Teaser for the promised (google) translator tool my friend's been working on - "Putting an end to cyrillic confusion!"
imgur.com/a/ww2If
imgur.comPosted Feb 19, 2013, 6:08 PM UTC
1.3K309
imgur.comFAQ:
Will the code become open source?
Yes.
When will it be released?
Soon, when it's done. Possibly by this weekend, or later.
Does Valve know about this?
Yes, I was contacted by an anti-cheat engineer at Valve shortly after making the post and the creator of the app is currently exchanging e-mails with him.
Update: From what I understood the tool was fine the way it was and shouldn't have a problem with the anti-cheat system.
Is google okay with you using Google translate?
They should be, since the program will be open source and not licensed. This means that it's shareware, thus non-profit (although donations will be welcome directly to the developer himself). Needs to be confirmed, not entirely sure on how this works. Note though that the program doesn't use the Google Translate API, but sends a request to the same server(?) as http://translate.google.com does when you run something through the browser.
Does this interfere with DirectX hooks like Fraps/Dxtory/OBS/Xsplit?
It should work just fine since it's merely an overlay in Windows that is viewed in front of the Dota 2 client. A test with fraps gave only some sort of warning but still worked fine.
What language is the code written in?
C# and a little bit of C++
Where do I pay?
There will most likely be some form of donation page available as soon as the tool has been released. However, as already mentioned the tool will be available for free and donations are optional for those who want to support the work.
Is there a website?
No, not as of yet at least. Alternatively, a forum thread will be used on e.g. Steam/DotaCinema/jD/TL forums or something similar.
Can it be translated from/to any other languages?
The program runs the chat text through Google translate with the identify language feature and will then translate it to whichever language you've chosen (check the settings preview image). The acronym for your language can be found by going to http://translate.google.com/ and selecting your language, then find whatever differs in the URL.
Can you create a similar program for X?
Since the source code will be released you can count on that a similar program will be created for other games if it's possible and there are adequate and willing programmers who play that game.
Is it possible to get a tool that could translate what I type to other languages?
Creating a tool that translates your chat INPUT would require you to edit data in the client rather than just collecting it and using the data. This would result in breaking Valve's ToS and it'd probably also be a bit harder to accomplish, therefore you can't do it. At least not by the looks of it for now.
In addition to this, you can't get the "on-the-fly" language options, since you'd have to manually select what language you want to translate the text into or keep it at the same language for the rest of the game.
This is useless.
That's not a question.
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Re: Website, want one?
40
Re:Re: Website
I can also provide a server if you need. If you need help building a website, I can help out creating a new one with WordPress CMS.
5
WordPress is really not necessary for what will probably be a single landing page, lmao
0
WordPress is great for all kinds of things.
A website should never have one page. It would be great to have a contact us page (for support/bugs/reporting), about us page (simple introduction), download page for mirrors or past versions, or even a blog page!
2
http://x10hosting.com is good for short URLs and free, nearly limitless hosting. I use it a lot.
-8
Ew, fuck that. I have an actual webserver and domains are like $10
8
Can't afford/don't find it worth it to buy a website at this point, since I don't monetize anything.
-8
Good to hear you're working with an anti-cheat engineer. The program appears to function through .exe injection, which is the same way most cheats work and would almost certainly cause a false positive if you weren't working together with Valve.
Are there any plans or a possibility of this program working both ways, and not just being able to see what people are saying? Say, for example, after a language is identified, it could convert what you type in the text box?
11
Actually, if I understood it correctly he said it was fine just the way it is.
Creating a tool that translates your chat INPUT would require you to edit data in the client rather than just collecting it and using the data. This would result in breaking Valve's ToS and it'd probably also be a bit harder to accomplish, therefore you can't do it. At least not by the looks of it for now.
7
Imo valve will buy this tool and put it in their game for everyone if google clears it.
3
Weird way in expressing one's opinion.
7
Any external input is against the ToS? Because here is how I would imagine it would work... you type in the text in your native language, inputting it normally. The program detects that it's you saying it, and does a second input in the chat in the desired language.
1
I actually don't know, but it's not that's planned at the moment either way. Perhaps someone who reads the source code could come up with such a way, though.
1
Thank you sir! Please make sure to make another post when this actually becomes available.
9
Is it possible to get a tool that could translate what I type to other languages?
One possible way to do this, although a bit cumbersome, would be to have the app monitor clipboard input, so you could type '!ru hello' in the ingame chat and cut/copy the text, the app notices the clipboard change and runs the translation, putting the result back into the clipboard buffer for the user to paste in.
