About the Japanese language option not being available

[たわれいこ]

I'm the current #1 ranked player on the PvP leaderboard of the original Complete Edition (User: たわれいこ) — excluding the cheater above me, of course (lol). I bought the game on two separate accounts with different store countries and compared what actually gets installed. Here's what I found.

About what's happening

The game contents differ depending on where you purchased it.

Steam distributes different data for Japan and for everywhere else. The actual files installed on your PC are not the same.

□ Purchased outside Japan
・English
・German
・Korean
・Traditional Chinese
・No Japanese

□ Purchased in Japan
・Japanese
・Korean
・Traditional Chinese
・No English or German

The store page also states:

"Interface and subtitles for products downloaded from Japan are available only in Japanese, Korean, and Traditional Chinese."

In other words, Japanese and English are mutually exclusive. You can only have one or the other.

Korean and Traditional Chinese are included in both packages, so this issue only affects players who want to play in Japanese.

Why changing the language setting doesn't help

Changing the language to "Japanese" in Steam Properties does nothing because the Japanese data is never downloaded in the first place.

・Verifying game files reports no problems.
・Uninstalling and reinstalling makes no difference.

Looking at the installed folders:

□ Original Complete Edition
・Creates a folder named `resources`

□ Japan version
・Creates a folder named `resourcesSTEAMAS`
　AS＝Asia

The contents are different. Even the movie files are different:

・`S66_en.usm`
・`S66_jp.usm`

The PvP ranking servers are also separate.

This is not just a language file difference. The two versions appear to be treated as completely separate packages, including online features.

My hypothesis

I suspect the region recorded at the time of purchase determines which version you receive.

In my case:

・My Steam account country was set to Japan.
・Prices were displayed in Japanese yen.
・Despite that, no Japanese data was downloaded.

The reason is that this game was not purchasable in Japan in the past, so my original copy was purchased as a non-Japan license.

Changing my Steam account country afterward did not change the license itself, which apparently remained tied to that original purchase.

Installing both versions to the same location on the same PC showed the following:

□ Original Complete Edition
・Never downloaded Japanese data.

□ Japan version
・Downloaded Japanese data.
・Launched in Japanese without any issues.

That said, this is only my own experience, so I can't state it as fact.

It is also possible that the check is based on:

・IP address
・Current Steam Store settings
・Different rollout timing

For those who purchased outside Japan

The reverse also seems to apply.

If you didn't purchase the game in Japan, you probably cannot select Japanese. Changing settings is unlikely to solve it.

Also, purchasing the Japan version means:
・You lose English.
・Your PvP ranking is on a separate server.
・Your existing ranking does not carry over.
・Switching freely between Japanese and English does not appear to be possible with the current setup.

[Kalut]

Interesting data, thank you very much.

[Syd Montague]

That's kinda sad, it probably limits Japanese players when it comes to modding.

I doubt my mod loader will work with the Japanese version and without access to it I also won't be able to update it. :/

[MarcusBWFC]

Is Japan forced to have censored Ciel?

[たわれいこ]

@Syd Montague
For reference, besides the folder name, two archives are also renamed:
DSDBS.steam.mvgl → DSDBSAS.STEAM.mvgl
DSDBSP.steam.mvgl → DSDBSASP.STEAM.mvgl
That might be what breaks the loader.

@MarcusBWFC
Just checked the compendium, and Japan gets Noir. Ciel doesn't appear at all, which tracks with the Japanese console versions.

[Syd Montague]

Originally posted by たわれいこ:

@Syd Montague
For reference, besides the folder name, two archives are also renamed:
DSDBS.steam.mvgl → DSDBSAS.STEAM.mvgl
DSDBSP.steam.mvgl → DSDBSASP.STEAM.mvgl
That might be what breaks the loader.

@MarcusBWFC
Just checked the compendium, and Japan gets Noir. Ciel doesn't appear at all, which tracks with the Japanese console versions.

Ah, this is actually worse than I hoped for. The mod manager uses DSDBP as default target for mods, so that will probably not work.

The mod loader (which is different from the manager) hooked directly into the exe of the game, so if it's not identical to the one I built against, it most likely won't work/break.

No mods for Japan, I fear. :/

[Delicious Meatloaf]

Originally posted by たわれいこ:

@Syd Montague
For reference, besides the folder name, two archives are also renamed:
DSDBS.steam.mvgl → DSDBSAS.STEAM.mvgl
DSDBSP.steam.mvgl → DSDBSASP.STEAM.mvgl
That might be what breaks the loader.

@MarcusBWFC
Just checked the compendium, and Japan gets Noir. Ciel doesn't appear at all, which tracks with the Japanese console versions.

What is being censored? Isn't it the same design just with white dress vs black dress?

[Green Rabbit]

Nobody has tried to manually overwrite the language files from one version to the other? for example, I bought it in Japan but I want the subtitles in English. Could I just find those files and overwrite the japanese originals? or maybe there is a mod for language packs. I'll do some research and come back later