Overview
In this guide I will tell you how to get the Russian-Chinese version of Watch_Dogs 2 run in full English, with English voice-over, user interface and subtitles.
1. Preparation
First, you need the game. Make sure you have the Simplified Chinese selected in the game’s properties. This will provide you with English voice-over files which you will need later. Once you have the game installed and updated, you need to back up the following files:
Watch_Dogs2data_win64installpackage_english.dat
Watch_Dogs2data_win64installpackage_english.fat
Watch_Dogs2data_win64patch_english.dat
Watch_Dogs2data_win64patch_english.fat
Watch_Dogs2data_win64patch2_english.dat
Watch_Dogs2data_win64patch2_english.fat
Watch_Dogs2data_win64sound_english.dat
Watch_Dogs2data_win64sound_english.fat
Watch_Dogs2data_win64worldssan_franciscosan_francisco_english.dat
Watch_Dogs2data_win64worldssan_franciscosan_francisco_english.fat
Watch_Dogs2data_win64worldssan_franciscosan_francisco_sound_english.dat
Watch_Dogs2data_win64worldssan_franciscosan_francisco_sound_english.fat
Just move them elsewhere, so they won’t get deleted during the next step.
2. The Main Part
Now you need to fully uninstall the game. Right-click it and select “Delete Local Content…”. When the game is gone, go and delete the game folder completely to get rid of anything that might have been left behind. Just make sure that you don’t delete those files which you backed up earlier!
One important thing that I haven’t thought about before, you have to set your Steam client interface language to English (US), because otherwise there’s a chance that it’ll automatically set the game language to either Russian or Chinese, which is actually what we are trying to avoid here.
!!![UPDATED SECTION]!!!
In addition to that, you will also need to remove some traces that was left after the first installation of the game. To do that, first, close the Steam, then you’ll need to find a file called “localconfig.vdf”. It should be located in your Steam folder (Steamuserdata*YOURIDNUMBER*config). Open it with a text editor (Notepad++ for example) and search for “447040” (a Watch_Dogs 2 AppID), there will be more than one matches found, but you need to find the one at the bottom of the file, right under the “UserAppConfig” section, you will need to delete the whole string! When you done that, save the file and Start the Steam, to be sure that you did the whole thing right, open your Steam Library and right click on uninstalled copy of Watch_Dogs 2, open the properties window and check the language tab, if you see that there’s no language selected then it means you did it right, leave it as is (empty), and continue with this guide.
For the next step we won’t need the Steam client, so you can minimize it. Now open your browser of choice, go to your Steam profile and click “Games” on the right, then click “All Games” tab. Make sure you’re logged in. It has to display the grey bar saying “CURRENT STEAM LOGIN”.
Now when you see your games list, either find Watch_Dogs 2 manually, or type “Watch_Dogs 2” into the filter field. When you see the game, click on the “Download” button on the right, it will trigger the Remote Installation of the game, it must be done from the browser or smartphone app, don’t try to install the game from PC client.
3. Finishing Touches
When you have the game installed, don’t run it. First you need to restore those English files which you backed up during the Preparation:
Watch_Dogs2data_win64installpackage_english.dat
Watch_Dogs2data_win64installpackage_english.fat
Watch_Dogs2data_win64patch_english.dat
Watch_Dogs2data_win64patch_english.fat
Watch_Dogs2data_win64patch2_english.dat
Watch_Dogs2data_win64patch2_english.fat
Watch_Dogs2data_win64sound_english.dat
Watch_Dogs2data_win64sound_english.fat
Watch_Dogs2data_win64worldssan_franciscosan_francisco_english.dat
Watch_Dogs2data_win64worldssan_franciscosan_francisco_english.fat
Watch_Dogs2data_win64worldssan_franciscosan_francisco_sound_english.dat
Watch_Dogs2data_win64worldssan_franciscosan_francisco_sound_english.fat
Then you go to your Documents folder, open “My Games” and delete “Watch_Dogs 2” folder if you have it. It contains all you game’s settings, including language.
Now you can launch the game and see for yourself if it’s in English.
4. Afterword
Nothing important, just wanted to let you know that if you have the Russian version installed, you can back up Russian files, so you can restore them later, along with the English ones. This will allow you to switch the voice-over language between English and Russian in-game. Not something anyone sane would do, but still worth noting.
Also, if you go into “Settings, then “Audio and Language”, you will see that the “Written Language” says “Русский”, which means Russian. Don’t touch this, because if you do, it will switch to Russian or Chinese and you won’t be able to get back to English. You will need to repeat the last step on the previous part, delete “Watch_Dogs 2” folder so the game will switch back to English.
Good luck!