Guild Guides

Practical how-tos for HYDRA members. We play on a server with a large Chinese-speaking population, so the two guides below cover reading and translating Chinese chat in-game: installing the WoW Translator addon, and getting Chinese characters and player names to render correctly.

Content adapted from the community guides by Nilla at ambershire.com/guides. Technical steps and download links are preserved; re-verify links if an addon has since updated.

WoW Translator Addonread & translate chat

What it is

WoW Translator lets you translate in-game text on the fly, which is invaluable on a Chinese-population server where a lot of chat, guild recruitment, and trade goes by in Chinese. It ships as an addon folder plus a small .dll helper. A few different builds float around and not all of them work, so use the trusted release linked below.

Install
  1. Download the latest release. Grab it from the official repo: github.com/paokkerkir/wow-translate/releases (the v1.2 release link redirects to the current version, currently v1.3).
  2. Open the downloaded zip from your Downloads folder. Inside you will see an Interface folder and a .dll file. It should look like this:
The opened WoW Translator zip showing the Interface folder and the .dll file
  1. Copy both into your WoW folder. Highlight the Interface folder and the .dll file together, then drop them into your TurtleWoW install folder -- the same place that holds your launcher and your Interface/AddOns folder. This merges the files into the right places without overwriting anything you already have. When done, your WoW folder contains the .dll, and the addon sits under Interface/AddOns.
The TurtleWoW main folder after copying, now containing the .dll and the addon

Main folder view -- the .dll now sits alongside your launcher.

And this is what your Interface > AddOns folder should contain:

The Interface/AddOns folder containing the WoW Translator addon
  1. Launch the game and confirm the translator loads. If it works right away, you are done -- enjoy.
Troubleshooting: the .dll won't load

Many community .dll files get flagged by Windows Defender by default. Two fixes, easiest first:

  1. Allow the blocked file. Right-click the .dll in your WoW folder, choose Properties, and near the bottom of the General tab check the Unblock / Allow box, then Apply. This stops Defender from quarantining it.
  2. Exclude the WoW folder (last resort). If Defender keeps deleting the file, add your TurtleWoW folder as an exclusion: Windows Security > Virus & threat protection > Manage settings > Add or remove exclusions > Add an exclusion > Folder, then pick your TurtleWoW folder.
Windows Security Add or remove exclusions screen with the TurtleWoW folder added as a folder exclusion
Do this at your own risk. Excluding the whole WoW folder makes anything inside it bypass Defender, so only do it if you stick to trusted, vetted addons.
Video walkthrough (third-party) for the WoW Translator install

Seeing In-Game Chinese Lettersfix the ??? boxes

The problem

By default the vanilla client renders Chinese characters as empty boxes or question marks, so Chinese chat and player names are unreadable. The fix is to give the client a font that contains the Chinese glyphs. Pick one of the two methods below.

Method A -- replace Fonts.MPQ (recommended)
  1. Download the replacement Fonts.MPQ: drive.proton.me/urls/BA5XR49EV4
  2. Back up your original Fonts.MPQ from the Data folder inside your WoW directory (rename or copy it somewhere safe).
  3. Drop the downloaded Fonts.MPQ into the Data folder, replacing the original.
  4. Set it read-only. Right-click the new Fonts.MPQ, open Properties, and tick Read-only so the launcher doesn't overwrite it on update.
Method B -- drop TTF fonts in a Fonts folder
  1. Download the alternative font pack: Fonts_alt.7z (MediaFire)
  2. Extract the four .TTF files into a Fonts folder in your base WoW directory. If there is no Fonts folder, just create one.
If you use pfUI

pfUI sets its own fonts, so you also need to point it at the Chinese-capable fonts or names and tooltips will still break:

  1. Add the FRITZQT font to the pfUI fonts folder.
The FRITZQT font file added to the pfUI fonts folder
  1. In pfUI > General Settings, set FRITZQT as the Standard Text font.
pfUI General Settings with FRITZQT selected as the Standard Text font
  1. In pfUI > Tooltip Settings, set FRITZQT as the Tooltip Text font.
pfUI Tooltip Settings with FRITZQT selected as the Tooltip Text font
  1. Set the 3D World Unit Font to ARIALN.
pfUI setting the 3D World Unit Font to ARIALN so Chinese player names render above units
Don't skip the ARIALN step. If you leave the 3D World Unit Font alone, names floating above players that are written in Chinese will not show up at all.
Video walkthrough (third-party) for the Chinese font fix