Universal Unity Game Translator (Beta)

Website: unitygametranslator.asymptomatikgames.com

A universal translation mod for Unity games. Translate using AI (any OpenAI-compatible server — Ollama, LM Studio, Groq, Gemini, OpenAI, and more), Google Translate, DeepL, or download community translations. Works fully offline with a local AI server — no API key, no internet, no cost. Supports all writing systems and any language direction.

Features

Translation Engine

• Runtime translation — text is translated as you encounter it in-game
• Multiple backends — AI (OpenAI-compatible), Google Translate, DeepL, or community downloads only
• Instant cache hits — cached translations apply synchronously with zero latency
• Number normalization — "Kill 5 enemies" and "Kill 10 enemies" share the same translation
• Auto language detection — detects system language as default target
• Cross-platform — Windows, macOS, Linux

Translation Backends

Backend	Description
AI (LLM)	Any OpenAI-compatible server — local or cloud (Ollama, LM Studio, Groq, Gemini, OpenAI, OpenRouter, and any other compatible provider)
Google Translate	Google Cloud Translation API
DeepL	DeepL API (Free and Pro tiers)
None	Only use cached/downloaded translations

In-Game Text Editor

• Click on any UI element to see all text in that area
• Edit translations directly in-game — saves immediately with Human (H) tag
• Retranslate with AI if the current translation isn't good enough
• Found in Translation Parameters → Tools → Start Text Editor

Font System

• Automatic font detection (TextMeshPro, Unity UI.Text)
• Fallback fonts for any writing system — Latin, CJK, Arabic, Devanagari, Cyrillic, Thai, Hebrew, and more
• Per-font scaling and enable/disable
• Font overrides by pattern — override size for specific UI elements (tables, titles, tooltips)
  • Add overrides via inspector click, text search, or manual pattern
  • Supports recursive patterns (path:**/TablePanel/**)
  • Changes apply at runtime

UI Exclusions

• Pattern-based exclusion system for text that shouldn't be translated (chat, player names, etc.)
• Visual inspector to click and exclude elements
• Find by text content search
• Wildcard patterns (**/ChatPanel/**, */PlayerName)

Image/Sprite Replacement

• Replace text embedded in sprites/images with translated versions
• Visual inspector to select and export original images
• Import translated images as replacement
• Sprite metadata (pivot, borders, PPU) preserved

Dynamic Variables

• Extract player name, item stats, and other dynamic values from game objects
• Placeholder substitution for better cache reuse
• Variable scanner to discover candidates

Online Community Features

• Community translations — download translations from the website
• Automatic game detection — via Steam ID, product name, or folder
• Real-time sync via SSE (Server-Sent Events) — get updates without restarting
• 3-way merge — intelligently merge remote updates with your local changes
• Device Flow login — secure authentication without entering passwords in-game
• Upload & share — share your translations with the community
• Mod update checker — notifications when a new mod version is available

Collaboration System (Main/Branch/Fork)

Term	Description
Main	The original translation. First uploader becomes the owner.
Branch	A contributor's version, linked to the Main. One per user per UUID.
Fork	Copying a translation to create your own Branch.

Upload behavior:

Situation	Result
UUID doesn't exist on server	Creates new Main
UUID exists, you're the owner	Updates your Main
UUID exists, owned by someone else	Forks → creates your Branch

Translation Quality System (H/V/A Tags)

Tag	Name	Score	Description
H	Human	3 pts	Written by a human
V	Validated	2 pts	AI translation approved by human
A	AI	1 pt	Translated by AI
S	Skip	—	Intentionally not translated
M	Mod	—	Mod UI translations (internal)

Quality Score (0-3): (H×3 + V×2 + A×1) / (H + V + A)

Capture Keys Only mode — play without translating, capture all text, then translate manually on the website for 100% human translations.

