REDNODE / DOCS

Localization

Status: proposed on 2026-10-18. L1’s core (the game’s language, t(), plurals, gender forms, game keys) and L3 (ink) were built as the native game UI’s phase I2d and passed in game on 2026-10-22 (results): the language is set only at the main menu and applies with no restart. The rest of L1 and L2 are not scheduled. Packages can ship text in other languages today with t() and locale files: see Native game UI: the language for what was built. REDnode’s own text is still English only: the launcher, the Mod Manager, the Welcome window and the UI kit’s own words. This page plans localization for all of REDnode: overlay windows, Node mods, manifests and the native game UI.

Three sources

Source What it gives How REDnode reads it
The game The language the player chose in the game’s settings. The game’s own strings, by LocKey# number or secondary key, in that language, with forms for V’s gender From the plugin. Strings: GetLocalizedText, GetLocalizedTextByKey, GetLocalizedTextGanderDepened, inkTextWidget.SetLocalizedText (all in the 2.31 dump). Language: unverified; the settings system (as for /audio/volume) or the engine’s inkLocalizationChangedEvent
Windows, through Electron The player’s real locale: the display languages in order and the regional format (numbers, dates, times) app.getPreferredSystemLanguages() and app.getSystemLocale() in the host. On this PC: ["en-US"] and en-US
The browser engine (Chromium and Node, with ICU) Formatting rules for every locale: numbers, currency, dates, relative times, lists, plural categories, collation, language names Intl in pages and in Node mods. Checked on 2026-10-18 in the host’s Electron 44: full ICU data, so new Intl.PluralRules("pl-PL").select(3) gives few and French numbers read 1 234,5

Chromium can format any locale, but it knows no translations. Text comes from the game or from the package’s own files.

app.getLocale() is the wrong call here. It gives Chromium’s own UI language, and the packaged host keeps only en-US.pak (tools/overlay/package-host.mjs), so it would always say en-US.

Which locale wins

Use Locale
Words (text) The game’s language. REDnode sits in the game, so it speaks the game’s language even when Windows uses another
Before the game has said (the host’s first second, the Welcome window at the boot screen) The first Windows display language the game also has, then English
Numbers, dates, times The Windows regional format, by default. A package can ask for the game’s language instead
Missing text English, then the key itself

The game’s language names are its own (en-us, fr-fr, pl-pl, zh-cn and so on). REDnode maps them to standard tags (fr-FR) for Intl.

For package authors

my-mod/
  rednode-app.json
  locales/
    en-us.json
    fr-fr.json

{
  "$name": "Bounty board",
  "$description": "Contracts from fixers, on the HUD.",
  "track": "Track",
  "reward": "Reward: {amount}",
  "found": { "one": "{count} contract", "other": "{count} contracts" },
  "thanks": { "m": "Thanks, mister.", "f": "Thanks, miss." }
}
Feature How
A string t("track")
Parameters t("reward", { amount: fmt.money(500) }): {name} placeholders
Plurals t("found", { count: 3 }): the forms are the language’s plural categories (one, few, many, other), picked by Intl.PluralRules
V’s gender m and f forms, picked by V’s gender as the game’s own text does (body or voice tone: unverified)
The game’s strings "LocKey#12345" anywhere a text goes, or t("UI-…") for a secondary key the package does not define. A record’s name from TweakDB works as it is
Formats fmt.number, fmt.money (the game’s €$), fmt.date, fmt.distance, using the locale rules above
Language game.language(), and a language event when the player changes it
Manifest $name and $description in a locale file replace the manifest’s name and description in the launcher and the Mod Manager

Where it works:

Place How
Node mods and the ui builder t() and fmt from the rednode package. Builder nodes take t() results and LocKey# strings, and update themselves when the language changes
Overlay apps (HTML) The UI kit fills data-t="key" (text) and data-t-title="key" (tooltip) on any element, and updates them on a change. RednodeUI.t() and RednodeUI.fmt for script
Native game UI (ink) The same t() and LocKey#; game keys go straight to the engine (design doc, Localization)
Notifications title and text take t() results and LocKey# strings

Packages need neither ArchiveXL’s localization files nor Codeware’s ModLocalizationPackage. REDnode reads locales/ itself, and hot reload covers locale files like any other file.

A missing key shows once per key and language in the Mod log. npm run locales:check <package> lists the keys each language lacks.

REDnode’s own text

The launcher, the Mod Manager, the Mod log, the Welcome window, the UI kit’s built-in words (tooltips such as Close and Roll up, the debugger’s labels) and the host’s messages move into locales/en-us.json files, read the same way as a package’s. English ships first. Other languages come as contributions, and a missing string shows in English.

Log lines stay in English, so logs read the same in every bug report.

Phases (proposal)

Phase What
L1 Language and API The game’s language in the plugin and a language event; Windows’ locale in the host; t(), fmt, plurals, gender forms and LocKey# lookups in the rednode package and the UI kit (data-t); $name and $description; missing-key logging. Sample: a package in English and French
L2 REDnode’s own text Every string in the launcher, the Mod Manager, the Mod log, the Welcome window and the UI kit into locale files; locales:check
L3 Ink Comes with the native game UI’s I2 phase: game keys through SetLocalizedText, package strings sent again on a change

Open questions