🧭 Translate a Mod from Scratch

This tutorial covers exporting a .po, translating it, validating, and importing back.

1) Prep

• Install RimLoc: cargo install rimloc-cli
• Find your mod root (folder with About/, Defs/, sometimes Languages/). Example: ./Mods/MyMod.

2) Scan and validate

rimloc-cli scan --root ./Mods/MyMod --format json > scan.json
rimloc-cli validate --root ./Mods/MyMod --format text

3) Export PO

rimloc-cli export-po --root ./Mods/MyMod --out-po ./MyMod.ru.po --lang ru

Open the .po in Poedit and translate.

4) Validate PO

rimloc-cli validate-po --po ./MyMod.ru.po --strict

5) Import back

One file (review‑friendly):

rimloc-cli import-po --po ./MyMod.ru.po --out-xml ./Mods/MyMod/_Imported.xml --dry-run
rimloc-cli import-po --po ./MyMod.ru.po --out-xml ./Mods/MyMod/_Imported.xml

Or structured import:

rimloc-cli import-po --po ./MyMod.ru.po --mod-root ./Mods/MyMod --lang ru --report --dry-run
rimloc-cli import-po --po ./MyMod.ru.po --mod-root ./Mods/MyMod --lang ru --report

6) Build a translation‑only mod (optional)

rimloc-cli build-mod --po ./MyMod.ru.po --out-mod ./MyMod_RU --lang ru --dry-run
rimloc-cli build-mod --po ./MyMod.ru.po --out-mod ./MyMod_RU --lang ru