Character Encoding Update to enable Japanese Display

[gen16k]

I'd like to request a character encoding change to ensure proper display of characters within the "Rule the Waves 3" game on the Japanese version of Windows.



When playing RTW3 on the Japanese version of Windows, there are several issues with in-game annotations.



For instance, German is not displayed correctly. In the Ship in Service list, characters with umlauts either turn blank or are denoted as `・`. Additionally, in event messages, German can sometimes be encoded as Kanji.




Additionally, in event messages, German can sometimes be encoded as Kanji.




These issues are making the development of a Japanese localization MOD challenging. Even if we replace ship names and event texts with Japanese translations, they don't display correctly in-game.





You may already be aware, but there are many enthusiasts of the navy, especially IJN ships, in Japan. Games featuring navies like "Kantai Collection" and "Azur Lane" are very popular among Japanese otaku. Many of these otaku are well-versed in the primary IJN and USN ship names and their fates. This could represent a substantial market for RTW3.



Since "Rule The Waves 3" was released on Steam, it has caught the attention of these otaku and game media. However, many Japanese people, having limited English proficiency, have given up on playing the game.



If the character encoding issue is resolved and user-driven Japanese localization becomes possible, there's no doubt that the game's sales in Japan will see significant growth.



I understand this might be a complicated issue, but I sincerely hope you'll consider changing the character encoding.

[gen16k]

I'm adding more detailed information.

1. Regarding the German notation issue:

Upon checking `C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Rule the Waves 3\Data\GermanyShipsNames`, it appears that this file is encoded in `iso 8859`. On the `Ships in Service` screen, some German words are replaced with blanks or `・`. This issue likely arises when iso 8859 is decoded as utf-8 (it might also be Shift-JIS). In the `Event` window, German appears as Kanji characters. This probably happens when iso 8859 is decoded with shift-jis.

2. Regarding the Japanese notation issue:

Similarly, `C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Rule the Waves 3\Data\JapanShipsNames` seems to be encoded in `iso 8859`. When directly converting ship names written in this file to Japanese, garbled characters appear.




Next, I re-encoded this file in `SHIFT_JIS` format. In this case, the ship names display correctly on the `Ships in Service` screen.




However, in windows that show detailed ship information and on the Ship Design screen, the ship names do not display correctly.



3. Possible solutions:

Using utf-8 should allow for the correct display of multibyte characters, including Japanese. Could you consider changing the character encoding used in the game to this?

[asdfzxc922]

As a temporary fix, you can use a tool like Locale Emulator to make the game (or rather, the Windows text renderer) think you're in UTF-8 land. This does have a few small side effects like changing how dates are displayed.

[ewaldvonkleist]

I certainly wouldn't complain about better "Ö/Ü/Ä" and "ß" display.

Games featuring navies like "Kantai Collection" and "Azur Lane"

So it is only a matter of time until RtW3 gets anime/manga mods and all admirals/captains are replaced by schoolgirls/boys then?

[williammiller]

We are looking at this, thanks.