Translating the new GRF files to other languages

[Patchman]

In beta 1, I've had to abandon the possibility of including ship names into the patch, and thus also setting ship names via ttdpttxt.dat.

This means that in beta 1, it wasn't possible to translate the vehicle names.

However, I've implemented a new mechanism that works in beta 1. To translate any of the new graphics sets, you need to download GRFTrans from http://www.ttdpatch.net/src/grftrans.zip

Then you run it from a command line like this:

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grftrans dbset.grf

This will make dbset.txt, a file with all the vehicle names. Then you translate the vehicle names. You can also specify a different output text file:

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grftrans -o dbset_it.txt dbset.grf

to make dbset_it.txt instead. By default, the vehicle names for the American version are shown as a base for translation. You can choose a different language to translate from with

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grftrans -l 1 dbset.grf

where the -l ("ell", for "l"anguage, not "one"!) option specifies the version: 0=american, 1=english, 2=german, 3=french, 4=spanish. Just pick whichever is easier to read for you.

Once you've translated all the text strings there, you then run grftrans again, now on the text file:

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grftrans dbset.txt

This will make dbset_trans.grf, which is a new .grf file that overrides the vehicles names of the dbset. It does this if and only if the dbset is loaded and active. Therefore it is safe to put this translation grf file in your newgrf(w).cfg in any case. However, it must be listed *after* the dbset, otherwise the dbset will simply override the names again

Of course you can also choose a different output filename:

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grftrans -o dbset_dk.grf dbset.txt

NOTE 1: The DOS version of TTD cannot deal with filenames longer than 8 characters, so you would have to rename dbset_trans.grf so, for example, dbset_tr.grf to make it work.

NOTE 2: The generated grf file works for both the DOS and Windows version, because it only contains the names, and not any graphics that might need to different.

I haven't tested this a whole lot, but it worked with the dbset. Please let me know of any error, problems or other difficulties you find using this program or the translated .grf files.

[note to mod: don't make it sticky, I'll just link to this thread from the new graphics thread...]