Ok, again, for the sake of visibility I'm reposting a guide. All credits goes to AK-48 for providing us a working solution.

Notes : THIS IS A CUSTOM LAUNCHER AND CAN BE DETECTED BY BLIZZARD. USE AT YOUR OWN RISK. Please read - Custom launcher : the EULA and us

IF YOU DO NOT TRUST THE BINARIES,ANALYSE AND COMPILE THE SOURCE YOURSELF.

Link to the original thread : https://wow-in-chinese.forum2jeux.com/t2119-how-to-play-chinese-wow-with-foreign-language-clients#19686


1. Install the foreign streaming client. Let it stream as usual.

As soon as the client reach the available status your can start fix it and play the game.

2. Rename your foreign client wow.exe into wow.exe.bak (.bak means backup), because you'll need to restore it back when you need to update your foreign client.

Grab the latest chinese client wow.exe and put it in your wow folder. if you don't have it download this http://www.gamefront.com/files/20560068/Wow.rar and extract it in your wow folder.

3. into your wow/data/enUS make a copy of realmlist.wtf and rename the copy realmlist.wtf.bak. (.bak means backup)

Then open realmlist.wtf :

Change the first line into

Code:

set realmlist cn.logon.warcraftchina.com

and change the fourth line into

Code:

set portal cn

Don't touch the second and third lines.

4. get the latest enCNLaunch http://www.gamefront.com/files/20563545/enCN_new.rar and copy both enCNLaunch.exe, enCN.ini, enCN.dll and the .dat file matching your client locale (ex. enUS.dat if your client is the enUS)

If you are playing in another language than english you will have to edit enCN.ini with the informations corresponding to your version :

if you play deDE for instance, you need to find the line

Code:

data=enUS.dat

and change it to

Code:

data=deDE.dat

5. download http://www.filefront.com/17325058/Fonts.rar and extract it in your wow folder. You should have wow\Fonts folder(you need to do this if you wanna read Chinese symbols in game.


6. Start the game with enCNLaunch.exe and enjoy the game.

IMPORTANT (READ IT):

- the fix will only work for your first logging attempt. So if you type the wrong login you have to restart the game. If you ever see the message "bad version bla bla bla" just restart the game.

- When on the login screen make sure you wait a few seconds to let the fix load.

- The fix doesn't work if you have more than one local folder (enUS.deDE,ruRU,etc...) in your wow/data folder. So either delete other languages or move them to another place. You can create a folder named backup and move them in there.

AK-80 if you could post the new releases of the launcher in this thread I'll update the links in the original post.

Edit : AK any way you could provide an .ini file so people can set the right settings depending on their client version? (To fix the english quests problem).

OK first try,, Mals updated copy with proper exe number has no wow-update-base-14333.MPQ in either folder???

nothing ran after doing all updates otherwise and had to restart comp.

Bolo even I am not yet up todate we are still playing cat and mouse ATM
So better dont name this thread final solution.
I know we are there but I also know there will be more small patches to come if its simillar to twow.

Stitch the problem is people need a fix and for now we have it. with all the different threads it s starting to be very confusing in the forum, and lots of people are asking question via the threads or by sending me pms. So yes we need something that will catch peoples attention otherwise they will follow a little bit of each threads and mix stuff and that will be a mess.

If you find something better do a good step by step and keep it updated. For now this solution is the best we have, my client is still streaming and I'm able to play in english.

Gruumsh44 wrote:

OK first try,, Mals updated copy with proper exe number has no wow-update-base-14333.MPQ in either folder???

nothing ran after doing all updates otherwise and had to restart comp.

Gruumsh can't make sence of what you wrote. Mouseover the english wow.exe you can see which version it's at. if it's under 4.1.a or 4.2 you apply patches to the client. If it's 4.1.a or 4.2 then you are all set and can move to the other steps of the guide. Also one thing, let the launcher download the updated tools and let it install this before patching. If the launcher version isn't 4.2.2506(again mouseover the file to see the vesrion) then it means you haven't the updated tools. So let the launcher run and install them.

