Create Strings POT

Version History

Build Version	Change Date	Change Type	Description
676042	2025-06-21	stable	Current version

Overview

The createstringspo.lua script is the main tool for generating POT (Portable Object Template) files from the game's string tables. This system handles localization workflows for the base game across multiple platforms, providing industry-standard translation file formats.

The system provides:

• Multi-Platform Support: Handles string generation for Steam, PlayStation, Xbox, and Rail platforms
• Localization Pipeline: Converts game strings into POT format for translation workflows
• UTF-8 Compliance: Properly handles UTF-8 encoding with reserved byte sequences
• Version Compatibility: Supports both v1 (msgid-based) and v2 (msgctxt-based) formats
• Quality Assurance: Advanced validation and sorting for cleaner output files

Usage Example

-- Set platform and enable POT generation
POT_GENERATION = true
PLATFORM = "WIN32_STEAM"
require "strings"

-- Generate POT file in v2 format
CreateStringsPOTv2("languages/strings.pot", "STRINGS", STRINGS)

-- Generate with translation data
CreateStringsPOTv2("output/french.po", "STRINGS", french_strings, STRINGS)

Command Line Usage

# Generate for Steam (default)
lua.exe createstringspo.lua

# Generate for Rail platform
lua.exe createstringspo.lua RAIL

# Generate for PlayStation
lua.exe createstringspo.lua PS4

# Generate for Xbox
lua.exe createstringspo.lua XBL

Constants

STRING_RESERVED_LEAD_BYTES

Value: {238, 239}

Status: 🟢 stable

Description: UTF-8 byte sequences that are reserved and ignored during POT file generation.

Platform Support Matrix

Platform	Argument	PLATFORM Value	Description
Steam	(default)	WIN32_STEAM	Default Windows Steam platform
Rail	RAIL	WIN32_RAIL	WeGame/Rail platform (China)
PlayStation	PS4	PS4	PlayStation 4 platform
Xbox	XBL	XBL	Xbox Live platform

Functions

CreateStringsPOTv1(filename, root, tbl_dta, tbl_lkp)

Status: 🟢 stable

Description: Creates a POT file using the original msgid-based format. Includes duplicate detection.

Parameters:

• filename (string, optional): Output filename, defaults to "data\scripts\languages\temp_v1.pot"
• root (string, optional): Root table name, defaults to "STRINGS"
• tbl_dta (table): Table containing string data to process
• tbl_lkp (table, optional): Lookup table for translation data

Example:

CreateStringsPOTv1("output/strings_v1.pot", "STRINGS", STRINGS)

Version History:

• Added in build 676042: Current stable implementation

CreateStringsPOTv2(filename, root, tbl_dta, tbl_lkp)

Status: 🟢 stable

Description: Creates a POT file using the enhanced msgctxt-based format with proper headers and alphabetical sorting.

Parameters:

• filename (string, optional): Output filename, defaults to "data\scripts\languages\temp_v2.pot"
• root (string, optional): Root table name, defaults to "STRINGS"
• tbl_dta (table): Table containing string data to process
• tbl_lkp (table, optional): Lookup table for translation data

Example:

CreateStringsPOTv2("languages/strings.pot", "STRINGS", STRINGS)

-- With translation data
CreateStringsPOTv2("output/french.po", "STRINGS", french_strings, STRINGS)

Version History:

• Added in build 676042: Current stable implementation

IsValidString(str)

Status: 🟢 stable

Description: Validates if a string should be included in POT generation by checking for reserved UTF-8 byte sequences.

Parameters:

• str (string): String to validate

Returns:

• (boolean): True if string is valid for POT generation, false otherwise

Example:

if IsValidString(game_string) then
    -- Process string for POT file
end

Version History:

• Added in build 676042: Current stable implementation

LookupIdValue(lkp_var, path)

Status: 🟢 stable

Description: Performs dynamic lookup of string values from a lookup table using dot-delimited path syntax.

Parameters:

• lkp_var (string): Name of variable holding lookup table
• path (string): Dot-delimited path to the value (e.g., "STRINGS.NAMES.TORCH")

Returns:

• (string): Value from lookup table if found, nil otherwise

Example:

local value = LookupIdValue("STRINGS_LOOKUP", "STRINGS.NAMES.TORCH")
if value then
    print("Found translation: " .. value)
end

Version History:

• Added in build 676042: Current stable implementation

Common Usage Patterns

-- Basic POT generation
POT_GENERATION = true
PLATFORM = "WIN32_STEAM"  -- Set by command line argument
require "strings"

-- Generate v2 format POT file
CreateStringsPOTv2("languages/strings.pot", "STRINGS", STRINGS)

-- Generate with translation data
local french_strings = LoadTranslationTable("french_strings.lua")
CreateStringsPOTv2("output/french.po", "STRINGS", french_strings, STRINGS)

-- Validate strings before processing
if IsValidString(game_string) then
    -- String is safe for POT generation
end

Related Modules

• Create Strings POT DLC: DLC-specific POT generation system
• Localization: Main localization system that uses POT files
• Strings: String table definitions and structure
• Constants: Game constants including platform identifiers

Status Indicators

🟢 Stable: All core functionality is stable and production-ready