CS2 Chat Translator

A small desktop tool that reads Counter-Strike 2's in-game chat and translates foreign-language messages into your language in real time — in a separate window, with both original text and translation visible.

What it does

• Tails CS2's console.log (produced when the game is launched with the -condebug option).
• Pulls all-chat and team-chat messages, keeping who wrote them, which channel, and team-chat location callouts.
• Translates each message into your configured target language via free Google Translate (no API key required).
• Renders original + translation in a dark chat feed, with a live status bar showing lines read / chat found / translated.
• Reply in the sender's language: click a message, type your reply, the app translates it back into the original language and writes a .cfg file CS2 can execute via a single keybind (see below).

Currently recognizes English ([ALL] / [CT] / [T]) and German ([ALLE] / [AT] / [T], incl. [TOT] dead suffix) CS2 client localizations, plus a few others. More can be added in Services/ChatLineParser.cs (the TypeMap dictionary).

Quick start

1. Download the binary for your platform from the Releases page — or build it yourself (see below).
   • On Linux, mark the downloaded file executable: chmod +x CS2ChatTranslator.Avalonia
2. Launch CS2 with the -condebug launch option so the game writes console.log.
3. Run the app.
4. Open Datei → Einstellungen…:
   • Pick your target language.
   • Durchsuchen… to your console.log. Typical locations:
     • Windows: ...\Steam\steamapps\common\Counter-Strike Global Offensive\game\csgo\console.log
     • Linux: ~/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/common/Counter-Strike Global Offensive/game/csgo/console.log
5. Click OK. Chat messages from your matches now appear in the window translated.

Settings persist across launches:

• Windows: %APPDATA%\CS2ChatTranslator\config.json
• Linux: ~/.config/CS2ChatTranslator/config.json

Replying in the sender's language

The app can write the translated reply into a CS2 config file (cs2_translator_reply.cfg) inside the game's cfg folder. CS2 then executes it via a single keybind.

One-time setup, inside CS2's developer console:

bind F8 "exec cs2_translator_reply"

(Any key works; F8 is just a suggestion.)

Then, in the app:

1. Click a message in the feed → the bottom bar shows Antwort an <player> • <yourLang> → <theirLang>.
2. Type the reply in your own language, press Senden (or Enter).
3. The app translates it into the sender's language and writes say "…" (or say_team "…") into the cfg file.
4. Tab back into CS2, open chat, press F8. CS2 dispatches the translated say.

The cfg file is overwritten on every send. Only say / say_team commands are emitted — nothing that touches game state, so this is VAC-safe (it's the same mechanism CS2 itself uses for user-authored chat binds).

Platforms

Platform	UI frontend	Project
Windows	WinForms	src/CS2ChatTranslator/
Windows	Avalonia	src/CS2ChatTranslator.Avalonia/
Linux	Avalonia	src/CS2ChatTranslator.Avalonia/

The WinForms build is the original / canonical Windows binary. The Avalonia build runs on both Linux and Windows and shares the same services/parser code via CS2ChatTranslator.Core.

Known limitations

• x64 only — no ARM builds shipped.
• Needs an internet connection (Google Translate).
• Unsigned binary — Windows SmartScreen / Defender may warn on first launch. Click "More info → Run anyway" or whitelist it.
• Only the 500 most recent messages are kept in the feed; older ones scroll out.
• Translation quality is whatever free Google Translate provides; slang and CS jargon sometimes come out rough.

Build from source

Requires the .NET 10 SDK.

git clone https://github.com/Klausiiiii/CS2-Chat-Translator.git
cd CS2-Chat-Translator
dotnet build
dotnet test

Run from source without building a binary:

# Windows WinForms
dotnet run --project src/CS2ChatTranslator

# Windows / Linux Avalonia
dotnet run --project src/CS2ChatTranslator.Avalonia

Publish a self-contained binary

Windows WinForms (~51 MB, no .NET runtime needed on the target machine):

dotnet publish src/CS2ChatTranslator/CS2ChatTranslator.csproj \
  -c Release -r win-x64 --self-contained true \
  -p:PublishSingleFile=true \
  -p:IncludeNativeLibrariesForSelfExtract=true \
  -p:EnableCompressionInSingleFile=true \
  -o out/win-winforms/

Linux Avalonia:

dotnet publish src/CS2ChatTranslator.Avalonia/CS2ChatTranslator.Avalonia.csproj \
  -c Release -r linux-x64 --self-contained true \
  -p:PublishSingleFile=true \
  -p:IncludeNativeLibrariesForSelfExtract=true \
  -p:EnableCompressionInSingleFile=true \
  -o out/linux/

Windows Avalonia (same command, different RID):

dotnet publish src/CS2ChatTranslator.Avalonia/CS2ChatTranslator.Avalonia.csproj \
  -c Release -r win-x64 --self-contained true \
  -p:PublishSingleFile=true \
  -p:IncludeNativeLibrariesForSelfExtract=true \
  -p:EnableCompressionInSingleFile=true \
  -o out/win-avalonia/

Project layout

• src/CS2ChatTranslator.Core/ — shared library: log tailer, chat parser, translator, config store, Steam path helper. Cross-platform (net10.0).
• src/CS2ChatTranslator/ — WinForms Windows app (net10.0-windows).
• src/CS2ChatTranslator.Avalonia/ — Avalonia cross-platform app (net10.0), runs on Linux and Windows.
• tests/CS2ChatTranslator.Tests/ — xUnit tests against Core, incl. a regression test that parses a real CS2 log excerpt.
• CLAUDE.md — architecture notes and parser gotchas for contributors.