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FrontierTextTool

Extract, edit, and reinsert game text using CSV format.

Note: For text editing, consider using FrontierTextHandler, a simpler Python alternative.

Features

  • Automatically handles encrypted (ECD/EXF) and compressed (JPK) files
  • Exports to CSV in UTF-8 with BOM (easy editing in Excel/text editors)
  • Auto-detects CSV encoding when reading (supports both UTF-8 and Shift-JIS)
  • Validates Shift-JIS compatibility when inserting text into game files
  • Preserves metadata for re-encryption

Quick Start

  1. Extract text to CSV:

    ./FrontierTextTool mhfdat.bin --fulldump --trueOffsets --nullStrings

  2. Edit the generated mhfdat.csv file.

  3. Reinsert modified text:

    ./FrontierTextTool mhfdat.bin --insert --csv mhfdat.csv

Output is automatically compressed and encrypted to output/mhfdat.bin.

Commands

Extract Text

Full dump (finds all text, automatically filters garbage from binary data):

./FrontierTextTool mhfdat.bin --fulldump --trueOffsets --nullStrings

Range dump (if you know the byte offsets):

./FrontierTextTool mhfdat.bin --dump --startIndex 3040 --endIndex 3328506

Recommended offsets:

  • mhfdat.bin: 3040 to 3328506
  • mhfpac.bin: 4416 to 1278736

Insert Text

./FrontierTextTool mhfdat.bin --insert --csv mhfdat.csv --verbose

Requires a .meta file from the original extraction (created automatically).

Merge CSV Files

Combine an old CSV with a new one:

./FrontierTextTool old.csv --merge --csv new.csv

Clean Trados Artifacts

Fix encoding issues from CAT (Computer-Assisted Translation) tools like SDL Trados:

./FrontierTextTool file.csv --cleanTrados

Insert CAT File

Import translations from a CAT tool export file into your CSV:

./FrontierTextTool catfile.txt --insertCAT --csv target.csv

About CAT Tools and Trados

CAT (Computer-Assisted Translation) tools help professional translators work more efficiently by providing translation memory, terminology databases, and text segmentation. SDL Trados Studio is one of the most widely used CAT tools in the industry.

When translating Monster Hunter Frontier text, the typical workflow is:

  1. Extract game text to CSV using --fulldump
  2. Import the CSV into a CAT tool for translation
  3. Export the translated text from the CAT tool
  4. Use --insertCAT to merge translations back into the CSV
  5. Use --insert to inject the translated CSV into the game file

Why --cleanTrados? CAT tools often insert extra spaces after punctuation when segmenting text. This breaks Japanese text formatting since Japanese doesn't use spaces between words. The --cleanTrados command removes erroneous spaces after Japanese punctuation marks like 。！？：．」「）（.

Command Reference

./FrontierTextTool <file> [options]

The <file> argument type depends on the action:

  • Binary file for --fulldump, --dump, --insert (e.g., mhfdat.bin)
  • CSV file for --merge, --cleanTrados (e.g., old.csv)
  • CAT export file for --insertCAT (e.g., translations.txt)

Options

Option Description
--fulldump Extract all text from file
--dump Extract text in specified range
--startIndex Start byte offset for --dump
--endIndex End byte offset for --dump
--trueOffsets Use pointer table offsets
--nullStrings Include empty strings
--insert Insert CSV back into file
--csv <file> Specify CSV file path
--verbose Show detailed output
--merge Merge two CSV files
--cleanTrados Fix CAT tool encoding
--insertCAT Insert CAT file into CSV
--shift-jis Output CSV in Shift-JIS encoding (default: UTF-8 with BOM)
--help Show help

CSV Encoding

By default, CSV files are written in UTF-8 with BOM for easier editing in Excel and text editors.

When reading CSV files (for --insert, --merge, --insertCAT), the encoding is auto-detected:

  • Files starting with UTF-8 BOM (EF BB BF) are read as UTF-8
  • Other files are read as Shift-JIS (legacy format)

Use --shift-jis to output CSV files in Shift-JIS encoding for compatibility with older workflows.

Note: When inserting text into game files, strings must be compatible with Shift-JIS encoding. The tool will warn about any characters that cannot be encoded.