Visual novels are always Microsoft Windows programs. If you have a Windows PC, you will always be able to run visual novels as long as your visual novel supports the Windows version you are running. For most VNs out there, Windows 7 is a minimum, older titles will also work on XP. Newer titles released after 2019 will require Windows 8.1 as a minimum.
Step 1. Japanese Locale¶
Japanese visual novels will not run without Japanese locale. Some may run, but have limited functionality, audio, visuals and saving may not work. Japanese locale is the minimum requirement for running Japanese games on your Windows PC. You may use a locale emulator, though it is less of a hassle to just change system-wide locale in my opinion.
Follow the steps below to set Japanese locale on your Windows system.
Setting Japanese locale
- Open the Run dialog box by pressing Win+R
- Type
intl.cpland press Enter - Click on the Administrative tab, go to Change system locale… and select Japanese (Japan) and click OK.
- Reboot your PC to apply the changes.
FAQ: What about «Use Unicode UTF-8 for worldwide language support»?
Keep it disabled. This is a recent feature of Windows 10. We do not need it for VNs, it is unrelated, and may cause problems.
If you’re curious: It sets codepage 65001, overriding codepage 932 (Japanese locale), we do not want this.
Advanced Users: Powershell
Japanese locale can also be enabled using Windows Powershell (Administrator):
Set-WinSystemLocale -SystemLocale ja-JP; Restart-Computer
This will restart your PC.
Step 2. Mounting the setup files¶
Non-pirated
If you have bought your game on an optical disc, please insert the disc into your DVD drive. A new volume will appear on the Explorer sidebar, click on it and run the setup to proceed.
If you bought your game as digital download, it will come in a .zip file, extract it with 7-Zip
In some cases there will be no need for installation, in other cases you may need to install the game by running the setup and register with the DRM.
Pirated
If you have not bought the game, it will likely become archived in a .rar, .7z or .zip format, and within it may be disc image files. Follow the instructions below to extract and mount the setup files.
Requirements:
Get 7-Zip
Get WinCDEmu
We will be using 2 pieces of software today, 7-Zip which is a tool for making and extracting archives such as .zip , .tar and .7z files, and WinCDEmu which allows us to mount image files such as .mds/.mdf, .iso.
If you have downloaded a visual novel, and it came in a .rar/.zip/.7z archive, you must extract it before you can mount the installation files. You can use 7-Zip for this.
Right click the archive > 7-Zip > Extract to %folder%
Above is an example of extracting the archive using 7-Zip.
After the archive has been extracted, we will now use WinCDEmu to mount the image that has been extracted from it.
Right click the image > Select drive letter & mount > OK
After that,
The disc image is now mounted. You should see a new volume appear on your Explorer sidebar.
.MDS/.MDF files
It is a little different if you have .MDS/.MDF files, see below.
Step 3. Installing the VN and applying patch¶
Click on the new volume that appeared on your sidebar and run the installer. See below for details.
Proceed with the installation, you may want to take note of where you installed the game. I installed Angel Beats! into D:GamesKEYAngelBeats!
If your visual novel came with a crack, you will need to apply this crack before you are able to launch the game. Cracks often come in the form of a .exe/.dll file found in folders/archives called «AlphaROM» or «NoDVD» or simply just «Patch» or «Crack», whatever it may be, copy these files into the installation directory of the game.
Please note that you will not need to do this if you have bought the game.
You can find an example below.
After that, you should just be able to launch the game!
Now go back to Visual Novel Guide to learn how to use Textractor with Yomichan.
Steam Games¶
If you obtained your visual novel from Steam, first check if «Japanese» is listed as a supported Interface and Subtitles language on the store page first. You can then set Japanese language within the Steam client itself.
- Open your Steam Library.
- From a game’s library page, select Manage > Properties.
- Go to the Language tab.
- Select Japanese from the drop-down menu.
In other cases, the game language can be set within the game itself.
