How to use latin extended characters from the Code page on Serious Sam

[Marco]

Hello guys,

Today I will show you a tutorial, mostly addressed to West EU languages (ita, fra, esp), on how to use latin extended letters that normally Serious Sam can't allow you to write in console.

First of all, I have to thank Supersniper98 (I already did, but I'll do it again because you have to know it is thanks to him I'm showing this), who taught me this method a long time ago.

Now, we will take as a reference the Windows Code Page Table n° 1252.

So, the first thing we have to do now is to open PersistentSymbols.ini (default path is "C:\Program Files (x86)\Croteam\Serious Sam - The Second Encounter\Scripts") and add many lines, one per character, like this:

persistent extern CTString agr="à";
persistent extern CTString agrCap="À";

We just added the "A" with gravis (I put "gr" for "Gravis"). "Cap" is for the capital letter (or "Uppercase"); however you can abbreviate to only "C".

IMPORTANT: ADD ONLY 15-16 LINES, THEN SAVE AND CLOSE. TO ADD MORE CHARS, OPEN THE FILE AGAIN AND ADD MAX 15-16 LINES!!! IF YOU ADD MORE THAN THAT IN A ROW, THEN SERIOUS SAM WILL RESET ALL SETTINGS AT STARTUP, PLUS YOU WON'T FIND THE LINES ANYMORE IF YOU OPEN PERSISTENTSYMBOLS.INI AFTERWARDS!!!


After you are done with it, it is time to think about next problem: how do I write extended fonts while in chat?

Serious Sam has a built-in console command which is called "Say". To use it, open the console by pressing TILDE (international keyboard; for italian keyboards it is "\", but I think everybody of you can do that); then you have to write the entire code: /Say().
However, you can just type "say" and press TAB, you'll get the command "already ready".

Now, you have to use the + sign in order to separate each letter, like this:

/Say(agr+egr+igr+ogr+ugr)

Press ENTER and the console should type the following output --> àèìòù

But maybe you want to write words separated by spaces. By default, you can just put a space in brackets:

/Say(agr+" "+egr)

And the output will be --> à è

But you can add an SP string just like we saw before, to obtain the same result:

persistent extern CTString SP=" "

/Say(agr+SP+egr)

Output --> à è

After all, in the Windows Code Page 1252, the space is called SP.



However, this method results slower if you have to write complex sentences. And another problem is you have to put normal fonts in brackets:

/Say("a"+agr+"m"+egr)

Output --> aàmè

So, if you have a good memory, why not give a code to an entire sentence?

An example in italian --> Mimì, oggi c'è troppo sole là. (=Mimì, it is too sunny down there today)

Instead of writing a long string, we can invent an acronym for a separate word or, as said above, for the whole sentence. Then put it in a string. Example:

persistent extern CTString mimtrsla="Mimì, c'è troppo sole là";

Try to use as less initials as you can so you will easily remember each combination.

However, the advantage of writing simple characters in brackets is that you can write spaces and sentences without need of separate each letter. But remember, when you write a complex "hybrid" sentence, use the + to separate an extended character to the rest:

/Say("Oggi non ho studiato perch"+eac+" stavo male" )

Output --> Oggi non ho studiato perché stavo male (=I didn't study today because I didn't feel very good)

Note that I even put spaces in brackets and I separated only the special font.

Be careful not to mess up when you have to use more extended letters. One example in french and one in spanish:

/Say("J'ai "+eac+"t"+egr+"au supermarch"+eac)

And you should see this --> J'ai étè au supermarché (=I have been at supermarket)

An example in spanish. This time we will use the "n" with tilde (remember to add it first!):

/Say("Se"+ntilde+"or, su b"+uac+"squeda se acabo aqu"+iac)

And you'll read --> Señor, su búsqueda se acabo aquí (=Sir, your search ends here).


Try to master this technique and you will be able to write the words in their correct form when you are talking to a country mate.


IMPORTANT: Since Serious Sam can use only 1 fonts table, you won't be able to see cyrillic fonts or even latin fonts from other code pages (there is the East EU latin code page, the turkish one, etc...) if some players are displaying their nicknames or are writing in chat with them. You'll still see your CP-1252 fonts instead.

For example, for the russian name Макс you'll still see Ìàêñ unless you install cyrillc russian fonts on your Serious Sam copy. Some more characters won't be even displayed on console.

IMPORTANT x2: Be careful, be very careful, not to use Sam's environment variables (such as "on" or you'll get an error) when editing PersistentSymbols.ini manually.

And that's all for now.

