to add them to the box text page, and we can decide on a separation scheme for them later.
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Post Posted: Thu Jan 28, 2010 7:52 pm
I have started using some OCR software to populate box text. It is certainly not 100% accurate, especially when the scan is not very high-res, so native proof-readers are welcome to find errors and report them (or fix them).
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Post Posted: Thu Jan 28, 2010 8:14 pm
I can probably fix up some of the Swedish texts but I couldn't find the edit button... I saw a lot of small errors for Air rescue for example.
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Post Posted: Fri Jan 29, 2010 10:14 am
Last edited by Maxim on Thu Feb 18, 2010 10:42 am; edited 3 times in total
Time for some instructions...

Why is there more than one box text page for the exact same text?

The scans were imported by a semi-automated method. As a result, many scans pages link to a specific box text page with a suffix like "GameName-SMS-EU-R" when in fact all GameName-SMS-EU-* scans have the same text. The solution is:

1. Edit the scans pages and change the BoxText line to point to something sensible like GameName-SMS-EU. If it is missing, just add it.
2. Rename the existing box text page, if appropriate (click "Rename", then edit and click "Move", not "Copy")

Why doesn't the text show up on the game page?

The game page also needs a ":BoxText:GameName-SMS-EU" type line.

If the game has different versions of the box text, we usually prefer the longest one (typically the US cover).

Why does it show all the languages on the game page? Usually it's just English.

Enter
[[#endsnippet]]
after the English text on multi-lingual pages. You should also use this to hide screenshot captions from the main page.

Why don't you show all the languages [on the game page]?

Because it would be too much clutter.

How do I do line breaks and paragraphs?

Put a blank line between paragraphs to space them out.

The site merges consecutive lines; if you really want a break between consecutive lines, write "\\" before the line break. Make use of the Preview button until you get the hang of it.

Use a spellchecker

If you are using a good web browser, or a fruity operating system, it ought to have a spellchecker underlining mis-spelled words in the edit box. This helps avoid typos (in one language, at least).
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Post Posted: Fri Jan 29, 2010 10:35 am
Maxim wrote
Why don't you show all the languages?
Because it would be too much clutter.

To clarifiy he is talking about seeing all languages from the main Game page (you can always access everything is you browse the box scans).
Again, we might later, it's more of an interface issue.
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Post Posted: Thu Feb 18, 2010 10:46 am
There's a list of games with incomplete box text (usually, because only the English version is done) here:

http://wip2.smspower.org/BoxText/Index

I am gradually tagging these pages. If you want to do that, add
[[!Box text incomplete]]
to the page in question.

I am also tagging box text with mistakes (e.g. text from another game or another system; maybe also for spelling errors, not so much for the grammar) with
[[!Box text error]]
so they show up through the tagging system. Maybe we could use [[!Box text badly translated]] too?
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Post Posted: Fri Feb 19, 2010 3:54 am
What exactly would that [[!Box text badly translated]] tag concern?
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Post Posted: Fri Feb 19, 2010 4:07 am
Looking at french text, many of the early ones have typos or generally average translations so maybe it would be too much to catalog those.
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Post Posted: Fri Feb 19, 2010 9:55 am
I suppose it is too subjective. I was thinking of cases where the translation was a complete disaster.
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Post Posted: Sat Feb 20, 2010 9:38 pm
I had a blast through all (!) the English-language box text over the last week or so, across all systems, so we should be well set for that, although I expect there are some mistakes. For other languages I can OCR but I can't check it very well, and it's even more boring for me :)
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Post Posted: Sun Feb 21, 2010 5:46 am
Well I've been alphabetically adding Portuguese box texts recently and I'm already on the last 10 letters or so... so I guess you may leave BR and PT covers out of OCR for now, if that's too much of a hassle.
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Post Posted: Mon Apr 23, 2012 3:33 pm
Hi folks, new guy here.

I've got too much time in my hands, so I was wondering if I could do something here.
Easiest for me would be to type the other language texts from games I have (from that list: Double Dragon, Great Golf, Marksman Shooting / Trap Shooting / Safari Hunt, Populous, Slap Shot, Super Kick Off, WB3) if you still need those.

But in general, I'm offering my services as native Finnish speaker; you got anything you want me to check or translate? Swedish is my third language, so I may be able to help there too, but no guarantee on that.
About this btw: your (yes, your, not the original) Dragon Crystal Finnish box text has typo: "tapi" should be "läpi".


