Hacking [Tutorial] For those unlucky to own a Japanese Wii U - How to play in English, problematic games

[godreborn]

I'm also on jap wii u with cbhc. Trying to install various us games without luck and came across this thread. I was searching around a bit too and came across this region free hack in the xml file.

Is this hack relevant to us? Would this let me install let say mario kart (US) directly on my jap wii u?

most likely not. I don't know if it will allow that game to run or not, but there are still lots of issues with a Japanese wii u. it's also extremely dangerous. I did it, and I left it as is due to the risk. if you mess up the sys_prod.xml, nothing will open including the browser. the only way to fix it may be bluUbomb. it makes the system region free to an extent, but mocha and haxchi/cbhc are also region free. I don't know if it's anymore region free or not though.

 

[godreborn]

btw, if you delete your user, the wii u disc and wii channels will disappear if you do the sys_prod.xml, so don't do that.

 

[godreborn]

I think some games look for a specific file that's located on the mlc for language of console, but US has EnglishUS as the folder name and Japan has JapanJP iirc or something like that. I think that's another factor that causes some games not to run even if you inject an English menu. title id and folder name will be different.

 

[Rtyuij]

List of game i have tested on a JAP Wii U so far. You can refer to them as a start. For game listed requiring change to language files you may refer to post no.1 as most of the method is there. You just need to figure out what files need to be replace.

