Make first subtitle track forced?

[Tyrindor]

Need to convert like 100 anime series... I need it to set the first, and only, subtitle track to forced and default (MKV flags: DF) without me having to every single time.

How do this with the selection rule? It doesn't seem to be possible.

[Woodstock]

If you have profiles enabled (General->Expert Mode checked), you can modify the "common MKV flags":

Code: Select all

    <!-- Common MKV flags -->
    <mkvSettings 
        ignoreForcedSubtitlesFlag="true"
        useISO639Type2T="false"
		setFirstSubtitleTrackAsDefault="true"
    />

There does not seem to be a setting to make it "forced", although "setFirstForcedSubtitleTrackAsDefault" is a possibility.

From what you're typed, I must assume that these are all subtitled-only titles, because that rule won't work with a lot of dubbed stuff. It's actually becoming MORE common that the first subtitle track is the "full" subtitle track, and the forced subtitles are in the second track, especially when dealing with BD sources.

You can also make use of tools like MKVToolnix to rearrange things after you rip, IF what you got isn't what you expected.

[Tyrindor]

I tried those with no luck. It enables the subtitle track, but I want it flagged as forced so I don't need to always enable the track. To do this I have to type "df" in MKV Flags, but there seems no way to automate/force that other than a 1 by 1 basis? With over 2000 episodes, that would take days.

There is only 1 language (Japanese) and 1 subtitle (English) on these.

[Chetwood]

ignoreForcedSubtitlesFlag="false"

flags forced subs in my MKVs, IF they are flagged on the BD so MakeMKV can recognize it. Also, if the first track is the one you want then you don't necessarily need the forced flag, cause your standalone will play them if it's set to subtitle default = on. You could of course write a batch file for MKVToolnix that would flag all the files in a directory. You could ask in the official Doom9 thread if this works on the header editor as well, so you don't have to remux all the files.

[Tyrindor]

ignoreForcedSubtitlesFlag="false"

flags forced subs in my MKVs, IF they are flagged on the BD so MakeMKV can recognize it.

That does not appear to be the case for me, even if I set the forced flag on a subtitle track with MakeMKV, create it, then rescan that file with MakeMKV, it only shows up as default.

[Woodstock]

A lot depends upon your player software, unfortunately - ones that actually RELY upon either "default" or "forced" flags could be controlled this way, but popular players like VLC, and every hardware player I've tried so far, will play the first subtitle track found, regardless of whether it is flagged or not. Always interesting to see Chinese pop up on the screen, when expecting English....

The simplest method I've found for cases like yours (one language, one subtitle track) is to run them through Handbrake, which I do anyway to compress the video. "--subtitle 1 --subtitle-burn=1" flags burn in the first (in your case only) subtitle track as it's compressing things to MP4.

But, as Chetwood says, there are tools to set the flags for you, if you don't want to go through the compression step, staying with MKV files.

[Chetwood]

A lot depends upon your player software, unfortunately - ones that actually RELY upon either "default" or "forced" flags could be controlled this way, but popular players like VLC, and every hardware player I've tried so far, will play the first subtitle track found, regardless of whether it is flagged or not.

Actually, it hasn't been like this for a while with VLC. With default settings of VLC, it will only play a PGS sub when flagged as default, forced or default and forced. I've been ripping my MKVs with default:no and playing them back shows no subs so I have to turn them on manually.

[Woodstock]

Default settings as in, no preferred language selected? I've been running VLC 2.1.2 for some time, with English selected as the preferred language, and it displays the first English subtitle track, regardless of how it is flagged in the MKV file, PGS or VOB.

Updating to 2.1.3 right now to see if it is changed...

[Chetwood]

Default settings as in installed and never changed any settings.