vfig on 29/9/2018 at 06:18
If you play Thief 1/Gold/2 FMs in a language other than English when you can, could you answer a couple of questions for me? I'd like to understand the common ways other languages are used so I can make sure my upcoming FM will be easy to play once the translations are in.
1. Which languages do you prefer to play FMs in?
2. Are you using an English version of Thief, or one of the localised versions?
3. Do you use FMSel, or Darkloader, or manage FMs manually or with a different loader?
4. What steps do you take to install the right language files for FMs? Do you edit .cfg files, or rename folders, or does the loader do it for you?
gnartsch on 29/9/2018 at 17:28
1. english, german
2. Using a german install of Thief
3. FMSel. Anyone 'manually installing' missions should be banned from this forum immediately :eek:
4. FMSel knows my language preferences and will automaticlly provide me with the best matching language.
As an author there is not too much to worry about unless you intend to include translated videos, voices, graphics (like road-signs or maps).
Text files are fairly easy to handle and any translator out there should know what needs to be done.
There are basicly just a few minor traps luring for you to step in, so just make sure someone gets to see the final packaging before release.
Some details:
For the most part, just make sure that all english resources that need localization are placed in subfolders :
e.g.
books/*.str needs to go to books/english/*.str !
Don't leave any stuff behind in books/ as some loaders won't be able to properly identify the right files then and may not pick the language the player wanted to see!
Same for:
strings -> strings/english
intrface -> intrface/english
intrface/miss20 -> intrface/miss20/english
etc.
The same rule would apply for any other resource - provided that localized version are required.
Only stuff not requiring localization (e.g. sound-effects like wind) are to remain in the 'common / not language specific' sub folder.
Stick to these rules, and it will work like a charme for everyone no matter what loader they are using.
vfig on 29/9/2018 at 20:54
Quote Posted by gnartsch
4. FMSel knows my language preferences and will automaticlly provide me with the best matching language.
Thanks for the reply! How does FMSel know your language preferences? I can't find any language-related options in it, either when installing or launching FMs. And its docs are silent on the issue.
I understand the standard way of organising localised resources in my mission, and gonna be doing that anyway. I'm trying to understand how people use that in practice.
baeuchlein on 30/9/2018 at 12:42
Quote Posted by vfig
1. Which languages do you prefer to play FMs in?
First German, then English; the order may switch sometimes. In rare cases, I may even play a mission in French, but usually only if I replay it after having played it in German or English.
Quote:
2. Are you using an English version of Thief, or one of the localised versions?
I tend to use a localised (German) version of Thief1/2, but sometimes, technical problems force me to use whatever just works.
Quote:
3. Do you use FMSel, or Darkloader, or manage FMs manually or with a different loader?
I prefer FMSel for NewDark missions. I have used NewDarkLoader a few times, but for no particular reason most of my game installations are with FMSel.
I use old Darkloader only for old non-NewDark versions of Thief, since Darkloader had become a standard in the days before NewDark. But most of the time, I play NewDark versions of Thief, where I do not use Darkloader anymore. One of
my reasons for abandoning Darkloader with NewDark is that I cannot get it to work with multi-language FMs anymore. I cannot control which language the mission will be using if I play it with Darkloader.
So, it's mainly FMSel, and Darkloader for the few occasions where I use old pre-NewDark versions of Thief.
Quote:
4. What steps do you take to install the right language files for FMs? Do you edit .cfg files, or rename folders, or does the loader do it for you?
When using FMSel or NewDarkLoader, I edit the DARKINST.CFG file for Thief 2, or INSTALL.CFG for Thief 1. I change the "language" line to something like "language german+english", which means, "first try German if available, then English if available".
With old Darkloader, I selected the language to play from within Darkloader, and left the .cfg files alone. But as stated above, these days seem to be over.;)
Zoro on 30/9/2018 at 20:27
Quote:
3. FMSel. Anyone 'manually installing' missions should be banned from this forum immediately
Guess that's me sometimes.
Well, was a pleasure staying here.vfig on 1/10/2018 at 01:48
Quote Posted by baeuchlein
When using FMSel or NewDarkLoader, I edit the DARKINST.CFG file for Thief 2, or INSTALL.CFG for Thief 1. I change the "language" line to something like "language german+english", which means, "first try German if available, then English if available".
Thank you baeuchlein! That's exactly what I needed to know! :)