Spoiler: Game list

Assassin's Creed III (DL English Version)
Assassin's Creed IV Black Flag (Change language files. FTPiiu or Cdecrypt and NUSPACK)
BADLAND Game of the Year edition (DL English Version then use SPIIK Region Changer)
Bayonetta (DL English Version then use SPIIK Region Changer)
Bayonetta 2 ( In-game language setting)
Biohazard Revelations Unveilled Edition (In-game language setting)
Captain Toad : Treasure Tracker (Change language files. FTPiiu or Cdecrypt and NUSPACK)
Cars 3: Driven to Win (DL English Version)
Chariot (DL English Version then use SPIIK Region Changer)
Child of Light (DL English Version then use SPIIK Region Changer)
Darksiders II (DL English Version)
DEUS EX: Human Rev. Director Cut (DL English Version)
Devil's Third (In-game language setting)
Disney Epic Mickey 2 (DL English Version)
Disney Infinity 3.0 Edition (DL English Version)
Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze (DL English Version then use SPIIK Region Changer)
Don't Starve : Giant Edition (DL English Version)
Dual Core (DL English Version)
Ducktales: Remastered (DL English Version)
Dungeons & Dragons : Chronicles of Mystara (DL English Version)
F1 Race Stars (DL English Version)
FAST RACING neo (DL English Version then use SPIIK Region Changer)
FIFA 13 (DL English Version)
Fist of the North Star: Ken's Rage (DL English Version)
Game & Wario (DL English Version)
Giana Sisters Twisted Dreams (DL English Version then use SPIIK Region Changer)
Guacamelee! Super Turbo Championship edition (DL English Version)
Hyrule Warriors (DL English Version then use SPIIK Region Changer)
Injustice: Gods Among Us (DL English Version)
Just Dance Disney Party 2 (DL English Version)
Just Dance Kids 2014 (DL English Version)
Kamen Rider: Battride War II (Only Japanese release)
Kirby and the Rainbow Curse (Change language files. FTPiiu or Cdecrypt and NUSPACK)
LEGO Batman 3 Beyond Gotham (DL English Version)
LEGO City Undercover (DL English Version)
LEGO Jurassic Park (DL English Version)
LEGO MARVEL Avengers (DL English Version)
LEGO MARVEL Super Heroes (DL English Version)
LEGO Star Wars : The Force Awakens (DL English Version)
LEGO The Hobbit (DL English Version)
Mario & Sonic at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games (DL English Version then use SPIIK Region Changer)
Mario Kart 8 (Change language files. FTPiiu or Cdecrypt and NUSPACK)
Mario Party 10 (Change language files. FTPiiu or Cdecrypt and NUSPACK)
Mario Tennis : Ultra Smash (Change language files. FTPiiu or Cdecrypt and NUSPACK)
Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate ( DL English Version)
Nano Assault Neo (DL English Version)
NBA 2K13 (DL English Version then use SPIIK Region Changer)
Need For Speed Most Wanted U (DL English Version)
New Super Mario Bros U (Change language files. FTPiiu or Cdecrypt and NUSPACK)
Ninja Gaiden 3 : Razor Edge (In-game language setting)
Nintendo Land (Change language files. FTPiiu or Cdecrypt and NUSPACK)
Oddworld New 'n' Tasty (DL English Version)
ONE PIECE Unlimited World Red (DL English Version)
Paper Mario Color Splash (Change language files. FTPiiu or Cdecrypt and NUSPACK) !!!!Some text not display properly
PIKMIN 3 (Change language files. FTPiiu or Cdecrypt and NUSPACK)
POKKEN Tournament (Change language files. FTPiiu or Cdecrypt and NUSPACK)
Rayman Legends (DL English Version)
Shantae : Half Genie Hero (DL English Version)
Shantae and the Pirate Curse (DL English Version)
Shovel Knight : Treasure Trove (DL English Version)
Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed (DL English Version)
Sonic Lost World (In-game language setting)
Splatoon (DL English Version)
Star Fox Zero (Change language files. Cdecrypt, Repacker CPK and NUSPACK)
Stealth Inc 2 : A Game of Clones (DL English Version)
Steamworld Dig (DL English Version)
Steamworld Heist (DL English Version)
Super Mario 3D World (Change language files. FTPiiu or Cdecrypt and NUSPACK)
Super Mario Maker (Change language files. FTPiiu or Cdecrypt and NUSPACK)
Swords & Soldiers II (DL English Version)
Teslagrad (DL English Version)
The Amazing Spider Man (DL English Version)
The Amazing Spider Man 2 (DL English Version)
The Fall (DL English Version)
The Legend of Zelda : Breath of the Wild (DL English Version)
The Legend of Zelda : The Wind Waker HD (DL English Version)
The Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess HD (DL English Version then use SPIIK Region Changer)
The LEGO Movie Videogame (DL English Version)
The Wonderful 101 (In-game language setting)
Tokyo Mirage Sessions FE (DL English Version)
Transformer Prime (DL English Version)
Trine 2 : Director's Cut (DL English Version)
Trine Enchanted Edition (DL English Version)
Warrior Orochi 3 Hyper (DL English Version)
Wii U Party (Change language files. FTPiiu or Cdecrypt and NUSPACK)
Xenoblade Chronicles X (DL English Version)
yoshi's Woolly World (Change language files. FTPiiu or Cdecrypt and NUSPACK) !!Some text not display properly
ZombiU (DL English Version)

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------


What about installing the US version of the game and run without spiik? if the game is available for a specific region only (eg. USA) it should run without any problem as the code does not need to look for other region localization file. In my case i run Kamen Rider (jap only) with SPIIK region change to EUR it will still run without any issue.

What i have found out is that game only freeze if a game is develop for multiple region but the language file is not included in the version you are running

e.g Mario Kart 8 available in multiple region but when you run the USA version on japanese console it will freeze as it is trying to locate the japanese language file which is not in the USA version of the game

Which is why when we replace language file, in some cases we need both the USA and Japanese version of the game.

I'm a bit confused. I was trying to search for the .msbt files in the jpn mario kart 8. But there are like 60 of them . Like 4 in every cn,ed,ee,jp..etc folders. Do I replace all 60 msbt files from the eng version?

Also I dont have to do anything to the update and dlc files, right?

 

[Rtyuij]

No changes at all, that common key is for Pikmin 3 jpn. I have tried with the USA version that start with the d7b code, but doesn't changes a think when trying to install. Will keep giving it some more tries.