If you did not purchase the Steam game from Steam (i.e. a cracked game) you can edit the steam_api.ini file within the game’s installation directory.
Windows: Troubleshooting¶
Please insert original disc オリジナルディスクを入れてください
Make sure you have applied the crack/patch. Some VNs require the original disc inserted at least once before it will launch. In that case, use WinCDEmu to mount the .ISO or .MDS as a DVD drive. If the problem persists, try restarting your PC.
No Crack?
If there is no crack available for your VN, and your VN does not launch, use AlphaROMdiE. See pictures within .zip file for instructions.
Direct3D, Visual C++ Related Issues
This can be easily fixed by installing DirectX here and all the Visual C++ Redistributable Runtimes here.
Garbled Text (文字化け)
Solution 1: Check Japanese locale and restart your PC.
Solution 2: Install Japanese fonts. Download this .zip file. Extract, press Ctrl+A(select all), Right click, Install, check «Do this for all current items», then Yes.
Japan Time Zone Required
Check Japanese locale and make sure all patch(es)/crack(s) are applied. If the problem persists, you wil need to use a locale emulator as this also emulates Japanese time zone too.
This Game is Japan Only!
Check Japanese locale and ensure a crack/patch is applied, if there is no crack available try using AlphaROMdiE. Or even, the Rewrite Gaijin Check Patcher, you can get that here. It’s made for KEY’s Rewrite but I’ve had success with it on other VNs too. You may also have luck using a locale emulator, as this also emulates Japanese time zone too.
Cutscenes and video not working
First, check if you are not using an N or KN edition of Windows. You can do that buy pressing Win+R and typing winver and press Enter. There you will see your Windows version and edition. If you are using an N edition, then you need to get the Media feature pack from Microsoft here.
If you are not using a N or KN edition of Windows, then make sure the game files are installed correctly, try reinstalling the game. If the problem persists, maybe try installing ffdshow and LAVFilters
Legacy Visual Novels
If your visual novel is particularly old and does not work with recent versions of Windows, you can try using a Windows XP Virtual Machine
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I know its coming out in America, but will the only language be only in japanese?
12 years ago
You got it backwards, it’s not yet announced for NA realease, but if it does (Which it most likely will) it will most likely be in English.
12 years ago
As of yet, we only know that this game is releasing in Japan. The Japanese version is only going to be in Japanese. We have had no word of Catherine coming out in America.
12 years ago
Yeah, as stated above, no word yet on a US release. However, Atlus is usually pretty good about turning their voice acting from Japanese into American, so I wouldn’t worry.
12 years ago
If they make a non-Japan release they could just give multiple voice options.
12 years ago
Reviews: 10
User Lists: 10
12 years ago
Knowing their audience subtitles would be just fine.
12 years ago
» Knowing their audience subtitles would be just fine. «
I’m not so sure about that. In my case, I definitely don’t want only subtitles if the game were to be released here. I want full English voice acting, especially knowing that they’ve done very well with their VO and localization in past games.
12 years ago
I think the chances of this coming out in the states are slim enough that I am not going to complain if its subtitled with Japanese voice
12 years ago
If it is released here, I hope their is an option for Japanese voice with English subtitles.
12 years ago
» If it is released here, I hope their is an option for Japanese voice with English subtitles. «
That would be nice but as it’s the persona team i could see them using their awesome localisation team instead. but they already have the japanese voices so who knows!
12 years ago
» @Gabriel said:
» Knowing their audience subtitles would be just fine. «
I’m not so sure about that. In my case, I definitely don’t want only subtitles if the game were to be released here. I want full English voice acting, especially knowing that they’ve done very well with their VO and localization in past games. «
I totally agree. Persona 4 would not have been as good (at least for me) without the memorable English voice acting.
12 years ago
I don’t see any reason they won’t localize it. They’ve been on a tear with bringing things over, and riding the success of Persona 4 it makes sense.
