Petike the Taffer
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Posts posted by Petike the Taffer
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It's been a while, but I've found some time to edit a few sound effects I've recorded earlier.
I'm still working on finishing the candlestick sounds, but until then, feel free to modify and use this sound for a loudly creaking door/window opening and closing:
http://www.mediafire.com/listen/cbqr4sp74y2wu2a/creaking_door_or_window_%28open_and_close%29.ogg
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I've found this mission really enjoyable.
Last year's spooky contest mission was certainly cool and intense, but I liked the slower pace, greater lenghth and much more focused storytelling of this FM even better. Like last year, you've delivered oodles of atmosphere with relatively minimalist means. Even moreso, I think. I also liked the presence of multiple endings. A nice touch.
I'm growing increasingly fond of your missions, Merry, and I haven't even played the larger ones you've made so far. These smaller FMs have convinced me I'll be in for really interesting experiences once I get to play those bigger FMs.
Unfortunately, I also came across something of a bug in this mission:
It occured in the elevator shaft. Apparently, the player shouldn't take carryable objects with him into the elevator, e.g. a lit candlestick. If he/she does so, the elevator will get stuck shortly after it starts descending, making it unable to arrive to the furnace's entrance area. I had to reload from a previous save and retread a chunk of the level to the elevator room in order to get rid of the bug.
As a minor bit of oversight, I also accidentally triggered the elevator controls before I was standing inside, leaving me with no choice but to reload, since I apparently couldn't call the elevator back. Not a bug, obviously, but still something that the player could get stuck on if he's not careful.
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Congratulations to the release, Sotha. :-)
I'll play this as soon as I finish Requiem.
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That's why I'm asking. I don't particularly care if it's just practice lines, I'm just interested in what direction you'd like to go with the style of his voiceovers.
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It's just idle head turning spawnargs set to extremes. It's a case of setting them to look somewhere every 0.1 seconds, and then restricting the angles they can turn to look, as well as constraining the head and spine joints so it looks more like twitching than all-out flailing.
You're inventive.
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I could try to record some samples for the schemer or the necromancer. Just a few test lines if I'll find some time for it. Melan's current write-up is quite good IMHO, but does anyone have any ideas on the voice direction for the necromancer ?
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Since Sotha brought up that period living documentary again, I've remembered there's also this one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCWWeBe2aoA
About the hidden dangers of a Tudor household to its occupants.
There are also two episodes on the "hidden killers" of Victorian households and one episode on the issues of Edwardian era housing.
Could be useful for a mission's storyline where someone died under mysterious circumstances and people are blaming it on murder, rather than bad in-door living conditions.
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As HMart elaborated, Wings3D is not bad, but it does have its limitations. It's the only modelling software I've tried to date, and I made that choice partly because I just wanted to learn some basics. I remember I successfully made a simple candlestick model, but that was already a few years ago. Afterward, I didn't follow up my older novice efforts, so it's been a long while since I've fiddled around with the thing. I never got to the texturing of that candlestick's mesh, so I'm not sure how flexible texturing is within this software, but I suppose it's more basic than in others. I suppose HMart could shed some additional light into this.
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Thanks, Sotha.
A rare, music-related inspiration for you guys... Though we mostly focus on ambient music for obvious reasons, I've recently thought a bit about background music for places like taverns or banquette halls. In the sense that you hear it while your character is outside them, and the building itself is inaccessible and just window dressing. For example, Moonbo's Requiem had a tavern with a muffled Cantiga 166 cover by Vox Vulgaris coming from the inside.
So, if I could recommend anything, I'd say "try this on for size":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7DMcG3UCY0
Yes, it's In Taberna Quando Sumus from Carmina Burana. The version in the video is a complete and musically/lyrically pretty accurate cover. (Since most people only ever hear the Carl Orff version.) I particularly like the bit from around 2:45, where the whole thing descends into a rather simple drinking song where the lyrics comment on various period social classes getting drunk together.
I think that bit, when sampled, could work for some FM where your character has learned of a large party at some bigger local inn or estate, where both the upper crust and the servants are getting wasted during an evening of celebrations.(For pope and king alike all drink without restraint.
