Localization Tutorial

Files that are needed for localization are in root of the directory i18n. They must be saved with the same names in a specified language directory:

bnhelp.conf
bnmotd.txt
chathelp-war3.txt
common.xml
newaccount.txt
termsofservice.txt
w3motd.txt

Supported languages are: English, Russian, German, Czech, Spanish, French, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Chinese. Please let us know if you have a game client with other language.

All files are plain text, except common.xml — it contains hardcoded strings. Next tips related to this file.

You can save original sequence of arguments:

 <original>hello {} world {}/{}/{}</original> <!-- hello my world one/two/three -->
 <translate>привет {} мир{}/{}/{}</translate> <!-- привет my мир one/two/three -->

Or swap argument positions:

 <original>hello {} world {}/{}/{}</original> <!-- hello my world one/two/three -->
 <translate>привет {1} мир{3}/{2}/{0}</translate> <!-- привет one мир three/two/my -->

refid="123" in <translate refid="123" /> means that translation refers to the duplicate string <string id="123">...</string>. Actually you can ignore these lines, or add your own references if your translations are duplicates.
When you edit strings, you have to replace next symbols if they were added (update utility replaces it automatically for new strings): <→<, >→>, \"→"
If you need to display braces then use double braces ({{}} will output {})
If you are changed > 5% of the text in common.xml then you can add your author name in <authors> section. This is not used anywhere, just a hall of fame.
If you edit any localized hardcoded string in *.cpp, *.h, *.lua, you have to edit that string in section of all common.xml files.
If you add a new localized hardcoded string in *.cpp, *.h, *.lua, you have to run utility from scripts\localize\update.bat — it will correctly update all common.xml files, and new string will be added. Then find not-translated string in text-editor by <translate> </translate>
Use pvpgn_localize_validator.exe to validate XML translation file (it needs installed Microsoft.NET Framework 4.0)
Text identical in termsofservice.txt and newaccount.txt, so a translation can be duplicated. Text from termsofservice.txt relates to all games but newaccount.txt only displays in Warcraft 3 in additional screen when creating a new account.
news.txt need not to be translated
Developers must use double quotes in Lua scripts (not single quotes) in localize function:

a = localize(username, "hello \"{}\"", "world") -- correct
b = localize(username, 'hello "{}"', "world") -- incorrect