51 - How to edit or make your own Language.INI file for RMPrepUSB
RMPrepUSB supports different languages by loading the labels text and help text from language.ini files (e.g. German.ini) which are located in the LANG subfolder. These files are standard text files and they can be easily changed just by using NotePad.
How to make your own new Language.ini file
If you want to make a new language file, then use the latest Beta version of English.ini as your template.
If you need to use a Unicode characters set, make sure you save the file as 'Unicode' in Notepad.
Choose the correct LCID, HelpFontCharset and HelpFontName for your language - see Fonts, CharSets and LCIDs.rtf located in the LANG folder for help with choosing the correct LCID/CharSet values.
Change the ButtonFontSize, LabelFontSize, HelpFontSize and HelpFontBold values as required (usually 8 or 10 and HelpFontBold=false).
Name the file as (mylanguage.ini). Note that you can use the English name for the language or your own languages name, but the name must be a standard ASCII name - e.g. you can have a file name of German.ini or Deutsch.ini but not 简体ä¸æ–‡è¯è¨€æ–‡ä»¶.ini.
Note that not all English text strings can be translated as RMPrepUSB does not support this. Also, error messages and user prompts are always in English.
How to change an existing Language.ini file
1. Download the latest Beta version of RMPrepUSB.ini (the Release version may be out of date, the Beta version will always contain the latest set of language.ini files)
2. Run RMPrepUSB and hit F3 to open Windows Explorer at the RMPrepUSB installation folder.
3. Double-click the LANG folder and look for the language.ini file for the language you wish to correct and open it in Notepad - e.g. German.ini
4. Edit the text on the right-hand side of any '=' sign. It is easiest to search for the words that you want to correct. If you cannot see the words that you want to change, it may be because the entry has not been added to that language.ini file yet - so look at the English.ini file for the correct entry and copy the relevant English text line into your language file.
e.g. Let us say that the QEMU emulation button has not been translated into German but is still in English even when you select the German language entry in the menu, you would:
1. Copy the line from the English.ini file and paste it into the same place within the German.ini file
cmdQemu=Test using &QEMU Emulator (F11)
2. Edit the right hand side to translate it into German
3. Save the German.ini file
4. Click on 'German' in the language list in RMPrepUSB to reload the German.ini file
5. Check that the button now displays your new translation.
A similar change would be needed for the 'help' text that is displayed in the help box in RMPrepUSB when you move the cursor over the QEMU button - locate the help text (as shown below) and translate the green text into German and then test it.
Note: as RMPrepUSB can be used with non-USB drives, USB Flash drives or standard SATA/IDE hard drives and card readers (ALT+F5), etc. - try to avoid using any reference to 'USB' or 'Flash' in the help text as this may confuse the user. Where possible, just say 'selected drive' instead of 'USB drive' or 'Flash drive'.
Language.ini file syntax/rules
The English.ini file already contains some comments on how to edit/translate it. There are just a few rules to follow:
1. Each entry must be on only one line (turn Word-Wrap Off in Notepad to check this).
2. If you need to use a Unicode language (e.g. Chinese), you need to save the file as 'Unicode'.
3. The hotkey for each button is denoted by preceding the hotkey character with the Ampersand (&) character - e.g. Test using &QEMU Emulator (F11) would set up ALT+Q as the hotkey for that button. Try to use only one unique hotkey for each button.
4. If you want the help text to contain a newline, then use \n in place of the newline.
5. Lines beginning with ' or REM will be treated as comments
Other language files
In addition to the Language.ini file, you can, if you wish translate the whole RMPrepUSB.pdf into your own language (the source RMPrepUSB.doc file is on the Beta Downloads page). Save the file as RMPrepUSB_mylanguage.PDF - e.g. RMPrepUSB_German.PDF. The language name must be identical to that used for the INI file.
Also, you can translate the rmprepusbxp.cmd file into your own language too. This file is only used if the user selects the BartPE>Drive checkbox in RMPrepUSB. Save the file as rmprepusbxp_mylanguage.cmd - e.g. rmprepusb_german.cmd. The language name must be identical to that used for the INI file (i.e. used rmprepusb_hindi.cmd if the language file is named hindi.ini).
cmdQemu_MouseMove=Run QEMU emulator and boot from the selected drive - If 'No user prompts' is unticked, you will be prompted for a virtual hard disk size and the amount of memory you want to use. If 'No user prompts' is ticked and a virtual hard disk already exists, QEMU will run using a default memory size and will use the virtual hard disk already present.\nTip: if you want to boot from the virtual hard disk, boot to (hd0) using a grub4dos menu entry.