Quick Start

⚡ Quick Start — Translate in 3 Simple Steps

Follow these simple steps to translate any Ren'Py visual novel in minutes.

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🎯 Step 1 — Select Your Game

Click "Browse" or "EXE" in the Game Selection card:

Button	Action	What to select
📁 Browse Folder	Opens directory picker	The game's root folder (the folder containing game/)
🎮 Browse EXE File	Opens file picker	The game's .exe executable

📂 MyVisualNovel/           ← Select this folder (or the .exe)
   ├── game/
   │   ├── script.rpy       ← RenLocalizer will extract text from here
   │   ├── screens.rpy
   │   └── ...
   └── MyVisualNovel.exe

✅ Compatibility: Works on all Ren'Py games (supports .rpy, .rpyc, and .rpa archives).
🚫 Unsupported Engines: Does not work on Unity, RPG Maker, or Godot.

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🌐 Step 2 — Pick Engine, Language & Mode

In the Configuration area:

1. Translation Engine:
   • Choose Google Translate for free, instant, zero-setup translation (13 rotating mirrors).
   • Or choose OpenAI / DeepSeek / Gemini / Local LLM for high-tier AI translation.
2. Target Language: Select the language you want to play in (e.g. Turkish, Russian, Spanish...).
3. Translation Mode (for AI engines):
   • 🎭 Scene Mode (Recommended): Context-aware theatre screenplay flow. Best for character dialogues and visual novels.
   • 📦 JSON Mode: Strict structured key-value data. Great for menus and UI text.
   • 📄 XML Mode: Resilient tag wrapping for smaller or older models.

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🚀 Step 3 — Start Translation & Play!

Click the glowing "START TRANSLATION" (▶) button.

The real-time progress bar and log console will guide you through the 7-stage pipeline:

[1. VALIDATING] ➔ [2. UNRPA] ➔ [3. GENERATING] ➔ [4. PARSING] ➔ [5. TRANSLATING] ➔ [6. SAVING] ➔ [7. COMPLETED]

🎮 Once Finished:

1. Launch your game normally.
2. Open the in-game Preferences / Settings menu.
3. Switch the Language to your translated language.
4. Enjoy your game! 🎉

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⏱️ Estimated Translation Times

Game Size	Line Count	Google Translate	Local LLM (RTX 3050+)	Cloud API (DeepSeek/GPT)
🟢 Short VN	~5,000 lines	~1–2 minutes	~10–15 minutes	~3–5 minutes
🟡 Medium VN	~15,000 lines	~3–6 minutes	~30–45 minutes	~10–15 minutes
🔴 Long VN	~50,000+ lines	~15–30 minutes	~1.5–3 hours	~30–60 minutes

💡 Background Operation: You can minimize RenLocalizer while it translates. It runs smoothly in the background without freezing.

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❓ Need More Help? Check FAQ or Settings-and-Engines.