Translating whole game?

[broo]

I was wondering if it's possible for us (players) to translate the whole game to another language? I know we can change names and such to our liking so I suppose we should be able to translate other things as well... I mean I am already familiar with the files but I still have to figure how to make game read the letters right (unicode???) and how to add language selection to the language meniu on installation. Any thoughts?
 P.S.: I know it's pretty crazy idea which need a lot of time and patience and blah blah blah...

[B]

It is possible.  You will need to get SimPE to edit package files.  You will then browse through the various game files and alter any "text lists" you come across.  I imagine it will take you quite a while. 

Out of curiosity, what language do you want to use?

[eevilcat]

FYI localisation = technical term for translating a software product into another language.

I've had a quick look at this and it appears that for the majority of the text resources the game does a single install to the C:\Program Files\EA GAMES\The Sims 2\TSData\Res\Text folder. The various package files contain the strings that are used in the game. You could apply the same principle to replacing these as has been done with the sim names live.package but it will mean replacing a lot of text.

There are some other resources located under the C:\Program Files\EA GAMES\The Sims 2\TSData\Res\Locale folder and these are organised by language. It looks like the level of localisation depends on the target language e.g. the only difference between US English and UK English is the addition of a different sound package file for the UK. Other countries have additional localised resources e.g. objects.package, movies and UI.

The following assumes you have an English install of the game:
If the language you intend to translate to is similar to English word length then you will be fine with just translating text.
If typical word length is longer then you may have to modify the UI to accommodate the additional text e.g. a UI for German needs to allow more space for typically longer words.
If your install isn't English, then apply the same principles to your language.

You will need to do the same for every installed EP/SP otherwise there will be a mix of languages.

If you are looking at translating into a language with a complex/extended character set then localisation becomes more difficult. Sims2 has a UI where the player inputs text at various points. Japanese, Chinese and Korean will most likely make use of something called the IME (Input Method Editor) which allows the player to select the character(s) they want - obviously you can't have a PC/Mac keyboard with several thousand keys on it.

As far as character sets go, you will need to make sure that the (Unicode) font supports all the characters you wish to display. If it doesn't then you may well need to change the game font.

[broo]

It is possible.  You will need to get SimPE to edit package files.  You will then browse through the various game files and alter any "text lists" you come across.  I imagine it will take you quite a while. 

Out of curiosity, what language do you want to use?

Lithuanian And it's not me who needs it, I am happy with English version of the game.

Anyway, I tried editing some files and for some reason only a few editings show up in game The others appear untouched Maybe I'm editing the wrong files? I took my files from Seasons EP. Maybe I should have started with main game files? Althought they seam to contain the same information as main game files.

[MissDoh]

Why would someone want to translate the complete game when maxis is already selling English, French, Spanish, Italian, Portugese, etc. versions?

[Assmitten]

Why would someone want to translate the complete game when maxis is already selling English, French, Spanish, Italian, Portugese, etc. versions?

I guess the Lithuanian-speaker who wants it isn't comfortable enough in those languages?

[Tyyppi]

I'm quite surprised if Sims 2 doesn't have official Lithuanian translation.

[broo]

Sadly it doesn't (well, Lithuanian isn't such a popular language after all). And I know a whole bunch of people who would be very happy to get that. I mean young kids and elderly people who can't read English or Russian. Even my hubby's little brother.. He's now 6y/o and he can speak and read English but as his mother-tongue is Lithuanian we'd still like him to be able to read it and that's where the game could come in handy.
Plus, I've got too much time on my hands anyway...

[dizzy]

The problem you run into (other than maybe a font issue) is changing anything in the "Text" folder. Any of the text in "objects.package" you can simply modify in the normal way that we hack stuff, but to change the other packages may require you to provide a full replacement of those particular packages.

[ZephyrZodiac]

Which version of the game are you running?  The European version has help files in numerous languages (not sure about Lithuanian), so maybe it would be worth checking with that (I wouldn't recognise Lithuanian if I saw it, but would this be Latvian?

