Localization Extraction And Runtime Catalog
Purpose
Use this page when adding localized text to scenes, dialogue, quests, UI layouts, game-data catalogs, or cutscenes, and when debugging missing or duplicated localization keys at runtime.
Steps
Author text in the source asset. Run validation and bake so localization extraction records the domain, key, source path, field path, default text, and fingerprint. Inspect runtime/localization/localization_entries.json when a runtime catalog does not contain the expected entry.
Expected Outputs
The runtime localization catalog should be deterministic, schema-versioned, and keyed by stable ids. Entries should carry enough source information to jump back to the authored field. Resolver fallback should return safe default text and preserve formatting arguments such as {arg} placeholders.
Common Mistakes
Do not create duplicate keys with different default text. Do not localize generated debug strings that should remain diagnostics. Do not change a key format without migrating existing translated assets.
Recovery Paths
Fix duplicate or empty-key warnings, rerun bake, and compare the runtime catalog. If a runtime string falls back unexpectedly, inspect the key, domain, locale, fallback chain, and formatting arguments.