Posted: Wed Nov 23, 2016 9:15 am Post subject:
Translation of Twisted Insurrection
Subject description: My small contribution
TI is pretty much an its own game now, so I had the idea of translating it (on Russian, like I did with some other mods) for quite a while. Perhaps Aro even recalls me talking about it in Shockwave skype chat, though I said I'll wait until the full release back then. Plans changed however, and I've decided to give it a try before 0.6 release, and that's what I've got for 0.4.6:
Spoiler (click here to read it):
I've even made a TI-looking font for it, based it on the fonts from TI itself and from TS translation by SibGremlin. Translating TS is a pain compared to YR or Generals, but it is definitely possible, although not everything can be translated. For example, changing unit names in Rules.ini leads you to being unable to play online because of instant desynch, and translating the briefing screens is just impossible because for some reason the game doesn't show Cyrillic letters on this screen when the briefing text it stored in the map itself, not in Mission.ini (I wonder why you don't use that file but prefer to include the briefing text into the map file itself). But at least more people feel comfortable when playing campaign because the language barrier doesn't prevent them from understanding mission objectives anymore, and that's why I think it is worth my time.
There are some problems with it however, hence why I would like to ask if you'd be interesting in supporting such a project or not. The first problem is that the launcher obviously treats any changes as possible cheating, and pops up a "modified files detected, do you still want to play?" message whenever one tries to launch a mission. Also "your version is incompatible, do you want to repair?" window pops up when you launch the game or try to join a game on CnCNet, although the changes do not change gameplay in any way. One can live with it and click yes/cancel each time, but if it is possible to add the translated files into some sort of "white list" of this security procedure, it'd be very handy.
The second problem is promotion and distribution: since the Addons section on your ModDB page is closed, I can't put the language pack on ModDB so people will quickly find it, and I have to promote it in local C&C communities, which isn't very efficient and doesn't show up in google search for TI translation. So if you could help me here with promotion and distribution, it'd be very nice too, ofc if you are interested.
Needs to be noted however, I didn't touch the files of 0.6 release yet, but eventually I'm going to, so if you are interested in such contribution, the files will be ready soon.
Have a nice day!
P.S. In 0.4.6. I've partially translated some of the launcher text, but since the launcher now works differently I'm not sure if it is still possible. Example:
Spoiler (click here to read it):
Last edited by Damfoos on Wed Nov 23, 2016 11:26 am; edited 2 times in total QUICK_EDIT
I happily support things like this, alternate language packs are always a welcome addition for any game or mod I feel and I think it's great that you took the time to start developing one. There are however a good number of problems with this kind of thing though, most of which you've already stated. I'll let Rampastring cover the query about whitelisted files, but this would also mean a modified Rules.ini file which would make online play incompatible. It could easily be distributed as an add-on with a caption of "single-player use only" or something I think. QUICK_EDIT
though not sure if that still works with the modified TI exe supporting the subfolder \INI\ _________________ SHP Artist of Twisted Insurrection: Nod buildings
<...> a modified Rules.ini file which would make online play incompatible. It could easily be distributed as an add-on with a caption of "single-player use only" or something I think.
Yeah, the Rules.ini makes the online play impossible, but the translation I distibuted for 0.4.6. had modified Rules.ini as an option, and it was labeled exactly that - singleplayer only, do on your own wish. With the translated version which didn't include Rules.ini I was able to play online with those who use the original version, so unless this specific file is changed there are no compatibility issues, at least I haven't seen any. Anyway, I don't see why files like Tutorial.ini should be security checked at all, ediding it won't give a player any advantages in MP and even in campaigns. I suppose the launcher just checks everything at once (things like size of the files or whatnot) instead of checking a list of files.
Editing Rules.ini also doesn't guarantee a 100% translation: there are still objects on the maps which names are defined for this specific map by changing Name= in map's INI editor, and if I edit the Name= value in the map file the game shows either garbage symbols or nothing at all. This means I can have a fully translated sidebar list of units, but then I hover the cursor over some unit/building and its name stays on English, so I doubt a 100% translation can be acheived anyway.
However, by examining TS translation by SibGremlin I've found some strange files which seem to override these specific names, but I don't get how it works, since the files have no names when I read them in XCC Mixer. If someone would enlighten me what those files are and how to use them, it'd help a lot.
files.png
Description:
Don't mind the garbage text they contain, it only looks like that in XCC Mixer, but works fine in game.
those are ini files with the same name as a map.
e.g.
for n1.map you create a n1.ini and then have the changed names in that ini.
XCC Mixer has no database entry for these files, thus it can't decipher their true names and shows this hexadecimal garbage. But the game can identify the names fine and attributes them to the respective maps. _________________ SHP Artist of Twisted Insurrection: Nod buildings
I've created a langrule.ini file and put it into INI direcotry (or where should I put it?), the file only contained
Code:
[GACNST]
Name=Сборочный Цех
and the game gave me the "failed to initialize, please reinstall" error. Next time I've copied the Rules.ini, renamed it to langrule.ini and then changed that one string, and got the same error. Then I copied and renamed the Rules.ini again but didn't change anything, the game still gives me this error message. Am I doing something wrong?
What's for map.ini, I can't get it working. I have a g1.ini file where 2 names are replaced, Owen's Humvee and Abrams:
Code:
[2tnk]
Name=Танк Абрамс
[HOVVE]
Name=Хамви Генерала Оуэна
[DummySection]
DummyParameter=DummyValue
(the last section is here because those files I shown before had it too, so I thought it is essential, however when there's no such section the result doesn't change. Now the question is: where should I put it? I've put it into Maps/Missions, into INI, into my ecache98 file with fonts, and I don't see any effect, these units still use the names defined by the map. What should I do, and does this system even work?
Regarding the deleted Crimsonum post about plug-in INIs for overriding the names, I can say that I tried experimenting with those before, but for some reason the game doesn't like it. I tried 2 codings for this INI file, one image is for UTF-8 and one for ANSI, both taken with cyrillic font installed.
cy.png
Description:
Don't mind the recolored CY, those are my older experiments
couldn't get it work either.
I assume it needs an exe hack to make those files work.
Afaik only rules.ini, art.ini and other important files got the new subfolder hack applied, and back then langrule.ini might have been simply skipped, since it wasn't used/needed. _________________ SHP Artist of Twisted Insurrection: Nod buildings
Joined: 24 May 2004 Location: Flanders (Be) Posts:300000001
Posted: Wed Nov 23, 2016 1:51 pm Post subject:
Damfoos wrote:
However, by examining TS translation by SibGremlin I've found some strange files which seem to override these specific names, but I don't get how it works, since the files have no names when I read them in XCC Mixer. If someone would enlighten me what those files are and how to use them, it'd help a lot.
The selected file there is "NOD2A.INI"
I made a little tool to brute-force names in mix files. I gave it .ini as extension (since it's ini data, was a fair guess) and got it in less than an minute _________________ QUICK_EDIT
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