Skip to main content

Createstringspo

Based on game build 714014 | Last updated: 2026-03-10

Overview​

createstringspo.lua is a standalone Lua script used to extract localized strings from the game’s STRINGS table and generate GNU gettext-compatible template files (.pot). It supports two output formats:

  • v1: Uses msgid directly from string values (older format).
  • v2: Uses msgctxt to disambiguate strings with identical msgid by including their full table path (e.g., STRINGS.NAMES.BEE), ensuring uniqueness.

The script also supports providing a separate lookup table (tbl_lkp) to align translated strings with original keys during version migrations (e.g., from a legacy strings.lua translation to the new v2 format). It is not an ECS component—instead, it runs as a CLI tool for mod and game string extraction.

Usage example​

-- Generate a v2-format .pot file from the built-in STRINGS table
CreateStringsPOTv2("languages/strings.pot", "STRINGS", STRINGS)

-- Generate a v2-format .pot file using a custom lookup table for translation alignment
CreateStringsPOTv2("languages/custom.pot", "STRINGS", MY_TRANSLATED_STRINGS, STRINGS)

Dependencies & tags​

Components used: None
Tags: None identified
External dependencies: Requires strings.lua and standard Lua modules (io, string). Uses platform detection via command-line arguments (arg[1]).

Properties​

No public properties.

Main functions​

CreateStringsPOTv1(filename, root, tbl_dta, tbl_lkp)​

  • Description: Generates a .pot file in v1 format using msgid-only entries. If a lookup table (tbl_lkp) is provided, it tries to find corresponding original msgid values for translated strings.
  • Parameters:
    • filename (string, optional): Output file path. Defaults to "data\\scripts\\languages\\temp_v1.pot".
    • root (string, optional): Starting path in the string table. Defaults to "STRINGS".
    • tbl_dta (table, required): The translation source table (e.g., STRINGS).
    • tbl_lkp (table, optional): Lookup table of original strings for translating existing translations.
  • Returns: Nothing.
  • Error states: Silently skips duplicate msgid strings with a console warning.

CreateStringsPOTv2(filename, root, tbl_dta, tbl_lkp)​

  • Description: Generates a .pot file in v2 format, where msgctxt contains the full table path (e.g., msgctxt "STRINGS.NAMES.BEE"), disambiguating strings with identical values.
  • Parameters: Same as CreateStringsPOTv1.
  • Returns: Nothing.
  • Error states: Skips strings that begin with reserved UTF-8 bytes (238, 239). Logs potential omissions for strings longer than 4 characters with unexpected reserved bytes.

Events & listeners​

None. This script is not event-driven.