[LE] I need help translating Skyrim!

[CinderHawk]

Oof. Okay. This is a long thread, but I insist that you read it. I really, really, really need help.

Ok, so basically, here in Brazil, there's only one major fan translation for Skyrim, and... I really don't like it. There's several oversights, terms being translated in more than one way throughout the game, stuff they just downright missed and didn't translate, lack of gender-specific terms adaptation... Etc. So I decided to start a project to translate the entire game myself. And yes, I do know this is huge and would take me at least several months, and I'm up for the task.

I've been searching for ways to do it, and so far, I think TESVTranslator is my best bet (but I'm open for suggestions). However, I'm very lost with the program. I don't really have any experience with modding, and the interface is still a bit confusing to me, but I think I can eventually get the hang of it. The problem is, the tutorial for it in its official page, is much more focused on translating mods to an existing language in the game (like, let's say, french), than translating the game itself to another language not already avaliable, plus its very basic and doesn't explain a lot. So... Are there any in-depth tutorials out there? Considering I want to translate the ENTIRETY of the game, and that includes even adapting some terms to be gender specific (like "vampire", for exemple, which has no gender in english, but does in portuguese), and some other tweaks to possessive terms (like "John Doe's Dremora", since we don't use an apostrophe here in Brazil to designate possession, but instead the term "de", which roughly translates to "of", so I'd had to change the order of the phrase to something like "Dremora of John Doe", or something). And here's a few questions:

Also, will I be able to translate everything with just TESVTranslator? Or will I need the Creation Kit for some other stuff like menus (inventory, magic, shouts, map, etc)?

And finally... What exact files do I have to translate? Because with TESVTranslator, I know I can open all the main .esm files, but also two .string files avaliable in the Data folder (related to the main Skyrim .esm and the Update.esm), and .bsa files as well. So what exaclty do I have to translate in order to get the full game to PT-BR? Will I need to download external .string files for the dlcs? I'm confused, pls halp

EDIT. VERY, VERY IMPORTANT EDIT: Ever since making this post, I spent a few hours messing with TESVTranslator, and found out I could also open a .txt file containing all the strings of the interface in general (things like the info about your general stats, the "HIDDEN/DETECTED" text from when you're crouching, settings, and stuff like that). I can simply export it as a .txt file to replace the original, and it does work (as in "it changes the texts displayed in the menus ingame), but that wouldn't be practical for future users. My end goal is to condensate the translation into one mod, of course, which anyone can download from here or the Steam Workshop and install it in the game with no issues. So... I also need help with how I should export and condensate all my translated .txt/xml files and put them together in a working mod.

Basically, I think I'll settle with TESVTranslator, but I still don't know whether I should translate the .esm or the .bsa files. I'm ignoring the .string file, since I compared it with just the Skyrim.esm file and they both have the exact same amount of "lines", so I don't think it makes a difference (but for the love of god, correct me if I'm wrong). Back to the esm/bsa thing: When comparing the dlcs .esms to their respective .bsas, they also share the same amount of string lines, so another occasion of both being the same, translation-process-wise (and again, if I'm wrong, tell me). HOWEVER, when I compare Skyrim.esm to Skyrim - Interface.bsa (the only main game .bsa that actually has strings), they have DIFFERENT amount of lines. The .bsa one has a few more, around 40 to 50-ish. This confuses me even more. I don't think there's a practical way to identify the extra/different lines, considering there are way over 30 thousand, so I don't know what to do. If anyone out there experienced with mod making can explain to me the difference between .esm and .bsa files, I'd be really, really grateful, as it could help me solve this out.

Edited August 5, 2019 by CinderHawk

[DracoWarrior729]

I recommend that you use TES5Edit so that you start slowly

usually everything in the "name" box has to be translated

[CinderHawk]

 

I recommend that you use TES5Edit so that you start slowly

usually everything in the "name" box has to be translated

 

Oh, hey, coincidentally, I did! I've been messing around with it for a bit, and I really liked the interface. Also did some testing with altering some of the text in the game (like perk descriptions, for example), and it worked! I'm still having trouble with finding everything (specially dialogue lines), but nothing that can't be solved with even more testing. Still, thanks for the recommendation ^^

[BowmoreLover]

Here are some tips you should know:

 

*** The type of way to hold the strings on the plugins ***

 

1) Embed strings inside a plugin file

Literally strings are in the plugin. As you can imagine, this way a plug-in can only have strings in one language. This is generally the case for user-created mods.

 

2) Having strings in external strings file

The string is saved in strings file (.strings / .dlstrings / .ilstrings) with the plugin name + language name (eg Skyrim_english.strings), and the link (string id) to the string is held in the plugin. This kind of plugin header has a "Localized" flag, so I call it a Localized plugin. This applies to vanilla / DLC plugins such as Skyrim.esm. These strings files are in the Data/Strings folder (of course, in the vanilla game they are compressed into bsa files).

 

*** Bsa files and strings files ***

Normally, plugin's bsa files are loaded in the order of the plugin load order. However, there are multiple bsa files for Skyrim.esm, that are loaded in the order defined by the following entries in skyrim.ini:

[Archive]
sResourceArchiveList=Skyrim - Misc.bsa, Skyrim - Shaders.bsa, Skyrim - Textures.bsa, Skyrim - Interface.bsa, Skyrim - Animations.bsa, Skyrim - Meshes.bsa, Skyrim - Sounds.bsa
sResourceArchiveList2=Skyrim - Voices.bsa, Skyrim - VoicesExtra.bsa

If more than one bsa has a file with the same name, it will be overwritten by the one loaded later. For example, for Skyrim SE, the strings files are in both Skyrim - Interface.bsa and Skyrim - Patch.bsa, the latter being the latest. Bethesda seems to update only the Patch.bsa files, not the Interface.bsa files, when the strings is changed.

 

*** Files to translate ***

 

As far as I know, the following files should be translated when translating a vanilla game.

1) Strings files in Data/Strings folder

xxxxx_english.strings/.dlstring/.ilstrings ---> xxxxx_Portuguese.strings/.dlstring/.ilstrings (or xxxx_ptbr as you like)

2) Translation text file in Data/Interface folder

Translate_english.txt ---> Translate_Portuguese.txt (or Translate_ptbr.txt as you like)

 

Theoretically, the language name in the file name should be anything as long as it matches the sLanguage in Skyrim.ini. However, some mods do not work unless the language name is English, so it may be better to replace the English files with localized files.

 

*** How to translate ***

 

I think xTranslator is the best tool for translation. xTranslator can translate both Translate_*.txt and strings files. In fact, I use this tool to create and provide strings files for Skyrim SE Japanese edition. Basically, if you open an English file (_english. *), Translate it, and output it, you can create a file for your language.

And the safest way is to open and translate .strings / .dlstrings / .ilstrings directly instead of esm with xTranslator. By doing this, only the string file can be edited without changing the link (string id) to the string included in esm. This is because redistributing the vanilla game plugins itself should not be allowed under the terms of service.

 

That's all my tips. Best wishes for your translation.

 

PS. I have to agree with your opinion that the translation provided by Bethesda is too bad. The official translation of the Japanese is also famous for being very terrible, and unfortunately Skyrim SE has abandoned the Japanese translation for over a year and has to be maintained by the modders (yeah it's me :) ) .

[CinderHawk]

Thank you so much! I've been using both xEdit and xTranslator lately, made quite a lot of progress, but these tips will definetely be useful. I did run into another problem, tho. Didn't want to be that kind of person, buuuuut... If you can, please take a look at it :b .

 

(if you can't, that's fine, you already helped me a lot ♥ )