Update 1.59.1 - LANGUAGES... AND MORE!

KoMiKoZa · January 1, 2025

Greetings, Warriors!

The Serpent has come bearing gifts!

Let's kick off the New Year with the great news that a lot of our players have been waiting for: Languages, Translations, Localizations, Dubs - you name it.

With this update, we're introducing a feature that has been in development for a good while, and we're finally ready and excited to present it to you as its foundation is now fully integrated into the game.

• The Multilanguage System

Yes, it's not just any system, it's a multilanguage system, allow us to explain.

Back in 2001-2002, and pretty much until today, if you wanted to play Battle Realms in German, you needed the separate German version. French? Different disc/version entirely. Each region had its own localized version of the game, all of them being separate from each other.

Today, with the introduction of the Multilanguage System, you not only have all the languages in one place (that the game had at the time of its release, excluding Korean), but you can also mix and match text and speech from each, creating unique combinations of, say, German Text and Spanish Audio.

(this is a video, if you can't click it, open the announcement in a separate page, if you have no sound, click on the speaker icon)

You might be wondering why it took us so long to bring these languages back. We sincerely apologize it had to be this long. When we first started working on Battle Realms: Zen Edition, we were new to the game's 20-year-old development pipeline. We spent a significant amount of time figuring out how everything worked and rebuilding the necessary tools to work with the game files.

Meanwhile, as we progressed, the game kept evolving, with many English text tweaks integrated. We were mainly focused on fixing existing issues and enhancing the game, which meant we couldn't dedicate enough time and energy to re-translating everything or involving the community in that process.

We also intentionally bypassed Steam's language system because:

It would’ve created unnecessary complications due to the need to create and maintain different file depos for each language.
We felt that Steam's method was inconvenient and not obvious to players in terms of UI.
Text- wise, the game already had foundation for multiple languages since the beginning; we needed to polish and finish the system properly.
Steam doesn't support mixing text and speech from different languages, a feature we identified as valuable while developing the system.

In the end, it all worked out thanks to your continuous patience and support of our work.

• Added Languages

With the release of 1.59.1 and the initial iteration of this system, we're adding a total of 6 languages:

German
- You can now play the game in German with the original dubbing. However, WOTW dub remains in English, for now.
- The text has been updated to reflect the ZE changes excluding some nuanced hardcoded elements (we're on it).
French
- You can now play the game in French with the original dubbing. However, WOTW dub remains in English, for now.
- The text has been updated to reflect the ZE changes excluding some nuanced hardcoded elements (we're on it).
Spanish
- You can now play the game in Spanish with the original dubbing. However, WOTW dub remains in English, for now.
- WOTW Campaign remains in English, for now.
- The text has been updated to reflect the ZE changes excluding some nuanced hardcoded elements (we're on it).
Russian (Cyrillic Limitations)
- Any player text written in Russian will only be seen by the people who also play the game with the Russian Text. It's the original limitation of the game that we're trying to navigate around.
- Текст игры страдает от нехватки великой и ужасной буквы 'ё', скоро исправим.
- You can now play the game in Russian with the original dubbing. However, WOTW dub remains in English, for now.
- The text has been updated to reflect the ZE changes excluding some nuanced hardcoded elements (we're on it).
Italian (Text Only)
- WOTW menu, tooltips and miscellaneous information has been translated
- WOTW Campaign remains in English, for now.
- The text has been updated to reflect the ZE changes excluding some nuanced hardcoded elements (we're on it).
Polish (Text Only)
- WOTW menu, tooltips and miscellaneous information has been translated
- WOTW Campaign remains in English, for now.
- The text has been updated to reflect the ZE changes excluding some nuanced hardcoded elements (we're on it).

Currently Spanish, Russian, Italian and Polish don't have campaign translations for Grayback's Journey (Wolf Campaign), we'll be working on that, and you'll see it coming soon in the next updates.

Korean is not yet included in the game, but we're on it. Other than that, this pretty much means that ZE now has all the languages BR has ever been localized into (officially), and all of that in one easily available place.

• Join The Team

Now that things have calmed down a bit, and we've rebuilt the tools needed for proper translations, we're ready to bring even more languages to the game. That's where you come in. For now, it's only text, but we're hoping to possibly figure out some dubbing in the future.

With the adjustments we've made, the game is now able to support a total of 21 additional languages: Belarusian, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Estonian, Filipino, Finnish, Hungarian, Indonesian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Malaysian, Norwegian, Portuguese, Romanian, Slovak, Slovenian, Swedish, Turkish and Ukrainian.

Therefore, we're launching the Battle Realms Translation Initiative, and yeah, we want YOU on board. Battle Realms isn't just a game - it's all of us, this entire community. Your passion, your feedback, your support - that's what keeps this game alive. And now you can help bring it to even more players.

"But what's it actually like being a translator for this?" Pretty chill, honestly. You'll probably spend a couple hours a week with the game text, whenever it fits your schedule. Jump into Discord sometimes to chat about tricky phrases or share ideas. We've got a great community, and devs will be there to help you out if you get stuck.

