The Witcher

Integrated support and separation for other language and "translation mods"

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Files that are written in languages other than English and "translation" mods (authors who have translated an English mod in to another language) have always caused a bit of a pickle for users on the Nexus due to the fact they're mixed in with all the other mods in one big soup. If you're an English-only speaker it can be a bit of a pain having to navigate past numerous mods written in different languages, or indeed multiple different translations for the same mod. Similarly if you're looking for a translation of a popular mod in your language that, too, can be difficult and inefficient. Some popular mods can have many different translations. If you search for Immersive Armors, for example, which has 12 translation mods made for it, it can actually be a bit hard to find the main mod in between all the translations (you typically need to look for the file with the highest number of downloads).

We've always been a bit apprehensive about files uploaded in languages other than English. They're harder to moderate and they can, as mentioned above, cause a lot of bloat in the file database. Today's update is supposed to help in this regard. We've released a foundation update to the sites that is supposed to help better separate the multi-language content here on the Nexus and allow you, the user, to choose which content you see and which content you don't see, hopefully making browsing the file databases that little bit easier.

So, where to start?

On the file uploading side of things, authors will notice that we've added a few more fields to Step 2 (or the first step if you aren't picking a game for your mod first). These new fields are right at the top so they shouldn't be hard to miss. You now specify whether your file is a "Normal file/mod" or whether it is a "Translation of a file/mod that already exists". Pretty straight forward. If it's not a translation, it's a normal file. Next, you specify the language of your mod. There's a drop-down that covers the main ones, and if the language your file is for isn't listed you simply select the "Other" option and state it in the file name.

For normal files that's all there is to it. However, if your file is a translation there's an extra field to fill in. Specifically, what file your file is a translation of. We've stipulated a new rule with this addition, which is quite important, that we are now only allowing translations of mods actually on the Nexus. This goes hand-in-hand with the new functionality of this update. We need to be able to link the translation to a file on our database. Begin entering the name of the file and you should be presented with a list of mods that fit what you've entered. Click the correct file from the list and that's it.

On the file authoring side that's the only change; 2 or 3 new fields to fill in.

The changes to file pages depends on what sort of file it is. If your file is a normal file (and not a translation) then there is no change at all unless someone has created a translation for your mod. If there is a translation for your file then a new small button will show in the "Actions" tab (below your file stats) labelled "Translations". Clicking this button will show a pop-up with the translations available for your mod, the language of the translation and who made the translation. If your file has no translations then this new button will not show on your page.

If your file is a translation then there's two changes to a normal file page. Next to where the "Download (NMM)" or "Download (Manual)" button would normally show is a new button labelled "Original file". This links back to the file which your translation is based on. Similarly, if someone attempts to endorse your translation then an additional step is added to the endorsement process. This extra step asks the user if they would like to endorse both your translation and the original file, or just your translation and not the original file. As a mod author this might sound a bit odd to you (or, hopefully, it doesn't), "But Dark0ne, how can someone like a translation but not like the original file enough to endorse it?". Well, simply put, someone might not like your file enough to endorse it. They might still use your file and they might want to thank the person who bothered to do a decent translation of your file. It's not beyond the realms of possibility and it's important that users are given the choice so it doesn't demean the endorsement system.

Those are the only changes on the file pages. Next, we've also made changes to the file searching by adding an extra "Language" option to the list of variables you can sort through on the right-hand side.

First of all it's important to note that translations will no longer show by default in the search results. If you're looking for translations you should tick the "Only show translations" box, which does exactly what it says it does. Next up, you can now specifically choose to only see results for file results in your specific language. If you select "English" you'll only see files marked as English. If you select "Portuguese" you'll only see files marked as Portuguese, and so on. This is stipulated by the drop-down menu in Step 2 when first adding a file or in "Edit Attributes" if you've already uploaded a file before this update. If you do not update this information then your mod will not show when a language is picked by the user. Which brings me on to the next point...

This change is opt-in rather than opt-out. Or better put, it was not/is not possible to create a script which will automatically convert all translation files already in the database in to the proper format. Similarly, we can't create a script which will automatically update the current files in the database with the correct language tag. I'll be changing files as and when I have the time and as and when I see them, but we're relying on the actual authors of their files to update them accordingly. And just a quick tip, if you don't update your file's language then you won't show in the results for that language, e.g. right now I notice a few people have already changed their language to English before I've posted this article. Their files will show when a user has selected "English", your file, if you haven't changed it, won't. So you'll be missing out on exposure, if that bothers you.

As I mentioned earlier this is a foundation update, which means it's an early release which will probably be updated or changed based on the feedback you provide on the functionality. If you think it can be changed to work better then let me know and we'll have a think about it. The design document for this update was posted in the mod author forums for scrutiny with no complaints so I'm hoping this change will be welcomed.