The mistress drinks, so does the master, the soldier drinks, so does the cleric, that man drinks, that woman drinks, the servant drinks with the maid, the fast man drinks, so does the slow, the white man drinks, so does the black, the stay-at-home drinks, so does the wanderer, the fool drinks, so does the scholar.
The poor drink, and the sick, the exile and the unknown, the boy, the greybeard, the bishop, the deacon, sister, brother, old woman, mother, that woman, this man, they drink by the hundred, by the thousand.)
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Summer, definitely play Amnesia and the free Justine addon (don't bother with buying A Machine for Pigs). And be sure to play Penumbra and SOMA as well, if you're interested in science fiction horror in moody surroundings. (SOMA has just come out, in fact.)
I think Frictional Games are currently the best survival horror authors in the whole industry. They think things through properly, they like to experiment, they're down to earth and focused, and they've accumulated and used their clout well, instead of getting drunk by fame. I've followed their work since 2007 and I'm happy to see a small and essentially hobbyist studio like that slowly but surely receive the accolades it deserves.
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It's one of the few games of this type that I would really contemplate buying. Is it demanding to run ? I don't think so, but I'd like to be sure.
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I might be at fault here, since I recommended this to him about a week ago.
Still, it gives us some exposure, even if he found it a bit hard. Jesps "Mad's Mountain" has been noted to be on the easier side with easy difficulty set. I'm not sure how applicable that is now with all the AI enhancements
and Hearing\Vision sliders (etc) since he released it.
Yeah, I can testify to that. Mad's Mountain has quite a bit of climbing and even a bit of swimming, but it's not a particularly hard mission.
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Had no idea you´re from Slovakia, Petike
Say, weren´t you active in the old Slovak Thief fan forum - http://thief.pukaco.sk ?
I'm afraid not. i read the forum while it was still around a few years ago, but I've only ever been a member of ttlg.com before I also came over to here.
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I suppose this is the Super Extra Special Limited Premium Edition.
Nicely done. -
Interesting. I'll search for some .dat-compatible font utilities if I get bored. Maybe I'll really run into something we don't know of yet. Or I'll double-check on the wiki first, there might be some notes on editing fonts burried over there.
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Oh, you meant mammal.
Sorry, didn't understand what you meant the first time. 
In other news, I've edited the "candlestick sounds on wood" now. I'm still planning to relisten to them and check whether there isn't an echo in the recording. I might post the samples by Saturday (if I don't forget).
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Loving those crows !
If I ever finish a mission, I might incorporate them into it, just for some atmosphere. -
Yeah, thought so. Oh well, at worst, if I run across those calls again, I'll try recording them purely outside, and with some of the sensitivity of the mic toned down a bit.
You need to filter out all the noise thats not part of the owl call, Tried it in audacity and unfortunatly there is too much background noise.And regarding the owl sound its not owl Ive ever heard of before, sounds more like a small mamel of some kind. That and the sound repeates a bit too often to useable as an ambient.
The recording is just a rough edit, I was planning on isolating two or three calls out of it, at most. It was meant for individual sound effects, not any longer ambience.
Though I'm no expert on owls, here's a video of a specimen of that species making calls. Sounds by and large the same to me.
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Cool.
Do you think that recording is salvageable ? I think the owl calls are really nice, but that background hum, as low-key as it is, just ruins the impression.
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Thinking about sound effects and ambience matters in the last few weeks, but especially yesterday, I've decided to start a single thread for sound-related stuff I'm working on or might work on in the near future.
I've dug out a few interesting sounds I've recorded myself over the last few months and years, and read up on what sounds we still might be missing. Obviously, I'd prefer to focus on sounds we don't have enough of yet, or sounds that might be in need of improvement.
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I haven't worked on the ice-related effects for now, but I've done some recording on potential new sounds for the candlesticks. Contact with surfaces at various intensity, the usual thing. The surfaces were older wooden furniture and thick ceramic kitchen tiles (non-glazed). Surfaces that make sense in TDM, I hope. I'll be uploading these shortly, I still need to edit them a bit.
