w3string - how to translate a mod ?

[jdownloader2]

Hi,

 

Is anywhere a tutorial for translating Witcher 3 mods ?

I used "The witcher 3 String editor 1.2" for translating the en.w3string.

Is there a better tool for translating ?

 

What need i to do with this file now ? Need i only to rename it to "de.w3strings" and place it into the mod Floder ?

 

When i open the file with Excel on top is this line "meta[language=en]". Its needed to change it to "meta[language=de]" for correct working ?

 

Thanks alot,

Jdownloader2

[OthelloHeisenberg]

Any help please ?

[konyme]

String Editor is a good tool for changing text in vanilla strings, e.g. for fixing spelling mistakes and such. But for translating other people's mods it's not that good in my opinion. What you described should be probably possible, translating the strings and then renaming it to for example "de.w3strings", but I don't like it this way. A better way for me is to decode the string first to a .csv file with w3strings.exe (https://www.nexusmods.com/witcher3/mods/1055/?). Then open the .csv file with a text editor, NOT with Excel, even basic Notepad pre-installed in Windows is enough. In meta[language=en] change "en" to your language ("de" for German) and then you can start translating. Read the description of w3strings editor to know how it works. It's a CMD, so don't open it by clicking on it. Place it in the folder where are the strings you want to translate located, click into the path bar in File Explorer and type "cmd" (without quotation marks).

 

There are several weird numbers in the .csv file separated by | that need explaining:

• The first one is ID. If the text is custom made, then it has this structure: 211 (always), then four unique numbers (you need these when encoding the .csv file back to .w3strings) and finally numbers from 001–999 (numbering of the lines – first string, second one, etc.). You need to care only about the four unique numbers behind 211. Vanilla strings have different starting numbers.
• Next is key(hex) + sometimes key(str). Leave these be. These are unique codes for items, texts, etc. and this way the game knows (along with ID) to which dialogue, item, whatever the text should be assigned to. Key(str) is most of the time missing, but if the mod author uploaded a .csv file which he offers for translating, it'll be probably available. But as I said, don't worry about it and skip it.
• Final part behind the last | is the text. This is the only part you need to change to your prefered language.

After you're done with it, save it and encode it back to a .w3strings file. W3strings.exe creates a .WS file as well, but you don't need it. Don't forget to rename the newly created .w3string file correctly! For example: If you did a German translation, then it must be named "de.w3strings".

Edited September 4, 2021 by konyme