GCII : localization, update and metaverse

What can be learned from updating the german version

Localization of GC2 means translating all texts from english to a foreign language. But the way it was currently made isn't optimal, as shown by the latest problems when trying to update the german version.

Basically the problem is that all files in data/english directory must be translated and copied into the data/german directory. But those files contain basically 2 things: the objects used by GC2 (ships, improvements, tech ....

and the associated description. The drawback is the following: if english files are updated for gameplay reason (modifying values), those modifications must be reported in the german translated files, even if no description is impacted.

Another problem is with the metaverse, that used a specifc set of rules. Those rules shouldn't be dependant of the language.

With the current directory structures, any gameplay change NEEDS to be translated, which made it very tedious to keep up-to-date localized versions.

So the gameplay values should be kept separated from the localized descriptions. A proposal could be the following:
- kept the data\english directory as it is currently
- put in the data\non_english_language the same files, but with only the description, without any gameplay values
When starting GC2, depending on settings, the game should load all english files, then go to the non_english_language directory to overwrite english description with those in the foreign language description, if they are found.

This proposal will have the following benefits:
- localization will be independant of gameplay values, preventing some nasty bugs due to problem in localized files. There was a problem in the GC1 french version due to some incorrect politcial part files
- any gameplay update will work with the current description. Only the adding of new core ships/improvemenst, tech ... will require update of the localized description. But even if they aren't yet updated, the game will work, the non localized description being in english
- metaverse rules will be separated of localized description, ensuring that everybody will play with the same rules, even if they are playing in different language
- Having only the description to update means that it can be conceivable to set the displayed language in the options. This will surely help Stardock to test compatibity with foreign languages

I think the most important point is to separate the gameplay values from the localized descriptions. That would make updating localized version mush easier and reduce the amount of bugs in localized files.

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That's actually a very good suggestion, and it shouldn't take too long to implement. I'll start working on that this week.

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