5
beautiful!
1
Now I can understand the brazilians making fun of me.
4
Minor semantic note: shareware generally means the software is free to use, but you have to pay to get the full version (missing features, removes ads, etc.). Freeware is typically used for software that's free to use in its entirety.
2
Note though that the program doesn't use the Google Translate API, but sends a request to the same server(?) as http://translate.google.com[1] does when you run something through the browser.
But surely if the request format changes, the whole translation part will be broken?
1
What request format?
1
How the translation is requested and received in the browser.
1
I already know what cyka means though
118
So commonly used, that it's in the English Urban Dictionary.
Go figure.
29
сука былат
6
Numbers inside words is just weird though.
41
My life would have been simpler if people had never shown me numbers in words and letters in maths.
3
сука блять
4
was waiting for this. nice soft-sound.
1
Tic-tac.
1
This is something Valve could easily add to the game.
However, I don't know if you can use Google's translator in a game/app without some permission.
Nice work!
29
Shareware with donations available is okay, as long as it isn't a licensed game/app there shouldn't be any problem.
16
That's not how Google limits API use. The free version gets a limited number of charges per month. Once those run out, you need a full key, or your application will break. At one API hit per line of text, it will take VERY few users (100, 1000 tops) before your application will use up the free API key limit easily.
IIRC, the free limit is 100,000 accesses.
16
So what you're saying is, the program won't work once it hits a certain amount of users?
10
He means that any amount of users can use it, but only about 100,000 translations can be done per month. So the more users you have, the faster you'll approach that cap. I don't know how Google gives API keys for people to use, but you might be able to have a user supply their own key and then each individual can have 100k accesses instead of 100k accesses shared over all users.
26
It depends a bit on how the API is implemented, but yes, google does cap API calls.
Here's some details on it, not sure where the unregistered limit is though.
EDIT: That's the V2 pricing chart. According to the FAQ here, V2 isn't free at all, which means it's likely using V1, which is no longer supported.
3
Yeah you might want to talk a bit with some Google guys there.
2
Well, the "limit" would be reached fairly quickly if it works like he says.
1
Certain amount of requests.
1 extremely dedicated counterproductive user could exhaust the requests in a day.
1
If your application mimics the http://translate.google.com, you won't have to worry, as each user will have their individual "limit"; they will be considered direct users, and Google would have a tough time identifying your application without major changes to their own applications.
However, if the application uses the API's provided by Google, the usage will be limited on the total number of requests the application makes (100k sounds about right).
As I understand from your OP, the application mimics the web application, and you should be in the clear.
1
Courtesy limit: 0 characters/day • Max billable limit: 50,000,000 characters/day
4
What happened to earlier free versions of Translate API?
Google Translate API v1 is no longer available as of December 1, 2011 and has been replaced by Google Translate API v2. Google Translate API v1 was officially deprecated on May 26, 2011. The decision to deprecate the API and replace it with the paid service was made due to the substantial economic burden caused by extensive abuse.
This implies that Google may take a dim view of your application. You may want to ensure that each user of the application is connecting with their local credentials rather than application ones. Even then, I would not be surprised if Google blocked it at some point.
6
I would bet Google is fine with fan made not for profit stuff like this. Valve wouldn't be able to do their own built in one, though, since that's commercial.
4
nor would it be any use for the more eloquent users on Cyrillic alphabet, and believe me, there are plenty of those. Then there is the issue of translit or plain old horrible spelling.
0
This looks really damn neat
As someone obsessed with streaming, my question is this: Does this interfere with DirectX hooks like FRAPS/Dxtory/OBS/Xsplit?
19
Interfere in what way? If you're screen capturing it'll be shown, but if you use the game capture I know is available for OBS it won't show since the text is shown in front of Dota 2 rather than inside it.
6
Some things that hook into games interfere with capture hooks and prevent them from working entirely (A lot of graphic mods for things like Skyrim do this)
Was just asking about that
5
Shouldn't be a problem then, since it's just an overlay in Windows.
12
anyway at all I could be an early beta tester :P?
7
What's gucci warchamp. You still do any shit with storm?
2
We're all busy as shit. I see Storm online like twice a month right now.
2
I figured just as much.
1
Produce this and reddit gold/money is yours.
16
Very cool, it would be amazing if Valve looked at this and built one into their engine that allowed you to select your language, and all text would be translated by default so it wouldn't really matter what language people use as it translates everything to their native tongue.
