Translation enablement for ShadowEmpire
Posted: Mon Jul 20, 2026 4:03 pm
Hi Vic! I built a localization framework for Shadow Empire that makes the game translatable into any left-to-right language purely through external CSV files + font swaps — no code edits, no rebuild, and it's hot-reloadable. As a proof of concept I'm doing a full Russian translation (work in progress, dozens of screens done — screenshots below).
A few things I want to be upfront about, because I'd rather ask before releasing anything:
It works via a small patcher that IL-patches the local ShadowEmpire.exe on the user's machine. It's fully reversible (keeps a ShadowEmpire_original.exe backup) and never ships a pre-patched exe.
No game strings are hardcoded — all translations live in editable CSV, so anyone could translate into their own language without touching code.
Non-Latin scripts need Cyrillic-capable fonts, so it swaps the game's fonts for free/open ones (SIL OFL / DejaVu). Original game fonts are never redistributed, only replaced.
I would not distribute any decompiled game code.
Before I invest the rest of the translation work: would you be OK with me releasing this publicly (framework + language packs), and if so where/how would you prefer? Also — is a community localization something you'd have any interest in supporting or even adding official hooks for? Happy to share full technical details.
Best regards,
Yuri
A few things I want to be upfront about, because I'd rather ask before releasing anything:
It works via a small patcher that IL-patches the local ShadowEmpire.exe on the user's machine. It's fully reversible (keeps a ShadowEmpire_original.exe backup) and never ships a pre-patched exe.
No game strings are hardcoded — all translations live in editable CSV, so anyone could translate into their own language without touching code.
Non-Latin scripts need Cyrillic-capable fonts, so it swaps the game's fonts for free/open ones (SIL OFL / DejaVu). Original game fonts are never redistributed, only replaced.
I would not distribute any decompiled game code.
Before I invest the rest of the translation work: would you be OK with me releasing this publicly (framework + language packs), and if so where/how would you prefer? Also — is a community localization something you'd have any interest in supporting or even adding official hooks for? Happy to share full technical details.
Best regards,
Yuri