Translating Ren'Py — Ren'Py Documentation

# Translating Ren'Py

It is possible to translate Ren'Py itself. A complete translation translates the GUI, various Ren'Py messages, new projects, and the launcher. This should cover most gameplay and development scenarios. Right now, not every error message can be translated.

To create a new translation:

1. Open the Ren'Py launcher.
2. On the preferences page, choose "Open launcher project".
3. Choose "Generate Translations."
4. Enter the name of the language to translate to. This should consist of lowercase ASCII characters and underscores, so "japanese", "russian", or "ancient_klingon" are all valid language names.
5. Choose "Generate Translations."

The same procedure can be used to update a language translation. To access the created translation, return to the preferences, then choose the newly created language. Note that by default, the translation will be a copy of the English translation.

## Translation Files

The translation files live in launcher/game/tl/language/. With the exception of script.rpy, all files consist of string translations that can be translated using the string translation syntax. Some strings might begin with "## ". These are comments that are translated, wrapped, and included in the options.rpy and gui.rpy files.

The translation files are:

common.rpy
  This file contains interface messages (strings) that Ren'Py may present to the player.
developer.rpy
  This file contains strings that are only of interest to creators, and not players.
error.rpy
  This file contains strings that are displayed to the developer or player when Ren'Py has a problem.
gui.rpy
  This file contains comments that are placed into the default GUI.
launcher.rpy
  This file contains strings that are displayed as part of the launcher.
obsolete.rpy
  The file contains strings that are not used by modern Ren'Py.
options.rpy
  This file contains strings that are used to translate the comments in the default options.rpy file.
screens.rpy
  This file contains strings that are used by the default gui, and the comments in the default screens.rpy file.
script.rpym
  The contents of this file are copied, verbatim, into script.rpy when a new project is created.
style.rpy
  This file does not exist by default, but should be created when needed. It configures the launcher styles, and the font that is used by a generated game.

## Changing Fonts

Ren'Py ships with a default font (DejaVuSans) that covers most western languages, but other fonts are often needed. A font can be configured by editing launcher/game/tl/language/style.rpy, and adding:

    init python:
        translate_font("language", "myfont.ttf")

Where "language" is the language in question (for example, "japanese"), and "myfont.ttf" is the font that should be used (for example, "MTLc3m.ttf"). The font file should be placed in the launcher/game/tl/language directory, so it can be found by the launcher.

## Changing the Launcher Style

The styles used by the launcher can be configured by setting variables in a `translate python` block. The following variables are available. The names are a bit confusing, as they reflect the English-language translation.

These variables are only available in the launcher.

define `gui.LIGHT_FONT` = "Roboto-Light.ttf"

  The path to the font used for normal text in the launcher.

define `gui.REGULAR_FONT` = "Roboto-Regular.ttf"

  The path to the font used for heavy-weight text in the launcher.

define `gui.REGULAR_BOLD` = False

  If True, heavy-weight text is bolded.

define `gui.FONT_SCALE` = 1.0

  A scaling factor that is applied to all text in the launcher.

A `translate python` block is used to set these variables. For example, the following is used to change the fonts in the Arabic translation of Ren'Py:

    translate arabic python:
        gui.REGULAR_FONT = "DejaVuSans.ttf"
        gui.LIGHT_FONT = "DejaVuSans.ttf"
        gui.FONT_SCALE = .9
        gui.REGULAR_BOLD = True

## Functions

The following functions are used to configure translation in the launcher. They should be called from the `init python` block.

`translate_font`(language, font)

  This is used to set a font for language. The font is used in the launcher, and also used to in games generated in that language. The font file should be placed in game/fonts.

  font
    A string giving the name of the font file.

`translate_define`(language, define, value, help=None)

  This is used to set a define when generating a game. For example, it can be used to change the size of a font.

  language
    The language involved.
  define
    The name of the define.
  value
    A string giving the value the define should be set to. (ie. "10", "False", or "'Font.ttf'").
  comment
    If not None, a comment that will be generated before the define. The comment will only be generated if the define does not exist in gui.rpy. There is no need to use "## ", as the comment will be added and wrapped automatically.

  For example, the following changes the size of dialogue text:

      translate_define("martian", "gui.text_size", 12)