Can't think of anything else

"Gruumsh puter no work. Gruumsh SMASH puter make it into little bits. Gruumsh make yummy soup from puter bits. nom nom



Your name kind of has a Hulk talk to it, i couldnt help it =D

haha Yes... yes it does... Ok i may have to go buy the clean discs... and reinstall ... for some reason Mals version Says 4.1a and is US client, but when i use the launcher it gives me a Chinese Cataclysm warning, and the MPQ files you say to rename in DATA folder dont exist...

I WILL SMASH AND DESTROY AND KI'''... OOOoohhHHHhh Shiny! ~romps towards a fishing bauble***

late... work on this after work tomorrow.

Ok did you guys mixed files. If you want to have both clients in your pc.

1. Start with the first client, install it. After it s installed rename the folder and uninstall the game from the windows control panel, when it asks if you wanna delete the game files answer no.

2. You can now install the 2nd client without overwriting anything.

Right now sounds like you got mixed versions.

Have reinstalled the game, this time enGB (way faster hoho). Just wondering if starting the game through WoW.exe (14333) before the install bar on the streaming installer reaches "Available" will corrupt or mix up anything.

Thanks.

You won't be able to do anything anyway, besides staring at the login screen. Better wait for the available status.

Bah. If I click on WoW.exe (not fully streamed) it loads for a long time. Must be writing enGB files?

ok Chinese client is fully installed,,, if i reinstall a fresh english client now it should work in theory... but i am at work until 7. didnt know installing 2 different version in 2 folders would mix files... but this is why i am not a techie.

@Gruumsh, copy the complete wow-folder (~30GB) to another partition. Then uninstall the game again. WOW don't need any installation. The game starts just from the folder. Keep your Win-registry clean. The same do if u need to install another client. Install, copy, uninstall.

Copy also a "Master client" to an external drive as a backup. Whenever u mess up your client you have a mastercopy to go on. u also can copy your workable client to a ext. disk and take it with u. U can play whereever is a pc available.

Should be no problem in the age of terabytes, right?

@alex, actually you don't need to copy to another partition, you just rename the wow folder and uninstall it. I have 2 copies of wow (chinese and english) on the same partition.

I just use another partition to make sure I don't mix up the clients during testing times like now. If u once mess up your wifes chinese client by accident and u feel the aftermath, u can understand me. :-)

In the moment I have folders

1. wow china (for my wife)
2. wow china (for myself)
3. wow china german stitch
4. wow china german ak-48
5 .wow german 4.1 Test
6. wow german 4.1 Master (untouchable)

If I mess up 3/4/5, I copy 6 and start again. 6 is 2times on the pc and 1time on a ext.disk. I run this system since TBC successful.

Maybe it's a bit overdosed, but better as reinstalling the whole shit again.

Ey folks. Thanks for the great guide, but I'm having some issues.. After I did steps according to instructions, game launches fine and gives me version "4.1.14250". However when trying to connect, it gives error "Unable to validate game version".

My wow.bak version is (enGB) is 4.2.0.1433

Dumppa wrote:

Ey folks. Thanks for the great guide, but I'm having some issues.. After I did steps according to instructions, game launches fine and gives me version "4.1.14250". However when trying to connect, it gives error "Unable to validate game version".

My wow.bak version is (enGB) is 4.2.0.1433

Dumpa with this fix you can just login once. This means if you type the wrong login you have to restart the game and try again. Also make sure you wait enough time 5-6sec in the login screen before logging in.

Also make sure you only have ONE locale folder in your data folder. You'll have to delete or move the other languages.

Tell me if it worked.

@Alex, the method in the original post works 100% as it is. I think it's better we don't start to give variants in this thread otherwise people will start to forget what modifications they did.

In my thread I state this works when your client download is not finished (I've started to play when my client was 60% only). Now if people start to do what you did, and their clients aren't streamed they will have crashes and other errors. So maybe it's better you remove this comment, because one day or another someone will read it and get confused.

