CsfStudio - Red Alert 2 String Table Editor

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.

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

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.

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.

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

Command Line Reference

Basic syntax

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

License

MIT License – see LICENSE for details.

Acknowledgements

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

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