UI language: viewer follows the system language even with English selected (partly translated UI)

sky_line commented

2026-10-29 22:45:43 +00:00

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Report

A user sets their viewers to English because they don't like translations. In Slipstream "half the viewer still translated": the UI follows the system language in many places even with English selected.

Expected

With Preferences > Language set to English, every UI string, menu, floater, notification and date/number format is English, regardless of the operating system's language. "System default" is the only setting that should follow the OS.

Leads (unconfirmed)

LLUI::getUILanguage() resolves Language, then InstallLanguage, then SystemLanguage, then "en". An explicit "en" should win, so a partly translated UI points at strings that don't go through this path, or at the explicit choice not being applied or saved.
Check whether the choice is lost: written to a different settings file, reset by a settings migration from an older install, or overridden by the Windows installer's InstallLanguage.
Check our own windows and features (newer floaters, pop-out windows, web/HTML panels, date and time formatting via setlocale/LLResMgr, any toolkit text not loaded from the skin's XUI files) for strings or formats taken from the system locale instead of LLUI::getLanguage().
Check for missing English fallbacks: localized skin folders containing a file whose English counterpart differs or is missing would mix languages.

Repro

Set the operating system to a non-English language.
Set Preferences > Language to English and restart.
Walk through menus, floaters, notifications, chat timestamps and pop-out windows; note every non-English string and where it came from.

Acceptance

English selected gives a fully English UI on a non-English OS (Windows and Linux).
Any other explicitly selected language is used instead of the system language.

## Report A user sets their viewers to English because they don't like translations. In Slipstream "half the viewer still translated": the UI follows the system language in many places even with English selected. ## Expected With Preferences > Language set to English, every UI string, menu, floater, notification and date/number format is English, regardless of the operating system's language. "System default" is the only setting that should follow the OS. ## Leads (unconfirmed) - `LLUI::getUILanguage()` resolves `Language`, then `InstallLanguage`, then `SystemLanguage`, then "en". An explicit "en" should win, so a partly translated UI points at strings that don't go through this path, or at the explicit choice not being applied or saved. - Check whether the choice is lost: written to a different settings file, reset by a settings migration from an older install, or overridden by the Windows installer's `InstallLanguage`. - Check our own windows and features (newer floaters, pop-out windows, web/HTML panels, date and time formatting via `setlocale`/`LLResMgr`, any toolkit text not loaded from the skin's XUI files) for strings or formats taken from the system locale instead of `LLUI::getLanguage()`. - Check for missing English fallbacks: localized skin folders containing a file whose English counterpart differs or is missing would mix languages. ## Repro 1. Set the operating system to a non-English language. 2. Set Preferences > Language to English and restart. 3. Walk through menus, floaters, notifications, chat timestamps and pop-out windows; note every non-English string and where it came from. ## Acceptance - English selected gives a fully English UI on a non-English OS (Windows and Linux). - Any other explicitly selected language is used instead of the system language.

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2026-10-29 22:45:43 +00:00

sky_line added this to the Slipstream project

2026-10-29 22:45:43 +00:00

TheSlowly self-assigned this

2026-10-30 17:35:22 +00:00

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2026-10-30 17:40:10 +00:00

TheSlowly commented

2026-10-30 18:59:50 +00:00

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Looked into this. With Preferences > Language set to English, the viewer only loads the English screens, so it was most likely still running in the Windows language. Two ways that happens:

The choice wasn't saved. Picking a language shows the restart notice right away, but closing Preferences with X or Cancel throws the choice away.
Language is on "System default" and Windows' regional format is another language. On Windows, System default follows the regional format (numbers, dates), not the display language.

Both are being fixed: System default will follow the Windows display language, and the restart notice will appear when you press OK.

To confirm which one it was, could the reporter share:

the Language and SystemLanguage entries from %APPDATA%\SlipstreamViewer\user_settings\settings.xml,
the lines mentioning the language near the top of %APPDATA%\SlipstreamViewer\logs\Slipstream.log?

Looked into this. With Preferences > Language set to English, the viewer only loads the English screens, so it was most likely still running in the Windows language. Two ways that happens: - **The choice wasn't saved.** Picking a language shows the restart notice right away, but closing Preferences with X or Cancel throws the choice away. - **Language is on "System default" and Windows' regional format is another language.** On Windows, System default follows the regional format (numbers, dates), not the display language. Both are being fixed: System default will follow the Windows display language, and the restart notice will appear when you press OK. To confirm which one it was, could the reporter share: - the `Language` and `SystemLanguage` entries from `%APPDATA%\SlipstreamViewer\user_settings\settings.xml`, - the lines mentioning the language near the top of `%APPDATA%\SlipstreamViewer\logs\Slipstream.log`?

TheSlowly referenced this issue from a pull request that will close it,

2026-10-31 00:40:57 +00:00

#1305 UI language: System default follows the Windows display language; restart notice on OK #1339

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2026-10-31 00:41:15 +00:00

sky_line closed this issue