Thought I should take the initative...
Right, so here it is. As it says on the tin, this is a thread that is for collating the various mods from Starsector's Chinese community (
https://www.fossic.org/) that are available for translation, as well as the status of translation for those mods. With Approlight and Polaris existing here for a while as well as the continued queries from the Discord, there's clearly an interest in more of what comes from the creative minds across the language barrier. As such, this thread should help collate and organize future efforts for translation, so that we may all benefit in the future.
Update 28/9/22: Some mods now have Github repositories attached for easy access. Read the note at the bottom of this post for more info.Mods that have been translated and being maintained
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---| How this Works |--
Basically, if you see a mod on Fossic that catches your fancy and you would like to see made available in English, reply with the
name and link to the mod's thread on Fossic, and I will add it to the list if the mod author agrees to have their content translated. Likewise, if you want to translate an available mod, reply to inform me that you have picked it up and when its done. You can also do this via PM or through Discord.
---| Translation Guidelines |--
There's technically no barriers to entry if you want to start translating, and all are welcome, but if you wish to translate, please keep in mind a few things:
- Seek the modder's permission first
- Have a decent enough grasp of English and Chinese
- Understand the file structure and data management of Starsector Mods in general
The first is just common courtesy, and you can do so via this thread in the first place. The second is really important, because fundamentally if you are lacking in proficiency in either language you are just going to mangle the translation (Google Translate will
not cut it), so please respect the work of the original creators by treating their work with respect. Furthermore, poor translations equal to poor instructions and bad information for the player, which will negatively impact the experience of people who want to experience the mod. No one is asking for professional translations, but please be certain that you can give a satisfactory product at the end if you volunteer.
Useful Links:---
Regarding RepositoriesIt should be noted that repositories placed here will have duplicates of language-based files, suffixed with _CN or _ENG depending on which version is activated. For example, if there's a file called ship_data_ENG, it means the currently active version of h8ll_data.csv is the _CN version, which is lacking the suffix as it is activated, and when loaded will use the Chinese version. This is enabled by a specific file within some of these mods called
swapLangFile.py (made by Originem) which basically searches the directory and suffixes which ever file exist to line them with the version of Starsector the user has installed. This system also works automatically at game start when the user has Python installed; but seeing that not everyone in EN will have Python installed; its imperative that one ensures that the CN files are suffixed and the ENG ones are not before deployment to the EN Starsector community to avoid annoyance.
That said, the existence of the both CN and ENG files are for the benefit of doublechecking and maintenance; if you plan to fork, please do not remove them.
Also, while I will encourage the use of repositories as it massively reduces the effort, please be aware that the mods are other people's stuff from across the language barrier. If you wish to add someone's mod to a repository, please get their express permission first.