DBReV LOCALE DATABASE MAKER
Builds locale databases for Dragonborn ReVoiced.

    https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/184221


WHAT IT IS FOR
--------------
Legacy DBVO voice packs name their audio files after the ENGLISH dialogue text.
On a French, German, Russian or Chinese game the dialogue menu shows translated
text, nothing matches, and the player's lines stay silent.

A locale database sidesteps the text entirely: it maps each dialogue line's
internal ID to the original English filename, so the mod finds the right audio
whatever language the menu is in. The mod already ships databases for the five
vanilla masters -- this app builds them for the rest of your load order.

Only needed for LEGACY DBVO voice packs. The modern Dragonborn ReVoiced pack
format already matches by plugin and record in any language, and needs nothing
from this tool.


READ THIS FIRST: FEED IT THE ENGLISH PLUGINS
--------------------------------------------
The database is built from the dialogue text stored INSIDE each plugin, and the
voice pack's audio files are named after the ENGLISH text. So every plugin you
give the app has to be the ORIGINAL ENGLISH one.

A mod translation is not a setting -- it is a REPLACEMENT plugin containing
translated text. Lines taken from one match nothing in the voice pack.

The app checks for this. Any plugin whose dialogue does not read as English is
SKIPPED: it cannot be ticked, the Locale column says what it found instead, and
the Build page lists everything left out. A translated plugin costs you that
plugin's lines, and nothing else.

The check is not infallible, and it is deliberately cautious rather than
aggressive. Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Russian, Greek, Arabic and Thai are caught
outright. French, German, Spanish, Italian and Polish use the same alphabet
English does, so they are caught by vocabulary and accented letters together --
which a short plugin, or one that is mostly names, cannot supply. It would rather
let a rare case through than throw away a plugin that would have worked.

So it pays to know which of your mods are translated. What to do:

  * Mods you run in English (most of them, for most people) -- nothing to do.
    Scan them where they are.

  * Mods you have installed a translation for -- download the ORIGINAL English
    version from that mod's own page, unpack it somewhere, and add the .esp /
    .esm from it with "Add plugins" -> "Choose files". You do NOT have to
    install it and you do NOT have to remove your translation; the app only
    reads the file, and never touches your game.

    Sorting the list by the Locale column puts everything the app skipped
    together, which is the quickest way to see what needs this treatment.

  * The five vanilla masters (Skyrim.esm, Update.esm, Dawnguard.esm,
    HearthFires.esm, Dragonborn.esm) -- already covered by the databases the mod
    ships. There is no need to rebuild them.

One exception to how this works: the vanilla masters and some larger mods keep
their text in separate .STRINGS files, one set per language, rather than inside
the plugin. For those the app finds the English set itself and the Locale column
says where it read it from -- see below. There is nothing to configure.


INSTALLING
----------
Unpack anywhere and run the .exe. There is no installer and nothing to register;
delete the folder to uninstall. Do not put it inside your game folder.

Windows may warn about an unrecognised app the first time -- that is SmartScreen
reacting to a new download, not to anything the program does. "More info" ->
"Run anyway".


USING IT
--------
1 - SOURCES. "Add plugins" offers your Skyrim Data folder (found automatically),
    any other folder, or individual .esp / .esm / .esl files. Everything found is
    read, and each plugin reports how many player-dialogue lines it holds. A
    ticked row is in the build -- there is no second list to move things into.
    Plugins with no dialogue are hidden and unticked by default.

    The LOCALE column says where each plugin's English came from:

      not translated      the text is inside the plugin itself -- most mods
      English (STRINGS)   read from a .STRINGS file in your Data\Strings folder
      English (BSA)       read from one of the game's own archives
      Russian, Polish     no English at all; the row is greyed out and skipped
      not English         its dialogue does not read as English; also skipped

    Hover the "!" on a skipped row for the reason. Click the column heading to
    sort by it and bring everything skipped together. Where a plugin offers
    English from BOTH a .STRINGS file and an archive, the cell becomes a dropdown
    so you can pick; it re-reads that one plugin straight away.

    Add the English original of anything skipped with "Choose files" -- see
    "READ THIS FIRST" above.

2 - BUILD. Either one combined database (simplest to share, and slightly smaller
    because lines repeated across plugins are stored once), or one file per
    plugin. Output goes to output\ next to the app unless you change it.

    "Also pack it as a .7z" produces an archive laid out the way the mod expects,
    ready for any mod manager.

Installing what you built: the .db files belong in

    Data\DBReV\locales_database\

Any number of them can sit there together; their names mean nothing to the mod.

Sharing: send the .7z. Anyone running the same mods can use it as-is -- nothing
in a database is specific to one player's setup.


TWO THINGS WORTH KNOWING
------------------------
A .STRINGS FILE CAN LIE. Translations are often shipped by overwriting the
English .STRINGS files rather than adding new ones, so a file called
Skyrim_English.STRINGS can contain Chinese. Anything trusting the name would then
build a database of Chinese under an English label. The app checks the contents
against the name, and where the game's own archives hold the real English it uses
those instead and says so on the row. If you see a "!" beside a locale,
that is what happened -- your Data\Strings folder holds a translation.

ENCODING. Plugins do not record how their text is stored, so it is detected. If a
mod's lines come out as gibberish, force its encoding under Sources -> Options.
This mostly affects Chinese, Japanese and Korean mods.


LANGUAGES
---------
The interface ships in English, German, Spanish, French, Italian, Turkish,
Russian, Ukrainian, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Japanese and Korean.
It follows Windows automatically; the picker in the top right overrides that.

The translations folder beside the .exe is read in preference to what is built
in, so correcting a translation does NOT need a new version of the app. Edit the
file for your language, or start a new one from _template_en.json, and restart.
Every file explains itself at the top. Anything you leave out simply shows in
English, so a partial file is safe.

Everything past English is an unreviewed first pass. Corrections are welcome.


LICENCE
-------
DBReV Locale Database Maker is free to use, and free to pass on.

You may use it for anything, including databases you publish or bundle with your
own mods. You may share the program itself, unchanged, wherever you like.

You may not sell it, charge for access to it, or distribute modified copies of
it.

The databases you build with it are yours. Nothing in this licence claims any
right over them.

Provided as is, without warranty of any kind.

Made by Raynor1511 for Dragonborn ReVoiced. The app is built on open source work
by other people; the full list, with licences, is in the app under About.