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For wilderness scenarios, I have the following recording of an owl's calls (made a few months ago). It's been edited down to only include the owl itself, and it's all in .ogg format :
http://www.mediafire.com/listen/p2mhh2rh4bl0uu2/little+owl+call+raw+record.ogg
Unfortunately, this is a bit of a raw record.
I accidentally captured some humming in the background, presumably because my portable recorder was sticking out of the window and captured some device humming away in the interior.I'll try to clean up the recording so we'll only keep the owl calls, and I'd honestly appreciate some help with this, if someone wants to try it.
The owl calls I've managed to record are a bit unusual, since they're more weepy-sounding than the more stereotypical hoot-hoot. This is because it's a little owl (yes, that's the species name in English for some reason), and they have a rather characteristic voice. I think it would be a creepy call to hear in a night forest, though.
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Thinking about non-Thief ambient music that could serve as a bit of inspiration, I suppose you could use some of Robert Rich's stuff as a general template for ideas on wilderness settings or Pagan-related scenarios: Some examples:
I think I've heard a sample from that last track (from around 2:15 and slightly onwards) used in an older Thief II FM. It was Off the Record, made by Yandros. The FM is set inside a public institution at night time, and the particular sample from that track was selected nicely, so I didn't find it annoying or repetitive while I was playing. I suppose a similarly sounding bit of ambient could work well for interiors of public buildings at night.
(EDIT: Ha, found a video playthrough of Off the Record ! (Link now included above.) You can clearly hear the sample from "Mycelia" playing in the background throughout the mission.)
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Looking at the ambient music tutorial and having not worked much on sound effects in the last few months, I might try my hand at putting together some simple ambient theme for the inventors. Maybe I'll come up with something. Oh and there are also those ice sounds I've promised. I should get to work on those. And I'm very eager to try making some ambient soundscapes for the city, though I'd have to have a good idea for what the basic scenario should be like.
Also: Do inns, taverns, etc. need any sort of ambient backgrounds, or should their soundscape be left to whatever sound effects (chatter, musical instruments) the mission author populates them with ? I could try making several ambients for variously crowded inns.
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Yeah, I remember that older Robin Hood game. The controls were in the vein of the Commandos or Desperados series.
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Regarding the font system in TDM, we use .DAT font files. Would it not just a case of opening our existing font image (.dat) files in a font editor and then create the missing characters you need..? for each of the font types we use?
Trouble is, I am not really skilled at that. I might try it, though, especially if Tels won't have time to expand the existing font sets anytime soon.
Fun fact: Anytime I put the translated file into the game and run it, all words including the "l with caron" depict said letter as the (very Polish-looking) "l with a stroke".
Close, but not close enough ! -
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January & February 2018 update: I'm almost done with the translation of the base install package (i.e. the GUI of the game, the translatable texts in two of the three FMs in the package).
I've decided it wouldn't be all that bad if I provided you guys with some insight into the current state of things, what will still need resolving, and so on. First, I want to talk about some of the minor GUI issues I've run into (and which I prefer to resolve first), then also cover the issues with the FMs from the base install (which can still be fixed/improved later).
October 2019 update: I have gone through the entire opening post and tried to rework the layout a bit, to increase readability. The separate download links for the hosted screenshot images have been removed, since that part of the image-hosting service (Mediafire) was acting up during the last year. The screenshot images linked should still be visible, without a fuss, once the links below are clicked. The images are still downloadable by simply opening the links, then saving each displayed image to your disk or to a USB storage device, whathaveyou.
1. GUI TRANSLATION
1.1) GUI Font Problems and Glitches
The following paragraphs are a hopefully complete list of problems I’ve run into while translating the game's GUI into the Slovak language. The problems are sorted into issues concerning:
a.) the visual appearance of letters in fonts. In this section, I’ve listed the problems in orders of decreasing severity.
b.) the current inaccessibility of some GUI titles to translators (as they are still „visually hard-coded” at this time, in this current version).
