I’d like to ask how other developers manage localization for dialogue in Unreal Engine.
In my previous project, I managed dialogue using DataTables. I separated the player’s name and dialogue text, and I created one DataTable for each conversation. Eventually, I ended up with around 100 DataTables.
For localization, I used the Localization Dashboard to gather all the text and export it to CSV for translation. However, when I opened the CSV in Google Sheets, all the dialogue lines were mixed together. Lines from different DataTables appeared next to each other, so it was very difficult to understand the context of each conversation.
I’m wondering if there is a good way to solve this.
For example, I’d like to have something like:
| ID | Japanese | English |
|---|---|---|
| CH001_001 | Japanese dialogue 1 | English translation |
| CH001_002 | Japanese dialogue 2 | English translation |
| CH001_003 | Japanese dialogue 3 | English translation |
| CH002_001 | Japanese dialogue 1 | English translation |
| CH002_002 | Japanese dialogue 2 | English translation |
My concern is that Unreal’s localization system collects each piece of text individually. Even if I add my own Conversation ID or Line ID to the DataTable, will the localization process preserve those IDs and allow me to keep the dialogue grouped by conversation?
Or will Unreal generate/use its own IDs, causing the dialogue lines to become mixed together again when they are exported to CSV?
I’d also like to hear how other developers handle this in practice. Do you manage the dialogue and localization separately? Do you use namespaces/keys, custom IDs, DataTables, or another system?
I also found this video showing a workflow where the dialogue is managed in Google Sheets first, and different language columns are maintained there. The translations can then be exported as CSV files for each language.
I really like the idea because I’m working on a relatively small project. I only have a few tens of thousands of characters, so I don’t necessarily need a complicated professional localization pipeline.
In a small project like this, would it be more efficient to manage everything directly in Google Sheets and export separate CSV files for each language, rather than using Unreal’s Localization Dashboard?
I’d really appreciate hearing about your localization workflows and any recommendations for keeping dialogue organized while maintaining the context of each conversation.
Thanks!