I created a folder named S in C:\ root, copied Visext.exe and vis.key (since it contains the keys for decrypting) into folder S, created visextract.bat inside the folder, copied exactly what you have written into the .bat, added the path of game (c:\Games\The Dark Eye - Chains of Satinav, without the last \ since your .bat is already containing it under later command strings), and ran the first command:
visext "c:\Games\The Dark Eye - Chains of Satinav\data.vis" /generatenames:names.txt
It created a names.txt with exactly the same size as before, however running this:
visext "c:\Games\The Dark Eye - Chains of Satinav\data.vis" /names:names.txt /cleanxml
Did nothing. I ran it inside DOS shell (cmd), and it comes up with the proper syntax usage of visext.exe. As if it doesn't recognize the second string as a proper command. Could it be that visext cannot identify too long names for folders?
I'm also getting the suspicion that since I'm using the copy of Visext you shared in your first comment, I'm using an outdated version.
Your suspicion is absolutely correct. The copy of VISExt.exe in this thread is outdated and does not yet support the "/cleanxml" switch, which is why it displays the usage information instead of processing the archive. You can always get the newest program version here: http://oezmen.eu/gameresources/files/anb.zip.
Sorry that I did not recognize this problem earlier; it's so obvious now ...
Now it creates even the data.xml, thank you! Looks like the modified strings appear only in the game with the extracted resources, not with the original archives. However, there could be some missing textures among the extracted files because in the "extracted" game, the textures of certain characters (Geron's and the fairy guard's in my case) has become completely black.
The game supports all the umlauts needed, however, so I don't have to bother myself about the fonts.
Are you using savegames from an earlier playthrough? These might not work with the unpacked version of the game. Maybe that's why the characters are missing their textures ...
Yes, I've played past half of the game (I started with Memoria, but I soon realized that I couldn't understand the whole plot without the first game), and the story somehow seized me. Since it is (was) not yet possible to do a localization for it in my language I thought I try my luck here. Thanks to you, I am lucky
Looks like the only obstacle remaining is that the .mkv videos use internal subtitle files, so the only way to localize them is to replace one of the subtitles (preferably English) with a translated one, but I'm looking for a solution how to make the videos use external subtitles ingame. No luck so far. I just hope it is possible to do a localization without including modified videos which would increase the size to at least 1 GB.
You're right, knowing Chains of Satinav makes Memoria more enjoyable. Definitely stay along for the ride -- I'm currently playing Memoria, and I find it to be a very enthralling game, quite a bit better than its predecessor.
I'm not per se an expert on video formats, but shouldn't it be possible to demux the video/audio and subtitle streams from the .mkv files and remux your own subtitles on the fly? That way, you'd only have to distribute your translated subtitles, which is probably also better from a legal point of view (since you wouldn't need to distribute any copyrighted video/audio streams).
I'm not even close to something like an expert in this, but if it's possible to display .srt subtitles for .bik ingame videos with a modified .dll and an accompanying .ini, maybe something similar can do the trick for .mkv-s, too. I'll ask around.
Anyway, I've finished the first game, and I must say there were even in The Longest Journey more "logical" solutions than here. Some of them were so unlikely it felt I should think more like an imaginative child than an adult.
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