1.1 a.) Problems with letters in fonts
First problem:
The letters ľ and Ľ are not depicted correctly when written down. This prevents many Slovak words using these letters – particularly kľúč ("key") to be displayed correctly in-game.
My recommendation is simple: These two letters need to be added to the standard game fonts in some future language update for TDM. Naturally, only if it's in any way possible for the particular font we used for most of the menu text. (But I have a feeling it certainly is possible.)
Until then, I've decided that all Slovak translations of TDM content will replace these letters with "l" and "L". An improvised solution, but it at least prevents the words that would include the letter from looking weird.
Second problem:
The letters ť and Ť ("t with a caron" and "capital t with a caron"), while working well in the prevalent font, have some degree of aesthetic problems. The "Ť" letter is actually all right appearance-wise, but the way the "ť" letter is depicted makes it look a bit like it was actually the letter "t with an acute accent" (this is a non-existant letter in real world alphabets). It’s not a major problem, certainly not on the smaller titles of the GUI, but in the GUI of the main menu, it looks rather odd and ugly.
For the time being, just for the sake of visual appeal, the more major titles in the major game menus have had the "ť"-s in them changed to "Ť"-s, since it looks a little better and less confusing that way. This is, obviously, just a temporary solution at best. But for now, it will have to do.
Third problem:
A more minor issue, but still quite annoying. The letter á ("a with an acute accent") works pefectly everywhere in the game, with the sole exception being the GUI element „Enter Name“ in the Save/Load menu. It’s translated as „Zadaj názov“, but the á letter is not showing up correctly. For the time being, I’m changing the letter to a simple „a“, but this font issue will need fixing in the long term.
Fourth problem:
Issue similar to the third problem. The letter č ("c with a caron"), which otherwise works perfectly in the game, is replaced by an "@" on the "Loading" splash screen title of the mission screenshots preview gallery (the clickable one, in the previews of the mission downloader). The splash screen title is translated as "Načítavam...", and the glitch is making it look like "Na@ítavam..." in-game. For the time being, I’m changing the letter to a simple "c", but again, this font issue will need fixing in the long term.
Fifth problem:
A really minor one. The translated titles for the little settings bar in general video settings doesn't show letters with diacritics.
1.1 b.) Problems with untranslatable bits of the GUI
Some of the GUI titles are simply not yet available to be translated from English via the .lang files. Here’s a list of all these titles: "Load Mission", "Save Mission", "Description", "Mission Statistics", "Downloaded Missions", "Online Mission Archive", "Download Status".
The popup window informing the player about all newly downloaded missions is translated fully, outside of the bit in parentheses at the end of the sentence (‘New Mission’), which for some reason remains in English. This is probably not due to an unaccessible font, but because of an algoritm I may have either overlooked, or don’t have direct access to via the .lang files. I'll probably look into this soon, there might be a solution.
Some strings for translating newer elements of the menus, already present in 2.05, are not available. Inventory Grid cannot be found in the all.lang file of 2.05, not even among the English language strings of that file. Currently, Inventory Grid is possibly the only untranslated line I have in the options menu, given the inaccessiblity. I've seen some advice on adding new strings, but I'd prefer if my own synced up with an official English one (code number and all).
1.2) Screenshots of the translated GUI
Here's a mix of screenshots, older and newer, to show how the finished translation of the GUI looks like.
Downloading a mission 1 ("1 mission successfully downloaded", etc.)
Downloading a mission 2 ("new missions available", etc.)
Cleanup of a mission install folder
FM objectives and difficulty menu (from Glenham Tower, showing fairly typical difficulty level names)
FM Shop menu: Before purchase, After purchase
FM Shop menu items and goods: Blackjack, Sword, Lockpicks, Compass, Spyglass, Lantern, Flashbomb, Mine, Broadhead arrow, Water arrow, Moss arrow, Fire arrow, Rope arrow, Noisemaker arrow, Health potion, Holy water. (The Gas arrow and other rarer items are also translated and work in a shop, but I can't remember an FM with a starting shop that sells them. I have seen them work perfectly fine in the shop menus, like the items in these images.)
