well, i once tried to mass-replace translations (strings) and i ended up with an error message, that i reached the limit of localized strings. Maybe i did it wrong or there might be other ways to change, but i believe you will exceed a limit earlier or later :/

Sevenz.
This is not a problem, I'm willing to try.
But as you did to translate the texts?
Awaiting your reply eagerly.

I'll explain using the CoD4 mod tools, as I don't have WaW for testing. but CoD4 is very similar.

• almost all texts are in raw\english\localizedstrings\
  
  
• Example: ac130.str
  
  
  Code:

  REFERENCE           HINT_CYCLE_WEAPONS
  LANG_ENGLISH        "Press ^3[{weapnext}]^7 to cycle through weapons."

  
  
  you can change the text in the quotes, like
  LANG_ENGLISH "Drücke ^3[{weapnext}]^7 um zwischen den Waffen zu wechseln."
  
  
• After translation, you need to compile the localizations.
  
  
• I created a new folder inside CoD4\mods\ and called it translation. In this folder i got a batch script to compile, a zone file to specify the files to get compiled and another batch script to quickly run CoD with my mod.
  
  
• Compile script: makeMod.bat
  
  Code:

  @echo off
  del mod.ff
  
  copy /Y mod.csv ..\..\zone_source
  cd ..\..\bin
  
  rem -compress 
  linker_pc.exe -language english -compress -cleanup mod
  
  cd ..\mods\translation\
  copy ..\..\zone\english\mod.ff
  
  pause

  
  
  
• zone file: mod.csv
  
  Code:

  ignore,code_post_gfx
  ignore,common
  localize,killhouse
  localize,menu
  localize,messagebox
  localize,jeepride
  localize,introscreen
  localize,game
  localize,exe
  localize,embassy
  localize,marksman
  localize,launchfacility_a
  localize,launchfacility_b
  localize,icbm
  localize,hunted
  localize,rallypoint
  localize,rank
  localize,rivertown
  localize,sandstorm
  localize,school
  localize,scoutsniper
  localize,null
  localize,objectives
  localize,village_defend
  localize,village_assault
  localize,vidsubtitles
  localize,starts
  localize,armada

  
  
• localize is the keyword to specify a *.str file, after a comma goes the str filename (as you see, without file extension and path). I added a bunch of the stock localizations above, 'cause i wanted to test how many assets are possible.
  
  
• run script: runModSP.bat
  
  Code:

  @echo off
  
  cd ..\..\
  
  iw3sp.exe +set developer 1 +set fs_game mods/translation

  
  
  
• Double-click the makeMod.bat and see the compiler working. When done, a file called mod.ff should be in your mod folder.
  
  
• Double-click runModSP.bat to launch the game. With the above zone file, CoD crashes immediately (see attached picture), as there are too many localize-assets - max. is 6144. Note, that i did not add all SP *.str files yet but it's already not working.

attached my test files as mentioned in my above description.


i just tried something different: i decompressed the common.ff, which seems to contain a lot of localization assets

then i edited one asset using a hex editor. i used exactly the same number of letters; generally, it should be possible to change the size, as long as you keep the structure intact and change sizes only within localize asset blocks. So the overall size and the position of other asset types in fastfile need to stay.

i re-compressed the data using zlib, added the original 12 header bytes and replaced the stock common.ff with it.

game loads without problems and changed text shows up ingame!

downsides: you need to overwrite the stock fastfiles. for SP it's ok, for MP not.
SP: You would have to edit many fastfiles. If you're lucky, then the translations are spread over a few only, but there might be assets in each fastfile. In the worst case, you'd have to provide 1.55 GB changed fastfiles.

MP: MP should have way less localize assets, so it might be possible to use a mod.ff instead of hex-editing the existing files (depends on the number of assets, whether you hit the limit or not)