.hack//Link

Welcome to the official page for the English fan translation of .hack//Link!

Since the game’s release in 2010, it has not been released outside of Japan. After over five years it seems unlikely that it will ever see an official English localization, so it has become the task of a small group of individuals to bring this game to English-speaking audiences.

A previous patch was developed by another team, but has since been dropped. To the best of our knowledge this is the only other patch in existence and this being the case, it is the most complete patch to date. We highly recommend you use our patch for the fullest enjoyment of the game if you do not read Japanese.

Without further ado, here’s all you need to know about the team, the patch, and how to get it working!

Current Members of this Team

• Kazetrigger – Translating, patching, testing.
• Kuukai – Translating the story elements.
• JunBansyoya – Coding, patching, translating menus.
• Keii – Translating the story elements.
• Angga – Translating story elements.
• Deniz/Falions – Translating story elements.

Special thanks to Hilltop (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcOqtDKbmll_Tt_GbTfqVHw) for proving much needed expertise and code for patching textures!

Progress
PROJECT UPDATED January 05, 2024

Release Schedule
v0.0 – “Shadow Signs” – Released August 2011
A movie version of the main story based on the patch for those who don’t want to play the whole game. The final videos have been released to Youtube.

v0.1 – “Terror Infection” – Released September 2012
A basic main story patch that covers all the manga scenes and FMVs, and enough conversations for you to understand the gist of the major plotlines. Game text, emails, and non-essential events in the main story (even some Schicksal bosses) will probably be excluded. Basically the same thing as Shadow Signs but playable, with 100% of the animated scenes included, and with better editing.

v0.2 – “Mirage Mutation” – Released June 2014
This patch will incorporate the emails and dialogues that are bridged by “narration” in Shadow Signs. More boss battles, more system text, and more key scenes will be translated. Some sidequests will be translated. Known errors in Terror Infection will be fixed. The first few chapters of the game will be completely translated, and using just the patch you will be able to follow the main story from beginning to end without more confusion than if you knew Japanese.

v0.2.1 – “Mirage Mutation X” – Released December 2014
Added dialogue and made corrections from v0.2.

v0.2.2 – “Mirage Mutation X2” – Released April 2015
A ~60% completion celebratory release. This will keep users tied over until v0.3 is released.

v0.2.3 – “Mirage Mutation X3” – Released June 2015
More dialog and a subtitled version of the opening FMV.

v0.3 – “Propagation Outbreak” – Released October 2016
For this patch the focus will be on the all the “M” files, that is, the main quests. Little in the way of extras will be done.

v0.3.5 – “Propagation Outbreak EX” – Released January 2017
I will release a patch on this day which will encompass everything I have done up to this point, no matter how much or how little. It will nonetheless, contain new translations for many items, some extras, some e-mails and some S-files.

v0.4 – “Prophet Quarantine” – Released August 2017
This patch will include “S” files, that is, the side-quests, some skits, and some extras. Some files will be cleaned up for grammar and spelling, but many files will still need grammar correction.

v0.4.1 – “Prophet Quarantine II” – Released August 2017
This patch fixes missing lines from the previous patch, completes the menu and tutorial displays, and corrects many spelling, grammar and capitalization mistakes. 

v0.4.5 – “Prophet Quarantine III” – Released December 2017
This patch includes all e-mails plus some small fixes. E-mails were not completely checked for errors. Those will be fixed in the next patch. This patch completes the story, though plot errors and mistranslations persist.

v1.0.0 – “Hero Tokio” – Released October 2018
This patch will include the rest of the game that can be translated. Some text, such as Link Judges, are currently untranslatable in this release, but such text has no bearing on the story. Any remaining errors or glitches will be fixed insofar as it is possible. This version is considered full and complete in regards to story. Any versions going beyond version 1.0 will be added merely for issues that were previously missed.

v1.0.1 – “Hero Tokio” – Released November 2018
This patch includes fixes for several hundred translation errors, spelling mistakes, style issues, text length problems, and incorrectly placed item references. Several more freezing issues have been corrected, but many still remain. Previously untranslated material is still left untranslated. Hopefully a future update will allow this material to be finished.

v1.0.2 – “Hero Tokio” – Released December 2018
This patch corrects several translation errors missed in previous patches.

v2.0.0 – “Final” – Released December 2023
This patch contains a 100% complete story translation. All story, all side/sub-content, and a translated menu. Does not have a corrected font yet and there are some textures left untranslated, but the story is not impacted by this.

v2.0.1 – “Final” – Released January 2024
Corrected spelling, grammar and other issues. Found several previously untranslated lines. Fixed a few small crashes and freezes.

v2.0.2 – “Final” Released January 5, 2024
A few more tweaks and corrections. Added subtitled PMF back into the game.

Known Issues
-When on the Friend Skit list, using the L or R buttons to transition skit descriptions freezes the game. This can be avoided by closing a skit description before opening another one. It is unclear why this happens since care was taken to stay within the known character limit and the descriptions load fine otherwise.
-Using some items from the Items menu will freeze the game but not in every instance. It is unclear why some items crash the game in some areas but not others. I have two theories about the cause, but so far my attempts to fix it for all items have met with limited success. To get around this bug, set the item to an Action Trigger and use it from an Action Trigger instead. This works fine for all items I’ve tested.
-There is a difference between the PPSSPP and a hardware PSP in how some code is handled. You may get different freeze results on each system. The PPSSPP seems to work more reliably, but each system should be playable so long as the above issues are worked around.

FAQ (http://dothackers.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=34&t=18285)
I have a question can I ask it?
Of course, but it would be appreciated if you read the thread and FAQ first, I know it is getting long but some questions have already been answered and not posted here. If you don’t feel like your question is answered feel free to ask, good questions will be added to this list.

I cannot translate, can I help?
Yes! Play the game with the patch, and report any mistakes here! Only you can prevent typos!

Patch Info and Download

Download Patcher (~1.7MB Patch Size)

Download Patcher (Subbed Opening FMV. ~15.6MB Patch Size)

How to Install

1. Install a Custom Firmware (CFW) on to your PSP

This part is outside the scope of this guide, but CFW installation guides are easy to find on the web.

2. How to extract an ISO from your Universal Media Disc

This step is for people who own the original Universal Media Disc(UMD) of the game .hack//LINK, if you obtained an ISO through alternate methods you may skip this step.

We highly recommend you buy the game and support the developers, but given the ease with which one can find a game ISO for download today, we cannot stop you from obtaining one through whatever method you choose.

If you’re going ahead with this step, you can follow these instructions to extract the ISO.

1. The easiest method would be to use a build in feature of most CFW, you can start off by bringing up the CFW setting menu, generally it is accessed by pressing Select.
2. In this menu you can change USB DEVICE to be UMD Disc using the D-Pad.
3. Connect your PSP to your computer.
4. Switch to USB mode, by going into Settings >> USB Connection
5. Drag and drop the ISO file from the mounted drive to a safe location on your computer.

3. Apply xDelta patch to ISO

Once you have acquired an original ISO, you may now patch the game.

1. Download the patcher above.
2. Extract the files from the zip file and place wherever you prefer.
3. Open the folder and place your original ISO in the main directory.
4. Run the Patch file that corresponds to your operating system.
5. Once complete, you can load the patched ISO in PPSSPP or on to your PSP and enjoy!

• You may also read the READ ME FIRST file for more detailed instructions if the above is unclear.