Repolode
Submit
HIllya51

HIllya51/LunaTranslator

A visual novel translator that extracts game text via hooks or OCR and translates it with many engines, including LLMs and offline models.

Open-source alternative to:Google Translate

View on GitHubWebsite
Stars
14,041
Forks
1,176
Open issues
42
Last commit
14 hours ago

What is it?

LunaTranslator is a Windows translator built for visual novels. Its main approach is hooking into a game process to pull out the original dialogue text directly, which avoids screenshot-based recognition errors. For games where hooking does not work, it falls back to OCR on any screen region, using a built-in OCR model plus several online and offline OCR engines.

Once text is captured, it can be sent to a wide range of translation backends, including large language model services and offline translation models. The project also supports text-to-speech output from many online and offline engines, and for NS, PSP, PSV and PS2 games it can read text through console emulators. Some games can also get translations embedded directly into the game window.

For language learners, it offers Japanese word segmentation with furigana, AnkiConnect integration and support for the Yomitan browser extension. Speech recognition is available on Windows 10 and 11 through the built-in Windows recognizer.

Key features

  • 01Extracts game text directly by hooking into the game process.
  • 02Falls back to OCR on any screen area, with a built-in model and multiple online and offline engines.
  • 03Supports many translation backends, including large language models and offline translators.
  • 04Reads text from NS, PSP, PSV and PS2 games through emulator hooks.
  • 05Offers Japanese segmentation with furigana, AnkiConnect and Yomitan support.
  • 06Provides text-to-speech through many online and offline engines.

Use cases

  • Playing Japanese visual novels with real-time translated subtitles.
  • Translating text in games that cannot be hooked by using OCR on the screen.
  • Studying Japanese vocabulary by combining segmentation, furigana and Anki flashcards.
  • Listening to translated dialogue through text-to-speech while playing.

Quick start

  1. 1

    Download the software from the official docs download page

Things to know

  • Licensed under GPLv3, a copyleft license that requires derivative works to remain open source.
  • Windows speech recognition works only on Windows 10 and Windows 11.

In collections

PDF, OCR & document toolsAI video & audio tools

Topics

#visual-novel#translation#ocr#galgame#text-to-speech#japanese#reverse-engineering#translator

FAQ

What is LunaTranslator?
A visual novel translator that extracts game text via hooks or OCR and translates it with many engines, including LLMs and offline models. LunaTranslator is a Windows translator built for visual novels. Its main approach is hooking into a game process to pull out the original dialogue text directly, which avoids screenshot-based recognition errors. For games where hooking does not work, it falls back to OCR on any screen region, using a built-in OCR model plus several online and offline OCR engines.
Is LunaTranslator free to use? What license does it have?
LunaTranslator is open source under the GPL-3.0 license. Check the license terms before using it in commercial products.
Is LunaTranslator still maintained?
Actively maintained. The last commit to LunaTranslator was on Nov 7, 2026.
What can I use LunaTranslator for?
Playing Japanese visual novels with real-time translated subtitles. Translating text in games that cannot be hooked by using OCR on the screen. Studying Japanese vocabulary by combining segmentation, furigana and Anki flashcards. Listening to translated dialogue through text-to-speech while playing.
How do I install LunaTranslator?
Download the software from the official docs download page
Where can I get LunaTranslator?
The source code and installation instructions are on GitHub: https://github.com/HIllya51/LunaTranslator

Summary generated by AI from the project's README. GitHub stats refresh daily.

Related projects