How do I get a jp locale on the deck?

[Janett]

Playing a game that requires a jp locale, but i have not idea how to go about doing that on here

[Ben Bernanke]

Is it a steam game?
Can you just go to steam > settings > language > jp?
(will change all of steam to jp).

Or you can go to the game > settings > properties > language and select "Japanese" from the dropdown. I think steam only displays here the languages that the game itself has buitin support for.

[I'm doing this on different computer on my steam acct.
So maybe I have locales installed whereas your deck doesn't]

If it's non-steam and you are trying to change the steamOS/Arch Linux locale setting within the OS, I'd take a look at this reddit thread:

https://www.reddit.com/r/SteamDeck/comments/wc14gg/enable_japanese_locale_on_steam_deck/

I think one of them is saying that you go to the game settings > properties > general > launch options.
Then in the box you put:

LANG=ja_JP.UTF-8

or maybe it's

-LANG=ja_JP.UTF-8


I think there' s an extra wrinkle here, though. steamOS doesn't have Japanese locale installed by default most likely.

I think this bertogg guy here is telling you how to install locales to the home so you don't
have to have them in root.
https://github.com/ValveSoftware/SteamOS/issues/794#issuecomment-1483283778

And this guy is saying how to install them through root.
https://www.reddit.com/r/SteamDeck/comments/t58c0q/how_to_change_language_in_steam_deck_desktop_mode/

idk for sure that they are missing. I just assume they are bc the deck's os is super pared down and people who speak asian languages are complaining about not being able to get languages on their deck. so idk why valve would lave them in.

I can't be of more help bc I'm not really down to install scripts and stuff. I want to keep my steamOS vanilla as possible, even the home.
I'm saying this bc I'm reading things in those threads that like you have to use the glibc for Arch and not Valve's, which I don't want to do.

[Five]

The main branch on SteamOS recently included localization files.

https://github.com/ValveSoftware/SteamOS/issues/794#issuecomment-1572524252

To use main, you have to turn on Developer Mode in System Settings, then go to the Developer Settings and enable "Show Advanced Update Channels." From there, you set your OS Update Channel in System Settings to "Main" and update.

[Ben Bernanke]

Originally posted by Five:

The main branch on SteamOS recently included localization files.

https://github.com/ValveSoftware/SteamOS/issues/794#issuecomment-1572524252

To use main, you have to turn on Developer Mode in System Settings, then go to the Developer Settings and enable "Show Advanced Update Channels." From there, you set your OS Update Channel in System Settings to "Main" and update.

I would want to stay on the stable channel and would follow bertogg's instructions here to
put the locales on the /home.

https://github.com/ValveSoftware/SteamOS/issues/794#issuecomment-1483283778

I"m just assuming that main isn't going to be very stable.
Or wait for locales to make their way onto the stable branch.

[I'm just saying this bc we've given him like 5 options now, but I would favor this one since it will have the least impact on the rest of the system. I'm also not sure it's sufficient to solve his problem, though. Bc I don't know what all goes into a "locale"]

[drone1313]

No need to switch from Stable, have root access, or disable readonly. Just use this script + launch command. Super simple and works like a charm!

https://gist.github.com/cfillion/4394c3b8cd051fb45721187053e92296#complete-solution

[Prezidentas]

the script should be the way to go. because you are using a compatibility layer, you need to change which codepage is being simulated by wine/proton, and not the system locale, because windows games don't care about Linux settings.

[Doc]

You can configure flatpaks to load locales not installed on system, saving you from having to disable readonly and potentially have to do this again later. Instructions here, disregard the bits about needing to modify the system, running the flatpak commands and setting up lutris is sufficient, but you may need to reboot after running the commands for everything to work properly:
https://www.visualnovelwiki.org/en/general/jp-locale#flatpak

That or you can wait until SteamOS 3.5 is pushed to beta or stable, which I would recommend over disabling readonly if you haven't already had a reason to. Hopefully it's soon and this will no longer be necessary.