Re;birth 2 Retranslation patch

ARE YOU TIRED OF THE MEMEFIED TRANSLATION? DO YOU WANT TO HAVE MORE TOLERABLE DIALOGUE? WOULD YOU LIKE NEPTUNE TO NOT SOUND LIKE SHE WAS DROPPED WHEN SHE WAS LITTLE?

RE;BIRTH 2: RE;TRANSLATION IS HERE TO FIX THOSE PROBLEMS!!

Introduction

ARE YOU TIRED OF THE MEMEFIED TRANSLATION? DO YOU WANT TO HAVE MORE TOLERABLE DIALOGUE? WOULD YOU LIKE NEPTUNE TO NOT SOUND LIKE SHE WAS DROPPED WHEN SHE WAS LITTLE?

RE;BIRTH 2: RE;TRANSLATION IS HERE TO FIX THOSE PROBLEMS!!

With Re;translation, say goodbye to "Nep Jr.", and say hello to the new dialogue that won't make you cringe!

July 6th 2016
Megadimension Update
Updated to v1.422!
Download: https://pastebin.com/GdsD292U https://pastebin.com/J0gK9EH8 https://pastebin.com/Gm38ASZj [UPDATED/FIXED for early 2021]

MD5: 6AA1AA1C3822D649FA0750457993B77C

If you have version 1.40 or earlier, you may want to rename or delete the "KitFolder" directory in your Re;Birth 2 folder.

Installation instructions

Extract the contents of the file to where you installed Neptunia Re;Birth 2, for example "Steam\SteamApps\common\Neptunia Re;Birth2\"

Simply running NeptuniaReBirth2.exe - either by clicking on it directly or just launching the game through Steam normally - should run the retranslation. If you see any changes to the game's title, or a new font while playing the game, the retranslation is working.

Keep in mind that if you have other custom files such as textures (Clothes for example) inside the Neptools folder, they will show up. It may interact with the KitFolder from Kitserver (used in older releases of this game); as such KitFolder should be renamed or removed.

This translation will not impact your standard Re;Birth 2 game at all, in fact it is applied on top of the default game much like a post-Morrowind Bethesda game mod.

To play with the old text, delete or rename dinput8.dll, a new file added in the directory where NeptuniaReBirth2.exe is located. Alternatively, you may run the game with the "--disable" parameter, which will turn off all new content. (example usage: "NeptuniaReBirth2.exe --disable" through a shortcut)

There may be some spelling or script errors in the game, even with the mod active. If you find any problems, please report them.

Don't bother using English voices, as they will not sync with the retranslation.

Have fun!

Version changes

CHANGES
July 6th 2016
v1.422: Script Patch

• Potential issue with game script not being read properly fixed

July 5th 2016
v1.421: Hotfix Patch

• Issue with dinput8.dll not being recognized in main game directory resolved

July 4th 2016
v1.42: Simplicity Patch

• Neptools launcher updated to better support Pentium 4, Athlon 64/II and Phenom II CPUs; thanks to Shiny
  
• Script now TXT files; mod size drastically reduced, game text now easily accessible/editable
  
• Return to ZIP compression with reduction in mod size

June 29th 2016
v1.41: Neptools Patch

• Kitserver launcher replaced with project's own Neptools launcher
  
• New launcher allows for mod to start directly from the Re;Birth2 executable or the Steam client
  
• Stability theoretically improved over Kitserver launcher

February 14th 2016
v1.4: Technical Patch

• New script additions, including lines too big to use in previous versions
  
• Dialogue files repacked with custom-made text-editing tool
  
• New in-game fonts; look nicer, and also allows 33% more text per panel (thanks to ノラネコ)

December 25th 2015
v1.3: Content enhancement

• Further tightening of the script, the most new corrections over the original script committed since v1.0 (see instructions.txt for more details)
  
• A few additional bugs noticed after 1.21 was frozen for patching and testing have been fixed

December 5th 2015
v1.21: Bugs and typos

• A few new contributions from ImmaNovice, a fresh member to the team.
  
• Archive format changed from ZIP to 7z; download now 1/4 the size. Self-extracting EXE provided for people without a 7z extractor.
  
• A couple dozen dialog bugs and typos fixed.

November 4th 2015
v1.2: Typos and editing issues

• Extensive hunting of mispellings, missing punctuation, and the like.
  
• Corrected some janky phrasing and lines.

October 28th 2015
v1.1: Bugfix+minor content release

• Japanese text in menu fixed
  
• LAN Castle now renamed to Gathering Castle.
  
• Typos and empty spaces fixed.
  
• Minor translation fixes

October 26th 2015
v1.0: Initial release: MQ and voiced side-scenes retranslated.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: What are you trying to do with this patch/modification?
A: Essentially, to get the English script as close to the original Japanese script as possible, while also keeping in mind technical limitations and whatever scripting we have available to us. Also, trying to keep the script in-spec with whatever walkthroughs/hint guides there are out there, unless an error is really over the top. We'd at least like a Re;Birth1 quality level to these games scripts.

