Creating a Translation Mod - Step by Step

## Overview

It's fairly simple to create a mod that translates Judgment into a new language. In this guide we'll go over all the steps needed to create and publish a new language mod:

* Creating a new mod
* Setting the mod up
* Adding the translation to the mod
* Testing the translation
* Publishing on Steam Workshop

## Creating a new mod

The first step is creating a mod. This is fairly simple. Start by opening the "Mods" folder inside the game install directory. You can find the game install directory by right clicking the game on steam, selecting properties, then the "Local Files" tab, and clicking the "Browse local files..." button.

Inside the Mods folder, create a new folder for your mod. Give it a meaningful name such as "SpanishMod". Inside your mod folder, create a new text file and call it "ModConfig.json". Add only one line to the text file:

```
{ }

```

This is all you need to tell the game that this is a mod. Now when you launch the game you will see a "Mods" button in the title screen.

## Setting the mod up

Next, we need to add some information to the new mod, so it is easier to recognize, and later this information will be shown in Steam Workshop.

Start the game, and click the "Mods" button. You should see an empty mod, this is the mod that you just created. It has no preview image, name, description or even says who made the mod. We will fix all that now. Click the "Modify/Upload" button under the empty preview image, this will open the mod tools.

In the mod tools, there is a drop-down at the very top. Click it and select the empty line (your mod doesn't have a name).Once you do, all the fields in the mod tool will be enable, and you can start filling it with information. Be sure to give your mod a title, description, and enter your name under "Creator Name". In tags, add "localization,translation" to tag the mod appropriately. This will help players find your mod.

Once you fill the information, click the "Save" button, then click "Back to game".

Open the Mods window again, this time your mod will have a name, and all the other information you entered. The only thing that is missing is the preview image. To add a preview image, simply create a png image file called "preview.png" and copy it into your mod folder.

## Adding the Translation

Alright, now we're ready to get to the important part - translating.

First, open the "OrigConfig" folder that is located inside the "Mods" directory. This folder contains all the original configuration files of the game as reference. Changing them won't affect anything, the game doesn't actually use these files, it's just a reference for modders.

But to create a translation, this is exactly what we need - the original language files that we can translate. There are two relevant files:

* Text.txt - all the game texts
* Help.txt - the tutorial texts

Copy these two files into your mod directory. Now, whenever someone uses your mod with the default language (English), these two files will be used instead of the originals. Do not worry, if you accidentally leave something out, or the game updates and new texts are added, your mod will still work. Whenever the game can't find something in the mod, it will use the original configuration. This means these texts will be in English, but at least it won't break the game!

Now it's time to get to work. In each file, you need to translate everything from English to your mod's language. Each line contains a key and value using the following format:

```
something1.something2.something3=The text that will be displayed

```

Everything to the left of the "=" sign is the key. This is how the game recognizes the meaning of the text. For example, to show the word "Mods" in the title screen, the game searches for a line that has the key "titlescreen.mods.button".

Anything to the right of the "=" sign is the text that will be displayed in the appropriate place. This is the part you need to translate!

Few things to keep in mind when translating:

1. Keep in mind that some texts appear in areas that have limited space. For example, if you enter an item name that is very long, it might not fit the space available in the item list. In most cases you'll want to make sure your translated text is not much larger than the original. There are exceptions of course, such as story texts and hover texts that can expand as needed.
2. Sometimes in long paragraphs there is a newline within the text. In these cases you will see "\n" in the Texts.txt file. This tells the game to display a newline. You may keep these or remove them, depending on how you want the text to appear in the game, but in most cases you should keep them to keep the text organized in paragraphs like the original text.
3. Some languages like Chinese do not have words, and the text is one large list of symbols. In these cases that game does not know when to put a line break automatically, and will consider all this text one large word and shrink the text size instead of adding line breaks. In these cases it is recommended to manually add a space between symbols once in a while to allow the game to add a line break there.

## Testing the translation

Alright, the hard part is behind us! All the game's texts were translated, and now we need to test it.

Here's what we want to test, mostly:

* Make sure all the texts are translated
* Make sure all the translated texts fit the space allocated to them
* Look for typos and other mistakes in the translation

To test the translation in the game, simply start the game, open the Mods window, and click the checkbox next to the translation mod. The game will warn us that enabling/disabling mods only takes effect after restarting, so exit the game and restart.

You should already see all the title screen texts translated. Now you can test your translation!

Note: There is a "news" section in the title screen that is downloaded from the net, and not from the configuration file. This text cannot be translated.

## Publishing on Steam Workshop

Great! We just made a new translation for Judgment. Now we want to share it with others.

First, we need to opt-in to the Steam Workshop Beta. The workshop is in beta right now because there are not many mods yet. But anyone can join, it's as simple as joining this Steam Group. Join the group, and you have access to the workshop beta, and can upload your mod.

To upload the mod, open the mod tools by clicking the "Modify/Upload" button under your mod image, in the Mods window. As before, select your mod from the dropdown, this time it will already have the name you entered instead of being a blank line.

Now change the visibility dropdown to "Public" so everyone will have access to the mod (or leave it private if you want to test yourself first, then only you can see it), and click Upload. Wait until you receive confirmation, and that's it! Open steam workshop and you will see your mod there.

Great job!

## Troubleshooting

The devs are encouraging modders and are happy to help anyone that needs assistance. It's best to contact them directly by emailing contact@suncrash.com with any questions or issues that you may have.