Tutorial How to install Japanese Language Pack on Win 10

Meaning Less

Engaged Member
Sep 13, 2016
3,539
7,178
Short and simple guide for people having problems extracting and or running japanese games, if you are seeing something like this"□□□□□□" instead of japanese characters "だいじょぶ" when reading file names or text it means you are missing the Japanese Language Pack.

1-Install Japanese Language Pack:

1-Go to Language Settings and pick Add Language Japanese.

Untitled.png

*Keep your Windows display language: English (or whatever it was before).
**Also make sure Japanese is in the second position or lower on the list after installed so apps don't choose it by default.

But if you want to play a Japanese game this might not be enough, make sure to also change your system region to Japan which will enable it to run non-unicode programs.

2-Change System Locale:

1-Go back to Language settings and set your Region to Japan, but keep your Regional format to English (or what is was before).

1534760_1014465_1611049141813.png
*This will avoid messing up with date formats and stuff
2-Double check that Control Panel\Clock and Region\Region\Administrative has set System locale to Japanese (Japan). If it isn't already do it now by clicking "Change system locale...".

1534761_1014470_1611049567119.png
*This is the failsafe language your system uses for apps that don't support Unicode characters (several Japanese games don't)

Restart your system after applying all changes and now you should be able to extract and play most if not all Japanese games without relying on emulators or third party software.
 
Last edited:

xenei

Newbie
Sep 9, 2020
59
28
- Off-topic comment -​
Even though there's already a detailed post like this - Japanese-games-troubleshoot - people -_- still have problems oof like I don't even know what to say anymore, welp to each of thier own common sense I guess, ahahaha :)
 

allura404

Active Member
Nov 7, 2019
956
1,290
Short and simple guide for people having problems extracting and or running japanese games, if you are seeing something like this"□□□□□□" instead of japanese characters "だいじょぶ" when reading file names or text it means you are missing the Japanese Language Pack.

1-Install Japanese Language Pack:

1-Go to Language Settings and pick Add Language Japanese.

View attachment 1516293

*Keep your Windows display language: English (or whatever it was before).
**Also make sure Japanese is in the second position or lower on the list after installed so apps don't choose it by default.

But if you want to play a Japanese game this might not be enough, make sure to also change your system region to Japan which will enable it to run non-unicode programs.

2-Change System Locale:

1-Go back to Language settings and set your Region to Japan, but keep your Regional format to English (or what is was before).

View attachment 1516307
*This will avoid messing up with date formats and stuff
2-Double check that Control Panel\Clock and Region\Region\Administrative has set System locale to Japanese (Japan). If it isn't already do it now by clicking "Change system locale...".

View attachment 1516298
*This is the failsafe language your system uses for apps that don't support Unicode characters (several Japanese games don't)

Restart your system after applying all changes and now you should be able to extract and play most if not all Japanese games without relying on emulators or third party software.
I did the same as you said. As you said, I was able to open Japanese games without the need for third party software. But there is a different problem. My computer has C, D and E disks. I moved all games from my old computer to my new computer (C drive). I couldn't open the games on the C disk. When I moved the Japanese games I wanted to play to other discs, the games would open. Now I've moved my entire archive to disk d and the games still won't open. As I understand it, the location of the games is a problem in Japanese games. Games in long location do not open. When I want to play a Japanese game, I need to dump it directly to the first partition of the disk (Ex: C:\''JPGameName''). Isn't there a solution to this? Pretty annoying. I want to access each game directly from my archive (Ex: C:\folder\folder1\folder2\''JPGameName'').
 

Meaning Less

Engaged Member
Sep 13, 2016
3,539
7,178
Isn't there a solution to this? Pretty annoying. I want to access each game directly from my archive (Ex: C:\folder\folder1\folder2\''JPGameName'').
Windows by default limits filepaths to ~260 characters,you can manually enable long paths by editing this registry variable:
  1. Open the Start menu or console and type “regedit”
  2. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\FileSystem
  3. Right-click the value “LongPathsEnabled” and select Modify.
  4. Change “Value data” from 0 to 1 and click OK. (0=False, 1=True)
 

allura404

Active Member
Nov 7, 2019
956
1,290
Windows by default limits filepaths to ~260 characters,you can manually enable long paths by editing this registry variable:
  1. Open the Start menu or console and type “regedit”
  2. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\FileSystem
  3. Right-click the value “LongPathsEnabled” and select Modify.
  4. Change “Value data” from 0 to 1 and click OK. (0=False, 1=True)
Thanks a lot. But unfortunately the problem persists. I definitely understood that the problem was in the location of the file. For example, when I put a game in c:\folder\folder1\folder2\folder3\..\'Game' to folder-folder1 it works. But It doesn't work when I put folder2 and above.
 

allura404

Active Member
Nov 7, 2019
956
1,290
Thanks a lot. But unfortunately the problem persists. I definitely understood that the problem was in the location of the file. For example, when I put a game in c:\folder\folder1\folder2\folder3\..\'Game' to folder-folder1 it works. But It doesn't work when I put folder2 and above.
I solved the problem with the help of Meaning Less . I would like to tell the solution in case anyone has the same problem. First, follow the steps mentioned in the thread.

Then fix the 260 character restriction issue from the regedit.
Windows by default limits filepaths to ~260 characters,you can manually enable long paths by editing this registry variable:
  1. Open the Start menu or console and type “regedit”
  2. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\FileSystem
  3. Right-click the value “LongPathsEnabled” and select Modify.
  4. Change “Value data” from 0 to 1 and click OK. (0=False, 1=True)
The problem will most likely be fixed. If the problem is not fixed, check the names of the folders in the game's file path. In folders ö, á, ¿, ç, ø etc. Don't use foreign characters. Correct the name of the folder if there are different foreign characters. The problem will be fixed 99.9% of the ratio
 
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Volxar

Newbie
Mar 27, 2022
15
4
Short and simple guide for people having problems extracting and or running japanese games, if you are seeing something like this"□□□□□□" instead of japanese characters "だいじょぶ" when reading file names or text it means you are missing the Japanese Language Pack.

1-Install Japanese Language Pack:

1-Go to Language Settings and pick Add Language Japanese.

View attachment 1516293

*Keep your Windows display language: English (or whatever it was before).
**Also make sure Japanese is in the second position or lower on the list after installed so apps don't choose it by default.

But if you want to play a Japanese game this might not be enough, make sure to also change your system region to Japan which will enable it to run non-unicode programs.

2-Change System Locale:

1-Go back to Language settings and set your Region to Japan, but keep your Regional format to English (or what is was before).

View attachment 1516307
*This will avoid messing up with date formats and stuff
2-Double check that Control Panel\Clock and Region\Region\Administrative has set System locale to Japanese (Japan). If it isn't already do it now by clicking "Change system locale...".

View attachment 1516298
*This is the failsafe language your system uses for apps that don't support Unicode characters (several Japanese games don't)

Restart your system after applying all changes and now you should be able to extract and play most if not all Japanese games without relying on emulators or third party software.
this didnt work
 

Nohiul

Newbie
May 14, 2017
91
53
!!!IN CASE YOUR KEYBOARD DOES NOT WORK AFTER THIS!!!

This video helped me ->

Use the other comment's tutorial inside a VM instead
 
Last edited:

blissfulberyl

New Member
Oct 5, 2023
4
2
Changing to Japanese locale will also cause some odd, but not deal-breaking behavior.
Sometimes you'll see game installation screens in Japanese.
Your \ symbol will look like Yen symbols in the file path.