Ahh Boloma, I believe that was the case since I didn't have clear picture of my login details. I only have one locale.

Could someone copy-paste insides of MFIL File (WoW.mfil) from gamefolder or just send the file (should be small, only some text) to dumppa(at)hotmail.com. The format could be .txt so any blockers will not stop dl. I was careless enough to lose the data from clipboard after deleting. Thanks a bunch!

dumppa I think you can create a WoW.mfil manually (just make sure mfil is the extension) then when you start the game it should regenerate the content by itself.

If you use the enUS client you can copy/past this inside :

Code:

version=2
server=akamai
   location=http://ak.worldofwarcraft.com.edgesuite.net/wow-pod-retail/NA/12911.streaming/
manifest_partial=wow-14333-ECD23291CBE2A2517566EC576B15D6A5.mfil

@Everyone else. AK-48 already updated the launcher with an enCN.ini file. So if your local is not english you can put the informations relitave to your client into this and this way the quests will show in the client language instead of english.

Here is an exemple of what you should put in this file if you play in korean :

Code:

[WoW Config]
Version=1
Country=KR
Language=ko
Region=2

If people could post the code for other languages that would be nice. You can find it in wow/data/*enUS/local-*enUS.mpq if you open it with a mpq editor, and then double click the file WoW.ini.

*can vary depending on your client language.

Thanks everyone, game works fine with enGB locale after deleting and recreating the wow.mfil. It just wasn't enough to empty that file, but new empty one had to be created =)

Thank you so much. It's all now working!!!!

The way to edit enCN.ini is NOT correct.
if you play deDE for instance, you need to find the line
data=enUS.dat
and change it to
data=deDE.dat

Ok we now have a fresh copy of wow 4.2,, but it is MAC... any one know how to remove files to make it work as PC?

we have lots of the same files, but still do not have wow-update-base-14333.MPQ or wow-update-enUS-14333.MPQ,,, different numbers

Or should i bite the bullet and get http://www.wow-patch.in/content/wow-streaming-client.php and just wait it out to be where most others are with the same files?

Not support for mac sorry. Just can't help

OK since the big ORC just got home his brain is clearly off Ill unclued the rest of the info...we have the following files in our data folder - the 4.2 version we just borrowed from a friend....

wow-update-base-13914
wow-update-base-14007

wow-update-enUS-13914
wow-update-enUS=14007

does this effect fix in any way?

dont worry about the mac version...i just deleted the unnecessary folders and repaired...all mac things are gone...

if you guys start launcher.exe, Is the play button highlighted? If you have either a 4.1.a or 4.2 just follow the step by step in the original thread and you are good to go.

step 5, could you clarify?

5. get the latest enCNLaunch http://www.gamefront.com/files/20562827/enCN_new.rar and copy both enCNLaunch.exe, enCN.ini, enCN.dll and the corresponding .dat file to your client language code into your wow folder.< this?????

used the launcher..play button not highlighted... goes to streaming...but i had followed the steps for installing the game (using the three part game download and the mpq. patches to 4.1.whateverthefinalnumberwas

the wow.exe - when hovered over says 4.1.0.14007 - so are we good to go - even though the .mpq file number isnt the same as the guide numbers?

Ok so nothing works. we have to start from scratch... Mal tried everything on hers. every fix gives her a slow load to a black screen to now where

Changes, new BAT, nothing...

other than taking the 4.2 Mac client and toying with it more we dont know what to do.

the stream client is the next option, but the DL for us could be long, and wow patch-in hates me.

Is this taking forever to load on anyone else's computer? After clicking on enCNlaunch, I waited about a minute before the login screen appeared and then the login screen was all black except for the sign-in boxes and buttons. After I logged in, the dragon appeared and it logged in. Then I had to wait another couple of minutes before my character models loaded, although I could choose a character after about 30 seconds.

Now, I've been waiting about 10 minutes to actually start playing and it's still on the interface loading screen at about 20% done. Is this normal for the first time to load?

