Best workflow for additional databases localization

[roketronz]

Hi all!

So, some time ago, I pointed out the issue that using large databases will render the editor performance practically unusable.
At that time, the only workaround was to use additional databases, and so I did.

Now, I find myself in the localization phase of the project, and I'm trying to find the suggested workflow for localizing multiple databases without any luck.

Is there a way to export all dialogues with a few clicks and then reimport the csv to the dialogue system without having to go through my more than 20 DBs?

I really dont want to do so many clicks, and usually my flow is to be as iterative as possible, so its very likely that I will have to redo the process more than once.

Thanks!

[Tony Li]

Hi,

Did you try 2019.4? Unity 2019.2 and 2019.3 had a bug that made editing large asset files (including large dialogue databases) impractical. Unity fixed their bug in 2019.4 and 2020.1.

You pose a good question. There isn't a good automated workflow for that yet. Would it help if I were to expose the Dialogue Editor's Database > Localization Export/Import functionality as a public API? That way you could write a custom editor script to mass export/import CSV files. I'm open to any other suggestions you might have, too.

[roketronz]

Really happy to hear that its fixed on LTS. I wasn't counting on that (They said they will fix it in 2020 only if I recall correctly).

I think the best thing for me to do is to merge every conversation and variable into a single database again and keep working like I did before the change. (assuming the performance issue is solved).

If that doesnt fly, I suppose I will be doing it manually. But I would suggest something like the Unique ID tool that grabs all DBs from the project and batch the export / import process.


Thanks for your quick reply Tony!

[Tony Li]

Please test the performance first! The latest 2019.4 has MUCH better performance than 2019.2 and 2019.3. But it's still not instantaneous with large databases. In part it's due to Asset Database v2. There are also some optimizations that I'm working on for DS 2.2.16 that should improve performance (namely by saving every few seconds instead of with every keystroke, which is the way editor windows normally save).

[roketronz]

Hey Tony!

It took me A WHILE to update to LTS, but after some headaches, I was able to get the game running.

At first, performance while editing relatively big databases was noticeable better. I compared 2019.3 with 2019.4, same database and same node, and it was really an improvement.

I branched the LTS project and merged all DBs into my main one. And unfortunately, the editor performance is (not suprisingly) incredibly bad. Way worse than in 2019.3

So, there goes my idea about merging all DBs for a clean localization workflow.

I still have no idea what route should I take. I will probably stay on LTS since the update was such a pain (after some testing). But definitely will not merge the databases.

So, I would reiterate to please consider adding some batching support for localization on multiple databases in the roadmap.
The current process is kinda messy, it has too many clicks, and when exporting, you have to create a folder for each database, which you will probably dont want to do (since you want to take all CSVs into the spreadsheet)[My two cents]

[Tony Li]

I've put that on the roadmap, and I'll try to get it into an upcoming release. It won't be in 2.1.16, but I'll try for 2.1.17.

Currently I'm thinking of a window like the Unique IDs window that you can assign all the database to. In fact, I might just add the functionality to the Unique IDs window and make it a general-purpose window for working with multiple databases.

Would you (and any other readers who have an opinion) prefer it to export a single CSV file, or a separate CSV file for each database?

[roketronz]

Very cool of you for considering adding support for that! Thanks!

Personally, I think that generating only 1 CSV per language for all selected databases might be the best approach. If you are using the Unique ID window, you can already choose which database to export if you need to single them out.

Cheers!

[Tony Li]

Thanks for the feedback! I'm leaning toward one CSV file, too. I hadn't thought about being able to selectively choose which databases to export. I'll keep that in mind as an option.