I'm one of the unlucky ones who likes to play their game in a different language other than what the game comes with. My version is locked to English US but I like to play in German because that's my native language.
I managed to change my games language from English to German by replacing the "Strings_ENG_US.package" with the german one and changing some numbers in the package file. I shared the result (not the way it's done) as a picture in a Sims 4 Group and got kicked for that.
Now my question is: Is it illegal or in any way prohibited to acquire the other language strings packages and/or sharing it with others? I was thinking about creating a mod with the modified string packages to help all the other people out that like to play their game in another language.
I own the store since March 4th, 2017! Thanks to everybody who has helped me achieve this!
TheSims3.com:
Jahnna 0
Comments
No I can't because not all languages are available to all Sims 4 purchases. I bought mine in the UK and the only language option I get is English US. People buying the Sims 4 in Germany however can select between all of the languages. That's why Im asking if it is illegal or prohibited to acquire the language packages that usually wouldn't come with your game copy and/or sharing them with others so they can change their language too.
TheSims3.com: Jahnna
I know right. I thought that couldn't possibly be illegal because theoretically I could travel to germany and buy the game there to have all the language packages available or even get it imported (a EA Community mod even suggested that to someone). I was just curious if it was indeed illegal because why would you restrict languages to purchase locations in the first place?
I have never see a gaming client or developer ever do that before. I even created a petition for that, to get EA to open up al languages to all countries/locations but one's obviously not allowed to share petitions here.
Edit: What I forgot to mention is: The game does not come with all languages packages by nature, like mine only came with the English US one. But my best friend who lives in german has them all at her hand and gave me her german language package to be able to mod it into my game. But that's what I mean I could also just travel to germany buy the game there again to have all packages.
TheSims3.com: Jahnna
I don't see how it could possibly be illegal or prohibited but I just wanted to make sure. I have not found any evidence that EA has ever said something like it's illegal to change the language that way.
At some point people shared their language packs and gave instructions on how to make it work by changing values in the registry. But hat method became obsolete after EA released a patch sometime in 2016.
TheSims3.com: Jahnna
I do agree with @MDianaSanders about not sharing. If you're not sure about the legality, I honestly just wouldn't take the risk and not share it until you know for sure that you are allowed to.
TheSims3.com: Jahnna
Fun must be always -- Tomas Hertl (San Jose Sharks hockey player)
That's the problem and if you looked at the picture I posted a few post ago you would see that an EA Community manager said that not all languages are available for all versions (big pictures in spoiler):
UK: Offers 1.
TheSims3.com: Jahnna
I know right! It's absolutely ridiculous! But I have also seen cases of people who bought their games in the USA or other parts within the USA and they did not have all of the language options supported. Also seen the same problem with people living in the Scandinavian countries only having a limited amount of languages and the russian version only offers russian and/or polish I believe.
@Jadeleine
No, it has nothing to do with the client language. It has to do with where the game was purchased. The Sims 4 on the my Origin Store page even only lists English (US) under supported languages.
TheSims3.com: Jahnna
I asked: "Is it illegal or in any way prohibited to acquire the other language strings packages and/or sharing it with others?". That's not a technical discussion and we are not talking about a technical issues here, but simply explaining how things are at the moment to the users who didn't know about the language restictions.
TheSims3.com: Jahnna