I'd have some local catalogs and stuff, but I don't have scanner, or even a proper camera. Maybe in future.
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Post Posted: Mon Apr 23, 2012 4:25 pm
As a native speaker, your time probably is better spent on proof-reading than typing stuff in. Do you have access to some OCR software?
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Post Posted: Tue Apr 24, 2012 2:48 pm
Let me put it this way: I had to see Wikipedia for what OCR is. I just type manually.

I did Super Kick Off to try this out. That has the last three lines:

Nederlandse handleiding bijgevoegd.
Svenska instruktioner ingår.
Suomenkiellset ohjest mukana.

"Dutch/Swedish/Finnish instructions included."

You decide if that should be included. I left it out and the incomplete tag in there.

Finnish btw has a kind of record with two typos in three words. Correct form would be "Suomenkieliset ohjeet".
Interestingly the box also has another mistake: in the eight flags listing available languages there's Finnish, but instead the game has (Brazilian?) Portuguese.


I don't suppose there exists any list that would tell which games have Finnish box texts? Didn't think so.
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Post Posted: Tue Apr 24, 2012 3:11 pm
No, not at all :) We could maybe tag the box texts with languages to make it easier to search for that - but is it useful information?

I added the three "instructions included" lines. I'm not sure what to do about the box text errors; in English, they're rare enough that we're tagging them; but I'm lead to believe that in other languages, errors are incredibly common.

Are you typing the languages you don't speak as well? That's incredibly hard work (I've done it a few times; Japanese is particularly tough).

I'll see if I can have a blast through the scans with some OCR software set to Finnish. Here's Shinobi, for example, with online OCR software getting confused by the box grid lines:

Quote
I l I u a .
Olet mestari-ninja. Vastassasi ovat kaikkien aikojen pahimmat
*terroristit pyssyineen ;a muine aseineen. Mutta sinulla on salainen-
ase - ninja-taika?! | l i l


It ought to be faster for you to correct that than to type it all in.
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Post Posted: Tue Apr 24, 2012 4:13 pm
I've studied little German and bit of French (looong ago), but Spanish, Italian and others I just typed blind.

I noticed the "Suomenkiellset ohjest" typo is also in Out Run Europa. I guess that was a U.S.Gold standard :)


Here's the Shinobi text (I checked it from your scan).

Olet mestari-ninja. Vastassasi ovat kaikkien aikojen pahimmat
terroristit pyssyineen ja muine aseineen. Mutta sinulla on salainen
ase - ninja-taika!

I wasn't sure how to put it there as there's the US text?
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Post Posted: Tue Apr 24, 2012 4:24 pm
Start from the scan pages:

http://www.smspower.org/Scans/Shinobi-SMS-EU-8Langs
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Post Posted: Tue Apr 24, 2012 8:30 pm
Maxim wrote

I added the three "instructions included" lines. I'm not sure what to do about the box text errors; in English, they're rare enough that we're tagging them; but I'm lead to believe that in other languages, errors are incredibly common.


Another error. "being eggs back safety", the same line is correct on the US box (well, more correct.)
http://www.smspower.org/BoxText/PenguinLand-SMS-EU
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Post Posted: Thu Apr 26, 2012 1:27 pm
On the "which languages" front, I've added a feature to make it reasonably easy to tag the languages on each scan, so for example:

http://www.smspower.org/Tags/Finnish

...includes all the scans with Finnish box text that I've got to so far. Anyone with edit rights can spend an idle few hours (!) tagging things...
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Post Posted: Mon Oct 15, 2012 6:37 pm
i believe this one is complete now
http://www.smspower.org/BoxText/CastleOfIllusion-SMS-EU-8Langs
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Post Posted: Mon Oct 15, 2012 9:43 pm
I removed the tag.
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Post Posted: Mon Oct 22, 2012 11:58 am
Native German speaker here, but I'm also capable of typing (as in, copying by keyboard) text in various other languages - the German keyboard is quite flexible. Thing is, I can't seem to find an edit button on any of the box art pages. Am I just looking in the wrong place, or do I have to submit the box text someplace else? Here, for example, I didn't discover any clickables that led me to an "add text" page.
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Post Posted: Mon Oct 22, 2012 6:38 pm
mk1995 wrote
Here, for example, I didn't discover any clickables that led me to an "add text" page.


Maxim has to grant you access to change text on pages. When you have edit rights there is a button next to the box text.