12 years ago
They’d be foolish not to localize it given the amount of coverage it’s been getting on western gaming sites. I’m hard pressed to think of an Atlus game that didn’t have an English voice track. Where the waters are a bit more murky is whether or not they’ll offer the Japanese VAs as well. Quite a few of their games in the past have offered both (ie when they published Disgaea) while others, such as the Personas have not. Perhaps they didn’t offer both in some games due to memory constraints, but that shouldn’t be an issue on BluRay, at least. DvDs maybe, but I bet they could fit both Japanese and English on.
So here’s to hoping we have the option of both 
12 years ago
I want subs only. They’ve done it before and it’s always been great.
12 years ago
» I want subs only. They’ve done it before and it’s always been great. «
Why only?
12 years ago
» @Snapstacle said:
» I want subs only. They’ve done it before and it’s always been great. «
Why only? «
So it’ll get here faster.
12 years ago
@Snapstacle said:
» I want subs only. They’ve done it before and it’s always been great. «
Really? which game?
12 years ago
» @Gabriel said:
» Knowing their audience subtitles would be just fine. «
I’m not so sure about that. In my case, I definitely don’t want only subtitles if the game were to be released here. I want full English voice acting, especially knowing that they’ve done very well with their VO and localization in past games. «
You are the problem! Japanese Audio and english subs are the solution. Localization is only fine when there’s not audio.
12 years ago
Knowing Atlus, they will bring it over to the Western market hopefully before Christmas this year. I have $60 on hold for this game and I have every expectation that they will send it state-side. I would love to see the original Japanese voices with English subtitles, as stated in prior posts.
12 years ago
For the meanwhile yes. But given the fact that fans of Persona want this game to come out, we’ll probably see an English version at some point. Persona games, great as they are, are fairly niche products. Yet they still turn a profit by releasing them in the US. Catherine is a fairly niche product as well, but it will probably get a US release if they think it’ll turn a profit, and it probably will.
They might have to tone down the cutscenes and stuff and some of the dialogue, though. Definitely that box art will have to change — can’t imagine too many shopkeepers happy with putting THIS on store shelves, in plain sight:
Definitely won’t be seeing this at walmart anytime soon.
12 years ago
Doesn’t anyone think it a bit odd that every character’s name is an English name and their had text in English? It makes me actually wonder where the setting for this game actually is. Because their mannerisms and whatnot are definitely Japanese.
12 years ago
» For the meanwhile yes. But given the fact that fans of Persona want this game to come out, we’ll probably see an English version at some point. Persona games, great as they are, are fairly niche products. Yet they still turn a profit by releasing them in the US. Catherine is a fairly niche product as well, but it will probably get a US release if they think it’ll turn a profit, and it probably will.
They might have to tone down the cutscenes and stuff and some of the dialogue, though. Definitely that box art will have to change — can’t imagine too many shopkeepers happy with putting THIS on store shelves, in plain sight:
Definitely won’t be seeing this at walmart anytime soon. «
if I had to guess it they would probably change the boxart to what there using on the 360, ether that or it just ends up like agarest wars where you have to ask for it at the counter or order it from them directly. Also some one on a different game websites forum made a good point, why would they make a 360 version and then only sell this game in japan where that systems market penetration is low as hell.
12 years ago
12 years ago
» @FluxWaveZ said:
» @Gabriel said:
» Knowing their audience subtitles would be just fine. «
I’m not so sure about that. In my case, I definitely don’t want only subtitles if the game were to be released here. I want full English voice acting, especially knowing that they’ve done very well with their VO and localization in past games. «
You are the problem! Japanese Audio and english subs are the solution. Localization is only fine when there’s not audio. «
Most of the people who played Persona 4 and even 3, or watched the P4 Endurance Run would disagree with you and claim that their voice acting was great. I am one of them.
12 years ago
Teddie and Rise’s Japanese VA’s were atrocious. Thank god Atlus US saved us from them.
