All right. Here's the promised post for people interested in translating my mod to German, thus making it Schleichfahrt-compatible.
What needs to be done? Well, quite a lot.
Let's take a look inside my mod's folder structure...
1. /Dat/ folder
It contains .des files responsible for various aspects of the game.
1.1. /Dat/Mission/
This folder contains "mission info" files, which are used in "loading screens":
In "mission briefing" screen (press B during missions):
And finally in the "Dock" window, when choosing a mission (mission's name).
Corresponding .des file looks like this:
Code:
;
; m00105
;
; Credits = 0
;
[Mission]
Dramaturgy = strai3
[AreaMap]
Name = Free Vespucci
X = 113
Y = 90
Arrow = TopRight
[B]
{
--- FREE VESPUCCI ---
Pirates have occupied the mining station
VESPUCCI and deployed some crawlers
to steel mangan lumps. Your task would be
to reach VESPUCCI through a narrow
canyon and destroy the crawlers.
Further orders will be given after that.
}
[P]
{
}
[S]
{
- Save your ammo.
- Use city buildings to chase off torpedoes.
- Keep close to the ground to avoid being
detected by torpedo turrets.
}
So, what needs to be done here:
a) Translator should work on German files. My changes were mostly cosmetic, so there's no point of retranslating the whole text.
b) Compare two files: the one from vanilla game and the one from my mod to find my changes.
c) Apply these to the German file. Or not, if you find my changes wrong / bad.
What is important:
a) There's a "character limit" in these files. If you make the lines too long, text will get cut:
b) Text in the "Hints" section (lower right on loading screen, |S| section in .des file) MUST consist of at least two lines, or it won't be visible on loading screen. Authors somehow did not realize this, so I had to do plenty of "Fixed non-showing tip in BRF" modifications.
What do I mean? Well, something like this:
Code:
[S]
{
- Save your ammo.
}
Will not work:
"Hint" is visible in "mission briefing", though:
But if you add one "enter" and one "space" after the single line (or add another line):
Code:
[S]
{
- Save your ammo.
<--- space goes here
}
It will work fine:
c) OFC the entire text has to be put between { } but that's obvious...
1.2. /Dat/Save/
Two types of files can be found there: "campaign" saves and "fake" saves which work as configuration files for "Instant action" missions. I've tweaked those, but translator should leave them alone. They will work fine with SF. Check German Ftrai0-3.des files if you don't believe me. Both ENG and GER files have identical CRCs. So, nothing to translate here, simply use my files for the SF mod.
1.3 /Dat/Story/
Two types of files here. ChXX.des files, which are responsible for chapters (starting area, starting station, available interlocutors, etc.). I've modified Ch1.des to enable the first FMV (The Prehistory) in Cutscene Player. Nothing to translate here. Just use my file for the GER mod.
There's also a Tasks.des file here, which contains Tasks, found in the PDA. This file needs to be tweaked, but nothing fancy.
a) Work on German Tasks.des file. My changes were mostly cosmetic (Arabic to Roman digits, some tweaks), so there's no point of retranslating the whole text.
b) Compare two files: the one from vanilla game and the one from my mod to find my modifications.
c) Apply these to the German file. Or not, if you find my changes wrong / bad.
1.4 /Dat/World/
A lot of various game files here. I've modified 8 of them:
1) Id3_1.des. It's this fix:
Fixed bad name (Armsdealer) @ Ajanta I.
Basically, I've changed Armsdealer to Arms Dealer.
In SF this guy goes by WAFFENHÄNDLER, so I think we're good here...
2) 7*StXXXX.des files. Those are stations' config files. "New" files are responsible for some important modifications:
- Fixed audio descriptions (clips) for Mole & Polar (errors in .des files led to lack of audio).
- You can buy Carbon Armor at the Mole (immediately after receiving Zorn) - makes 3 missions against Santiago slightly easier. Still, to buy Fixer, Booster, etc., you have to reach the Triton.
- Plasma Death 3 becomes available later than in vanilla game: during final missions, not during the Shogunate missions (Svesda Wostock, Polar, Progress).
So, this time
YOU HAVE TO WORK ON MY FILES!
a) Open two files: the one from my mod and the one from the GER version.
b) Copy GER "Description" and paste it into my modified file. I could've do it myself, but what do we have translators for? :D
So, it's all about changing:
Code:
Description = Battle ship of the Atlantic Federation
to:
Code:
Description = Schlachtschiff der Atlantischen Föderation
And maybe tweaking the GER description if necessary...
Don't use GER files as a base, or the 3 fixes above will be lost.
2. /Gfx/ folder
It contains various graphics files (fonts, backgrounds, movies, palettes, etc). Translator has nothing to do here. I've created modified "main menu" background:
So the "Augmented Mod" info can be visible in upper right corner of the main menu:
Total waste of time, but if somebody wants to do the same for SF, be my guest.
You need to put the "Title.pcx" into /Gfx/Pic/Title/ directory.
.
.
.
Aaand that concludes the easier part of the translation.
To be continued (unless potential translators have enough already).
I had never seen the English translation before yesterday. So yeah, the German should read "Bäh! Da fragt man sich, was wohl erst im Feuer und in der Frau alles drin ist..." It's not a huge thing, but it's a lovely little exchange.
