Files
Outer-Wilds-SK-Translation-Mod/PLAN.md
T
Jaroslav Beneš 96864b88b7 Translate dialogue batch 6: High Energy Lab (Phase 5)
42 Nomai lines: the negative-time-interval experiments (Pye & Ramie),
the white/black-hole-core setup mimicking the White Hole Station, the
22-minute-interval hypothesis and its exponential energy cost, plus the
High Energy Lab / Sunless City labels and HUD distance markers.

Pye & Ramie feminine, Conoy/Root/Bur masculine. Kept the "gas/aeriform"
state-of-matter puns (flagged for review) and Conoy's "lose his own
head" Nomai joke. Preserved <i> emphases and the \n in the distance
markers (1884-1892). Deferred line 1224 to the Coleus/Melorae batch.

Verified: XML well-formed; keys identical; only these 42 values changed;
markup/token parity; ship log/UI/rest byte-unchanged; mod builds.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-07-20 13:34:23 +02:00

155 lines
8.7 KiB
Markdown

# PLAN.md — Slovak translation of Outer Wilds
Roadmap for building the mod. Status markers: ✅ done · 🚧 in progress · ⬜ todo.
## Goal
Add **Slovenčina** as a fully selectable language to *Outer Wilds*, covering the
**base game and the *Echoes of the Eye* DLC**, distributed as an Outer Wilds Mod
Manager mod. Quality target: natural, consistent Slovak — not literal machine
output.
## Approach
- Built on **xen-42's Localization Utility / Interplanetary Polyglot**
(`xen.LocalizationUtility`) — register a new language from one `Translation.xml`.
No game files needed to build.
- **Translation:** machine-assisted first pass (clean-room, no third-party
translation text reused), then a **Slovak-speaking human review pass**. Phased by
category so partial releases are usable: **UI/menus → dialogue/text walls →
ship log**.
- **Scope:** the single ~896 KB `Translation.xml` already contains base game + DLC
strings together, so scope is "everything," sequenced internally by category.
## Phases
### Phase 1 — Repo scaffold & docs ✅
`README.md`, `CLAUDE.md`, `PLAN.md`, and MIT `LICENSE` in place.
### Phase 2 — Mod skeleton ✅
Created the OWML mod shell, modelled on
[`shippy/outer-wilds-czech`](https://github.com/shippy/outer-wilds-czech):
- `manifest.json``author: Homer`, `uniqueName: Homer.SlovakTranslation`,
`name`, `version`, `owmlVersion`, `dependencies: ["xen.LocalizationUtility"]`.
- `ILocalizationAPI.cs` — interface copied from the utility.
- `SlovakTranslation.cs``ModBehaviour` calling
`api.RegisterLanguage(this, "Slovenčina", "assets/Translation.xml")`.
- `SlovakTranslation.csproj` / `.sln`, `.gitignore`, empty `assets/`.
- Optional: GitHub/Gitea release workflow.
### Phase 3 — Import English source ✅
Imported the base English `Translation.xml` (896 KB, 2424 entries, keys == values)
from the utility repo into `assets/`. This is the file to translate.
> Build verified: `dotnet build -c Release` compiles against the `OWML` /
> `OuterWildsGameLibs` NuGet packages (no game install needed) and stages a
> loadable mod folder (`SlovakTranslation.dll` + `manifest.json` +
> `default-config.json` + `assets/Translation.xml`) in `bin/`.
### Phase 4 — Glossary 🚧
First draft of `docs/glossary.md` in place: tone/register locked (informal *ty*),
and SK renderings proposed for the proper nouns and recurring terms below. Rows
marked `❓ review` still need the Slovak-speaking review pass to finalize.
Write `docs/glossary.md` fixing SK renderings (or keep-in-English decisions) for
proper nouns and recurring terms, e.g.: Nomai, Hearthian, the Eye / Eye of the
Universe, Ash Twin Project, Vessel, Black Hole Forge, Quantum Moon, Sun Station,
ship log, Nomai statue, Ember Twin, Ash Twin, Timber Hearth, Brittle Hollow,
Giant's Deep, Dark Bramble, Interloper, Stranger (DLC), Owlk/"Owlks" (DLC).
Decide tone/register (informal *ty* vs. formal) and lock it here.
### Phase 5 — Translate `<value>` entries 🚧
Machine-assisted pass → human review, by category (UI/menus → dialogue → ship log),
base + DLC. Preserve all `&lt;color=…&gt;`/`&lt;i&gt;` markup, entities, and speaker
prefixes. Track progress and any hard-to-translate lines here or in issues.
Progress by category (source has 3 sections — the flat `<entry>` list = dialogue/
text walls, `<table_shipLog>` = ship log, `<table_ui>` = UI/menus):
- **UI/menus (`<table_ui>`, 814 entries) — ✅ machine-assisted first pass done,
place-name terms reviewed & locked.** All values translated; integer `<key>`
IDs untouched; `\n`, `&lt;!&gt;` input-prompt tokens, `&lt;Profile Name&gt;`
placeholder, and color/italic markup preserved; XML re-verified well-formed.
Casing mirrors the source (ALL-CAPS button labels stay caps). A consistency
re-pass applied the locked glossary terms (Scout → *Skaut*, Signalscope →
