General RPGMaker game tip: hit F1 to configure controls.

1) Make sure you have a clean copy of the game.

2) Go to https://bitbucket.org/dargothtranslations/paradox/downloads/ and download the repository (click “Download repository”) and “RpgMakerVXAce Translator 0.9i .7z”. Unzip the contents of those folders.

3) Find the path of the game directory where you have the clean copy of Paradox installed and copy the path name. For example, C:\Users\CGiraffe\Desktop\Games\MGQParadox

4) In the RpgMakerVXAceTranslator folder, run the .exe that ends in “GameSelector.” This will bring up a command prompt which, after initial processing, will bring up a dialogue box in which you should paste or type the Paradox game directory. Hit “OK”

This will create a folder called “Blobs” in the Translator folder. It will begin rapidly filling up with small files with odd names. Do not close the command prompt. This may take a while; it’ll be complete when the contents of the “Blobs” folder take up the same amount of space as the original directory did. You’ll know it’s done when the command prompt tells you to “Press any key to continue” and a folder called “Script” has appeared in the Translator folder. Feel free to press any key to exit out of the command prompt, or close it manually at this point.

5) You now have a folder called Script in the Translator folder. This more or less contains the data you want to edit. To update to the most recent committed version from our lovely translators, delete the contents of the Script folder and replace them with the matching contents of the repository (the other zipped file) you got earlier (Everything except the .gitattributes file and the progress spreadsheet).

5a) (Optional) At this point, you can make any personal tweaks to the text. I’d recommend being careful if you don’t know what you’re doing; changing pure dialogue / descriptions is simple enough once you find them, and you can also rename characters by doing a simple Find/Replace thing in Actors and CommonEvents (these’ll all be .txt files), but I’d advise against messing with the numbers or surrounding script unless you REALLY know what you’re doing, as that actually codes more important stuff,

6) Once you’ve got the Scripts the way you want, find the .exe in the Translator folder that ends in “Translator.” Run it; you’ll get another command prompt. Just let it chug along until it gives you the prompt “Press any key to continue.” Do so to exit the prompt.

7) You now have a folder called “out” in the Translator folder. This should contain a patched copy of Paradox and supporting files that should play as is. Feel free to copy this folder (or the contents) elsewhere to play, copy over your save directory, etc. Of course, test to make sure you didn’t break anything. 😛

7a) If you want to make an executable patcher like the ones that Dargoth’s been releasing, run the .exe in the Translator folder that ends in “PatchMaker” and fill in the details for where you want to put the Patcher, what you want to call it, and what description you want to have pop up when it’s run. At this point you don’t need to run it yourself, but you can use it to spread a personalized patch to acquaintances if you so desire.

That should be it.

tl;dr version

WHENEVER A COMMAND PROMPT SHOWS UP, DON’T CLOSE IT UNTIL IT TELLS YOU TO “Press any button to continue”

1) Go to https://bitbucket.org/dargothtranslations/paradox/downloads/ and download the repository and Translator (first two options, most likely). Unzip both.

2) Run the GameSelector in the Translator folder and input the path of a directory with a clean, unzipped copy of Paradox. Wait until it finishes.

3) Folders called “Blobs” and “Script” should be in the Translator folder. Ignore Blobs. Replace everything in the “Script” folder with stuff with the same name from the repository. Edit as desired.

4) Run the Translator in the Translator folder. Wait until it finishes. Your patched game files are in the “out” folder. They should be good to run as is. Import save, test stuff, etc.

4a) (Optional) Run the PatchMaker in the Translator folder to create a Patch exe like the ones Dargoth and friends have been providing us.