Do you have any luck? I encountered the same problem with mario kart8? I noticed my repacked files with fixed languange are a little bit smaller than the original jpn files like 4.08. vs 4.10GB. I m not sure what i did wrong

 

[Lizander2000]

Hello, I also have a Japanese Wii or thanks to its methods I can now play in Spanish or English by replacing the files within the game, I download them with Wii U USB Helper, I unpack them for CEMU, I modify them and then I pack them with NUSPACKER. My problem is with 3 games: MArio Maker, Splatoon and Super Mario U, when they are installed they are updated and they are again in Japanese, could you tell me how I have to edit the XML so that they are not updated? Thanks. Sorry for my English.

 

[ProtossEvo]

I am wondering the same. Where do these numbers come from? Are they put there like random just as long as the number is higher?

I think I'll try myself to install MK8 with even higher numbers and let's see what happens... The worst that can happen is that it won't work!

You mean the change in the xml file? It's simple, I've downloaded the update files too, decrypted it, and compared to the xml files of the vanilla game folder. So, for example, the xml file of vanilla was "1", and the xml file of the update folder, in the same line was "16", it means that if you swap 1 for 16 in the vanilla folder xml file, your Wii U was tricked in to think that the game is already updated. That's how I discovered which numbers to change to avoid automatic updating.

 

[ProtossEvo]

I'm a bit confused. I was trying to search for the .msbt files in the jpn mario kart 8. But there are like 60 of them . Like 4 in every cn,ed,ee,jp..etc folders. Do I replace all 60 msbt files from the eng version?

Also I dont have to do anything to the update and dlc files, right?

Nope, your japanese Wii U will always look for the JP/Ja folder only, which means you only need to paste the msbt files from the US/En folder into the JP/Ja folder. You can ignore the other bunch of languages. Basically, you're tricking your Wii U by placing different files in the folder where the console will look for.

Notice that I didn't messed up with DLC files, because DLC files overwriting lots of stuff, I don't know if it's possible to translate those too, and trick the Wii U the same way of the vanilla version of the game.

 

[ProtossEvo]

Hello, I also have a Japanese Wii or thanks to its methods I can now play in Spanish or English by replacing the files within the game, I download them with Wii U USB Helper, I unpack them for CEMU, I modify them and then I pack them with NUSPACKER. My problem is with 3 games: MArio Maker, Splatoon and Super Mario U, when they are installed they are updated and they are again in Japanese, could you tell me how I have to edit the XML so that they are not updated? Thanks. Sorry for my English.

1- Download the Update files of the game you want to prevent from automatically updating, and decrypt it, using the tutorial on the first post of the thread.

2- Decrypt the main game files too.

3- Open the app.xml file, located on the CODE folder of both your Update and Game decrypted files.

4- With both app.xml files open, look for those 2 lines in the Updated version of app.xml:

"<version type="unsignedInt" length="4">EXAMPLE</version>" and "<title_version type="hexBinary" length="2">EXAMPLE</title_version>", where EXAMPLE will be some random numbers.

5- Copy the numbers of those two lines of the Update version of the app.xml file, over the the numbers of those two lines of the Game version of the app.xml file. Save the changed app.xml file.

Now proceed to finish your encrypting and installation stuff, if you did everything right, the game will not ask anymore for updating.

PS: I don't remember if I have tested, but maybe just ovewriting the app.xml file of the Game folder with the app.xml file from the Update folder possibly can work, but I'm not certain about it, if someone would be willing to try it, and if works, it can make the proccess less complex.

 

[fmhugo]

It is possible to use the SD cafiine ?

 

[ProtossEvo]

It is possible to use the SD cafiine

Really don't know, didn't know about this app, it looks very interesting:

https://gbatemp.net/threads/sdcafiine.471360/

 

[Lizander2000]

1- Download the Update files of the game you want to prevent from automatically updating, and decrypt it, using the tutorial on the first post of the thread.

2- Decrypt the main game files too.