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Post Posted: Mon Oct 22, 2012 9:30 pm
...done.
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Post Posted: Tue Oct 23, 2012 9:48 pm
Ah, so that's how it works. Thanks for granting me that privilege.
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Post Posted: Sat Oct 27, 2012 12:19 pm
For MortalKombat it seems they used the same boxtext for GG and SMS. Weird how they make the craziest mistakes in the dutch i guess they used a dictionary and not a native speaker.

http://www.smspower.org/Scans/MortalKombat-GG-EU-Back
http://www.smspower.org/Scans/MortalKombat-SMS-EU
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Post Posted: Tue Dec 02, 2014 12:51 pm
Hi, i have prepared 10 games for the section "Box text incomplete".
I can send you the texts or maybe is it possible to have an access to edit the Wiki ? So I'll try to add other texts progressively.
Thanks
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Post Posted: Tue Dec 02, 2014 1:03 pm
You'll been added to the Wiki editors now :)
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Post Posted: Wed Dec 03, 2014 9:45 pm
Thanks I'll try to use it wisely ;-)
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Post Posted: Sat Jan 10, 2015 11:08 pm
Balkry, amazing work with adding all the new box texts! ( http://www.smspower.org/BoxText/RecentChanges )

Out of curiosity are you manually typing them in all the languages? Or using some OCR software with manual proofing?
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Post Posted: Sun Jan 11, 2015 10:16 am
Thanks, I hope that i have not made too many mistakes.

Usually, I use the scan of the game from the SMSPower museum, or if the scan is too low quality, I scan the box from my own collection.
And I use an OCR (ABBYY or an online one http://www.onlineocr.net/ ).
After that, I make a first review of the text and I come back later in order to make a second review. And to be sure, at the end, I use Google Traduction, because, it can help to find mistakes (some kind of last control).
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Post Posted: Sun Jan 11, 2015 8:26 pm
If our scan is too low quality, you can add your scan to the site as well :) It's a bit more complicated, though.
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Post Posted: Sun Jan 11, 2015 8:38 pm
I am a little shy, I am always afraid to break something.
So for now, I will not try. But I'll do it when I will be more confident ;-)

In addition, i found two cover varations during this job, i should take care of that later
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Post Posted: Sun Feb 15, 2015 6:17 pm
Hey guys. I worked a lot on the Box text the last weeks.
It is done for me, there are 17 texts to done, but i have not these games. If somebody can scan these boxes, i'll be happy to finish the job.

Otherwise, is it possible to have easily a list of scans that have no text, because I have seen several on the site?

To conclude, i have noticed, that we need a "Norwegian" tag for the game "Winter Olympics".
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Post Posted: Sun Feb 15, 2015 6:44 pm
Awesome :) what are the 17 games you are missing?

I have added Norwegian now (and a flag).

I have tried to add a listing here but it's not working (shows all game), maybe you can edit it
http://www.smspower.org/Site/AuditingBoxText?action=edit

*EDIT* seems like we can't use wildcard with the !exists directive:
http://www.pmwiki.org/wiki/PmWiki/ConditionalMarkup

Also see more example of "searches" (the page is very slow to run, that's why I created a new page for you)
http://www.smspower.org/Site/Auditing?action=edit

Maxim can maybe create a magic recipe for that.
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Post Posted: Sun Feb 15, 2015 7:05 pm
Thanks for the tag , Now we have 3 Norwegian games
http://www.smspower.org/Tags/Norwegian

For the missing games :
http://www.smspower.org/Tags/BoxTextIncomplete

I'll take a look at the documentation of pmwiki, maybe i'll find the answer ;-)
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Post Posted: Sun Feb 15, 2015 7:50 pm
Plenty of scans intentionally do not have box text, such as magazines and front covers. I tried to add a BoxText PTV where appropriate. I think no pages exist with it present where the linked page does not exist.
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Post Posted: Mon Feb 16, 2015 10:10 am
I was wrong...

http://www.smspower.org/Scans/Index?action=search&q=group%3DScans+%24%3ABoxT...

Lots to do in there. Without Korean and Japanese:

http://www.smspower.org/Scans/Index?action=search&q=group%3DScans+name%3D-*-...

The second one shows the games listing format as well which is a bit annoying, we need to upgrade the core to allow us to filter that.

You should also edit the main Games page to get the box text to show up, when there is currently none, or your new text is better (typically, longer).
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Post Posted: Thu Feb 19, 2015 9:14 pm
Thanks Maxim, I am already working on these games.
It will be a good occupation for the next month
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Post Posted: Fri Feb 20, 2015 8:46 am
I linked the box text into the Chase H.Q. GG page, feel free to do the same (two edits) for others where appropriate.
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Post Posted: Tue Jan 12, 2016 10:51 am
Hello,
I recently reworked on the Box texts.
I would like to finish "definitely" the work, but for that I need your help.
It lacks a dozen texts, but I do not have good quality images and I do not own these games.
So if you have the courage to scan or take a good photo, I'd be happy to finish this task.
Thank you

http://www.smspower.org/Tags/BoxTextIncomplete
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