Language and Translation

Language and Translation

Commander text, strategy reports, and chat are generated from Languages\<Language>. Registered languages and encodings are defined in root Languages.txt.

Add a language

1. Copy Languages\English to a directory named with the new language's canonical name.
2. Translate every file while preserving filenames and tab-separated structure.
3. Add a Languages.txt row containing language name, selection confirmation, menu hotkey code, and encoding.
4. Compile each required version and install it into a test map.
5. Test startup selection, Commander menus, reports, allied messages, and enemy taunts.

Use UTF-8 unless the target specifically requires another encoding; the compiler reads this field from Languages.txt.

Translation files

Files	Content
Commander.txt, CommandsTrans.txt	Commander labels and commands. Preserve key columns and placeholders.
CommanderStart.txt	Startup and mode-selection text.
Strategy.txt	Strategy names/reports keyed by strategy function name.
Strengths.txt	Composition-strength labels.
Translations.txt	Variable values and alternate word forms.
Chat*.txt	Situation-specific messages and taunts.

Never translate a table's identifier/key column. It connects text to code. Chat should sound natural rather than being a literal translation, but variables and conditions must remain valid.

Chat variables

Square brackets substitute a value:

My [Color] [Race] army will defeat your [PlayerColor] [PlayerRace] army.

Variable	Value
[Name]	AI profile name.
[Race], [Color]	Speaking AI's race and color.
[PlayerRace], [PlayerColor]	Associated or receiving player.
[TargetRace], [TargetColor]	Current attack target, when set.
[Strategy]	Current translated strategy name.
[RandomRace]	Random race name.
[OwnGold], [OwnLumber]	Current resources.
[PlayerNum], [MaxPlayerNum]	Active and maximum player counts.
[MapSize], [Difficulty]	Derived map-size and difficulty labels.

Only use target variables in message groups fired while a target exists.

Conditions

A leading brace expression filters a line. Comma-separated conditions must all pass:

{FFA}Every opponent is a target.
{Race=HUMAN,OwnGold>=500}The Human treasury is ready.
{Race!=UNDEAD,Random<=50}This eligible line has a 50 percent chance.
{!RaceChoiceRandom}I was assigned a fixed race.

Operators are =, !=, <, <=, >, and >=.

Kind	Names
Boolean	1vs1, FFA, RaceChoiceRandom (prefix with ! to negate).
Numeric	Random, Time, OwnGold, OwnLumber, Strength, TargetStrength, PlayerNum, MaxPlayerNum, MapSizeX, MapSizeY, Handicap.
Text	Race, PlayerRace, and other string variables. Race values are HUMAN, ORC, ELF, and UNDEAD.

Random is regenerated from 0 through 100 for every candidate line. PlayerRace is retained and evaluated for each recipient, allowing recipient-specific filtering.

Alternate word forms

Translations.txt supports suffixes for plurals, cases, gender, or other grammar:

HUMAN	human
HUMAN:S	humans
ORC	orc
ORC:S	orcs

Use a suffix after the colon:

I am a [Race]; are there any other [Race:S] here?

Provide every suffix for every value that the variable may produce; the runtime cannot infer missing forms.

Advanced checklist

• Preserve key columns and exact tab delimiters.
• Preserve [Variable], [Variable:Form], and leading {Condition} syntax.
• Define every used word form in Translations.txt.
• Use 1vs1; the legacy manual's 1on1 spelling is obsolete.
• Keep characters compatible with the declared encoding and Warcraft target.
• Compile first, then test several races, colors, targets, modes, resource levels, and map sizes.