CsfStudio - Red Alert 2 String Table Editor

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Dependencies

CsfStudio is a command‑line tool for working with Red Alert 2 and Yuri's Revenge string table files (.csf). It supports bidirectional conversion between multiple formats, set operations on label collections, map label checking, translation helpers, and encoding fixes.

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Features

• 🔄 Format conversion – CSF ↔ INI / JSON / YAML / LLF / TXT / Excel (XLSX/XLS) / CSV
• 🧩 Set operations – union, subtraction, intersection, symmetric difference, case override
• 🔍 Diff & compare – full diff and short stat between two CSF files
• 📋 Search & export – find labels by pattern, export label lists
• 🗺️ Map label check – scan .map, .mpr, .yrm files to find missing labels in CSF
• 🌍 Translation helpers – generate translation templates, side-by-side comparisons, update helpers
• 🔠 Encoding fix – reinterpret CSF text using a different codepage (e.g. Windows-1251, GB18030)
• 📦 Batch processing – process all files in a folder at once
• 🧠 Preserves extra data (WRTS) – all operations keep the optional binary block
• 📝 Label ordering – maintain original order or sort alphabetically (--order-by-key)
• 👁️ Dry-run mode – preview output without writing files

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Supported Formats

Format	Read	Write	Extra data	Metadata	Multi‑line
CSF (binary)	✅	✅	✅ (WRTS)	✅ (version, language)	✅
INI	✅	✅	✅ (text)	✅	✅
JSON	✅	✅	✅ (text)	✅	✅
YAML	✅	✅	✅ (text)	✅	✅ (literal)
LLF	✅	✅	✅ (comment)	✅ (comments)	✅
TXT (CSFTool)	✅	✅	✅ (!extra|)	✅ (!metadata|)	✅ (escaped)
Excel (XLSX/XLS)	✅	✅	✅ (text)	✅ (separate sheet)	✅
CSV	✅	✅	✅ (text)	✅ (#version=)	✅ (RFC 4180)

All conversions preserve label order (original or sorted) and extra data (WRTS) where applicable.

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Installation & Build

Prerequisites

• .NET Framework 4.0 or higher
• Visual Studio 2019 / 2022 (or any C# compiler)

Build from source

git clone https://github.com/YoVVassup/Ra2CsfFile.git
cd Ra2CsfFile
nuget restore SadPencil.Ra2CsfFile.sln
msbuild SadPencil.Ra2CsfFile.sln /p:Configuration=Release

The executable CsfStudio.exe will be placed in CsfStudio\bin\Release\. All dependencies (NPOI, YamlDotNet, Newtonsoft.Json, etc.) are embedded using Costura.Fody – no extra DLLs required.

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Quick Start

# View file statistics
CsfStudio.exe -i stringtable01.csf --stats

# Convert CSF to INI
CsfStudio.exe -i stringtable01.csf -o stringtable01.ini --to-ini

# Compare two files
CsfStudio.exe -i old.csf,new.csf --diff

# Search for labels
CsfStudio.exe -i stringtable01.csf --search "Soviet"

# Validate a file
CsfStudio.exe -i stringtable01.csf --validate

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Command Line Reference

Basic syntax

CsfStudio.exe -i <input> [-i <input2> ...] -o <output> --<operation> [options]

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Format Conversion

Convert a single file from one format to another.

Command	Output format
--to-csf	.csf (binary game format)
--to-ini	.ini (human-readable)
--to-json	.json
--to-yaml	.yaml
--to-llf	.llf (Label Language File)
--to-txt	.txt (CSFTool format)
--to-excel	.xlsx or .xls
--to-csv	.csv

CsfStudio.exe -i stringtable01.csf -o stringtable01.ini --to-ini
CsfStudio.exe -i stringtable01.ini -o stringtable01.xlsx --to-excel
CsfStudio.exe -i stringtable01.csv -o stringtable01.csf --to-csf --csv-delimiter semicolon
CsfStudio.exe -i stringtable01.csf -o output.json --to-json --dry-run

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Set Operations

Operations that combine or compare two or more input files.

