Testing translations

[jkohen]

Hi,

I'm currently proofreading a translation for a soon-to-be-released game, and I'd like to try the corrected translation as I go. Is it possible to use the raw translation file to that end instead of having to send it to the developer every time? It would really help to see that dialogs have good cadence (i.e., that the characters don't repeat each others' words, etc.) and so I can progressively test each screen as I go, without bothering the developer all the time.

If this is not currently possible, could it be implemented?

Thanks a lot.

[Rui 'Trovatore' Pires]

AFAIK, it's not currently possible - the developer has to compile the TXT file into a translation file.

However, I can perfectly see your point, it's a good one, and I support your suggestion of having this - somehow, in some way - implemented.

[Pumaman]

There is deliberately no feature to do this, because game developers tend to want to be in control of translations that get released for their games.

If you could just compile one yourself, then people could start releasing unofficial translations of games, and the game developer would have no control over the quality of these, and so on. Therefore, it has been a deliberate request that users are not able to compile the translation themselves.

[Da_Elf]

is it possible to write an AGS script or module which would insert into the game text stored in an external txt file for instance. The script i guess would have to access a specific file then access a specific line in that file. i remember there were scripts like this back in the mIRC days

[jkohen]

There is deliberately no feature to do this, because game developers tend to want to be in control of translations that get released for their games.

If you could just compile one yourself, then people could start releasing unofficial translations of games, and the game developer would have no control over the quality of these, and so on. Therefore, it has been a deliberate request that users are not able to compile the translation themselves.

What if this were only available for debug builds or something along those lines? I don't want to compile the translation, I just want to be able to check my changes without having to go through the developer each time I make a few modifications.

[Kweepa]

Perhaps if debug mode is on (or another flag) the game could load translations. That way the developer could release a specific version to the translator, but not allow everyone to have access.

[EDIT] What blashyrkh said.

Perhaps a text box could pop up at the start of the game saying "Debug Mode On - remember to do blah blah blah before releasing your game".

Although, I quite like the idea of games being "remixed" with all new dialog. Since the translation has to be selected before playing I don't think it's a big deal.

Perhaps translations could be "unsigned" until sent back to the creator. When the game is compiled, a signature could be added to the translation file - otherwise the player would be presented with a dialog saying "This translation has not been blessed by the game author." (Hmm, but since it's a translation, they may not understand... rats.)

[ciborium]

I wanted to do the same thing on the last translation I was working on.  Since I didn't know the host language, I had to rely on his *nglish translation file.  Some of the *nglish I was sent was so rough that I really wanted to see what I changed it to "in game" before sending it back.  In fact, at times I wanted to recompile it several times in an evening to make sure it flowed.  But the developer was cooperative and quickly recompliled it for me when I asked for it.  Of course, he was finished with the game, and was just waiting for the English translation before releasing it.

[Da_Elf]

write a function that calls a specific file and line and inputs it into a message. that way your txt file can be in french, english, romanian, and inplace of Display("message"); you can have the txt file. DisplayTranslation("5"); with 5 being the line in the txt file. this was the txt file can be distributed with the game and the translator just writes over whatever language was previously there (with a backup naturally). Only think i cant think of is how to change a dialog option text but im sure there might be some form of code for that

[jkohen]

Do you always use your right hand to scratch your left ear?

Not only is this harder on the developer on different levels, but it also doesn't address CJ's concern of disabling this feature for the final release.

Edit by strazer: No need to quote the whole post directly above yours!