Written by Rastafoo69, edited by Otaku Apologist
DLSite is a Japanese digital retail platform that hosts thousands of doujins, videos, hentai games, and other erotic content. This article explains the steps to apply English translation patches to your games bought from DLSite.
Before beginning, you need to have two folders. First, the game you want to play. Second, the patch files. These both should come in zip folders. Be sure to extract them separately and keep them apart!
Check out our archive of Japanese hentai game fan translation patches.
The first step is to make sure your game is working. Try to play it in Japanese first. Play for at least ten minutes to see that all the audio and graphics files are working correctly. It’s another reason not to pirate: many games are missing these key files.
If the game malfunctions, download a fresh copy and try again. If that doesn’t work, change your system to a Japanese locale. DLSite has an article explaining that here.
If neither of those solutions work, the problem is likely technical in nature. For example, you need to shorten the folder names so they can run properly. This is especially a problem with visual novels.
The most common error players experience is “RGSS*.dll could not be found” or “RPG RTP is required”. This is a sign you’re playing an RPG Maker game. DLSite has an article explaining that here.
Applying a patch is easy. When you download a patch, you are downloading a folder called “Data”. The game files you have, should also include a folder called “Data”. Drag and drop these files together, so the English data files will overwrite the Japanese ones.
Be careful! Many players report problems with patching games, specifically because the patch does not match the game version. You might have a game version 1.5, but the patch only covers version 1.0. This means that some Japanese writing will appear in the game. This is commonly called a “partial patch”.
The opposite scenario is even worse. If your game version is 1.0 but your patch is for 1.5, it could ruin your copy of the game! Although you can download the game again, you’ll lose your save files. That’s because the patch may reference audio and graphics files that only appear in the newest edition of the game. When the game software detects an audio file is missing, it will not work.
Another common problem is Japanese file names. The game code may reference kanji, when your patch refers to the western alphabet (or vice versa). To resolve this, go into Winrar options and change “Name Encoding” to Japanese. This way, the kanji will be preserved. However, this is only an issue for partials. Full translations never have this problem.
These issues make up the most common known problems with patching DLSite games. It is highly recommended that you instead wait for the developer or publisher to translate the game themselves. This way, you can avoid all of these issues.
If your problem was not listed here, it may be related to Wolf RPG Editor, The RPG Maker Decryptor, or any number of other things. These are all explained in depth by Yugifan3 in this document. If you patched your game and just need some basic troubleshooting, check article on how to download DLSite games.