In-Game Overlay

• First-run wizard — guided setup on first launch
• Settings hotkey — F10 (configurable) opens the full settings panel
• Translation info — H/V/A distribution, quality score, sync status
• Translation parameters — tabs for Tools, Exclusions, Fonts (Global + Overrides), Images, Variables
• Merge panel — resolve conflicts with per-entry Keep Mine / Take Server choices
• Status overlay — corner notifications for updates, sync, and AI queue

Note: Only text displayed during gameplay is translated. Play through the game to build the translation cache.

Installation

1. Install a mod loader

Mod Loader	Unity Type	Download
BepInEx 5	Mono	GitHub
BepInEx 6	Mono or IL2CPP	Bleeding Edge
MelonLoader	Mono or IL2CPP	GitHub

How to identify your game type:

• GameAssembly.dll in game folder → IL2CPP
• <Game>_Data/Managed/Assembly-CSharp.dll → Mono

Cross-platform: The mod's DLLs are .NET assemblies that work on Windows, macOS, and Linux.

2. Install UnityGameTranslator

Download the release matching your mod loader from GitHub Releases and extract to:

Mod Loader	Extract DLLs to	User data (config, translations, fonts, images)
BepInEx	<Game>/BepInEx/plugins/UnityGameTranslator/	Same folder as the DLL
MelonLoader	<Game>/Mods/ (DLLs directly, no subfolder)	<Game>/UserData/UnityGameTranslator/

MelonLoader warning: Do NOT place the DLLs inside Mods/UnityGameTranslator/. MelonLoader only scans the root Mods/ folder and will not find mods inside subdirectories.

3. First Launch

The mod displays a setup wizard:

1. Online mode — enable community features or stay offline
2. Settings hotkey — pick a key to open settings (default: F10)
3. Translation search — search for existing community translations
4. AI setup — configure translation backend and model (optional)

4. Enable translation backend (optional)

By default, the mod only uses cached/downloaded translations. To enable live translation:

AI Translation (OpenAI-compatible API)

The mod works with any server that exposes the OpenAI-compatible API (/v1/chat/completions). This includes local servers, cloud providers, and an ever-growing list of AI platforms.

Examples (non-exhaustive):

Server	URL to enter	API key
Ollama (local)	http://localhost:11434	None
LM Studio (local)	http://localhost:1234	None
Groq	https://api.groq.com/openai	Required (free tier)
OpenRouter	https://openrouter.ai/api	Required (free tier)
OpenAI	https://api.openai.com	Required
Google Gemini	https://generativelanguage.googleapis.com/v1beta/openai/chat/completions	Required (free tier)

URL resolution: The mod auto-appends /v1/chat/completions if the URL doesn't already end with /completions. If your provider has a non-standard URL, enter the full path up to /chat/completions.

Commercial translation APIs

Provider	Description
Google Translate	Cloud Translation API
DeepL	Free and Pro tiers

Setup: Open settings (F10) → Translation tab → select backend → enter URL/key → Test → Enable.

Recommended local model: qwen3:8b — best balance of speed, quality, and multilingual support (~6-8 GB VRAM).

Configuration

Config file location:

• BepInEx: <Game>/BepInEx/plugins/UnityGameTranslator/config.json
• MelonLoader: <Game>/UserData/UnityGameTranslator/config.json

Translation cache: translations.json in the same folder.

Key Options

Option	Description
translation_backend	"llm", "google", "deepl", or "none"
target_language	"auto" (system language) or specific (e.g., "French")
game_context	Game description for better AI translations (e.g., "Medieval fantasy RPG")
settings_hotkey	Key to open settings (default: "F10")
online_mode	Enable community features (sync, upload)
sync.merge_strategy	"ask", "merge", or "replace"

External Resources (Fonts & Images)

UnityGameTranslator can use custom fonts and replacement images to improve translation quality — especially useful for languages with characters not supported by the game's default font, or when translating text baked into images (logos, buttons, title screens).