[Supersniper98]

Nice tutorial) but I found it is way too complicated to type like that.. it takes alot of practice to write at decent speed and especially in Latin you can just skip those extended letters and everyone knows what you talking about.... it is like "е" and "ё" in Russian, people skip ё even if Cyrillic is available to them...

IMPORTANT: ADD ONLY 15-16 LINES, THEN SAVE AND CLOSE. TO ADD MORE CHARS, OPEN THE FILE AGAIN AND ADD MAX 15-16 LINES!!! IF YOU ADD MORE THAN THAT IN A ROW, THEN SERIOUS SAM WILL RESET ALL SETTINGS AT STARTUP, PLUS YOU WON'T FIND THE LINES ANYMORE IF YOU OPEN PERSISTENTSYMBOLS.INI AFTERWARDS!!!

This happened only once to me, a long time ago..... I think 2017... and I was adding less symbols so yeah... SS is random :|
But when I added my cyrillic symbols I just placed them in notepad.... put them all in PersistentSymbols.ini.... opened game.... then looked until where it accepted them and then copied the rest until all of them were accepted. Nothing was reset.

[Marco]

Nice tutorial) but I found it is way too complicated to type like that.. it takes alot of practice to write at decent speed and especially in Latin you can just skip those extended letters and everyone knows what you talking about.... it is like "е" and "ё" in Russian, people skip ё even if Cyrillic is available to them...

In late 2019 I remember I was observing a game in Yodeller, another italian entered the game and we had a talk. When I wrote, let's say, in "hybrid" mode he asked me how could I write accented-letters in chat. I told him there was a console command to do that. But in chat it is almost impossible to explain the mechanism.
So 2 days ago I joined some Co-op servers and I had a talk to another italian (he mainly asked me for Name Editor since he saw my tag) who entered afterwards... I didn't use special symbols because I didn't want to explain in chat (for the reason above). So I decided to write this... and I prepared the link to this thread as a line in my PersistentSymbols! Next time, if I'll meet him again and he will ask, I'll type /Say(linkfnt) and the link will be displayed on chat!

I was wondering, since not yet tested, will this work with SayFromTo as well?

Yes, it is complicated and only a few people will use this. But I hope those who will ask me how to write accents (or even special german/scandinavian letters), will understand at least the mechanism by reading this.

This happened only once to me, a long time ago..... I think 2017... and I was adding less symbols so yeah... SS is random :|
But when I added my cyrillic symbols I just placed them in notepad.... put them all in PersistentSymbols.ini.... opened game.... then looked until where it accepted them and then copied the rest until all of them were accepted. Nothing was reset.

This game has such different behaviours, lol... The same for the fonts: I managed to create custom fonts only with 8 chars per line... Does it matter if the system is 32 or 64-bits?

I experienced this: game settings will reset (Music ON, demos playing at startup, no shadows, etc..) and additional lines in PersistentSymbols are always deleted if:

• I add more than 15/16 lines in the file;

• I forget to close a single line with the semicolon.

The fact of the semicolon happened yesterday when I was adding one of those sentences for the tutorial...

[Supersniper98]

So I decided to write this... and I prepared the link to this thread as a line in my PersistentSymbols! Next time, if I'll meet him again and he will ask, I'll type /Say(linkfnt) and the link will be displayed on chat!

Yeah because he will definitely be able to copy this or is willing to screenshot or write on paper a long link containing numbers))

I was wondering, since not yet tested, will this work with SayFromTo as well?

Why not

Yes, it is complicated and only a few people will use this. But I hope those who will ask me how to write accents (or even special german/scandinavian letters), will understand at least the mechanism by reading this.

In short: they will give up from the idea quickly xD

I forget to close a single line with the semicolon.

Yes! Don't forget it) It's important!

[Marco]

Yeah because he will definitely be able to copy this or is willing to screenshot or write on paper a long link containing numbers))

Definitely not my problem how do they do. I already gave links in chat some previous times. The only help I could give to them is to suggest them to keep the main directory of Sam open, reduce the game to icon while on (there is the Start button, or Alt+Tab, or Ctrl+Alt+Tab to do this), then open Serious Sam.log and put some keywords in the search bar (in this case, "showthread" since 42Amsterdam is a message you get every time you connect to Ostap servers and this means you'll get different results), select and copy on browser. Then if they do this or use the slower and less convenient methods you described (to write on a paper and then on browser is not convenient... and taking a screenshot forces you to write everything from scratch anyway... unless you have the site in browsing history or as a bookmark, then you have to add less stuff, but it is still slower), I can't do anything about this.

Actually, I think I'll write another tutorial on how to save logs in Sam, so that you can retrieve the links after turning off Sam... or keep track of any Uopaaa or mad dog trashing you... Tutorial will be available both here and on Steam.