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| 1 | +# Localization / Translations (HULD) |
| 2 | + |
| 3 | +Hercules servers are able to provide some sort of multi-language thanks to a feature |
| 4 | +called Hercules Ultimate Localization Design (HULD for short). |
| 5 | + |
| 6 | + |
| 7 | +## How it works |
| 8 | + |
| 9 | +Translations are stored in PO files, a standard format for translations. Those files |
| 10 | +are stored in Hercules and follow a structure that imitates the NPC folder (plus |
| 11 | +a few other files). |
| 12 | + |
| 13 | +During startup, Hercules loads those files as additional languages and whenever |
| 14 | +a NPC message is displayed, the player's current language is used. |
| 15 | + |
| 16 | +A default language is set in the configs, and additional languages may be selected |
| 17 | +by each player by using the `@lang` command. |
| 18 | + |
| 19 | + |
| 20 | +## Generating translation files |
| 21 | + |
| 22 | +In order to start translating the NPCs and other translatable messages, you must |
| 23 | +first generate the translation files. |
| 24 | + |
| 25 | +To do that: |
| 26 | + |
| 27 | +1. Build your server, including HPM Hook plugins |
| 28 | +2. Build the `generate-translations.c` plugin (see [HPM](./hercules-plugin-manager.md)) |
| 29 | +3. Run `./map-server --load-plugin HPMHooking --load-plugin generate-translations --generate-translations` this will: |
| 30 | + 1. Start map-server with "HPM Hooking" and "generate-translations" plugins loaded |
| 31 | + 2. Ask map-server to actually generate the translation files |
| 32 | +4. Once it complete, map-server will automatically shut down, this is expected. |
| 33 | +5. You can now see a folder called `generated_translations` in your repository root |
| 34 | +6. This folder contains everything you need to translate, see [Adding a language](#adding-a-language) |
| 35 | + |
| 36 | + |
| 37 | +## Adding a language |
| 38 | + |
| 39 | +Once you have the translation files folder (either downloaded from somewhere or generated with [Generating translations](#generating-translation-files)), |
| 40 | +you need to add the folder path to `db/translations.conf`. |
| 41 | + |
| 42 | +For example, if you have the `Spanish` language files at `db/Spanish/`, your |
| 43 | +`db/translations.conf` should look like this: |
| 44 | + |
| 45 | +``` |
| 46 | +translations: ( |
| 47 | + "db/Spanish", |
| 48 | +) |
| 49 | +``` |
| 50 | + |
| 51 | +From now on, `@lang Spanish` will give a player the Spanish translation. |
| 52 | + |
| 53 | + |
| 54 | +## Default language |
| 55 | + |
| 56 | +The server's default language is defined in `conf/map/map-server.conf`: |
| 57 | + |
| 58 | +``` |
| 59 | + // When employing more than one language (see db/translations.conf), |
| 60 | + // this setting is used as a fallback |
| 61 | + default_language: "English" |
| 62 | +``` |
| 63 | + |
| 64 | +Following the example above, you could change the value here to `Spanish` for players |
| 65 | +to start their characters having the Spanish translation. (They could switch later on) |
| 66 | + |
| 67 | + |
| 68 | +## Translatable strings |
| 69 | + |
| 70 | +By default, Hercules will pick every string used in `mes`, `mesf` and `select` commands, |
| 71 | +but you can explicitily tell Hercules that strings in other parts of your script |
| 72 | +must also be translated by using the `_()` macro. |
| 73 | + |
| 74 | +For example: |
| 75 | + |
| 76 | +```HercScript |
| 77 | +.@status1$ = "Closed"; // This won't be translated |
| 78 | +.@status2$ = _("Available"); // This will be translated |
| 79 | +``` |
| 80 | + |
| 81 | + |
| 82 | +## Caveats |
| 83 | + |
| 84 | +### Global messages |
| 85 | + |
| 86 | +Messages sent to many players at once, like broadcasts will use the attached player |
| 87 | +language. |
| 88 | + |
| 89 | +This is for performance reasons, since sending messages in each player language |
| 90 | +would require building separate packets/messages for each player (or group of players). |
| 91 | + |
| 92 | + |
| 93 | +### "Unattached" messages |
| 94 | + |
| 95 | +When a message is sent by a script that doesn't have a player attached, |
| 96 | +the message will be sent in the server's default language. |
| 97 | + |
| 98 | +This is for performance reasons, since sending messages in the default language |
| 99 | +would require building separate packets/messages for each player (or group of players). |
| 100 | +Additionally, since no player is attached, there is no player language to use. |
| 101 | + |
| 102 | +```HercScript |
| 103 | +prontera,150,150,0 script test huld 4_F_SISTER,{ |
| 104 | + mes("Text with player attached. In player language"); |
| 105 | + announce(_("Text in player language for everyone."), bc_all); |
| 106 | + initnpctimer(); |
| 107 | + close(); |
| 108 | +
|
| 109 | +OnTimer1500: |
| 110 | + // Player is not attached here. |
| 111 | + npctalk("Hi, i'm talking in server default language."); |
| 112 | + end; |
| 113 | +} |
| 114 | +
|
| 115 | +``` |
| 116 | + |
| 117 | + |
| 118 | +### Player gender |
| 119 | + |
| 120 | +There is no way to have variation by player gender for the same message. |
| 121 | + |
| 122 | +One strategy to work around that is to include a space at the end of the message |
| 123 | +for one of the genders, for example: |
| 124 | + |
| 125 | +```HercScript |
| 126 | +if (Sex == SEX_MALE) { |
| 127 | + mes("Hello"); |
| 128 | +} else { |
| 129 | + mes("Hello "); |
| 130 | +} |
| 131 | +
|
| 132 | +``` |
| 133 | + |
| 134 | +This would generate 2 messages for translation. |
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