Command	Description
--merge	Union: all labels from all files
--subtract	A minus B: labels in first but not in others
--intersection	Labels present in all files; differing values replaced with --diff-placeholder
--symmetric-difference	Labels present in exactly one file (values must match)
--override-case	Keep values from current file, but use label case from upstream file

CsfStudio.exe -i stringtable01.csf,stringtable02.csf -o merged.csf --merge
CsfStudio.exe -i stringtable01.csf,stringtable02.csf -o common.csf --intersection
CsfStudio.exe -i upstream.csf,current.csf -o fixed.csf --override-case
CsfStudio.exe -i old.csf,new.csf -o merged.csf --merge --merge-strategy last-wins

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Diff & Compare

Command	Description
--diff	Full diff: show all added, removed, and changed labels
--diff-stat	Short summary: counts of added/removed/changed/unchanged

CsfStudio.exe -i old.csf,new.csf --diff
CsfStudio.exe -i old.csf,new.csf -o diff_report.txt --diff
CsfStudio.exe -i old.csf,new.csf --diff-stat

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Search & Export

Command	Description
--search <pattern>	Find labels by substring (case-insensitive)
--search regex:<pattern>	Find labels by regular expression
--export-labels	Export sorted list of all label names

CsfStudio.exe -i stringtable01.csf --search "Soviet"
CsfStudio.exe -i stringtable01.csf --search "regex:^UI:" -o matches.txt
CsfStudio.exe -i stringtable01.csf --export-labels -o labels.txt

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Info & Validation

Command	Description
--stats	Show file statistics (count, size, language, version)
--validate	Validate file for errors (exit code: 0=ok, 1=errors, 2=warnings)

CsfStudio.exe -i stringtable01.csf --stats
CsfStudio.exe -i stringtable01.csf --validate

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Map Label Check

Scan map files (.map, .mpr, .yrm) and list all labels used in maps but missing from the CSF.

CsfStudio.exe -i ra2md.csf --check-maps --map-folder "C:\RA2\Maps"
CsfStudio.exe -i ra2md.csf --check-maps --map-folder "C:\RA2\Maps" -o missing_labels.txt

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Translation Helpers

Command	Description	Inputs
--translation-new	Create translation template	1 (upstream)
--translation-tile	Side-by-side comparison	2 (upstream, translated)
--translation-update	Update translation after upstream changes	3 (old_upstream, new_upstream, old_translated)
--translation-override	Merge: use translated if exists, otherwise upstream	2 (upstream, translated)

CsfStudio.exe -i upstream.csf -o template.ini --translation-new
CsfStudio.exe -i upstream.csf,translated.csf -o compare.ini --translation-tile
CsfStudio.exe -i old_up.csf,new_up.csf,old_trans.csf -o updated.ini --translation-update
CsfStudio.exe -i upstream.csf,translated.csf -o merged.csf --translation-override

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Encoding Fix

Reinterpret CSF text using a different codepage.

CsfStudio.exe -i broken.csf -o fixed.csf --fix-encoding windows-1251
CsfStudio.exe -i broken.csf -o fixed.csf --fix-encoding gb18030

Supported encodings: gb18030, gb2312, windows-1251, windows-1252, iso-8859-1, utf-8, unicode

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Batch Processing

Process all supported files in a folder at once.

CsfStudio.exe --batch --batch-folder "C:\RA2\Strings" --to-json
CsfStudio.exe --batch --batch-folder "C:\RA2\Strings" --output-folder "C:\Output" --to-ini
CsfStudio.exe --batch --batch-folder "C:\RA2\Strings" --to-csv --recursive

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General Options

Option	Description
-i, --input <file>	Input file(s), comma-separated for multiple
-o, --output <file>	Output file path
--csv-delimiter <delim>	CSV delimiter: auto, comma, semicolon, tab, pipe, space
--order-by-key	Sort labels alphabetically when saving
--diff-placeholder <text>	Placeholder for differing values (default: TODO_Different_Value)
--merge-strategy <strategy>	Conflict resolution: first-wins (default), last-wins, error
--dry-run	Preview output without writing files
--force	Overwrite existing output file without prompt
--output-encoding <enc>	Output encoding: utf-8 (default), ascii, unicode
--quiet	Suppress non-essential output
--verbose	Show additional information
--recursive	Include subfolders in batch processing
-h, --help	Show help

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Notes

• Extra data (WRTS) is preserved in all operations.
• Extra data is stored as UTF-8 text in all text formats.
• --translation-tile supports .ini, .json, .yaml, .csv, .xlsx output.
• When using --translation-update, removed labels get a _DELETE suffix.
• Map label check parses UIName, Actions (types 11/103), and Ranking section.

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License

MIT License – see LICENSE for details.

Acknowledgements

• TXT format (CSFTool format) is based on CSFTool by Starkku, licensed under GPL-3.0.