Stringtable.xml

ⓘ

Stringtable.xml was introduced with Armed Assault. For Operation Flashpoint, see Stringtable.csv.

String tables are used to make internationalization easier for the game. They are used in addons, missions, and scripts, and are located in the root of the mission or addon folders.

Any strings that are used in the game can be kept separate from the code, and can therefore easily be edited and expanded into different languages. Instead of using strings directly in the code, you are using a variable. This variable will then contain the actual string, read from stringtable.xml, with the language that is being read depending on the game settings.

Stringtable Editors

It is strongly recommended to use a tool to edit the XML file; a selection of Stringtable Community Tools can be found in the Community Tools - Localisation Tools page section.

Example

Show Stringtable.xml example

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<Project name="Any Name">
	<Package name="Mission One">
		<Container name="Some Words">
			<Key ID="STR_TAG_Yes">
				<Original>yes</Original>
				<English>yes</English>
				<Czech>ano</Czech>
				<French>oui</French>
				<German>ja</German>
				<Italian>sì</Italian>
				<Polish>tak</Polish>
				<Portuguese>sim</Portuguese>
				<Russian>да</Russian>
				<Spanish>sí</Spanish>
				<Korean>네</Korean>
				<Japanese>はい</Japanese>
                <Chinesesimp>是</Chinesesimp>
                <Chinese>是（繁體）</Chinese>
			</Key>
			<Key ID="STR_TAG_No">
				<Original>no</Original>
			</Key>
		</Container>
		<Container name="Another Container">
			<Key ID="STR_TAG_formatted">
				<Original>Hello, %1.</Original>
			</Key>
			<Key ID="STR_TAG_structuredText">
				<Original>Some text &lt;t color='%1'&gt;%2&lt;/t&gt;</Original>
			</Key>
		</Container>
	</Package>
</Project>

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ⓘ

Package and Container "groups" are only helpful for organisation and have no impact on the translations; use them for your own sanity.

⚠

Stringtable.xml must be saved with UTF-8 Encoding for international characters to display and save correctly.

Supported languages

Arma 2 & Arma 2: Operation Arrowhead

Arma 3

className In-game name Note English English Czech Čeština French Français Spanish Español Italian Italiano Polish Polski Russian Русский German Deutsch Hungarian Magyar Partially supported Portuguese Portuguese Not available in-game

className In-game name Note English English Czech Čeština French Français Spanish Español Italian Italiano Polish Polski Portuguese Português do Brasil Russian Русский German Deutsch Korean 한국어 Japanese 日本語 Chinese 繁體中文 Chinese Traditional Chinesesimp 简体中文 Chinese Simplified Turkish Türkçe Swedish N/A Cannot be set in-game. Edit arma3.cfg to use that language. Slovak N/A SerboCroatian N/A Norwegian N/A Icelandic N/A Hungarian Magyar Greek N/A Finnish N/A Dutch N/A

Key naming convention

Same as global variables, it is recommended to use a TAG to prevent translation collision between mods (e.g STR_TAG_helloThere).

String Formats

Strings stored in the stringtable can be in the following formats:

• Normal text, such as Hello there
• format text, such as Hello %1
• Structured Text, such as <t size='2'>Hello</t> there, but:
  
  ⚠

  The HTML tag characters < and > must respectively be encoded as &lt; and &gt;.
  <t size='2'>Hello</t> there would then become &lt;t size='2'&gt;Hello&lt;/t&gt; there.

Usage

Script

A translation can be retrieved and used in a script by using the localize command:

hint localize "STR_TAG_Yes"; // returns "Yes" in English, "Oui" in French, etc.
hint format [localize "STR_TAG_formatted", name player];
hint localize "str_TAG_structuredText"; // casing in scripting does not matter

Config

Whether it is in Description.ext, Campaign Description.ext, Dialogs etc., a translated Config entry must use the $ prefix (to an uppercase STR) for the engine to look the translation key up:

onLoadName = "$STR_TAG_missionName";
onLoadMission = $STR_TAG_loadMissionText;	// works without quotes too - not recommended
overviewText = "$str_TAG_overviewText";		// invalid, will return "$str_TAG_overviewImage" (with $ sign)

The preprocessor will replace $STR entries with their corresponding Stringtable value.

Editor

In markers and other Eden Editor fields (e.g Mission Name), translation keys should be prefixed with @, without any quotes around - e.g @STR_myMarkerName. Casing does not matter here either.

Multiplayer

Multiplayer Scripting should consider that the translation implementation should ideally happen client-side; clients and server are likely to be configured in a different language, as a server-side call to global effect text commands (such as setMarkerText) would set the text in the server's language to everyone.

Example of client-side translation of a server message:

// Server-side
if (isServer) then
{
	[nil, nil, rHINT, localize "STR_TAG_myMessage"] call RE;			// Arma 2 - server language
	[nil, nil, rSPAWN, { hint localize "STR_TAG_myMessage" }] call RE;	// Arma 2 - client language
	["STR_TAG_myMessage"] remoteExecCall ["TAG_fnc_localHint"];			// Arma 3
};

// Client-side executed function
TAG_fnc_localHint = {
	if (hasInterface) then
	{
		// hintSilent parseText (localize _this);				// Arma 2
		hintSilent parseText (_this call BIS_fnc_localize);		// Arma 3
	};
};

Commands & Functions

• localize
• isLocalized
• BIS_fnc_localize (since Arma 3)
• getTextRaw (since Arma 3 v2.01)