Things like this just serve to remind us the future is here, and it's awesome. Within our lifetimes we may see universal translation become more ubiquitous then ever, bridging cultural and linguistic gaps to bring people together around the world.
11
Keep in mind we're still talking about Google translate and not some revolutionary translation tool. It won't be 100% accurate nor will it solve every language problem since most people speak in slang.
20
But Google Translate is one tool that they're making very significant improvements on all the time. A company that integrated this directly into their game engine would increase its attractiveness for licensing as well. Valve would be smart to talk to Google about doing this.
9
For now though the grammar, etc from Google Translate is still pretty bad. You have to write the English exactly as the other language translates to English to have it translate properly.
3
Of course it's not very accurate right now, but it definitely allows for basic communication between teammates. For example, "missing middle" roughly translates to "there is no middle". Personally I'd find "there is no middle" far more useful than "отсутствует середине", or "wards to the jungle" over "нужно джунглях палатах".
9
I think we can give dota players the benefit of the doubt to figure out what's going on, through terrible grammar. You only really need to know those key phrases to communicate in a video game, outside of more advanced tactics.
1
The language in which russians are speaking in Dota is not a pure russian, it's full of jargon and thus Google Translate won't handle it pretty well.
Here's a list of a typical dota lines i heard:
buy courier
up the courier
buy wards
Gank Spectre, she's on freefarm
phantom is fat, we can't kill him
back
stop your feed, noob
you stun first
don't go in alone
2
But Google Translate is one tool that they're making very significant improvements on all the time.
As someone who often sees people using it to pretend to be Russians, sorry, don't see it :/
Edit: Case in point
нужно джунглях палатах
Will barely translate to "need in jungles in hospital wards
1
And yet you know they're saying something about "need", "jungles", and "wards". Otherwise you know absolutely nothing about what they're saying. So which is of more value?
3
Very cool, it would be amazing if Valve looked at this and built one into their engine that allowed you to select your language, and all text would be translated by default so it wouldn't really matter what language people use as it translates everything to their native tongue.
You know how the last time you translated something thoughtful/funny/interesting/important to Russian via google translate or an alternative and told all of your Russian friends and they looked at you like you had down syndrome? Yeah, it's going to be like that most of the time when you use something like this.
Maybe in about 10 years this will change, but until then you'll have to learn the language, hire a translator or give up on understanding it.
3
Nice work. I'm looking forward to actually understand all these foreign insults. I mean, what does an insult mean when you don't understand it?
7
Same thing as flaming someone after placing them on your ignore list. Adults being kids...
2
I can assure you that while this will translate some of the words, the intended meaning will still go way over your head.
-1
So you are an orange?
6
No, deadpirat is an orange.
7
wouldn't it be better if they just simply stop talking russian and start to learn a bit of english?
6
or.. you know... not queue in the wrong regions to begin with.
15
and not select english as language and only talk russian.
5
[deleted]
3
how do you do that T_T. they're everywhere ;; i played in China, SEA, Hong Kong and Australia servers and I always found a Russian guy every few games
1
Couldn't the same be said in reverse, I'm sure you could take some time out and learn basic Russian?
0
Why should I? I mean, English is THE international language. If I had another language to learn it would be Spanish/Chinese and not a Russian only because those people can't make efforts and don't want to speak anything else than their own language.
2
The same argument can be applied to anyone else, why should I have to do X; but if it's an inconvenience to you then you should probably seek to correct it because I doubt the hundreds of thousands of Russians/Ukrainians etc. are going to learn English for you.
1
The thing is Russians know basic english and just don't make the effort. And btw i disagree with you, english is the internationnal language that should be used in online games. Oh and now there's a language setting so if you pick english, just speak english ?
2
I doubt the hundreds of thousands of Russians/Ukrainians etc. are going to learn English for you.
They won't learn it for me, because I don't give a single fuck but they have to learn it because it's about respect. It's disrespectful to talk in russian/ukrainian/whatever when the 3 other players don't understand a single thing.
Also, I don't think english spoken people have to learn Russian only because of a game. It's not like English is used all around the world, even in your professional career English is a must have especially in trading/import and export/... But russians are too mind closed to understand that. Stick with your language but also stick with your own comrades and stay on your own servers - The World.
0
Considering the status of English as the current lingua franca, and it being used in a wide range of situations both business-related and for relaxation, I have always found this an asuming argument. They would gain so much more from learning basic English than we would from learning basic Russian, which to me is a language I only encounter in Dota 2.