12 years ago
» For the meanwhile yes. But given the fact that fans of Persona want this game to come out, we’ll probably see an English version at some point. Persona games, great as they are, are fairly niche products. Yet they still turn a profit by releasing them in the US. Catherine is a fairly niche product as well, but it will probably get a US release if they think it’ll turn a profit, and it probably will.
They might have to tone down the cutscenes and stuff and some of the dialogue, though. Definitely that box art will have to change — can’t imagine too many shopkeepers happy with putting THIS on store shelves, in plain sight:
Definitely won’t be seeing this at walmart anytime soon. «
No way ATLUS is going to tone down cutscenes or dialogue for a US release, now maybe the cover art might change but no way in hell will anything else. Also I have never not once seen a ATLUS title besides Trauma Center sold at Walmart, they just don’t carry it.
@Dizzyhippos said:
«if I had to guess it they would probably change the boxart to what there using on the 360, ether that or it just ends up like agarest wars where you have to ask for it at the counter or order it from them directly. Also some one on a different game websites forum made a good point, why would they make a 360 version and then only sell this game in japan where that systems market penetration is low as hell. «
Pretty much. I do hope the boxart won’t be changed, or that the covers are reversible so you can have Both C and K on your Xbox 360 or Ps3.
12 years ago
For the meanwhile yes. But given the fact that fans of Persona want this game to come out, we’ll probably see an English version at some point. Persona games, great as they are, are fairly niche products. Yet they still turn a profit by releasing them in the US. Catherine is a fairly niche product as well, but it will probably get a US release if they think it’ll turn a profit, and it probably will.
Eh. I highly doubt that. The Atlus US of today has never shied away from the more messed up parts of SMT.
@Korolev said:
«
They might have to tone down the cutscenes and stuff and some of the dialogue, though. Definitely that box art will have to change — can’t imagine too many shopkeepers happy with putting THIS on store shelves, in plain sight:
Definitely won’t be seeing this at walmart anytime soon. «
This is definitely true, as well. I like those boxarts, but if I had not heard anything about Catherine prior to seeing it I would have never considered picking it up. Atlus relies on retailers as well, so a boxart change seems imminent.
Maybe they’ll have a flip cover, though.
12 years ago
»
For the meanwhile yes. But given the fact that fans of Persona want this game to come out, we’ll probably see an English version at some point. Persona games, great as they are, are fairly niche products. Yet they still turn a profit by releasing them in the US. Catherine is a fairly niche product as well, but it will probably get a US release if they think it’ll turn a profit, and it probably will.
Eh. I highly doubt that. The Atlus US of today has never shied away from the more messed up parts of SMT.
@Korolev said:«
They might have to tone down the cutscenes and stuff and some of the dialogue, though. Definitely that box art will have to change — can’t imagine too many shopkeepers happy with putting THIS on store shelves, in plain sight:
Definitely won’t be seeing this at walmart anytime soon. «
This is definitely true, as well. I like those boxarts, but if I had not heard anything about Catherine prior to seeing it I would have never considered picking it up. Atlus relies on retailers as well, so a boxart change seems imminent. Maybe they’ll have a flip cover, though. «
Can we all just agree that they could sell this game in a box that only had a piece of paper and the word catherne on it and we would all be happy with the fact that it came out?
12 years ago
I’d love a US release period. I’ll take it any why I can get it… but subtitles would do nicely. I want the engrish intact too.
12 years ago
They wouldn’t be making it for the 360 if they didn’t have the intention of putting it out on NA and European market.
12 years ago
12 years ago
» I know its coming out in America, but will the only language be only in japanese? «
I sincerely hope so!
12 years ago
Maybe they’ll have a flip cover, though. «
I’m hoping for the same thing.
It’ll definitely be localized, but I wouldn’t mind seeing a Japanese voice track on there with subtitles. However, I’m one of those that really loved the voice acting from P4, so I have full faith in what they can pull off with Catherine.