54 comments

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  1. GorrWarrior
    GorrWarrior
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    Sorry, I don't know where to report this. Sometimes when I come here I get a pop up page. Last night it was a warning about online forgery and just now I got a 'you need to install this media player' with a Setup.exe. Is this the site or just my computer ... thanks for any help.
    1. DeathMotif
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      Probably your computer. I've never had a problem with this at this site, though I have encountered other sites that do this...just not Nexus.
    2. GorrWarrior
      GorrWarrior
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      Thank you for your reply. Kudos!!
    3. Alyzabeth
      Alyzabeth
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      Download a free anti-virus if you dont have one.
    4. ModBox
      ModBox
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      *headdesk* likely what caused the problem. Seriously, if you can't look after your computer, just buy something that can do the job properly. Buy it. BUY IT. MONEY. WITH CASH. FROM A SHOP. Please, for all our sakes. Limits the abuse of your system in illegitimate activity, such as DDOS attacks and fraud. Thank you
  2. janlevkoff
    janlevkoff
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    What is the point of having a preferences option to decide which languages we want to receive in our feeds if they're ignored. I removed all but English and Japanese from my feeds, but still seem to be receiving all languages. Can that be fixed?
    1. aloot
      aloot
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      Give it some time. Not every author has been made aware of this feature yet. I posted about the update on a few French and Spanish sites, and many people are coming back to properly update their files, but again, not every one is aware yet of this new feature. Thus people are not per se "ignoring" the feature. Plus a lot of people simply stopped playing, so you might never see some files properly updated.

      This seems like more of an implementation for the long term. As time goes on, I'm sure you'll see fewer and fewer translations and undesired files show up in your feed.
  3. Stewb
    Stewb
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    Just a question because I don't think I understood properly. There's an option to endorse the translation, but not the original. Then theres the option to endorse both, but if someone downloads the translation and thinks the original is good enough for an endorsement but not the translation can they endorse the original without endorsing the translation? (As far as I remember you have to download the file to endorse) True they can just download the original too, then endorse it - Just wanted to clarify if it was an option to endorse the original after downloading the translation? (I know I'm confusing at times so don't worry about asking me to clarify what I mean)
  4. Thandal
    Thandal
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    The use of languages other than English for anything other than translation mods simply invites the kind of poor behaviour all too present on all too many internet sites.  I won't pick on any particular language, but I can assure you that if we allowed regular posting in any language that ALL of the Staff here could not easily understand, that is exactly what would happen.
     
    As a moderator on a multilingual commercial site, I can share the experience they had; they now only open a non-English forum when they have paid staff who are native speakers of that language to oversee it.  That wasn't their original plan, it's what the "community" forced them to do. 
    1. aloot
      aloot
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      If you guys ever change your minds, I'd recommend doing a test run with German or French. Both have strong gaming communities, and plenty of people who'd moderate the forums.
  5. MODinsane
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    Sometimes we have to lighten up a bit, my sarcasm gets in the way. Skyrim is everywhere all over the world, great and that is no problem for me either. However, I speak American and I don't Press One for English. I have enough trouble keeping the game working, I know our friends from other countries have enough trouble with American. Just an example, I mean, how many times does one use "no" and "know" to know when to say no in American! "I don't know why Vilja keeps talking all of the time, does anyone know why I cant just say no?"
     
    Ill remove myself from No, Know and No! Don't get me started on the other American language quirks! Do I weigh this or way it, or just waste away in the waist? Maybe the Star Ship Enterprise needs to beam us down a universal translator!LOL
    1. Rethrain
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      "I don't know why Vilja keeps talking all of the time, does anyone know why I cant just say no?"

      Cause she's a girl and she's pretty. They talk and you can't say no.

      Honestly, I just switch her off mentally. Please Vilja, daddy is working now.
  6. Thandal
    Thandal
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    Personally, I blame the English. 
  7. secretkeeper12
    secretkeeper12
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    Only change I'd make is to have translations be a search option that's enabled rather than specified (I.E. an option for "Show translations" instead of or in addition to "Only show translations"). I feel this would make searches more convenient by including every result at once, rather than seperating them into different categories. Someone who might want but not necessarily need a translation could benefit from this option, the way I see it.

    Otherwise, good work on the organization! An ordered place where you can easily find any mod you desire is exactly what I think the Nexus should be.
  8. Thandal
    Thandal
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    @VIllkorn;  Glad you solved it (found the "log-in buddy" icon in the bottom-left corner, did you?)  But next time, please don't hijack someone else's thread.  And use the Open Beta Feedback forum for NMM-specific questions or issues.  Thanks!
  9. Villkorn
    Villkorn
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    Hi, I have a question not related to the post, but related to NMM.

    I can launch NMM and it loads completely fine, except im not logged in and there's no log in symbol anywhere.

    Is it meant to be like this with the new 0.47.xx versions?

    Edit:
    Nevermind, I fixed it!
  10. Dark0ne
    Dark0ne
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    For people saying you need an "Any" tag, are you telling me you've written your descriptions in all the languages out there? The language tag is as much the language of your description as it is the language of your actual mod contents. If your mod is a texture mod but the description is in English then that's an English mod. The language filters are for people looking for file pages and files themselves in their specific language.
    1. Gruftlord
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      browsers have built in translation tools nowadays (how crappy they may be). plus texture mods come with pictures. i am pretty sure people looking for textures couldn't care less about the description page
    2. LeanWolf
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      Are you telling me people actually read the description pages?
      Sorry, as a mod author I couldn't resist.

      But yeah, what Gruftlord said. We were assuming that this feature was to facilitate finding mods that have specific language compatibility, not the descriptions. Doesn't Nexus ask that English be used here? I thought I read that somewhere.
    3. Rethrain
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      Yep, some people do read descriptions, which is annoying when some are cluttered with rants against people that don't read the description...which...you know, will never get to be read by the target audience anyways, except us. =/