VSTA Language Packs

Q:

I’m trying to install language packs on non-English versions of Windows.  I’m assuming that these will show all dialogs and the VS IDE in that language.  Unfortunately, I see two issues that are confusing:

1) In \{sdkfolder}\VisualStudioToolsForApplications\SetupPackage\Language Packs\, I notice that some languages have a vsta_aide.msi file as well as a vsta_artl.msi file.  Others only have an _artl.msi file.  Since we need design-time components for all languages, I’m not sure what to do here.  Why do some languages, like, Russian, not have an _aide file?

2) Even if all files appear to be available, as they are for German, something still goes wrong:

If I install the vsta_aide.msi file in the German folder, vsta.exe is never installed to the local drive, so VSTA does not run.  I can install the main vsta_aide.file in the \SetupPackage\ directory, and that will work fine, but everything is in English.  I then installed vsta_art.msi from \SetupPackage\ and vsta_artl.msi from the German directory, but everything is still in English.  I also tried installing vsta_aide.msi from the German folder after installing the one from the parent directory, but I saw no changes.

A:

1.       Microsoft did this because Office wants (both VSTA and VSTO) to support as many languages as possible.  Unfortunately VS is only available in 9 languages so the IDE (_aide files) is only localized into 9 languages, but the runtime (_artl)is available in another 11 (for a total of 20).

2.        The main (English in the SetupPackage dir) MSIs aren’t aware of the language packs.  You should install the appropriate language packs after the main (English) MSIs have been installed.  There’s some light setup documentation in the SDK, but it doesn’t discuss the language packs.

International Settings:

The International Settings page enables you to change the default language when you have more than one language version of the IDE installed on your computer. You can access this dialog box by clicking Options on the Tools menu, and then selecting International Settings under the Environment folder. If this page does not appear in the list, select Show all settings in the Options dialog box.

Note 

Any changes you make on this page apply only to the default IDE and do not take effect until the environment is restarted.

Language:

Lists the available languages for the installed product language versions. This option is unavailable unless you have more than one language version installed on your computer. If multiple languages of products or a mixed language installation of products share the environment, the language selected during your first installation remains the default language.