Each language gets a small team - about five people. One person acts as curator, but don't worry, it's not some big corporate thing (we're indie, after all). If you're a curator, you're basically the team's guide. Keep everyone in the loop, help sort out any translation questions and be our go-to person when the team needs to check something with the devs. If you know the game well and love bringing people together, this could be your thing.

Our end-goal is to bring as many translations as possible, and, perfect them, hopefully preserving the spirit and essence of Battle Realms throughout the language variety.

We know this is a long and difficult process, and we’re committed to making it as smooth as possible. But we can’t do it alone. If you’re fluent in any of these languages—and you are passionate about the game— please, reach out! The easiest way is to DM me (Komi) on Discord. Just keep in mind, Discord will be our main hub for coordination. It’s where all the action happens, so you’ll have to join it anyway. Don't worry if you're new to Discord though - we'll help you figure it out.

So if you’re ready, shoot right away.

• SEA Communities

Let's be real - Southeast Asia is where Battle Realms truly found its heart. From one country to another, the game spread through internet cafes faster than we could track. Those late-night tournaments, the legendary strategies, the communities that formed around single computers, the funny bugs after all (CTRL+D anyone?) - that's Battle Realms history right there.

That's why getting languages like Filipino, Vietnamese, and Thai into the game, for us, is a matter of principle. It's about giving back to the community that never gave up on BR.

Some languages will be easier to add than others. Filipino and Indonesian? Pretty straightforward since they use Latin letters. Thai needs some extra work because of its unique alphabet, and Vietnamese has its own special diacritics we need to understand how handle. It'll take time to get everything right, but we're committed to making it happen.

Same as the above, let us know if you guys would like to participate in the future translation into these languages.

1.59.1 Changes:

We brought those as well.

Technical:

Implemented multi-language support (text + audio)
Updated and enhanced the game's font
Disabled default D3D9On12 to prevent DirectX crashes
Restored and improved unit anti-stacking mechanics
Battle gear target cursor now deactivates when move orders are needed
improved anti "instant-shoot" solution and fixed animation issues for units using special battle gear animations
Eliminated redundant battle gear visual effects on melee weapon impacts
Added AffectOwner to Data_Abilities

Gameplay:

Fixed abilities still increasing or decreasing Fire AM as per Update 1.58.3 redesign of Fire into "True Damage"
[Campaign - Kenji] Monastery HP increased from 1250 to 3000
[Campaign - Grayback] Shale Pile HP increased from 250 to 750
[Campaign - Grayback] Landslide HP increased from 250 to 750
[Serpent Clan] Serpent Tower will now prevent enemy units from running (forcing them to walk) for as long as the daze effect is active
[Serpent Clan] Ronin will now take 150% damage from Explosive attacks instead of 175%
[Serpent Clan] Ronin will now take 100% damage from Piercing attacks instead of 125%
[Serpent Clan] Ronin's base damage decreased from 30 to 28
[Dragon Clan] Samurai will now take 150% damage from Explosive attacks instead of 175%
[Dragon Clan] Samurai will now take 88% damage from Piercing attacks instead of 100%
[Dragon Clan] Guardian's Concussion Smash will now also affect himself (damage+stun)
[Lotus Clan] Blade Acolyte will now restore stamina 2x slower
Damage type (melee/ranged) now correctly matches the source weapon type (fixing Mauler Wrecking Ball vs Staff Adept Dark Canopy bug where Canopy protected against this damage when it shouldn't have)
Fixed hybrid units (melee+ranged) getting stuck when targeting buildings from watchtowers.
AI now considers recruiting golems as peasants when urgency is high
Enhanced AI prioritization of damaged watchtower repairs
Removed "AI" prefix from AI player names
Fixed infinite climbing bug when peasants attempted to mount burning watchtowers
Restricted Yin/Yang acquisition to units only, preventing harvesting from trees and buildings
Units now retain tamed wolves when morphing (i.e. Berserker -> Werewolf). Previously the Wolf would "lose" its host and become hostile.
Prevented Necromancer from reviving zombies during Spirit Warrior ability
Fixed healing spell deactivation for full-health targets
Improved healer targeting logic for immobile units
Adjusted mounted swordsmen positioning in the initial campaign mission

This is huge for us, and we hope you're as excited as we are. Battle Realms has always been about its players - you've stuck with us through everything, and this is our way of saying thanks. We couldn't have made it this far without you. Together, we're making Battle Realms better than ever.

Until next time - May your rice fields be plentiful this year! For The Serpent!

Battle Realms Discord:

[discord.gg]

Join the official server for the game, the universe, and the community if you haven't. Discord has proven to be a very helpful and fun program to use for us (as developers), so we're quite keen on maintaining our server.

Populated by more than 4000 warriors, it is a solid communication bridge between us and all of you.
If you're having issues, planning to report a bug, or just want to learn something new about the game and communicate with other fans or even developers -- we'd like to see you there, come around!

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