Proposal for Translating the Game to Greek

[JohnNtirintis]

Hi everyone,

Hearing the news that the game's code is now officially open source got me really excited and interested in contributing as much as I can in the efforts to improve the game.

Although I’m a software engineer, I’m not proficient in C++, so I don't think I can contribute much to the coding aspect -- aside from perhaps some simple bug fixes or minor tasks.

However, while browsing the repo, I noticed that one of it's objectives is to "Add new Language(s)". This got me thinking, I'm a Greek native speaker with academic and professional experience in English (though I have no formal translation experience), why not contribute by translating the game into Greek?

I’m unsure if this would be welcomed -- or even needed -- by the community, but I believe a translation to Greek could help the game reach a new audience, potentially expanding the player base.

I have two questions in total:

1. Would it be okay to go ahead and contribute a Greek translation? Or do you feel that it might not provide enough value to justify the time investment?

2. If it is something that would be valuable, I’d appreciate some clarification on the process. From what I can gather from previous translation commits, the steps I’d follow are:

• Fork the GeneralsGamePatch repo
• Clone my Fork
• Create new branch named "GR-loca-new"
• Navigate to Patch104pZH\GameFilesEdited\Data
• Create a new folder named based on the language of the translation i.e. Greek
• Modify generals.str and add the translation of the given text

Am I missing anything, or would you recommend any additional steps to make sure I’m on the right track?

[dmgreeny]

Hello, good question. We don't have an instruction on how to add new localizations at the moment. Maybe @xezon can help to clarify the situation.

You can also check this document, because it may have useful information for you(its also work in progress)

• Localization Contribution #2640

[JohnNtirintis]

Alright, I will take a look at the document, thank you.

[dmgreeny]

I updated it, please reload the page

[xezon]

I suspect the target audience for Greek is small, but in my opinion it would still be fantastic to have it.

We have all game languages contained in:
https://github.com/TheSuperHackers/GeneralsGamePatch/blob/main/Patch104pZH/GameFilesEdited/Data/generals.str

You have different options to get started

Work directly in multi str

The Patch104pZH/GameFilesEdited/Data/generals.str is a multi str file created with gametextcompiler tool.

You could append new GR: "" EL: "" entries to all blocks with a script and then get started.

Work on regular English str

To work on the traditional English str with single language, you would need to convert the multi str US to single str. Then do the edits. And then when done, we can merge it into the multi str with a script. We have already done that with UK this way and it worked.

We have a bunch of str utility scripts here:
https://github.com/TheSuperHackers/GeneralsGamePatch/tree/main/Patch104pZH/Design/Scripts/str

GameTextCompiler is here:
https://github.com/TheSuperHackers/GeneralsTools/tree/main/Tools/gametextcompiler

See if that helps to get you started.

It certainly is possible.

[xezon]

Correction: according to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ISO_639_language_codes language code for greek is EL.

[JohnNtirintis]

After taking a look at the multi str file and the regular English str, I think it would be best to work directly in the multi str file.

I will create a branch in my fork and get to work.

Thank you.