How to change all the “****”s into actual swear words.
introduzione
If you’ve started playing this game you might notice that, unlike the original Max’s Big Bust, swear words in this game are usually censored out with asterisks and appear like “****”. Looking at the files, it seems like there was a filter run to automatically censor out the words “♥♥♥♥”, “♥♥♥♥♥”, e “♥♥♥♥”. It’s funny, it seems like even code comments were bleeped out.
(An example of high quality code commenting)
This guide will show you how to apply some file updates I made to change the asterisks back into actual swearing.
Disclaimer
I am not affiliated with the development team behind this game in any way whatsoever. I only looked over the script and replaced the “****”s with the words I thought most likely to go there from context. It’s just my best guess, not the words of the original creator.
Anche, if you are Lach or anyone else on the team behind this game, first of all, CIAO! Thanks for making a fun series! Second of all, if you’d like me to remove this then please let me know. I don’t know the reason behind censoring out the swearing, I just wanted to provide the option to players.
Common Steps
Primo, you’ll need to download a zip file with the uncensored .rpy files from this link: Google Drive File
(Zip file contents to show it’s probably not a virus)
Prossimo, go to your Steam library and, in the left navigation column, right click on the entry for Max’s Big Bust 2 e seleziona “Sfoglia i file locali”.
This should open up the game directory. Apri il “gioco” folder and you should see a few more folders, and a bunch of various mostly .rpy and .rypc files.
These are the files we’re going to be messing with. To be safe, copy all the non-folder files and save them in a safe location as a backup before continuing in case something breaks.
Starting From a New Game
If you intend to start a new game from the very beginning, then congratulations! The installation is way easier. Primo, while the game isn’t running, delete all the files in the “gioco” folder that start with “capitolo”. This DOES include the ones without an underscore between the word and the number, but DOES NOT include the ch7_notebook files.
(The selected files are the ones to delete. You may not have the .rpyc files if you haven’t launched the game yet.)
Dopo di che, extract the uncensored_dialogue zip file and add all the new .rpy files to the same folder you just deleted a bunch of stuff from. Make sure to add all the files or the game will crash once you get to a section that wasn’t added. Dopo averlo fatto, launch the game from the Steam launcher and it should compile all the .rpy files you just added into .rypc files.
You should now be able to play the game! Selezionare “Nuovo gioco” and start reading. The first change should be near the beginning of chapter 2 when Max says “♥♥♥♥ voi!” to Jock. If she says it then you should be all good. If she still says “**** voi!” or you got an error, reset to the backup you made at the beginning and try again.
If you mess up really badly you can also always uninstall and reinstall the game to reset all the files back to how they were originally since you’re not trying to load a save.
Starting From an Old Save
If you’re trying to continue from an old save it’s a little trickier, but still doable. If you’re only on chapters 1 a 3 or so I’d recommend just starting back from the beginning and skipping through dialogue you’ve already seen.
For deciding if you want to make this update, here’s a list of what does and doesn’t save after the change:
DOES SAVE:
- Heartbeats levels
- Money/Items
- Risultati
- Insectivirus monsters
- Lover choice for endgame
DOES NOT SAVE:
- Old save files (after updating, all your save files but the newest will be corrupted)
- Seen text (affects if text is marked as ‘seen’ or ‘unseen’ when skipping, turning on “Skip Unseen Text” in the options menu will allow you to skip it anyway)
Before messing with anything, I know I said this before, but make sure to back up all your files in the “gioco” cartella. We’re going to be deleting them, and it’s possible that deleting the wrong thing could corrupt your save files. If that ever happens, deleting all the (non-folder) files and adding back in the files from the backup you made earlier will make sure all your old saves remain playable.
For this method, you’ll want to see which chapter your current save is in, it’s usually easiest to tell by which achievements you have. Prossimo, while the game isn’t running, delete the .rpy and .rpyc files for ONLY the next chapter.
Per esempio, if you have the achievement for completing chapter 8 and you saved before closing the game, your most recent save would be on chapter 9. You would then delete the files called “chapter_10.rpy” e “chapter_10.rpyc”. The only oddly named file would come up if your save is in chapter 6, since the chapter 7 file is called “chapter_7_puzzle.rpy” instead of just chapter_7. You’ll then replace whatever file you just deleted with the .rpy file of the same name from the uncensored_dialogue zip file you downloaded.
Prossimo, launch the game and load your save file. If it gives an error when you load your save you’ve deleted the .rpy file for the wrong chapter, reset to your backup and replace the next chapter instead. Play the game normally until you reach the next chapter, get a few lines of dialogue in, then make a new save in a new slot and quit the game.
Now that you have a save file in the new, uncensored version of whatever chapter you replaced, you’re free to update all the other files. Delete and replace all the required .rpy files detailed in the previous “Starting From a New Game” sezione, excluding the .rpy and .rpyc file for the chapter you already replaced (that your newest save is in).
Load the game from the Steam launcher, and if you’ve done everything correctly it should be ready to play with the updated, asterisk-free version. If you’d like to check whether the text has actually changed, start a new game from the beginning and skip to the beginning of chapter 2 like previously mentioned. Altrimenti, load your newest save and continue on!
Conclusione
If you’ve followed this guide so far, you should now be able to see the ample cursing in this game in it’s full, uncensored glory. Here’s an example of how the dialogue changes from everyone’s favorite undead flamboyant dancing guy:
(Prima)
(A seguito di)
Grazie per aver letto! I hope having a panda man constantly swear at you improves your experience with the game. Please leave a comment if you try it out and find any dialogue I missed.
