Mount&Blade and its direct successor Mount&Blade Warband have been designed from the start to facilitate both mod development and the translation of games and mods into any language the users may desire.
For translators, TaleWorlds allows to output from the game all game texts as .csv files, which are text files that you simply translate and then drop into one (mod) or two (the game) language-appropriate game folders so that the game is displayed in the language of your choice.
Translating .csv files, which are 13 to 17 depending on whether you are interested in Mount&Blade, Warband or one of their mods, seems an easy operation since they are simple text files. But in the end, the whole translation operation has enough pitfalls and questions that many beginners in translation get lost along the way or, at least, don't know how and where to start.
One day I decided to write a Warband Translation Tutorial document that is the result of the experience I gained during the hundreds of hours spent behind my keyboard, translating into French the successive versions of Mount&Blade and then Warband since 2009, as well as the problems I had to solve in 2017 and 2018 to overcome the French version of the mod ACOK 5.0 and its successive versions, then with other mods up to now. The tutorial was created to allow all those who want to start translating a mod or the new version of a previously translated mod to find all the answers to the questions they will inevitably ask themselves at one time or another.
The document was primarily written to describe how to realize French versions of main games and mods, so it was written first in French. However, the whole process described in it is perfectly valid for any language, being understood that each language will have to be dropped in its specific folders: cns, de, es, fr, hu, etc.
The processes are exactly the same whether you are considering the first Mount&Blade or Warband. Knowing that Warband is finally only an improved Mount&Blade and replaces it since 2010, the tutorial talks mainly about Warband and its mods.
The document is 26 pages long, so I will not try to expose its full content in this forum.
In the Translation Tutorial document, you will find:
You can take my Warband Translation Tutorial here: https://bit.ly/2OhS5xG
To help me realize all those translations, I've developed since 2010 specific tools for Warband and then Bannerlord. Today remains only one tool, Translate M&B, that can be used for both Warband .csv files and Bannerlord .xml files. This tool have an interface in both English and French. It has a complete User Manual in English that explain in details all its functionality.
This tool is not only a simple file editor. It brings many functions specifically dedicated to Warband and Bannerlord files as Automatic Initialization that will permit you to gain dozens of hours. I invite you to download it and check what this tool can do to help you to realize your translations.
The package of this tool contains:
Who am I?
Since 2009, after M&B I and Warband, I've fully translated in French more than fifteen different mods and, for most of them, several successive versions. Some examples: ACOK, Diplomacy, L'Aigle, Nova Aetas, Perisno, Star Wars Conquest and Viking Conquest. My translations are directly integrated into the distribution of three mods: The Last Days, Prophesy of Pandor and A World Of Ice And Fire.
Since 2019, I've too fully translated in French the beta version of Bannerlord, then with two friends almost all versions of Bannerlord EA up to version 1.6.5 (official French localization is provided by TW since version 1.7.0).
Outside TW world, I've translated in French a big mod for The Witcher 2: The Farewell of The White Wolf; my translation is included into the mod.
For translators, TaleWorlds allows to output from the game all game texts as .csv files, which are text files that you simply translate and then drop into one (mod) or two (the game) language-appropriate game folders so that the game is displayed in the language of your choice.
Translating .csv files, which are 13 to 17 depending on whether you are interested in Mount&Blade, Warband or one of their mods, seems an easy operation since they are simple text files. But in the end, the whole translation operation has enough pitfalls and questions that many beginners in translation get lost along the way or, at least, don't know how and where to start.
One day I decided to write a Warband Translation Tutorial document that is the result of the experience I gained during the hundreds of hours spent behind my keyboard, translating into French the successive versions of Mount&Blade and then Warband since 2009, as well as the problems I had to solve in 2017 and 2018 to overcome the French version of the mod ACOK 5.0 and its successive versions, then with other mods up to now. The tutorial was created to allow all those who want to start translating a mod or the new version of a previously translated mod to find all the answers to the questions they will inevitably ask themselves at one time or another.
The document was primarily written to describe how to realize French versions of main games and mods, so it was written first in French. However, the whole process described in it is perfectly valid for any language, being understood that each language will have to be dropped in its specific folders: cns, de, es, fr, hu, etc.
The processes are exactly the same whether you are considering the first Mount&Blade or Warband. Knowing that Warband is finally only an improved Mount&Blade and replaces it since 2010, the tutorial talks mainly about Warband and its mods.
The document is 26 pages long, so I will not try to expose its full content in this forum.
In the Translation Tutorial document, you will find:
- The file structure of the game and the mods.
- Information upon the files list to translate and how to obtain the English files.
- Description of the content of these files and how to edit them.
- Description of all the variables that you will find ({s24}, {reg2}, {regN?case1:case2}...) into the sentences to translate and how to deal with them.
- How to create dummy first lines to avoid the first line bug that exists since Warband 1.6.4.
- How to deal with the issue into the menus.txt file that create missing entries into the file game_menus.csv.
- What to do to avoid starting from scratch for a brand new translation of a mod if you have in hand a correct translation of the main game or a translation of a previous version of the mod.
You can take my Warband Translation Tutorial here: https://bit.ly/2OhS5xG
To help me realize all those translations, I've developed since 2010 specific tools for Warband and then Bannerlord. Today remains only one tool, Translate M&B, that can be used for both Warband .csv files and Bannerlord .xml files. This tool have an interface in both English and French. It has a complete User Manual in English that explain in details all its functionality.
This tool is not only a simple file editor. It brings many functions specifically dedicated to Warband and Bannerlord files as Automatic Initialization that will permit you to gain dozens of hours. I invite you to download it and check what this tool can do to help you to realize your translations.
The package of this tool contains:
- The tool Translate M&B, v1.3.0.0 (May 2022),
- The User Manual (May 2022),
- The Warband Translation Tutorial (May 2022),
- The Bannerlord Translation Tutorial (May 2022).
Who am I?
Since 2009, after M&B I and Warband, I've fully translated in French more than fifteen different mods and, for most of them, several successive versions. Some examples: ACOK, Diplomacy, L'Aigle, Nova Aetas, Perisno, Star Wars Conquest and Viking Conquest. My translations are directly integrated into the distribution of three mods: The Last Days, Prophesy of Pandor and A World Of Ice And Fire.
Since 2019, I've too fully translated in French the beta version of Bannerlord, then with two friends almost all versions of Bannerlord EA up to version 1.6.5 (official French localization is provided by TW since version 1.7.0).
Outside TW world, I've translated in French a big mod for The Witcher 2: The Farewell of The White Wolf; my translation is included into the mod.
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