Q: Are you trying to remove the humor?
A: No. In fact, the original script seen in Compile Heart's Japanese release is highly entertaining.

Q: But I like style of humor that was introduced by the official localization...
A: If it gets in the way of the original humor from the Japanese release, and character personalities, it's gotta go. You can always disable this patch if the changes are traumatic.

Q: Can I still get achievements using this?
A: Yes.

Q: I'm having trouble running this on Linux!
A: Back in 2015 or so, we suggested the following instructions: "We use a Neptools DLL to hook into the game code, normally. One way to to get this to work in WINE is to run winecfg, select the Libraries tab, write dinput8 under New override for library, click Add, make sure it says (native, builtin). Or, you can just download the latest full version of Neptools, as that contains an EXE launcher."

Those instructions may still work depending on the use case, however since then WINE has matured somewhat, and there are also several methods that allow for a self-contained WINE setup. Aside from Play On Linux and more recently Lutris, Steam has also implemented Proton as a compatibility tool. Given that this mod's guide is hosted on Steam, I would address the Proton situation, and suggest if nothing else works that you should try and launch the game through the Neptools EXE method if DLL hooking doesn't work. I will be testing the patch and Neptools in Linux via Proton sometime during 2020.

Q: How long did it take you to make this (from start to version 1.0)? And how many people worked on this?
A: About a month's prep, plus another month actually translating. And a few weeks beforehand bouncing around the prospects. So somewhere between 2 to 3 months (no Histy jokes!). Plus all the time maintaining it afterwards...pretty much everyone who's listed as an author here worked on it, plus a couple other people who wanted to remain uncredited.

Q: So now that you've all deep dived into both the English and Japanese scripts, was R;B2's translation really that bad?
A: It was pretty bad. Neptune and Ram's...creative reinterpretations have been fairly well documented by the Neptunia community, but they are by no means the only characters who got knifed by the official translation. Off the top of my head, IF, Compa, Linda, CFW Magic, Nepgear, Rom, Blanc, even Kei of all people had at least one line that was mangled beyond recognition.

Given that's pretty much half the speaking cast, that's a real problem.

Q: Are you going to re-translate Re;Birth 3?
A: Actually we did, it's finished and you can go download it now if you want.

Q: There's something wrong here (like a mis-spelt word, or an incomplete/incorrectly translated line...)
A: Give us a heads up about it, it might not get fixed if we don't know about it.

[fonzer]

I just downloaded it but wonder does it work with the gog version?
I still gotta beat the first game before i get to the second one.

[aaaaaaaaaa]

Yoo thanks for this, just finish 1st game, played with the original voice and the translation didn't really match the voice, this retranslation is a great way to start the 2nd game

[yukitsuki_snow]

Remember to click apply after adding dinput8.
Since I was on the steam deck, I just installed protontricks from Discover (Software Center) and opened it from the search bar.
This also works for Neptunia Rebirth 3.
Also remember to unzip the contents first.

[yukitsuki_snow]

There is an easier guide for linux users on protondb using protontricks. I'll paste it here.

"To enable this, I used in terminal: $ protontricks --gui. Then i selected a library game which had the id 351710 and it says Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;birth 2. Afterwards I select the Default wineprefix and press run winecfg. Then go to libraries and type dinput8 , and add as an existing dll override. Make sure it says native, built in. Then close winecfg and winetricks and press play in steam. You should now be able to run a retranslation patch for this game and any Neptools based mods. Game runs perfectly on its own but I used retranslation patch to make the English Localisation better and more accurate.

[darknoob]

i wish this was a proper translation as advertised instead of a minor edit mod
please don't mislead players like that

[Jack]

I have no idea what the two below me are talking about. I played thourgh the first two chapters with the official translation and then the retranslation back to back to see the difference. It didn't change as much as I had hoped, only a line here and there. Ram's dialogue has been significantly alterred though, and for the better. I can 100% recommend the patch. It is a noticable improvement, though it doesn't fix the localization completely.

[Donkara (firefly)]

I agree with the guy behind me, this is awful xd, if are going to do something like this at least learn how to write properly. The original translation is actually pretty good, and I think you made a mistake, you said that this would make Neptune to not sound like a retard, but with this she now sounds like one, and not only her, but everyone else too.

[The-Sonic-X]

Not gonna lie. The re-translated dialogue sounds like the dialogue from the sisters vs sisters censorship patch. Basically it sounds like it's written by and for 5 year olds.

[goldlucarioxiii]

could someone post a comparison between the first text boxes?

[Aaron Marx]

Agreed with BasedChaos, is there somewhere to see script comparisons? I know some games have infamously awful localizations, but I wanna see how far NISA changed the original.