I'm working on a Simplified Chinese localisation for space-age-railway-expansion.

However, while translating I found that several high-visibility prototypes set hard-coded English strings directly in Lua via localised_name / localised_description. In Factorio, an explicit localised_name on a prototype overrides the matching entry in the locale .cfg, so these strings cannot be translated by editing the .cfg alone. Some of them also have no corresponding [item-name] / [entity-name] / [recipe-name] entry in the .cfg at all.

This is not a gameplay issue — it only affects localisation. I'd like to ask whether you'd be open to making these strings localisation-friendly, either by switching them to locale keys or by accepting a PR.

Let me see what I can do. Will get back to you shortly.

Thanks for looking into this — no rush at all. If it helps, I'm happy to prepare the PR myself so you only need to review it. I can also provide just the en locale entries and the exact key names if you'd rather handle the Lua changes. Either way works for me; just let me know your preference.

I was just sitting down to code on another mod. Happy to resolve this. seems its a problem for all the locales. I was using an online translator for the language conversions, if their is anything wrong with the Simplified Chinese localisation? happy to fix/ put that right now.

Thanks for getting back to me, and no rush at all.

Yes — you're right that this affects every locale. Because the hard-coded localised_name on a prototype overrides the matching .cfg entry, no locale can translate those strings, regardless of what's in locale/<lang>/. So fixing the Lua side once will unblock all languages, not just zh-CN.

On the Simplified Chinese side: thanks for asking. Since the current translations were produced with an online translator, there are likely a few things worth cleaning up — most commonly official Factorio terminology (e.g. "roboport" → 机器人指令平台, "cargo wagon" → 货运车厢, "equipment grid" → 装备栏) and consistency of terms across the file. I'd be happy to review the existing zh-CN file and send you a corrected version, or provide a fresh one once the Lua strings are moved to locale keys.

Suggested order of work, so we don't step on each other:

You refactor the hard-coded strings to locale keys and add the en entries (this is the part that unblocks every locale).

I review the current zh-CN file, fix terminology/consistency, and add translations for any new keys you introduce.

I send you the updated zh-CN .cfg as a PR or as a file you can drop in.

If you'd prefer, I can also prepare step 1 as a PR (Lua changes + en entries only, no gameplay changes) so you only need to review it. Either way works — just let me know which you'd rather do.

One small note for step 1: fusion-locomotive-exoskeleton-limit already has an entry in the .cfg, but the hard-coded strings in settings.lua override it. And fusion-locomotive-enable-nuclear-locomotive has no [mod-setting-name] / [mod-setting-description] entry at all, so it will need one added when the hard-coded strings are removed.

Thanks again for being open to this — happy to help however is most useful.

just going to eat then will pick this up. deleted your previous message as it was very code related, but I can see where the issue is and pulling together a list of my own tweaks. The validation of the Simplified Chinese will be most helpful. I will get an initial version out first and then you can tell me the English to Simplified Chinese.

Thank you

0.0.19 - this should resolve the coding issues and locales now should work correctly. If you find any translation issues just let me know. I will incorporate them.

If you like this train mod, you will be interested in my current project. I am keeping it under wraps but its another rail related mod. Probably another week or so before I release my new project

I hope you enjoy the mod. I particularly proud of the new train model and the train roboports

Well done