12 years ago
» @demontium said:
» I know its coming out in America, but will the only language be only in japanese? «
I sincerely hope so! «
C’mon man (or doubtingly woman)! At least subtitles!
12 years ago
» @Jeust said:
» @demontium said:
» I know its coming out in America, but will the only language be only in japanese? «
I sincerely hope so! «
C’mon man (or doubtingly woman)! At least subtitles! «
There have to be at least subtitles. But please no annoying voice-overs!
12 years ago
» There have to be at least subtitles. But please no annoying voice-overs! «
I’ve said it in this thread before, but I think you’re very much underestimating the importance that localization holds for ATLUS. They take much care in how the dialog and text in their (recent) games have been translated and the voice acting for their (recent) games (mainly Persona 3 and Persona 4) have been great. It’s okay if you just want to play the game with Japanese VA and English subtitles, but I think it’s unrealistic to think they could screw up their English VA at this point.
12 years ago
Reviews: 20
User Lists: 18
I really loved the voice acting and MOST of the localization for the Persona duo, but I really hope they just take the honorifics out. I didn’t need the -san, -senpai, -sensei stuff, it kind of broke the immersion and it made the battle dialog WAY more long winded than it needed to be.
12 years ago
12 years ago
» it kind of broke the immersion . «
I wouldn’t say that, as P3 and P4 do take place in Japan, but I don’t think I would mind if the honorifics were removed.
12 years ago
Reviews: 20
User Lists: 18
» @Undeadpool said:
» it kind of broke the immersion . «
I wouldn’t say that, as P3 and P4 do take place in Japan, but I don’t think I would mind if the honorifics were removed
I get that, but the moment you have characters speaking English, the honorifics don’t really belong there. It just sounds…awkward in the middle of a sentence which had no other Japanese words.
12 years ago
» @Jeust said:
» There have to be at least subtitles. But please no annoying voice-overs! «
I’ve said it in this thread before, but I think you’re very much underestimating the importance that localization holds for ATLUS. They take much care in how the dialog and text in their (recent) games have been translated and the voice acting for their (recent) games (mainly Persona 3 and Persona 4) have been great. It’s okay if you just want to play the game with Japanese VA and English subtitles, but I think it’s unrealistic to think they could screw up their English VA at this point. «
True. I guess I didn’t think about Persona 3 and 4, and passed right at my thoughts about voice-overs, and how I’d like to enjoy my Japanese games. ^^;
12 years ago
» @demontium said:
» @Jeust said:
» @demontium said:
» I know its coming out in America, but will the only language be only in japanese? «
I sincerely hope so! «
C’mon man (or doubtingly woman)! At least subtitles! «
There have to be at least subtitles. But please no annoying voice-overs! «
It is not like the translations were terrible, if anything they were great/good. Listening to the P4 ER shows that.
12 years ago
Sega had both english and japanese voice tracks in Valkryia Chronicles. NIS has been doing it for the Disgaea games. And since this is Atlus’ first foray into the current gen consoles i would like to see them try.
12 years ago
» @Jeust said:
» @demontium said:
» @Jeust said:
» @demontium said:
» I know its coming out in America, but will the only language be only in japanese? «
I sincerely hope so! «
C’mon man (or doubtingly woman)! At least subtitles! «
There have to be at least subtitles. But please no annoying voice-overs! «
It is not like the translations were terrible, if anything they were great/good. Listening to the P4 ER shows that. «
Yeah! I have the games (Persona 3 FES and Persona 4). I think I jumped the gun a wee little bit.
12 years ago
» If they make a non-Japan release they could just give multiple voice options. «
… And yet, so many games don’t do it. Maybe it’s space, maybe they just feel that not many people would even care, I don’t know. They just don’t. While I wish they would (it would certainly have made listening to Vanille a bit less PAINFUL).