Edit: Okay, figured out that it's downloading something from the servers. I was pretty sure my English version was fully up to date, but still downloading something it seems. Will run the original launcher again to make sure.

FOR MAC USERS THERE IS NO FIX EXCEPT USING BOOTCAMP AND FOLLOW THE TUTORIAL AS ABOVE.

Not a MAC user, just have a copy of the MAC files. would have to make them fit a PC...

Gruumsh,

The black screen sounds much like what I was getting. I switched the Wow.exe back to the enUS version and ran launcher.exe again. Turns out I still needed to download 4Gb of files. Maybe it's not finished downloading the client yet?

mac files dont fit windows

Guys, the long loading screen are normal if your client is streaming. It has to stream more datas and will usually take minimum 10mins, just start it and go do smth else. Sometimes it'll even disconnect silently and you'll have to restart the game and on 2nd try i'll be in the game.

Okay, I've updated the enUS client all the way up to 4.2 and followed the guide here, but now I'm getting an error on the loading screen after I choose a character.

Any idea what the reason would be?

--------------------------------------------------
This application has encountered a critical error:

Fatal condition!

Program: D:\Games\World of Warcraft\WoW.exe
ProcessID: 3800

Failed to read file from local.

Details: (Streaming Status: Enabled / Mfil Rdy / Data Rdy, Build: 14250)
[0] err=0 text=SFileReadFile - world\generic\darkirondwarf\passive doodads\skeletons\skeletonlaying02.m2 - Data\alternate.MPQ
----------------------------------------------------------

I tried a repair first, but no luck. Any ideas?

@darth do you have two LOCAL folder in your wow/data? By local folder I mean enUS enGB, folder with this kind of names. Also did you put the enUS.dat file in your wow folder?

Hey Bolo,

I only have the one local folder and its definitely enUS and the WOW folder contains the 4 required files including the enUS.dat. I'll try deleting alternate.mpq tonight when I get home from work and re-dowloading through the launcher as alternate.mpq is only 70mb or so. If that doesn't work, I'm out of ideas.

darthpeanut

darth, I think you should redownload a fresh client. There's no alternate.mpq in the US client. You must have mixed some stuff in previous tries.

Quote :

and the .dat file matching your client locale (ex. enUS.dat if your client is the enUS)

Heya, i cant seem to find enGB.dat file for this stage in the rar...do i use the enUS.dat instead?

This part is from stage 5 in the lovely guide

ty

I think, I'm not sure how AK handled this part, maybe the default is enGB, I'm not even sure you need to worry about the dat files

oki test time ^^ lets give it a go...

Edit: Just brought up the login screen fine and got as far as connected...waited for a while and then cancelled for it to bring up realm selection...im now sat on that screen waiting for it, as it is 'logging in to game server'....

If your client is still streaming, things can be freaking slow. Like first loading can last 15min+ caus it needs to download some datas. I'd say quit the game, restart it and don t cancel anything anymore.

Yeah i'm not streaming cos i've finished that and i can get past the login screen, but when it comes to selecting and logging into a realm (before i can even see my chars) it sticks for an incredibly long time on 'logging in to game server' (30mins plus at last count..). I wish i could even get up to its first loading ^^

Well, my idea to delete "alternate.mpq" from the data/enUS folder and rerun launcher.exe to finish downloading definitely worked. As bolo said, there seems to be no alternate.mpq in the enUS version.

Therefore, if you run into such errors on the loading screens, perhaps deleting the offending file and running launcher.exe will help sort out the problem.

Well guys, Gruumsh and I are finally on!

There have been many thank you's but I'll just add one more. I know you are doing this in your free time around work, family and life responsibilities and perhaps feel like no one truly appreciates it. Well I can tell you that every single one of my friends did the /happy dance when I told them you found a fix. They all wanted me to convey their gratitude.

Thank you again to EVERYONE who stayed up to the wee hours of the morning and a special thanks to AK-48 and Stitch who saved the day.

Thanks again guys!