Use of third party software can result in a suspension or ban. Use at your own risk! Windower:
http://ffxi.archbell.com
Make sure you check the settings, using a resolution that's too high will result in a lot of lag. The gamma might be set to 50 but people find 60 to be much better. You can find many useful plugins on their forums such as the IME plug in. Use ` to toggle the windower console.
IME Plugin: http://ffxi.archbell.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=2050
Using this will allow you to type Japanese characters in FFXI. Please do not use this unless you have a working understanding of the language, simply messing around with it might make people angry and get you reported. You will need Eastern Language support installed and Japanese set as your primary language.
SE Official Dictionaries: http://www.playonline.com/home/download/dic01.html
Install these if you'd like to use emotes and other expressions a lot easier. I'll explain how to install them below.
Installing language support and using the IME toolbars.
To install the eastern language support you'll need the Windows XP or Office CD that came with the computer, or that you bought. If you don't have one, you can probably find a copy on Isohunt.com, but you didn't hear that from me. Once the CD image is downloaded, and mounted using Daemon Tools open the Regional Options setting in the Control Panel. Click the checkbox for language support and then Apply and point it to the virtual hard drive. After that go to the next tab over and set the drop down box to Japanese.
Once you've restarted your computer you should see a language bar, you can drag that to the start menu if you like. Find the tiny arrow pointing down, open the options, and click Settings. Under the Advanced tab click the etended support box and restart your computer.
After you've downloaded the dictionaries open the settings again. Under Installed Services open the properties menu of the bolded setting. Open the fourth tab down, then next to the list of checkboxes click the first button with (I) for install. Find the dictionaries and run them, then click the Apply button at the bottom ending with (A).
To install .txt dictionaries you'll need to click the purple box on the language bar, then the book with the orange box. This should open up a window. The third option at the top ending with (T), and then the second to last option at the bottom ending with (T) again can be used to install text dictionaries. You can see on the screen the shortcuts and what they can switch into.
You're all set!
Using the IME plugin and dictionaries in FFXI.
After you've loaded the IME plug in inside the windower console you'll notice the IME bar when you begin to type. Press Ctrl+` to toggle between English and Japanese. You'll notice that what you type out is green, and you must press enter twice to say it. This is mostly used while typing Japanese.
When I say "enter in" I mean press the enter button to turn the text white so you're no longer editing it. You'll see what I mean and know why I say it later.
If you want to use translations you'll have to enter in what you've already typed by pressing enter once. This will turn the text white. Green text is text you're currently working with so once you type out the text you want translated you can tab it at any time. Trying to tab text without entering in the text before it will confuse the translator, and you don't need to enter in translated text. This can become annoying after a while.
Let's say you want to type out the macro below:
<Chi Blast>(｀д´)ノーーーーー(´―｀)<t>
1. Open the text bar or macro menu.
2. Type out /p in English, then press enter, then type out and translate Chi Blast.
3. Press Ctrl+` to change input to Japanese, and type out kaomoji aka かおもじ then press space bar. Keep pressing space bar to switch through the many emotes and find the two above. Be sure to enter in the emotes and ー's before trying to type more in.
4. Change the input back to English and type out <t>.
You'll want to mess around with it a bit to get used to it. Left shift and right shift are used to do different things. Use left shift to type capital English letters and other symbols such as !, @, #, $, %, ^, &, *, (, and ).
I don't think I've left anything out, but if I have tell me. I'll post more useful information as I come up with it but feel free to submit your own.
Linear Mode
