translation suggestion...

[tatogame]

Hi to everybody! I've just bought TSE2 and i'm waiting BMT confirmations e-mail.
I love the spirit engine 1 and i waited long TSE2 and now finally comes

But how about translations in another languages?
I remember a topic in tse1 forum that ask a similar questions ("how about translations in italian" and a response "yes, good idea, but i ts1 i can't translate text,maybe in tse2....")

I think that translating this software in another languages can approach a lot of people at this game (a lot of my friend, for example )

I know enough english to read in-text game (but not to talk xD ) but thousand people prefer plays only in hometalks language

bye and thank you for make this fantastic game!



PS
i'm italian, sorry for poor english
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burpd?


Burpd!

[Mark Pay]

Hi tatogame.

I have an external text editor for the game which I can make available. Almost all the text should be editable with a few exceptions where I have used bitmap graphics on the in-game menus.

The problem at the moment is finding bi-lingual people interested in making a translation. With so much text in the game, I can't afford to pay a professional translator. I will have to rely on volunteers, and since the game is not very popular yet, I think you are the first customer to request a translation.

I very much want to make translations available, so if anyone feels like undertaking this rather lengthy task for any language, I will do my best to help them.

[Nillo]

Heh. I'm bilingual and can speak both Swedish and English, but making a Swedish translation would be pretty pointless - everyone here can read English just as well (if not better). Plus I think the English language is better suited for writing in a fantasy setting.

[tatogame]

Now i'm post a messages in some italian forums... perhaps someone came here to help
edit: an information, how much text there are to translate? (eg: 500K?)
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burpd?


Burpd!

[Mark Pay]

I find it difficult to estimate. At a guess - 10000 sentences?

EDIT - 500K characters seems like reasonable guess.

[GiB]

I can translate the game in Bulgarian.But Im not very sure now long it'll take.Probably 6 months?I dont know.
_________________
Trust in wisdom.
Live in peace.

[tatogame]

I've founded some people who wants translate TSE in italian, what i do now? Can you give me the "spirit-text editors software"?
_________________
burpd?


Burpd!

[Mark Pay]

Hi tatogame. I have put online a cut-down version of the editor, which should allow access to the various text files in the game:

http://thespiritengine.com/Files/TSE2Misc/ArrayEditorScriptFull.exe

It needs to be placed in the install directory.
Please remember to make a backup of your installer or main directory before editing, and keep it in case it is needed for future patches.

Some of the conversation text has become very jumbled up in the order of storage. Some has been cut and is no longer used.
You can get a preview of the text as it appears in the game by placing your mouse over a text box and holding F5

[tatogame]

We started TSE translation!
Now we have finished all charpter 1 and some of "data" text
We will release Italian-Demo-Version Soon.
But... a question...I don't understand all TSE file/folder structure (game use /current and /base when new game starts?) and we have some difficulty to edit some text; so, where we can find Skill (with skill's description) and Items Text?

Bunch of screens!




_________________
burpd?


Burpd!

[Mark Pay]

That's great!
I have uploaded a version of the editor with the inventory and skill editors, which only save text for now.

http://www.thespiritengine.com/Files/TSE2Misc/ArrayEditorScriptFullest.exe

Regarding the file structures:
Some files are stored with some light encryption and are decrypted at runtime. A temporary copy of these files is made to avoid damaging the originals if the program crashes during decryption.

In \Data, the \Base folder holds the encrypted original files, and the \Current folder holds the copies and any unencryped files.
( except for 104, where the copies are placed in a subdirectory specified in game.ini - but that's not important, because you only need to work with the originals)

In \Script, \Stored are the encrypted original files and \Current are the copies and unencrypted files.

If you need any more information, let me know.

[tatogame]

Updates:
We have finished chapter 1 dialogues and ALL /Data text (items, skills and some extras)

Only one problem...In the editor we can't find "Fortitude" text (not description!) in skills DB... (If it is a cnc array i can edit manually, simple tell me which files or patch editor )


When we will complete first 2 chapters we can release a Translate/demo version/patch (but you MUST release it in homepage too!)... A christmas gift?

(If someone wants beta version i can send a zipped text packages)
_________________
burpd?


Burpd!

[Mark Pay]

I looked for 'Fortitude' and unfortunately I have forgotten to put it in an external file. I can make this editable in a future patch, but for now it is too small an issue alone to make a patch for.

I will certainly put up the translation on the main page once it is available! Let me know how you progress.

[GiB]

I finally bought the game this Sunday and when I started translation, I found out there is not cyrilic support.Is it possible to make one or make something like custom font?
_________________
Trust in wisdom.
Live in peace.

[Mark Pay]

Hi GiB. I've been looking more into this problem, and it appears that most parts of MMF2 do not support Cyrillic or other non-latin character sets.
I don't know exactly what character set they do use - it is larger than basic ASCII but much smaller than Unicode.

Unfortunately this restricted character set extends down to the array object used to store script textual data. It appears that MMF3 is due to support Unicode, but that may not be available for years.
http://www.clickteam.com/epicenter/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=82648&Searchpage=1&Main=11822&Words=unicode&Search=true#Post82648

The text-display objects cannot have their font changed at runtime. It might be possible to use a windows font that 'fakes' Cyrillic character support, but an entirely separate binary would unfortunately need to be built for this, which would take some time and cause incompatabilities with any patches beyond 1.04 if they are needed.

I would be willing to try this if you are fully committed to making the complete translation and believe there would be an audience for it, because it will take me some time also. Most people who offer to work on either of the two games are, I think, quickly scared off by the large workload involved.

[GiB]