FM ingame objectives scroll (from A New Job, the objectives were not translated, hence English)
FM ingame inventory (an overview collage, with translated HUD and item names)
FM Mission Statistics 1 (from A New Job, hence the custom name for the difficulty level)
FM Mission Statistics 2 (from A New Job, hence the custom name for the difficulty level)
Version status popup window (up to date for 2.05, the current version)
Do you really want to quit, yada yada...
Can't post too many screenshots visibly in the post, so I prefer linking to them. They should be easy to view. Same with the FM screenshots further down this post.
1.3) .lang files stuff for the GUI only
Finished, up-to-date .lang files, ready for download and testing.
all.lang file: http://www.mediafire.com/file/pzj632l2edobdl0/all.lang (other DL link)
slovak.lang file: http://www.mediafire.com/file/20189ddeec1w888/slovak.lang (other DL link)
tdm_base01.pk4 file (with up-to-date .lang files): http://www.mediafire.com/file/t3mvkj81tldkr7o/tdm_base01.pk4 (other DL link)
These are the most up-to-date versions of the GUI .lang files (all.lang & slovak.lang) and of a working tdm_base01.pk4 file with said updates. Anyone of you can have a look and criticque whether the menus or the HUD text need a little rearranging to look better or not. Though I've taken great care to avoid omitting something, I'm sure I could have still overlooked something, and that's partly why I need your second opinions.
2. BASE PACK FMs TRANSLATION
2.1) Translated Training Mission and Tears of St. Lucia FM Font Problems and Glitches
The following paragraphs are a hopefully complete list of problems I’ve run into while translating the two base pack FMs (sans the latest, A New Job, which lacks usable .lang files) into the Slovak language. The problems are sorted into issues concerning:
a.) the varying presence or absence of letters in fonts, the visual appearance of letters in fonts
b.) translating some of the signs and items via the regular l10n method (involving strings and the separate l10 pk4)
2.1 a.) Presence and absence of letters in fonts, visual problems with letters in fonts
This mainly concerns readables, but in the case of the Training Mission, also the various hints you get throghout in the upper left corner of the screen.
Diacritical letters don't occur within translated readables at all. The book readables and the note readables do not display any diacritical letters, whatsoever. This results in virtually unreadable texts. (Unreadable without extensive guess work about the missing vowels and consonants with diacritics, at least.)
Diacritical letters do show up in mission briefings, and on the hint scrolls in the upper left corner of the screen that are unique to the Training Mission. However, even in these case, some of the diacritical letters are either missing completely or getting bizarrely replaced with entirely different letters (resulting either way in equally unreadable text).
Diacritical letters that are displayed correctly (on briefings and hint scrolls only
Á á, Ä ä, É é, Ú ú, Ô ô, Í í, Ý í, Č č, Ň ň
Diacritical letters that are displayed incorrectly (on briefings and hint scrolls only
a.) Š š are replaced with U u, for some reason
b.) Ľ ľ are displayed as some other forms of L (roughly like a Polish "L with a stroke" letter)
c.) Ď ď are displayed as D´ d´ (arguably a problem similar to the strange look of a non-capital ť letter in the GUI)
d.) Ĺ ĺ are apparently replaced with Å (upon closer inspection, this letter has the identical ALT+0197 as the two acute accent Ls, but on the English keyboard, not the Slovak one)
e.) Ť ť and Ž ž are not displayed at all and are replaced by blank squares
2.1 b.) Problems with translating some of the signs and items via the regular l10n (localisation) method
I've tested the translation in the Training Mission in particular, because the TM has just more content and thus more ground to cover. One of the unpleasant surprises was the realisation that, although the translation for all of the readables and the little hint scrolls in the Training Mission work, the translation for items and for in-game signs does not work. Mind you, all of the signs and all of the items unique to the Training Mission are listed in the strings of the same .lang file as the mission's readables and hints. The hints and readables work, but the items and signs are still in English. This is a mystery to me. Do those particular texts require a separate manipulation of the Training Mission's .lang file ?