Laitteistovaatimukset

)

[B]

Which version of the game are you running?  The European version has help files in numerous languages (not sure about Lithuanian), so maybe it would be worth checking with that (I wouldn't recognise Lithuanian if I saw it, but would this be Latvian?

Laitteistovaatimukset

)

From wiki:

...while related, the Latvian and Lithuanian vocabularies vary greatly from each other and are not mutually intelligible.

Thus, it seems like the original poster would still need to do a bit of tweaking to make the game easily accessible to Lithuanians.  That said, it might be a better starting block than the English version of the game.

[J. M. Pescado]

While fascinating, this does absolutely nothing to address the fact that you need to TYDT.

[B]

While fascinating, this does absolutely nothing to address the fact that you need to TYDT.

I tell you what Pescado, why don't you take my turn for me?  Password is "abc" (no quotes).  I'm sure you'll find my current economic and military situation quite amusing.

[ZephyrZodiac]

Returning to the original poster's question, I mentioned the Latvian text files because I was pretty sure I recognised them - that wasn't to say that there wasn't also a Lithuanian file help file - there are several in there that I don't recognise.  Since there are a lot of object creators etc. working in Eastern Europe, Russia etc., there may well be another, East European Version of the game with yet more language options.

[Quinctia]

If nothing else, I would expect it'd be easier to mod a version of the game already using a cyrillic alphabet, like the Russian version.  Instead of trying to alter the English version.  The font should be already set to handle whatever characters were necessary, and since the languages are related, there probably wouldn't be problems with word size.

I am part Lithuanian.  My dad exchanges Christmas cards with his cousin who is in Vilnius.  I know absolutely no Lithuanian, though, and I've studied three foreign languages, so you're right that it's not that popular.

[Tyyppi]

Laitteistovaatimukset

That's Finnish.

[ZephyrZodiac]

I said I wasn't sure.....but I should still think there's a version around somewhere.

[broo]

Returning to the original poster's question, I mentioned the Latvian text files because I was pretty sure I recognised them - that wasn't to say that there wasn't also a Lithuanian file help file - there are several in there that I don't recognise.  Since there are a lot of object creators etc. working in Eastern Europe, Russia etc., there may well be another, East European Version of the game with yet more language options.

Trust me, if there was Lithuanian version of TS or TS2 I would know (did I mention that I am the most active Lithuanian simmer ever?)

If nothing else, I would expect it'd be easier to mod a version of the game already using a cyrillic alphabet, like the Russian version.  Instead of trying to alter the English version.  The font should be already set to handle whatever characters were necessary, and since the languages are related, there probably wouldn't be problems with word size.

Even though Lithuania was part of Soviet Union Lithuanian language is not at all related to Russian. They are incomparable, completely different. Especially the alphabet (Lithuanian one is based on Latin). I'm not sure about the word lenght yet, you might be right about that. However I find translating from English easier than translating from Russian as English is what I use everyday and to be honest I'm not too good at reading Russian (cyrillic alphabet issue)...

I am part Lithuanian.  My dad exchanges Christmas cards with his cousin who is in Vilnius.  I know absolutely no Lithuanian, though, and I've studied three foreign languages, so you're right that it's not that popular.

Well, it's not very easy to learn either.
 P.S.: I was born in Vilnius as well.

[ZephyrZodiac]

Might be worth contacting EAxis before they release Sims 3 and let them know of the existence of Latvia. Lithuania and Estonia - remind them that, since the fall of the Soviets, there are a whole load of countries with languages that they aren't catering for, thus a large market being lost to them (maybe most of the younger people in those countries speak English, or French etc., but I'm sure a lot of older people don't, or have forgotten most of what they learned at school, and would be keen to play the sims if it was fun and not a language learning exercise!)
Perhaps you could get up a petition - enough signatures and they just might take notice!

[dizzy]

There are hundreds of languages they don't even attempt to support. Really, what they *should* do is just use a nice standard http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gettext type library and let people contribute translations.