Where to place external resources:

Mod Loader	Fonts folder	Images folder
BepInEx	<Game>/BepInEx/plugins/UnityGameTranslator/fonts/	<Game>/BepInEx/plugins/UnityGameTranslator/images/
MelonLoader	<Game>/UserData/UnityGameTranslator/fonts/	<Game>/UserData/UnityGameTranslator/images/

Custom fonts — drop .ttf or .otf files into the fonts/ folder. The filename (without extension) becomes the font name shown in the Translation Parameters panel. Assign per UI element or globally.

Replacement images — drop .png files (with transparency) into the images/ folder. Use the in-game image capture feature to export existing sprites, edit them externally, then save the modified versions back.

External resources are fully optional. The mod works perfectly without them.

Self-Hosting

Deploy your own website instance, then update Directory.Build.props before building:

<ApiBaseUrl>https://your-server.com/api/v1</ApiBaseUrl>
<WebsiteBaseUrl>https://your-server.com</WebsiteBaseUrl>
<SseBaseUrl>https://sse.your-server.com</SseBaseUrl>

Or override at runtime in config.json:

{
  "api_base_url": "https://your-server.com/api/v1",
  "website_base_url": "https://your-server.com"
}

Security: Your API token is sent to the configured server. Only use trusted instances.

Building from Source

Prerequisites

• .NET SDK 6.0+
• extlibs/ folder with Unity, BepInEx, MelonLoader, and UniverseLib DLLs (see project structure)

Build

./prepare-release.ps1

Creates release zips in releases/ for all 5 mod loader variants.

Project Structure

UnityGameTranslator/
├── UnityGameTranslator.Core/           # Shared translation engine
│   ├── TranslatorCore.cs               # Main logic, config, translation cache
│   ├── TranslatorPatches.cs            # Harmony patches for text interception
│   ├── TranslatorScanner.cs            # Scene scanning for UI components
│   ├── FontManager.cs                  # Font detection, replacement, scaling, overrides
│   ├── ImageReplacer.cs                # Sprite/image replacement for bitmap text
│   ├── VariableManager.cs              # Dynamic variable extraction
│   ├── ApiClient.cs                    # HTTP client for website API
│   ├── SseClient.cs                    # SSE streaming for real-time sync
│   ├── TranslationMerger.cs            # 3-way merge with tag awareness
│   ├── GameDetector.cs                 # Game identification (Steam ID, product name)
│   ├── GitHubUpdateChecker.cs          # Mod version update checker
│   ├── TokenProtection.cs              # AES-256 token encryption
│   └── UI/                             # UniverseLib uGUI overlay
│       ├── Panels/                     # 12 panels (wizard, settings, merge, inspector...)
│       └── Components/                 # Reusable UI components
├── UniverseLib/                        # Git submodule (yukieiji fork)
├── UnityGameTranslator-BepInEx5/       # BepInEx 5 adapter (Mono)
├── UnityGameTranslator-BepInEx6-Mono/  # BepInEx 6 adapter (Mono)
├── UnityGameTranslator-BepInEx6-IL2CPP/# BepInEx 6 adapter (IL2CPP)
├── UnityGameTranslator-MelonLoader-Mono/    # MelonLoader adapter (Mono)
├── UnityGameTranslator-MelonLoader-IL2CPP/  # MelonLoader adapter (IL2CPP)
└── Directory.Build.props               # Version + API URLs

Acknowledgments

• UniverseLib by sinai-dev & yukieiji — UI framework for Unity mods
• BepInEx — Unity plugin framework
• MelonLoader by LavaGang — Universal Unity mod loader
• Harmony by Andreas Pardeike — Runtime method patching
• Newtonsoft.Json by James Newton-King — JSON framework

See THIRD_PARTY_LICENSES.md for full license details.

License

Dual-licensed:

• Open Source: AGPL-3.0
• Commercial: Contact us for proprietary use

See LICENSING.md for details.