How to help translate

World Downloader supports foreign language translations. However, most languages don't have any translations yet. This article explains how to submit translations.

Creating translations

You can use this web app to easily work on translations. To export the file, use the Generate button.

Old method

To get started with translating, you'll need to grab the current translation from this folder. Open one of those files (most likely, you'll want en_us.lang), then right-click on the "raw" button and select "Save target as".

Rename this file to another one of the valid language file names (the locale code found on the Minecraft Wiki's list of language files), and then start translating!

At the top of the language file is an introduction to the syntax used. Basically, %s or %d is a piece of text that is later inserted - it will automatically be replaced as needed (either from something you translate later, or with a number, or with something that's already translated in normal Minecraft), and %n is a new line. If you want to change the order of one of those pieces of text, you'll need to change %s with %1$s for the first one, %2$s for the second, etc. (you can reference the same one twice this way).

Testing translations

It's relatively easy to test a translation, since it's based off of a separate file. You only need to create a resource pack and load that in game.

1. Launch Minecraft
2. Select options
3. Select "Resource packs"
4. Select "Open resource pack folder".
5. In that folder, create a new folder, named World Downloader Translation Test.
6. In the folder you just created, make a file named pack.mcmeta. Open that file and paste in the following:

   {
       "pack":{
           "pack_format":1,
           "description":"World Downloader test translation"
       }
   }

7. Save and close that file.
8. Create a subfolder named assets.
9. Create a subfolder in that folder named wdl.
10. Create a subfolder in that subfolder named lang.
11. Copy your custom translation into the lang folder.
12. Back in minecraft, close the resource packs GUI and quit to the title screen. (This step is partially an excuse to refresh this GUI and also to switch to the right language)
13. Select the language button (the globe).
14. Change to the language you want.
15. Close the language screen and reopen the resource packs screen.
16. Select the now-visible resource pack you created.
17. Join a server. Your translations should now be displayed in-game!

If you make modifications to the translations file while Minecraft is running, you will need to reload the resource pack. You can reload it in-game by pressing F3 and T together. You'll know you did it correctly if you get a brief lag spike while all resource packs are reloaded.

Submitting translations

Obviously, if you're more familiar with GitHub or Git in general, there are other ways of doing this. This is just one of the ways you can do this that should be easy if you're unfamiliar.

First off, you'll need to register a free GitHub.com account.

Then, go to the translations folder in the project (where you originally got en_us.lang) and select "New file". This will automatically "Fork" the code and allow you to create your file. Paste in the contents of your translation file, and then submit a pull request.

Once you've created a pull request, I will review it and then merge it into the main code. The next time the mod is released, your translations will be included. Congratulations!

As a bonus, people who have submitted translations will get a custom cape visible to other users of the mod. The texture for this cape is a bit rough, so if you have any suggestions let me know!