1
And you only encounter it in Russia/Ukraine.
2
Finally, it will translate "-ping" to "I'm not queued in the right region" for us! AWESOME.
But seriously, this is awesome.
5
"-ping"
"Я кормление потому, что я отстают"
1
"I am feeding because I was falling behind" For the lazy
1
I meant "lagging," but good enough!
1
When will this be released?
Will the source get released?
4
When it's done, probably sometime soon.
Either yes or no, I don't know. Edit: Yes, it will be.
5
Wow, this is literally the vaguest set of answers I can think of.
2
Edited, but since I'm not the one who's doing the work I can't say for sure when it's done. It's possible that it'll be released by this weekend, but it's also possible that it won't be.
6
I'm a c# developer and I'd love to help out on this project.
1
I get the feeling your pretty new to the way valve works, yes?
soon™
1
Or he's a pro at it. :X
1
This isn't valve, its one guy posting about a personal project. Why post if you dont want to / can't say anything?
1
guys comon i am the real orange
4
deadpirat ogre > all
1
What's it written in? If C#, how are you reading from the Dota2 chat (memory)?
3
It's C# indeed, the source code will be released eventually so you can see for yourself. I personally don't know though.
6
I'd like to learn some C#, looking through this would be good.
1
If you don't know it, looking at it won't help.
-1
yes it will, it's easy to pick up languages when you know some.
4
If you know a few languages already (just one C-like language might suffice here), looking at a working code of a new (to you) language is a good way to learn.
3
Oh damn that's amazing. Really excited now!
1
This is great! Can't wait to get the finished product, hopefully Valve'll have no problem with it.
On side note, I'd like to know, will this work with another source engine game, or would you consider doing so in the future?
3
"Hi, I'm one of the engineers at Valve, and I specifically work on anti-cheat features in our games. Would you mind putting me in contact with your friend who's working on the Dota Translator? (He's not in trouble, lol, it's just likely that this tool will look like a cheat to our system, since it likely works the same way that cheats do.)"
Shouldn't be a problem.
Maybe it could, since I'm not the creator of the tool itself I can't say for sure. But I guess you'd have to twist the code some.
5
Awesome, I can't wait for release. Even though the grammar might be a little garbled, this will be invaluable. Now you can at least be able to know when a non-English-speaking player is honestly attempting to say something pertinent to the game instead of throwing insults.
And yea, that'd be super cool as well if it could be made to plugin to other source-based games. Might be a bit difficult though, I think Dota2 has it's own tweaked version of Source.
The creator of this program's doing God's work. Best wishes to him.
1
je suis une pamplemosse
3
*pamplemousse
^^sorry, ^^had ^^to ^^do ^^it
2
Wow, amazing! Can't wait until it's finished!
2
Is this allowed to be used ingame? I mean, it's third party software :P.
It's great btw!
2
Got a private message allegedly by a Valve engineer working with anti-cheat software, lol. Apparently he just wanted to know how the program worked so that it could be ignored in case it's identified as a cheat by their software.
14
Get the creator to email Valve to get the go ahead directly from them (Instead of from reddit) and have him post it on the project's site (if it has one).
6
He got an e-mail adress which he was to contact @valvesoftware.com so that shouldn't be a problem. :) For the record, it doesn't have any site, at least not yet.
8
That's good! Even if the person from Reddit is a verified valve employee, always the best to get it direct from valve's email domain! :)
5
I think this tool could win the nobel prize for peace.
<3 Douglas Adams
I'm pretty sure this just means I can finally understand the 'mid-or-feed' Brazilians that have invaded the 'English' option in every game I play. I guess Mr. Bloodseeker might finally know what I'm saying, doesn't mean he'll understand though.
Coming from a guy with a riki flair :|
If only they knew he has a smoke bomb.
A what?
[deleted]
They're both commonly depicted as being noob heroes, due to how effective they are in low skill pubs.
Nobody turns down a chance to play riki against a squishy team :D I mostly end up playing 5 though :(
I see you haven't met the russians yet...
-ping
More like PINGPINGPING everywhere on the map instead of saying what they mean.
IF THEYRE GONNA TYPE IT EVERY TIME WHY DONT THEY JUST USE THE CONSOLE COMMAND TO ALWAYS SHOW IT??
[deleted]
To be fair, they don't have any other options.
As long as there's no "Portuguese" option you can't really blame them.
If he has the same app, would it not translate yours as well?
DAE hate le foreigners?
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