How To Run Japanese Games On Windows

This guide is intended to help anyone understand how to run a Japanese game on a Windows OS while also being able to troubleshoot some of the most common errors. It is not a tutorial on how to play a game in Japanese itself.

TUTORIAL

Windows 8/10
Click Start, then Control Panel. Click “Clock And Region” and pick Region. Click the Administrative tab. Under the Language for non-Unicode programs section, click Change system locale and select Japanese. Click Apply.

Basic Troubleshooting And Common Problems

Make sure you have followed ALL of the install instructions included with your game and/or translation patch.

  • Check to make sure your system locale is set to Japanese Locale for non-Unicode programs (Found under the Advanced tab in Region & Language in the Control Panel).
  • In addition to setting the system locale, you may need to re-install the game entirely, if you originally installed the game under default system locale.
  • Using Locale Emulators may be causing unavoidable errors in running the game.
  • Older games may require running the executable in an administrative or compatibility mode.
  • There may be issues with User Rights Management in Windows 7 involving games installed in the default program files folder. Try installing the game outside of C:/Program Files (x86).
  • Some games may have issues with fonts or font support. Ensure you have eastern Asian language packs installed. But there also may be additional custom fonts included with a patch by the translation team that need to be installed separately.
  • If a game has issues with video playback it may be because of the default settings of video codecs such as ffdshow or LAV splitter. Try installing or re-installing CCCP or disabling options relating to MPEG playback.
  • You may need to install/reinstall/update video card drivers and/or Direct X.
  • Install and run the game as an administrator.
  • Make sure your graphics card drivers are up-to-date NVIDIA, AMD.
  • If all else fails, a virtual machine with either Windows 7 or Windows XP installed will generally solve all OS compatibility issues. I recommend VMWare Workstation (commercial) or Virtual Box (free).
Save Data Location

Save data location will vary with each Game, here’s a list of possible locations:

ex: C:\Users\[…]\AppData\Local\VirtualStore\Game

My Documents

ex: C:\Users\[…]\Documents\Developer\Title\Saves

Appdata

ex: C:\Users\[…]\AppData\Local\Developer\Title\Saves

Installation Folder

ex: C:\Program Files (x86)\Game

For Windows 8/7/Vista, any games installed to Program Files (x86) that keep saves in its installation folder may have those saves re-located to the VirtualStore folder.