12 years ago
JAPANESE VOICES + English Subtitles = Perfection
Seriously, if they don’t have a global release for this I am going to have to learn Japanese… too many games I miss out on because of language barrier.
12 years ago
This game is way too Japanese to be localized into English VO. I just can’t see it happening. Listening to crazy sheep men explain how to push blocks would loose it’s appeal when not spoken as it was in the demo.
@afrofools
said:
» JAPANESE VOICES + English Subtitles = Perfection Seriously, if they don’t have a global release for this I am going to have to learn Japanese… too many games I miss out on because of language barrier. «
It’s not that hard to learn, to be honest. You just need some time, an open mind and optimism. This is coming from someone who is half retarded. Imagine how much someone normal can learn. I say go for it
12 years ago
12 years ago
» This game is way too Japanese to be localized into English VO. I just can’t see it happening. Listening to crazy sheep men explain how to push blocks would loose it’s appeal when not spoken as it was in the demo.
@afrofools
said:
» JAPANESE VOICES + English Subtitles = Perfection Seriously, if they don’t have a global release for this I am going to have to learn Japanese… too many games I miss out on because of language barrier. «
It’s not that hard to learn, to be honest. You just need some time, an open mind and optimism. This is coming from someone who is half retarded. Imagine how much someone normal can learn. I say go for it
«
you can say that about any language, to be honest 
12 years ago
For good measure I’m going to add a bit here on how to use AGTH and Atlas to translate game text into english on the fly. I used the example of Prism Ark here from a PM I sent someone regarding how to use AGTH:
First you want to have your AGTH.exe file in a folder that is preferably near the Prism Ark.exe file. Now, make a shortcut for your prism ark exe file and right click it and select properties. Heres where it might get a little bit tricky. Under the shortcut tab you should find a line of text in a box with the word target to the left. That’s the address your shortcut is pointing to. Click on it and go right to the beginning of that line. Now in Quotation marks, type out the address of your AGTH.exe file. You will also need an /h code to hook the text for Prism Ark due to it being offset between other bits of data, which I will include. Also, if you are using Atlas Translation Tool, your want it to copy to clipboard to make it easier, so that would mean entering the command /c.
Thus, for example, if you put the AGTH.EXE file in the program files section in a folder called AGTH and the Prism Ark folder in it’s default location, your shortcut bar would now read:
«C:Program FilesAGTHAGTH.exe» /HBC@479600 /c «C:Program FilesPajamasp_arkP_ARK.exe»
Now, when you open up the AGTH program, you should see a bar along with the program and it should have an address and then say WideCharacterToMultiByte. When the text starts appearing in game, you are going to want to click the drop down option, and if the /h code was entered correctly you should see an option labelled USERHOOK B. Select that and the game will start hooking your text. Other drop down options give different threads of text, one of which is your items and Prism description and battle text.
Now, If you open up Atlas Translation Tool and select the quickatlas option you should get the icon in your quicklaunch bar, right click it and select Automatic Clipboard Translation. Because you chose to have AGTH automatically copy text to the clipboard, Atlas should be translating the text as it comes up in the game. It won’t be a perfect translation, but it was enough to save me many times in games I would otherwise have no idea what I’m doing.
Now normally most games won’t use a USERHOOK B and will only require textout A or something of that variety. Sometimes there are multiple text threads so you just have to find the on that works for you. Most games don’t require an /h code either and merely require you to put in the /c portion to copy it to clipboard, which Atlas will then translate. This way you get portions of translated text as it comes up. In this case the shorcut line from the example would normally read.
«C:Program FilesAGTHAGTH.exe» /c «C:Program FilesPajamasp_arkP_ARK.exe»
Games that do require a /h code can be found within:
Spoiler for /h Codes for games. Credit goes to Mastress Alita from Boy’s Love Games Headquarters:
Make sure you put in any /h codes before the /c as the commands will initialize in that order, and since /c is normally the last thing you would need to do, the game will crash on bootup as the code becomes scrambled.