This guide aims to point the way for SWGEmu modders wanting to implement their own spoken languages into their servers. This is not a completely trivial process, and does require a solid grasp of SIE, and a general understanding of how SWG works under the hood. Once you've gone through this process once or twice, it should become quite trivial to do again.
As of time of writing, I'm not aware of any hard limitations on how many languages can be implemented, though it is likely practically unlimited.
- Game Language Datatable -
Open the following file in SIE: datatables/game_language/game_language.iff
This file defines the actual behaviour of the language, either declaring it a silent body language, or defining the actual letter swaps. In most cases you will want to do a letter swap. You can simply copy one of the existing letter swaps (Bothese is a good pick!) or create your own, it's up to you!
The first two columns of the datatable also define which skill mods the language is associated with, as well as the stringID, which is used for the prose display of the language. Enter appropriate values into these for your language and you'll be done with this file.
- Skills -
Open the skills datatable in datatables/skill/skills.iff
If you're an experienced SWG modder, you'll likely already be quite familiar with this file. Scroll down to where the languages are and simply copy the three skills associated with Bothese, and insert them back into the table, then change the names of the skill and skill mods to that of your language. You will also need to change the command column to match your language stringID from before.
NOTE: Due to a limitation of the client, new species can't be defined properly. As such it is HIGHLY advised that you leave the required species column alone!
- Strings -
The localisation strings for languages are quite straightforward, and self explanatory at this point. Open these stf files:
string/en/skl_n.stf
string/en/stat_n.stf
string/en/stat_d.stf
string/en/game_language.stf
And find the bothan language rows in each, copy them, and edit them to match your language instead.
This concludes the portion of work done in the client files. Additional changes will need to be made in your server files to enable new languages to function.
- Skills -
Go to: MMOCoreORB\bin\scripts\skills\language in your server files and copy the bothan speak and comprehend skills, renaming them to match the skill you created in SIE earlier. Open each file and replace each occurrence of "bothan" with your language. If you have made any other changes in your skills, make sure they are reflected in this file also.
- Language command -
Go to: MMOCoreORB\src\server\zone\objects\creature\commands and open SetSpokenLanguageCommand.h. Go to line 33 and change the 12 at the end of the if condition to match the number of languages in your game_language.iff file.
- Species -
Now that your language is implemented, you likely want to have one of your custom species start with it! For this all you have to do is add your language's speak and comprehend skills to the species' starting skills.
If you have followed all of these steps correctly, you should now have your very own spoken language on your SWGEmu server!
As of time of writing, I'm not aware of any hard limitations on how many languages can be implemented, though it is likely practically unlimited.
- Game Language Datatable -
Open the following file in SIE: datatables/game_language/game_language.iff
This file defines the actual behaviour of the language, either declaring it a silent body language, or defining the actual letter swaps. In most cases you will want to do a letter swap. You can simply copy one of the existing letter swaps (Bothese is a good pick!) or create your own, it's up to you!
The first two columns of the datatable also define which skill mods the language is associated with, as well as the stringID, which is used for the prose display of the language. Enter appropriate values into these for your language and you'll be done with this file.
- Skills -
Open the skills datatable in datatables/skill/skills.iff
If you're an experienced SWG modder, you'll likely already be quite familiar with this file. Scroll down to where the languages are and simply copy the three skills associated with Bothese, and insert them back into the table, then change the names of the skill and skill mods to that of your language. You will also need to change the command column to match your language stringID from before.
NOTE: Due to a limitation of the client, new species can't be defined properly. As such it is HIGHLY advised that you leave the required species column alone!
- Strings -
The localisation strings for languages are quite straightforward, and self explanatory at this point. Open these stf files:
string/en/skl_n.stf
string/en/stat_n.stf
string/en/stat_d.stf
string/en/game_language.stf
And find the bothan language rows in each, copy them, and edit them to match your language instead.
This concludes the portion of work done in the client files. Additional changes will need to be made in your server files to enable new languages to function.
- Skills -
Go to: MMOCoreORB\bin\scripts\skills\language in your server files and copy the bothan speak and comprehend skills, renaming them to match the skill you created in SIE earlier. Open each file and replace each occurrence of "bothan" with your language. If you have made any other changes in your skills, make sure they are reflected in this file also.
- Language command -
Go to: MMOCoreORB\src\server\zone\objects\creature\commands and open SetSpokenLanguageCommand.h. Go to line 33 and change the 12 at the end of the if condition to match the number of languages in your game_language.iff file.
- Species -
Now that your language is implemented, you likely want to have one of your custom species start with it! For this all you have to do is add your language's speak and comprehend skills to the species' starting skills.
If you have followed all of these steps correctly, you should now have your very own spoken language on your SWGEmu server!