Translating SpeedSim

Translating SpeedSim

To become an official maintainer for a special language file, simply contact me (my nick is "TheButcher" in the SpeedSim Forum via Personal Message. I will give you more instructions then (about translation updates and so on). Alternatively you can also join the IRC channel on OGameNet.net (#speedsim @ ogamenet.net). Still, a forum registration is needed.

Tipp for translations: There is no need to translate word by word. Just try to make it understandable ;-)

Offline SpeedSim

To translate the offline version of SpeedSim, you'll need an editor that supports unicode well first (especially if you're using an special charater set: e.g. Greek, Cyrillic etc.). My Tip is Notepad++.

Next step is to get a current language file. Some are already included in the Installer version of SpeedSim; others are available in the "Language Files" section of the forum. Now you can start editing the file.

The principle of editing language files is pretty easy. The language files have the following format:

[Section]
LANGSTR=Translated string
..

[AnotherSection]
OTHERSTR=Different Translation
...

Sections are in brackets and divide the file into different parts. Basicly they're there to find some strings faster. Don't change these or else SpeedSim will be unable to find the translations strings.

LANGSTR and OTHERSTR are the identifiers of the translation string. Don't change them or SpeedSim can't find your translation, too.

The text that needs to be translated comes after the "="-sign. Simply put in there your text and SpeedSim will display it after you loaded the language file. Some sections and strings are commented (lines beginning with a semicolon) and explain some of the sections and what the strings there are for.

Notice for international character sets: If your language file uses characters unavailable in the ANSI codeset, you should create an Unicode file. To do so in Notepad++, go to the menu point "Format" and set it to "Encode in UCS2-Little Endian". Actually file will work with the Unicode (Windows 2000/XP/Vista version of SpeedSim) version only. So I suggest creating both ANSI and Unicode versions of your translation.

SpeedSim Online

To start translating, get the current language files first. They're available at this link: http://www.speedsim.net/stuff/lang.zip. And before you start, make sure you have set the file encoding to "UTF-8 without BOM" in Notepad++ (or any other editor).

Since SpeedSim Online is partly wirtten in php the language files look different:

	$lang_str["en"]["ships"] = array("Small Cargo", "Large Cargo", 
	"Light Fighter","Heavy Fighter", "Cruiser", "Battleship", 
	"Colony Ship", "Recycler", "Espionage Probe", "Bomber", 
	"Solar Satellite", "Destroyer", "Deathstar", "Battlecruiser", 
	"Rocket Launcher", "Light Laser", "Heavy Laser", "Gauss Cannon", 
	"Ion Cannon", "Plasma Turret", "Small Shield Dome", "Large Shield Dome");
	$lang_str["en"]["acs_slot"] = "ACS Fleet Slot";
	$lang_str["en"]["techs"] = array("Weapons Technology", 
	"Shielding Technology", "Armour Technology");
	$lang_str["en"]["engines"] = array("Combustion Drive", 
	"Impulse Drive", "Hyperspace Drive");
	$lang_str["en"]["att"] = "Attacker";
....

All language file strings start with $lang_str. The first character string is the language identifier and should be changed to an appropriate one (like "de" for German, "en" for English and so on). All the other strings in brackets aren't important for you. They fullfill the same job as sections do in the SpeedSim Offline translations.

The only things important to you as a translator, are only the strings in quotes after the equals sign.