3- Open the app.xml file, located on the CODE folder of both your Update and Game decrypted files.

4- With both app.xml files open, look for those 2 lines in the Updated version of app.xml:

"<version type="unsignedInt" length="4">EXAMPLE</version>" and "<title_version type="hexBinary" length="2">EXAMPLE</title_version>", where EXAMPLE will be some random numbers.

5- Copy the numbers of those two lines of the Update version of the app.xml file, over the the numbers of those two lines of the Game version of the app.xml file. Save the changed app.xml file.

Now proceed to finish your encrypting and installation stuff, if you did everything right, the game will not ask anymore for updating.

PS: I don't remember if I have tested, but maybe just ovewriting the app.xml file of the Game folder with the app.xml file from the Update folder possibly can work, but I'm not certain about it, if someone would be willing to try it, and if works, it can make the proccess less complex.

Thanks @ProtossEvo it worked perfect !!!!

 

[jml_hybs]

@ProtossEvo I have tried this tutorial for pikmin 3 but I encountered a problem. It changes the game to english but it wont load the updates, meaning I'm stuck with the base game with no updates and dlc. I'm using the USA version of the game and updates. Any advice you can give?

 

[ProtossEvo]

@ProtossEvo I have tried this tutorial for pikmin 3 but I encountered a problem. It changes the game to english but it wont load the updates, meaning I'm stuck with the base game with no updates and dlc. I'm using the USA version of the game and updates. Any advice you can give?

Maybe, you can download the game, the update (JPN and US versions), merge and overwrite the Update folders and files (US game with US Update, and same for the JPN version). After all is merged, make the swap of language files, and follow the procedures to re-encrypt and install. I don't know if it'll work, I'm kinda of very busy with work, and don't have time to try myself.

PS: I believe that if you do this, the WUP Installer will fail to install, or it will install but maybe the game doesn't start.

 

[Rtyuij]

I'd like to add to the discussions regarding updates and dlc. I've never actually change the app.xml file to prevent updates and dlc. I was just lazy. Most of them still works in english even with the over -the -internet update. I didn't find updating the game changing anything in the replaced language files, i.e. the language content file size remain the same as the eng version. If you use the ftpii method, you will see that the updates and dlc are stored in completely diffeŕnt place on your drive. They shouldn't change any modification you have done to the main game. But if something was missing the game just might not run.

For the games that didnt work after update, I found the similar language folder in the update folder too. So, once you replace that too, you might be good. However, I still have some trouble with captain toad +update Im not quite sure why.

 

[Rtyuij]

@ProtossEvo I have tried this tutorial for pikmin 3 but I encountered a problem. It changes the game to english but it wont load the updates, meaning I'm stuck with the base game with no updates and dlc. I'm using the USA version of the game and updates. Any advice you can give?

You have to do the same thing with the update and/or dlc filrs too. Upacked them and change the files in the jpn folder to the ones from eng folder.

 

[godreborn]

it may be possible to negate updates (not sure if it will work) by modifying the versions.bin. it's the file that prevents downgrading games or apps, but there are 2 bytes that indicate version number. the title id is to the left of it, followed by I think FF FF or something like that, then the 2 bytes that are the version. I don't know if it will work if you change them to all 9's or F's.

this seems to be Mr. Pumpkin Adventure (you can get title ids by googling wiiu brew title ids) btw, all 0s means no update iirc:

 

[godreborn]

now this is interesting. that's my versions.bin, and I don't even have that game installed. never even heard of it, so there must be placeholders for most games in there, even if they're not installed.

 

[godreborn]

just figured out how to know which update is installed:

convert these two bytes to decimal, so that means new super mario bros. (usa) is version 64. according to wii u brew title ids, that's the latest version for the usa version.

 

[jml_hybs]

You have to do the same thing with the update and/or dlc filrs too. Upacked them and change the files in the jpn folder to the ones from eng folder.

You mean I have too do the steps twice? once to the update folder second to the main game folder? Right?