What if I wanted to translate Skyrim?

[Arthur]

I know this is a pretty huge project and the chances of me giving up before finishing it are quite high, but still, what would I need to do? Keep in mind that I don't really have any experience with the Creation Kit. I've certainly opened it once, checked a few of the features, but never got really into it. So what should I do? Are there any tutorials out there?

(btw, is there any way to separate certain terms in genders? Some words in english don't really have a gender, like "vampire", or "dragonborn", but they do in portuguese, and it would look pretty weird for a female character to be referred as a dude by some npcs, or vice-versa)

[Huillam]

If you're trying to translate the game (or even a minimal amount of dialogues) I'd suggest to ignore the CK and use a dedicated tool like tesvTranslator.
And yes the text can dynamicaly adapt to the dragonborn gender.

[Arthur]

Originally posted by Huillam:

If you're trying to translate the game (or even a minimal amount of dialogues) I'd suggest to ignore the CK and use a dedicated tool like tesvTranslator.
And yes the text can dynamicaly adapt to the dragonborn gender.

Cool! I'll search this up! Also, what about possessive terms? Like for example "John Doe's Familiar". In portuguese we don't use an apostrophe, we use the word "de", which roughly translates to "of". So it'd basically have to be changed to "Familiar of John Doe" . Is that also possible?

[Huillam]

I'm not sure if tesvTranslator could translate that kind of text. If it can be accessed through the CK you could try to check the french version as we also use the word "de" For example "Familier de John Doe".
For dialogues tesvTranslator is your best bet. For items you may have to use the CK (and any mod modifying an item through an esp will either overwrite your translation or be overwritten by it). Which means you'll need to translate mods you use and the base game.

[Arthur]

Originally posted by Huillam:

I'm not sure if tesvTranslator could translate that kind of text. If it can be accessed through the CK you could try to check the french version as we also use the word "de" For example "Familier de John Doe".
For dialogues tesvTranslator is your best bet. For items you may have to use the CK (and any mod modifying an item through an esp will either overwrite your translation or be overwritten by it). Which means you'll need to translate mods you use and the base game.

Hmm, interesting, I didn't think of checking with other languages' terms. Thanks! Also, is TESVTranslator exclusive to dialogue? 'Cause I'm trying to translate the whole package; dialogues, certain names, UIs, and stuff like that.

[Arthur]

Update: Mmmmkay, I've been messing with the Translator for a a few minutes. I'm still a bit overwhelmed by the sheer amount of... Stuff on the screen, and I'm still not 100% sure of what should I do, but I think I'm getting the hang of it. I'll try a bit more tomorrow. Still, thanks for the help!

[Huillam]

I last used it few years ago but if I remember correctly it works for dialogues, books and letters.
Translating an item name through the CK is pretty easy: double clicking on any item (or spell or recipe) will open a new window. From there all you have to do is to translate the name field and save.
Altering dialogues is way more complex. You'll need to go through multiple windows, check every tab and hope you didn't miss (or mess) anything. A third-party tool like tesvTranslator make the process much quicker.

[smr1957]

You can also use xEdit to do this. In xEdit you can view all the records in he game and change any of them - though unless you are absolutely sure of what you are doing, you can totally break things.

For dialogue, you would need to look up the dialogue categories in each .esm.

Best practice is to make new mod that would overwrite everything.

And yes, there are A LOT of records that would need to be changed. It's the type of thing better done by a team, than by one individual.

[Arthur]

Originally posted by smr1957:

You can also use xEdit to do this. In xEdit you can view all the records in he game and change any of them - though unless you are absolutely sure of what you are doing, you can totally break things.

For dialogue, you would need to look up the dialogue categories in each .esm.

Best practice is to make new mod that would overwrite everything.

And yes, there are A LOT of records that would need to be changed. It's the type of thing better done by a team, than by one individual.

I'm familiar with xEdit, but I don't think its the best approach for this. Most people use it mainly for cleaning .esms, myself included. Also, about the amount of records, I'm aware of that, but that's exactly why I'm going to try this alone. There is already a portuguese fan translation avaliable here in Brazil, done by several people, but I personally really don't like it. There are a lot of oversights, some terms (like "dragonborn") are translated in more than one way in different occasions, and some texts were just not translated at all. Overall, a kinda messy translation, if you ask me. So, by doing it alone, I can at least guarantee I'm translating everything evenly. And yeah, if I ever get to finish this, I'm fully aware that it will take me at least months.

[smr1957]

Most people use it for cleaning is like using a Ferrari or Maserati to drive the trash to the curbside - LOL! I use xEdit for everything - I probably have more hours in it than anyone but the developers - over 6000. I find it extraordinarily easy to handle dialogue records.

But, it's irrelevant what I find easy, since I'm not the one doing this! One of my friends in the forum, loves the CK - not me. The most effective tool is the one you are most comfortable with, even if nobody else is.

And I totally understand the need to do it yourself. I may say a team would be more effective, but I would do as you do - that way everything turns out the way you want.

I really wish you good luck with this! Hope to someday be congratulating you on completing it!

[Arthur]

Originally posted by smr1957:

Most people use it for cleaning is like using a Ferrari or Maserati to drive the trash to the curbside - LOL! I use xEdit for everything - I probably have more hours in it than anyone but the developers - over 6000. I find it extraordinarily easy to handle dialogue records.

But, it's irrelevant what I find easy, since I'm not the one doing this! One of my friends in the forum, loves the CK - not me. The most effective tool is the one you are most comfortable with, even if nobody else is.

And I totally understand the need to do it yourself. I may say a team would be more effective, but I would do as you do - that way everything turns out the way you want.

I really wish you good luck with this! Hope to someday be congratulating you on completing it!

Thank you so much! Really appreciate the motivation!
And yeah, totally agree with what you said. I don't really have any experience with modding and the like, so I'll probably end up experimenting with all three tools (Translator, TES5Edit and the CK) to see what I'll like more. And well... Long journey ahead!