Resource class works only for some languages in ASP.NET class

I had a pretty strange bug to fix. It involved a class used in a web page that provided localized strings, only it didn't seem to work for Japanese, while French or English or German worked OK. The resource class was used like this: AdminUIString.SomeStringKey, where AdminUIString was a resx file in the App_GlobalResources folder. Other similar global resource resx classes were used in the class and they worked! The only difference between them was the custom tool that was configured for them. My problem class was using PublicResXFileCodeGenerator from namespace Resources, while the other classes used the GlobalResourceProxyGenerator, without any namespace.

Now, changing the custom tool did solve the issue there, but it didn't solve it in some integration tests where it failed. The workaround for this was to use HttpContext.GetGlobalResourceObject("AdminUIString", "SomeStringKey").ToString(), which is pretty ugly. Since our project was pretty complex, using bits of ASP.Net MVC and (very) old school ASP.Net, no one actually understood where the difference stood. Here is an article that partially explains it: Resource Files and ASP.NET MVC Projects. I say partially, because it doesn't really solve my problem in a satisfactory way. All it says is that I should not use global resources in ASP.Net MVC, it doesn't explain why it fails so miserable for Japanese, nor does it find a magical fix for the problem without refactoring the convoluted resource mess we have in this legacy project. It will have to do, though, as no one is budgeting refactoring time right now.

So, if the resource class doesn't seem to function for certain languages, even if the resx files exist, look at the custom tool and, after reading the above link, make a decision on how to fix it.