*Signáloskop*, Timber Hearth → *Drevený kozub*, Ash/Ember Twin → *Dvojča
Popolu / Dvojča Uhlíka*, etc.). Remaining: a general Slovak review of the
non-proper-noun phrasings.
- **Ship log (`<table_shipLog>`, 483 entries) — ✅ machine-assisted first pass done.**
All values translated (location names + rumor/fact entries); string `<key>`
lookups untouched; plain text (no markup). Narrator voice locked to masculine;
ship-log place names locked in the glossary (§3, §5b). XML re-verified
well-formed; mod builds. **Still needs the Slovak review pass.**
- **Dialogue / text walls (flat `<entry>` list, 2423 entries) — 🚧 in progress.**
Batched by **content type** (not planet — the flat list is asset-ID ordered):
Nomai lore/wall-text (by speaker) → Hearthian villagers → travelers →
player/system/DLC. Preserve `&lt;color=…&gt;`/`&lt;i&gt;`/`&lt;size=…&gt;` markup,
template tokens (`&lt;Pause/&gt;`, `&lt;TimeMinutes&gt;`, `&lt;NbTimeloops&gt;`,
`&lt;…SinceRedGiant&gt;`), `\n`, speaker prefixes, and per-entry whitespace.
- **Batch 1 — Solanum (70 lines) ✅** — Quantum Moon pilgrim: astronomy-museum
walls, Tower of Quantum Knowledge / Quantum Shrine, Eye philosophy. Feminine
voice. Applied by key; XML re-verified; builds.
- **Batch 2 — Vessel / warp-core debate (29 lines) ✅** — the Nomai clan
debating how to obtain the advanced warp core for the Ash Twin Project
(Oeno, Clary, Poke, Idaea, Avens, Cassava, Spire, Mitis) + Poke's personal
reflections + the Vessel's escape-pod launch / crash computer log. Poke &
Clary feminine, Annona masculine.
- **Batch 3 — Orbital Probe Cannon (50 lines) ✅** — Construction Yard cyclones
(Conoy, Spire, Cassava), building/firing the cannon (Cassava, Daz, Mallow,
Privet, Avens, Yarrow), the "let's send a probe" decision, and the cannon's
damage-report / launch-log system text. Avens masc, Ramie fem. Preserved
`&lt;TimeMinutes&gt;`/`&lt;TimeSeconds&gt;` tokens and the "on the other
appendage" Nomai joke.
- **Batch 4 — Ash Twin Project warp mechanism (53 lines) ✅** — warp-tower
alignment lore, White Hole Station tutorial, tower designs, ore/shell
construction, warp-core-source debate (Yarrow, Clary, Poke, Root, Phlox,
Oeno, Cycad, Annona, Ramie, Ilex). Pye fem, Plume masc. (Sun Station debate,
firing, failure + memory statues still to come.)
- **Batch 5 — Sun Station + memory statues (61 lines) ✅** — the Sun Station
build debate (Idaea/Pye/Ramie/Poke), Pye's supernova/"gas" humor, the firing
orders, the failure aftermath, and the memory statues + masks (Phlox, Daz,
Yarrow, Ramie, Oeno, Root). Idaea masc. Preserved the 1304 countdown tokens
(`&lt;RemainingMinutes&gt;`…) + `\n` and `&lt;TimeMinutes&gt;`/`&lt;TimeSeconds&gt;`.
- **Batch 6 — High Energy Lab (42 lines) ✅** — the negative-time-interval
experiments (Pye & Ramie), the white/black-hole-core setup, the 22-minute
hypothesis, and the High Energy Lab / Sunless City labels + distance markers.
Kept Pye/Ramie's "gas / aeriform" state-of-matter puns (flagged for review)
and Conoy's "lose his head" joke.
- Remaining: ~358 other Nomai speaker lines + ~1760 Hearthian/player lines.
Terminology change (applied file-wide): **Black Hole Forge → Kováreň čiernych
dier** (was *Zlieváreň čiernej diery*) — 15 occurrences across ship log + dialogue.
### Phase 6 — Diacritic / font check ⬜
Verify the stock game font renders all Slovak glyphs
(á ä č ď é í ĺ ľ ň ó ô ŕ š ť ú ý ž). Only if any are missing: build a font asset
bundle in **Unity 2019.4.27f1** and wire `api.AddLanguageFont(...)`.
### Phase 7 — Build & in-game test ⬜
**Prerequisite:** install *Outer Wilds* + Outer Wilds Mod Manager + OWML (none are
on this machine yet). Then `dotnet build`, load via the Mod Manager, select
Slovenčina, and verify menus, dialogue, and ship log render correctly.
### Phase 8 — Release ⬜
Tag a Gitea release; optionally submit to the Outer Wilds mod database so the mod
appears in the Mod Manager for everyone.
## Open items / risks
- **Font coverage** for Slovak-specific glyphs (ľ ĺ ŕ ô ä) is unverified until
in-game testing (Phase 6/7).
- **Translation volume is the real cost** — ~896 KB of source text. A
Slovak-speaking review pass is essential, especially for DLC/dialogue nuance,
puns, and Nomai text-wall length constraints.
- **In-game testing is blocked** until the game + Mod Manager are installed locally.
- Confirm the tone/register decision (Phase 4) early — reworking it later is costly.
## References
- Localization Utility / Interplanetary Polyglot (framework, MIT, source template):
https://github.com/xen-42/outer-wilds-localization-utility
- Czech mod (structure reference): https://github.com/shippy/outer-wilds-czech
- OWML: https://github.com/ow-mods/owml
- Mod Manager: https://outerwildsmods.com/mod-manager/