2.2) Screenshots of the translated missions (Training Mission, Tears of St. Lucia)
Here's a mix of screenshots, older and newer, to show the current state of the two FMs' translation. Each of these is provided with a commentary by me.
2.2 a.) Training Mission
TRAINING MISSION - READABLES
Book readable completely lacking letters with diacritics 1
The introductory book readable in the TM's atrium. All the letters with diacritics are gone. I.e. I will have to add them to this font. And not only to this font, unfortunately...
The font in the book readables is the "Mac Humaine" font used by TDM.
Book readable completely lacking letters with diacritics 2
Same thing. The text looks okay, but any letter with a diacritic is simply not registered by the readable.
Book readable completely lacking letters with diacritics 3
The book readable on lockpicking. Once again, all letters with diacritics are completely missing. In addition, I'll have to ammend the translation of the title, because there is no way I can get a conventional translation of "lockpicking" into that one line reserved for the title.
Book readable completely lacking letters with diacritics 4
The text itself looks nicely, but the diacritical letters are missing.
Book readable completely lacking letters with diacritics 5
Book readable about object handling. Missing diacritics again... For instance, the title is supposed to read "Ovládanie predmetov" (Handling of objects, Controlling of objects).
Book readable completely lacking letters with diacritics 6
To make matters just a little bit worse, the original text in the second half of the readable is hard to translate, because you have to cram in all your translated text, and even then, a portion of it gets cut off at the end. This is even without all the missing letters with diacritics. Mind you, I've tried to keep my translated text as brief as possible. But sometimes, it's hard to really fit it in, even in some readables like this one.
Scrap of paper readable completely lacking letters with diacritics 1
Scrap of paper readable completely lacking letters with diacritics 2
Scrap of paper readable completely lacking letters with diacritics 3
Scrap of paper readable completely lacking letters with diacritics 4
Scrap of paper readable completely lacking letters with diacritics 5
The above are in the "Nancy" font used by TDM.
Not much to say about these. If you get the impression they're bizarrely sparse, that's because the length of these notes, and the amount of letter with diacritics used in them, absolutely messes up the text once they're absent. You can still vaguely make out my translated text, but given the different style and size of the font, the absent letters are even more noticeable here than in the book readables.
TRAINING MISSION - MENU & BRIEFING TEXT AND ADDITIONAL TEXT
Hint scroll with a missing or incorrect "L and D with caron" (outlined in red and blue)
Now we're getting to the real meat of the issues, but these are thankfully unique to the hint scrolls and wall signs that appear in the Training mission. The hint scrolls are, just like the menus and briefings of TDM, in the "Carleton Caps only" font.
First off, as in the GUI, the Ľ letter doesn't work properly. This isn't obvious from the screenshot, where a normal L is seen instead in the second line. But this is because I have pre-emptively removed the Ľ, awaiting the same issue as with the GUI. I've outlined it in red.
Secondly, a Ď letter is in the first line of that screenshot excerpt, but shows up as more of a "D with an acute accent", with an acute accent diacritic above it instead of the caron diacritic. I've outlined it in blue.
Why is Ľ/ľ in particular such an issue in both the GUI and the FM font usage ? If Wikipedia is correct on this, the letters Ľ and ľ (l with a caron) only exist in Slovak. Ergo, they're very rarely used letter outside of the language. Hence, they weren't accounted for in any of the current fonts, because no one would really suspect such an obscure letter with diacritics to show up at all.
The Ď/ď letter is only slightly more frequent, existing in a few more languages, but not that many either. Rather rare diacritic letter in most fonts.
Hint scroll with a missing "T and Z with caron" (outlined in red and blue) and a static sign issue
The letters Ť/ť ("t with a caron") and Ž/ž ("z with a caron") don't show up at all. They're replaced with squares. So, these need to be added to the diacritical letter library of whatever font is used for the hint scrolls. I have outlined the missing ť letters in red and the missing ž letters in blue.
There is also the added issue of the static signs in the Training mission having translatable strings, but the result of that translation not showing up at all.
