OCR

Visual Novel OCR & Text Recognition for Video Games. Real-Time Screen OCR Translator. Extract and translate text directly from your screen using Optical Character Recognition (OCR).

The OCR Translator captures text from your game screen and translates it automatically. This is ideal for visual novels and games that don't have clipboard or text extraction support.

Overview

The OCR feature works by capturing a selected area of your screen, recognizing the text using an OCR engine, and then translating it in real time. You can display the translation results in two ways: using Extra Window or Hyper Overlay.

Output Methods

Before you start, it's important to understand the two available output methods so you can choose the one that best fits your setup.

Extra Window

The recognized text and translation are displayed in a separate floating window.

A dedicated window shows both the original recognized text and the translation
The window can be repositioned anywhere on your screen
Best suited for multi-monitor setups or when you prefer a separate panel

Hyper Overlay

The translation is displayed directly over the original text on your game screen.

Translation appears on top of the recognized text, right on the game screen
Provides a clean, immersive reading experience
No additional floating windows to manage
Best suited for single-screen setups and fullscreen games

Quick Start

Step 1 - Install an OCR Engine

Before you can use OCR, you need to install at least one supported OCR engine.

Recommended for most users:

Fast OCR (Pro only) - A lightweight and accurate offline OCR engine. Performs better than Tesseract OCR and Windows OCR.
Google Cloud Vision - Best accuracy for complex backgrounds and colored text. Requires an internet connection and API key.
Nanonets OCR Small (via LM Studio) - A high-performance AI-based engine for offline use. Requires at least 8 GB of VRAM.

For a full list of supported engines and installation instructions, see OCR Engines.

Step 2 - Configure and Start OCR

Select OCR from the module list
Select an OCR Engine and the appropriate Language
Select your preferred Output Method:
- Choose Hyper Overlay for an immersive, in-place translation experience
- Choose Extra Window if you prefer a separate translation panel
Click the Start button

If you are using Windows OCR or Tesseract OCR, make sure to select the correct OCR language for your game.

For Japanese games:

Windows OCR: Japanese
Tesseract OCR: Japanese (jpn.traineddata)

For English games:

Windows OCR: English (United States) or English (United Kingdom)
Tesseract OCR: English (eng.traineddata)

Step 3 - Position the Capture Area

After starting OCR, a transparent Capture Area window will appear on your screen.

Drag and resize the Capture Area to cover the dialogue text box in your game
Make sure it covers only the text area - avoid capturing UI buttons, character sprites, or background elements

For more details, see Interface Overview.

Step 4 - Test the Screen Capture

Before using OCR during gameplay, verify that screen capture is working correctly:

Click Pre-processing in the Side Toolbar
Enable Adjustments and Greyscale
Click Capture to take a test screenshot
Adjust the Threshold value until the text appears clearly in black and white

What to Expect:

If the capture works correctly, the preview will show the image in black and white
In the Pro version, you can preview the capture in the OCR Master window
If screen capture fails or shows an error, refer to the Troubleshooting section

Pre-processing is primarily useful for traditional OCR engines (Tesseract OCR and Windows OCR). If you are using Fast OCR, Google Cloud Vision, or any other modern or AI-based engine, you can skip this step - these engines handle various image conditions automatically.

Tips for Better Results

Position the capture area over the text dialogue box in your game
Use Pre-processing to improve recognition accuracy when using Tesseract OCR or Windows OCR
Adjust the Threshold value for cleaner image capture with traditional engines
Use Post-processing (RegExp) to correct common OCR errors or remove unwanted characters
Try different OCR engines to find the best match for your specific game or visual novel