[ZephyrZodiac]

Really, they are missing out on a lot of untapped market potential!  They support Rumanian - now I'm sure the population of Latvia or Lithuania is around the same size, so why support one and not the other?  Or have they just not realised that those three countries exist, because having thrown off the yoke of the soviet they just got on with organising their countries quietly by themselves without having to be sorted out by outsiders?  Not even requests for financial aid that I can remember....(or do they just not have anyone who speaks those languages working for them?)

[Quinctia]

Huh, I could've sworn there were at least a couple of letters that looked non-Roman on some of the cards and postage I've seen, but maybe I was mistaking stylized fonts, since they were in a foreign language.  (Okay, I wikipedia-ed it...there are twelve written vowels, which is seven more than the original roman alphabet, and this, plus the markings over some of the consonants, just made me think "other alphabet" instead of extra characters.  Whoops.)

I know Estonian's a real pain in the butt (it's got about sixteen cases for the nouns, if I remember right), so I'm wondering if all the Baltic states just got kind shafted because of difficulty issues.  Aren't the languages more related to each other than any other languages in Europe?  There may be lots of people who could do translations from English there, but if EA Europe is in London...it'll be harder to find translators.  As for Romanian, it's a Romance language, and it's related to French, Spanish, and Italian, so even if the population is smaller, it's related to more popular languages, and easier to learn.  (...hmm...wiki tells me also that it's spoken by 24-28 million people, as opposed to Lithuanian's 4 million, so that's significantly more.)

[ZephyrZodiac]

I suppose it is more, obviously, but they are both what might be considered at small in marketing terms - also the Baltic states generally have a wealthier and more educated population, I would think, than is true of the majority of the Balkans, which have mostly seen a great deal of problems in recent years.  And people who can't afford computers can't play computer games....and yes, Rumanian is a Romance language, but unlike, say, the Nordic languages, they are not mutually comprehended, but very much separate.

[broo]

There are hundreds of languages they don't even attempt to support. Really, what they *should* do is just use a nice standard http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gettext type library and let people contribute translations.

That's a great idea! Sadly EA will never agree with it I should try emailing them about my plans though.

Huh, I could've sworn there were at least a couple of letters that looked non-Roman on some of the cards and postage I've seen, but maybe I was mistaking stylized fonts, since they were in a foreign language.  (Okay, I wikipedia-ed it...there are twelve written vowels, which is seven more than the original roman alphabet, and this, plus the markings over some of the consonants, just made me think "other alphabet" instead of extra characters.  Whoops.)

It's OK, you didn't know

I know Estonian's a real pain in the butt (it's got about sixteen cases for the nouns, if I remember right), so I'm wondering if all the Baltic states just got kind shafted because of difficulty issues.  Aren't the languages more related to each other than any other languages in Europe?  There may be lots of people who could do translations from English there, but if EA Europe is in London...it'll be harder to find translators.  As for Romanian, it's a Romance language, and it's related to French, Spanish, and Italian, so even if the population is smaller, it's related to more popular languages, and easier to learn.  (...hmm...wiki tells me also that it's spoken by 24-28 million people, as opposed to Lithuanian's 4 million, so that's significantly more.)

I've never heard real estonian speaking so I don't know anything about Estonian language but Lithuanian and Latvian have some similarities.
And talking about London, London is full of Lithuanians ! Althought probably the most of them hardly even speak English. Or even write their own language without mistakes... Anyway, I suppose there should be some well educated people as well (not everyone goes to Uk to work in fish factories, you know).

I suppose it is more, obviously, but they are both what might be considered at small in marketing terms - also the Baltic states generally have a wealthier and more educated population, I would think, than is true of the majority of the Balkans, which have mostly seen a great deal of problems in recent years.  And people who can't afford computers can't play computer games....

True.

[ZephyrZodiac]

Not everybody who comes to the UK actually comes here to work!  And goodness knows why they want to come to a country which has one of the highest costs of living and the worst weather in the world is beyond me!