Can I change game language to another without losing progress?

[Tarmo]

I was wondering if I could change Skyrim in-game language from English to German without losing my progress and saves in the game. I can see that you can choose from multiple languages by selecting and right-clicking Skyrim from the Steam list, but does that redownload the game files? I also tried changing the language from Skyrim.ini file from my local Documents folder but nothing happened and the language switched back to English when I started the game.

[Chellsea]

When you select a language other than English, Steam will download extra separate files of that language and then make some .ini changes so that the game uses these files. You won't lose your progress doing so. At least that's how Polish translation works.

The reason nothing happened is because you lacked the language files.

For example there is a file Skyrim - Voices.bsa that contains all the dialogue lines in the game. When you download the Polish translation, a file called Skyrim - Voices_PL.bsa is downloaded and placed in the same place as original file (not overwritten). Then, in tue .ini files a line is added so that the game uses sounds from this new file instead.

[Bomb Bloke]

For some languages (such as German, if memory serves), the alternate files downloaded actually end up putting you onto an older version of the game, which breaks compatibility with certain mods and will very likely prevent you from using your previous saves too.

I gather it's possible to get the language files from one version working with another, with a bit of messing about. There are mods on Nexus for the purpose.

[Chellsea]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von Bomb Bloke:

For some languages (such as German, if memory serves), the alternate files downloaded actually end up putting you onto an older version of the game

But if the translation is official, how could it be?

[Bomb Bloke]

Because Bethesda makes mistakes sometimes.

Whether by accident or out of laziness, who can say, but they're kinda well known for it. Likely they thought it wouldn't matter.

[Chellsea]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von Bomb Bloke:

Because Bethesda makes mistakes sometimes.

Whether by accident or out of laziness, who can say, but they're kinda well known for it. Likely they thought it wouldn't matter.

As far as I know, the translations are made by separate companies and only approved by Bethesda. For example Polish, Czech and Slovanian translations were made by Cenega, not Bethesda

[Bomb Bloke]

Sure, but the actual executable - which determines the game version number, and is what mods such as SKSE / USLEEP jump up and down and complain about - would be entirely Bethesda's responsibility.

Fortunately, only some languages are affected. Perhaps only even one.

[Tarmo]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von Bomb Bloke:

For some languages (such as German, if memory serves), the alternate files downloaded actually end up putting you onto an older version of the game, which breaks compatibility with certain mods and will very likely prevent you from using your previous saves too.

I gather it's possible to get the language files from one version working with another, with a bit of messing about. There are mods on Nexus for the purpose.

Ursprünglich geschrieben von Bomb Bloke:

Sure, but the actual executable - which determines the game version number, and is what mods such as SKSE / USLEEP jump up and down and complain about - would be entirely Bethesda's responsibility.

Fortunately, only some languages are affected. Perhaps only even one.

I have SKSE and multiple mods installed from Steam Workshop so I wouldn't want to break anything. Can you or someone else confirm that changing to German will put me back on an older version? Or has this issue been fixed?

[Chellsea]

I can't confirm it now because I'm at school.

Remember, that if you have mods such as Unofficial Skyrim Legendary Edition Patch installed, these mods are English, and as such everything it affects (which in case of USLEEP is pretty much half of the game) will be in English, even if your game has different language. This issue can be fixed by downloading trasnlations, for example this one:
http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/71217/?

Whenever a new version of the mod comes out, you need to wait for the creator of the translation to also release an update, otherwise you'll have issues. It's pretty much the reason I play on English version rather than polish. Having to find working, well done translations of all the mods, thus pretty much doubling the amount of stuff to download, and update. Ugh...

[Bomb Bloke]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von Tarmo:

I have SKSE and multiple mods installed from Steam Workshop so I wouldn't want to break anything. Can you or someone else confirm that changing to German will put me back on an older version? Or has this issue been fixed?

If you end up on an older version when changing languages, all you need to do is switch back. It won't mess with your load order or saves. I mean, autosaves maybe, but only if you do something to trigger one...

[Tarmo]

Thank you everyone for your input on this matter. I changed the game language from English to German without major problems and I can confirm that the game didn't fall back to an earlier version - both the English language and German language version had the same version number (1.9.32.0.8). Some of the in-game text is in both English and German, though. I'm hoping it's a temporary problem as my save started near a guy I just had a dialog with in the English version, so maybe the problem lies in the system which detects which phrases have been said (they're greyed out).

A follow-up question on this: is it possible to somehow make the dialog in German and all the subtitles and texts in English? How about the other way around?

[Chellsea]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von Tarmo:

Thank you everyone for your input on this matter. I changed the game language from English to German without major problems and I can confirm that the game didn't fall back to an earlier version - both the English language and German language version had the same version number (1.9.32.0.8). Some of the in-game text is in both English and German, though. I'm hoping it's a temporary problem as my save started near a guy I just had a dialog with in the English version, so maybe the problem lies in the system which detects which phrases have been said (they're greyed out).

A follow-up question on this: is it possible to somehow make the dialog in German and all the subtitles and texts in English? How about the other way around?

As I stated earlier, if you have mods like Unofficial Skyrim Patch, everything they change will be in English, which makes a lot of locations and items and dialogues and such have english names.

Yes, it is possible to make dialogue in German and subtitles in English, in fact I did it with polish version a while ago but I'm too lazy to explain. Sorry for that, but 20 minutes of tinkering with the files or just reading a guide online should help you

[Bomb Bloke]

Assuming you're running USLEEP (and you should be), this may be useful:

http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/71217/?

[NoticedByMany]

I've done this by changing the language of skyrim in steam settings etc. Steam will then download the new language pack, then you want to get the .bsa file that holds this 'other' language dialogue and then rename it the same as the og english dialogue file. Change the game back to english through steam settings and then replace that og english dialogue file with the 'other' language file renamed/disguised with the english dialogue file name. Since skyrim is set to english through steam it will try to use the english dialogue file, (which you've replaced with a renamed version of the 'other' language) now all the english dialogue will be in another language. Text and subtitles will remain in English.

However, I did this with Japanese dialogue and English text about 3 years ago now.

[NoticedByMany]

Someones posted a guide here:
https://www.reddit.com/r/skyrimmods/comments/939vyq/skse64_is_it_possible_to_change_voice_language/

But, instead of following the guide completely just get your hands on the 'other' language pack and rename that file to "Skyrim - Voices_en0.bsa" and put it back in.