Hint scroll with a missing "S with caron" and a U letter replacing it (outlined in red)
The letter Š ("s with a caron") gets messed up more than most. it's neither a square, or an S with acute accent, it outright changes into another letter: U, of all things ! Believe me, it got very annoying whenever I tried to read the hint scrolls containing Š/š, and I read U/u all the time. Horribly distracting and makes the words utterly nonsensical.
Š isn't a very common letter with diacritics, but it shows up in some languages. The phonetic nature of the letter is widespread, though. E.g. in English, it shows up commonly as the combination "sh" (shadow, short, etc.), and in French, as the combination "ch" (chien, cheval, etc.).
Hint scroll with an "L with an acute accent" displayed as a different letter (outlined in red)
The letter Ĺ ("L with an acute accent") is a rather rare letter too, similarly to the Ľ. When it comes to how it shows up in probably only this one hint scroll, it is displayed as a weird "A with a circle" letter. Similar situation as with Š, showing up as a completely different letter.
Hint scroll with surprisingly unfaulty translated text - no diacritical letters missing
Suprisingly enough, a tiny minority of the hint scrolls that had diacritical letters already present in the font for the scrolls showed the translated text well. This is one of the few scrolls where I found nothing wrong with the translation. Pity so much of the other text from the Training Mission looks nowhere near as finished and correct as this example...
Translated strings of item names do not show up at all
Like with the translated strings for the mission-specific signs seen in the FM, for some reason, the translated strings for mission-specific items (keys, etc.) don't show up either. They're still in English.
All of my translated strings are in the same .lang file, which is structurally identical to the FM's English-language .lang file. Do I need to do a separate perl process for the item and sign strings or what ? Any ideas ?
TRAINING MISSION - FIXING READABILITY AND FITTING STUFF IN
Due to the limiting nature of both the fonts (at least currently) and especially some of the strings for the Training Mission, it is a bit difficult to get it localised. Nevertheless, I want to provide a few sample screenshots of where this has worked out fine, even if I had to do a bit of out-of-the-box thinking.
Note on stealthing a warehouse with 2 guards - Original, not fixed
Note on stealthing a warehouse with 2 guards - Updated, fixed
A letter to brother Jarvis - Worked fine originally, no need for fixing *
Injury risk note - Original, not fixed
Injury risk note - Updated, fixed
Note on moss arrow usage, page 1 - Original, not fixed
Note on moss arrow usage, page 2 - Original, not fixed
Note on moss arrow usage, page 1 - Fixed, edited, but nothing left out
Note on moss arrow usage, page 2 - Fixed, edited, but nothing left out
Note on flashbomb usage, page 1 - Fixed
Note on flashbomb usage, page 2 - Fixed
Note on noisemaker distractions - Original, not fixed
Note on noisemaker distractions - Fixed, edited, nothing left out, but needs a slight tweak **
* - I've noticed a few minor font-related typos in the final sentences on the screenshot, but these have been already repaired since I took it. Will update the screenshot when I'll have time.
** - The slight tweak needed being that I apparently have enough space to reintroduce the blank line between the title and the text. I don't like cramming text in these readables, and whenever at least some space can be spared, I prefer to spare it (though space is at a premium in most shorter readables, due to the limitations of the strings).
2.2 b.) The Tears od St. Lucia
THE TEARS OF ST. LUCIA - READABLES
Disappointing bit of news: After testing my l10n addon for the mission, I realised that the varied fonts are going to pose an even bigger problem. This time, it isn't just missing diacritical letters. Effectivelly, none of the readables (at least those that I had time to find and view) showed any of the translated text. All readables remained in English.
So far, I've only had experiences with how the translated text looked like within the fonts used in the Training Mission, which uses about 3 different fonts max. St. Lucia uses a lot more custom fonts, and aside from Carleton, none of the fonts from Training reappear in St. Lucia. I was in for a cold shower...
This readable is in the "Shopping List" font.
This readable is in the "Andrew Script" font.
Tears of St. Lucia soup recipe
This readable is in the "Popsies" font.
