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[vesicant]

Thanks for the response. I was expecting that error too! But I think that the localization files might be treated differently clientside.

Intuitively, this makes sense. If the game didn't have special handling in place for localization files, then players with e.g. `localized_german` IWDs wouldn't be able to connect to servers running with `localized_english`.

Try it. Host a remote server with the `localized_english` IWDs removed and try to connect to it. In my experience, everything works just fine.

On the client, your console will show something like this:

Current language: english
Current search path:
E:\COD2\main\iw_15.iwd (85 files)
    on the pure list
E:\COD2\main\iw_14.iwd (4038 files)
    on the pure list
E:\COD2\main\iw_13.iwd (22624 files)
    on the pure list
E:\COD2\main\iw_12.iwd (1016 files)
    on the pure list
E:\COD2\main\iw_11.iwd (1462 files)
    on the pure list
E:\COD2\main\iw_10.iwd (1936 files)
    on the pure list
E:\COD2\main\iw_09.iwd (2142 files)
    on the pure list
E:\COD2\main\iw_08.iwd (2723 files)
    on the pure list
E:\COD2\main\iw_07.iwd (3384 files)
    on the pure list
E:\COD2\main\iw_06.iwd (990 files)
    on the pure list
E:\COD2\main\iw_05.iwd (928 files)
    on the pure list
E:\COD2\main\iw_04.iwd (698 files)
    on the pure list
E:\COD2\main\iw_03.iwd (26 files)
    on the pure list
E:\COD2\main\iw_02.iwd (40 files)
    not on the pure list
E:\COD2\main\iw_01.iwd (16 files)
    not on the pure list
E:\COD2\main\iw_00.iwd (102 files)
    on the pure list
E:\COD2/main
E:\COD2/raw
E:\COD2/raw_shared
E:\COD2/devraw
E:\COD2/devraw_shared
E:\COD2\main\localized_english_iw11.iwd (1 files)
    localized assets iwd file for english
    not on the pure list
E:\COD2\main\localized_english_iw10.iwd (414 files)
    localized assets iwd file for english
    not on the pure list
E:\COD2\main\localized_english_iw09.iwd (98 files)
    localized assets iwd file for english
    not on the pure list
E:\COD2\main\localized_english_iw08.iwd (8 files)
    localized assets iwd file for english
    not on the pure list
E:\COD2\main\localized_english_iw07.iwd (1014 files)
    localized assets iwd file for english
    not on the pure list
E:\COD2\main\localized_english_iw06.iwd (3110 files)
    localized assets iwd file for english
    not on the pure list
E:\COD2\main\localized_english_iw05.iwd (5310 files)
    localized assets iwd file for english
    not on the pure list
E:\COD2\main\localized_english_iw04.iwd (6240 files)
    localized assets iwd file for english
    not on the pure list
E:\COD2\main\localized_english_iw03.iwd (6580 files)
    localized assets iwd file for english
    not on the pure list
E:\COD2\main\localized_english_iw02.iwd (6404 files)
    localized assets iwd file for english
    not on the pure list
E:\COD2\main\localized_english_iw01.iwd (5510 files)
    localized assets iwd file for english
    not on the pure list
E:\COD2\main\localized_english_iw00.iwd (4764 files)
    localized assets iwd file for english
    not on the pure list

Note how the `localized_english` files are recognized as "localized assets iwd files" even though they are marked as impure.

Let's do a few experiments to better understand this behavior.

First, let's try renaming `localized_english_iw09.iwd` to something else. This is a good file to experiment with because it contains localized strings for multiplayer.

If you rename that file to `localized_blah_iw09.iwd`, you'll still be able to connect to your server (which is missing `localized_english` files), but you'll see the following error in the console:

WARNING: Localized assets iwd file E:\COD2/main/localized_blah_iw09.iwd has invalid name (bad language name specified). Proper naming convention is: localized_[language]_iwd#.iwd
Current language: english

Additionally, when you connect, most of the strings you see in the UI won't be localized:

cod2.jpg

Now, let's try renaming `localized_english_iw09.iwd` to `zzz_foo.iwd`.

Interestingly, you'll still be able to connect! Your UI text will still be broken. You'll see this error in the console:

E:\COD2\main\zzz_foo.iwd (98 files)
    not on the pure list

It looks like the game only loads `localizedstrings` files from IWD archives named after the current language.

Next, let's rename `localized_english_iw10.iwd` to `zzz_bar.iwd`. I want to test this because this IWD contains `images` and `materials`, including `loadscreen_toujane.iwi`, so it should be loaded when we connect to the server.

Now, we get the error you mentioned:

ERROR: Impure client detected. Invalid .IWD files referenced!
E:\COD2\main\zzz_bar.iwd

To me, this suggests that the game does not do pure checks for files that follow the `localized_[language]_iwd#.iwd` naming convention.

I'm guessing that it will only read specific types of files from localized asset IWDs, and ignore any other files in there. I'd have to do more testing to be sure.

Regardless, it seems like leaving out `localized_[language]` IWDs from your server should have no impact on your players. The COD2 client seems to treat these localized IWDs differently.