A tool for modding and localizing Melty Blood (2002) — from extracting archives, editing text through a GUI, to repacking back into the original format.
Requirements: Python 3.10+, no external deps (except tkinter for the GUI, usually already included with Python on Windows).
| File | Purpose |
|---|---|
mb_core.py |
Core library + CLI for unpacking/repacking .p archives |
mb_editor.py |
GUI editor for translators — no need to open a terminal |
Both are compatible with the Mirror Moon English Patch archive format (Shift-JIS).
python mb_editor.pyClick Open Archive (.p) → select data04.p. The left panel will display all script files inside the archive. Select one, enter your translation in the box that appears for each dialogue line, then click Repack Archive when done.
Available features: syntax highlighting (to easily distinguish commands from text), global find & replace, progress tracking, and translation export/import for team collaboration.
# Extract archive into a folder
python mb_core.py unpack data04.p extracted/
# Repack the extracted folder
python mb_core.py repack extracted/ data04_new.p
# View archive contents (offset, size, etc.) without extracting
python mb_core.py info data04.pThis game uses a Shift-JIS font renderer that doesn't understand regular Latin (half-width) characters. If you write a translation using regular A, B, C, the text won't appear in the game at all — or it will appear as corrupted characters.
All translations must use Fullwidth (Zenkaku) characters:
Half-width : "At the beginning of August."
Fullwidth : "Ａｔ ｔｈｅ ｂｅｇｉｎｎｉｎｇ ｏｆ Ａｕｇｕｓｔ．"
The easiest way is to switch your IME input mode to Zenkaku, or use a conversion table. The GUI editor displays the text as-is, so you can directly control the output.
Every time an archive is extracted, a _manifest.json file is automatically created in the extraction output folder. This file stores the original file order and header flags — two things required so that repacking can produce an archive identical byte-for-byte to the original.
Do not delete or modify this file. Without _manifest.json, repacking won't work.
The main archive file that needs to be edited for localization. Total of 189 files (~40 MB):
| Type | Count | Content |
|---|---|---|
.TXT |
62 | Dialogue script (±10,676 lines) — needs to be edited |
.EX3 |
107 | Image/sprite data |
.WAV |
9 | Audio |
.FNT |
1 | Game font data |
Files other than .TXT don't need to be touched unless you want to mod graphics or audio.
.TXT files use an internal script format. Only the dialogue/narration lines may be translated:
// ...— comment, skipEF,GW,WI,MD,BP, etc. — game commands, do not modify- Lines starting with a space or Japanese characters — these are the ones to translate
| Screenshot |
|---|
 |
| GUI editor running with translation applied |
This tool is created for educational, research, and personal localization purposes. Ensure its use complies with the copyright rules and ToS of the original game.