Untranslatable readable (ad on outside of a house)
This one actually isn't much of a biggie. It's a photoshopped image, much like the various posters and notes dotting the level. There are no strings assigned to it, so I doubt it can get a translation without remaking the asset (and it's dubious whether the player would need to read this one for any hints, unlike the readables). Not entirely sure about the font used for this ad, it's probably the "JD Hand" one or similar.
THE TEARS OF ST. LUCIA - MENU & BRIEFING TEXT
Untranslated custom map item in shop
Tears of St. Lucia objectives and difficulty levels
Tears of St. Lucia ingame objectives scroll
All three of these seem to be in the "Carleton Caps only" font, typical of most TDM menus and popups (including those seen in the two FMs detailed here).
Important addendum (please read): Earlier this week, Springheel explained to me why there are plenty of issues with translating a still-in-development official mission like St. Lucia. To summarise, it's a bit of a headache to regularly update everything, including the existing strings, so it's possible I might have to play the long game with these official missions. Prepare the translations if needed, but be ready it might take a while before their implementation can become technically feasible. (Ideally, having the missions in a state that is considered closed and definitive would help a lot.) Yes, this is unfortunate, but I'd rather work on something that can be finished sooner than much later. Therefore, you'll still be getting at least a stripped-down translation of the Trainining Mission, and once I get the fonts to work, possibly translations of other completed FMs (other than the two from the official campaign).
2.3) .lang files and l10n stuff for the translated missions (Training Mission, Tears of St. Lucia) only
.lang file and l10n pack for the Training Mission (2.06 compatible) coming the following week (12th-18th February)
I have them largelly finished and have used them for testing (hence the screenshots above), but the GUI is more top priority now. (All the more that fixing the font issues in the FMs might take a good while longer than the much less numerous GUI font issues.)
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Closing thoughts for now (late January 2018)
I doubt I'll get all the fonts issues resolved by 2.06, so we might opt for a barebones translation without repaired diacritics (the GUI one already is, albeit only for one or two of the letters that don't work) and then fix these font issues a little later, for 2.07. I'm already doing two different versions of the texts (one with diacritics, one without), so it wouldn't be much of a time issue on my part. I can prepare the diacritics-less text for the two FMs in no time, and much of it is already done.
Of the people who could help with fonts, Tels and Charisma are currently away and unavailable. I've contacted Skina, who has some practice with editing the font sets, so I might eventually patch all the missing letters and get the whole thing to work well with the translated GUI and translated texts in FMs. In the absence of Tels, Grayman also seems to know a bit about this area, but I'm not sure how much. I'm all very new to fixing issues with fonts and it might take me a while to fix those issues.
Which brings me to what I wrote in the first of these three paragraphs: As things currently stand, it is highly probable a Slovak release with repaired diacritics will only show up in 2.07. So, it might still be a bit of a wait. However, I want to ensure that the Training Mission, at the very least, gets a (for now) "without diacritics" translation release for 2.06, alongside the GUI translation release for that same upcoming version.
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P.S. I am hosting the screenshots via Mediafire. If some of the screenshots don't load, even if they loaded perfectly well before, it's a problem of the hosting service, not your computer.
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5
Uncle Peti's Sound Den
in Music & SFX
Posted · Edited by Petike the Taffer
Okay, here's the first batch of candlestick sounds. These were all done on a wooden surface, and include differing levels of picking up, putting down and dropping sounds.
Picking up candlestick from a wooden surface
Gently
Harshly
Putting down candlestick on a wooden surface
Gently
Hastily (with slight ringing) - three similar sounds, but I've put them into one file, with gaps
With a thump
Harshly
Dropping candlestick on a wooden surface
Gently
Hastily (with slight ringing) 01
Hastily (with slight ringing) 02
With a thump
Harshly
The candlestick I've used is apparently made of brass, and silver-plated on the outside. Just to give you an idea about the heft and sound of the thing when I was trying to generate various sounds with it. I used the same candlestick for the tiled floor effects, which I'll hopefully finish soon. Give it a few days and I'll probably post them.
The current batch still needs some improvements.