AGTH Usage Tips

General Usage Tips

If AGTH is having problems with text extraction, before worrying about what commands to use or panicking over the need for a /h parameter, there are some very general things you should try first, that will fix many initial text issues with AGTH.

Set in-game text speed to maximum speed. Sometimes if the text speed within the game is not set to maximum, AGTH may repeat characters, or extract text in a "pyramid" style (printing all previous characters over again as it adds a new character). One of the first things you should do at the start of any game is change the text setting in the options to the fastest option available, or instant display if it is available. This corrects many of these issues. Note that occassionally using the fastest speed may cause problems and using a lower speed fixes the issue (this occurs on the game Cloth x Close, for example), but as a rule of thumb, always try the text speed at maximum first. If the text speed is set to the highest setting in the game and you are still getting repeated characters, then you can try to use the /ks command to correct the repeated characters.

Change the font in the game. If no text is being extracted at all, sometimes the issue is the font being used by the game or special text display effects. Try seeing if the game allows you to change the display font, and try different fonts to see if this allows text to be hooked. A good general font that installs with Windows XP's Japanese language support is ‚l‚rƒSƒbƒVƒN. For example, the games Kannagi no Tori and Messiah both initially do not display any text threads, but changing the game font fixes this issue and then the text threads will appear. If the game has a fixed font or changing the font does not allow any text to be displayed, the game may be using internal images to display the characters, and in this case a text hooker like AGTH cannot be used.

Check hidden threads using /x and /v. If no threads are hooking the game text by default, or are hooking incorrect text, such as text with missing characters, then add the /x command and look through the added threads. If still nothing, change it to /x2 and look through the added threads. If still no luck, change the command to /v and look through these added threads. Sometimes text is being extracted to a "hidden" thread that doesn't come up in AGTH by default, and these commands display more threads. A few games where you can find the correct text from hidden threads are Rakuen Yuki and Masquerade. If no text can be found on any hidden threads, then the game may be using internal images to display the text, and in this case a text hooker like AGTH cannot be used. If the game is displaying text with missing characters and no threads with the correct text can be found on any hidden threads, then the game may need a /h parameter to correct the text (please note that the /h command is very complex and usually requires someone with programming knowledge to try to find the correct parameters to use with a /h command to make it work with a given game).

Add the characters' names to the Atlas dictionary. Since there is no way for Atlas to know when something is a proper name, usually it tries to translate each kanji of the person's name, causing overall translation issues whenever someone says a character's name. Before starting a new game, it is a good idea to visit the company site or Getchu page for a game, see if it lists the readings of the characters' names, and then add them to the Atlas dictionary so they will be translated right. You can find a listing of over 1,000 bishoujo games with company sites and Getchu links at my message board on this thread, for all BL games on this thread and for all girls' games on this thread. If you need to look up the hiragana or katakana translations of a character's name, then you can use a kana chart such as Kana @ Wikipedia. You can also find an image of a hiragana chart here and a katakana chart here. For specific instructions on how to add names to Atlas's dictionary, please refer below under the "Using Other Translation Tools with AGTH" section.

Using Other Translation Tools with AGTH

By this point you should have a good idea of how to set up AGTH and how to use several commands with the program. But there are some other usage tips and translation tools that can help with the AGTH experience.

One of the biggest complaints I hear about AGTH is about the "Engrish" translations from Atlas, and if there are any better translator programs available. To be honest, any machine translator is going to have it's flaws: the only way you are going to get a nice, flawless translation is to learn Japanese for yourself.

However, there are some additional things you can do to make more sense of your Atlas translations, if you are willing to put a little extra work into it.

Use Freaka's AltTransText.dll Atlas Mod - Atlas translates the text from AGTH much better when it is processing it in small pieces, rather than as long sentences or a full paragraph. The solution to this used to be to highlight each part of the sentence before a comma from the AGTH window, but Freaka has modified one of the Atlas files to instead treat commas as if they were periods, therefore by default Altas will translate each sentence in small pieces, making the translation much better. You can download Freaka's Atlas mod here.

Use JWPce - JWPce is a freeware Japanese word processor, with an extensive built in dictionary. It can be downloaded from this site. It is a good idea to download this program and have it open while you are playing your Japanese game. Then if you get a sentence that seems a little strange, you can copy the Japanese sentence and paste it into JWPce, and then use its dictionary to look up the words (this is especially handy on kanji, and it even highlights the kanji characters in blue). To look up a word or a kanji on JWPce, highlight it with the mouse, and then hit the F6 key. It'll pop up its dictionary lookup. You can also highlight an individual kanji or kana and right-click on it, and then go down to "Show Info" which may be helpful if you need to identify a hiragana or katakana character, or see the meaning and different readings of an individual kanji character. Here is an example from Bara no Ki ni Bara no Hanasaku:

As you can see, Atlas had some issues trying to translate all the words in the sentence. The sentence can be copied over to JWPce, and then you can highlight different parts and hit the F6 key to bring up the dictionary and see if you can find the correct meaning. If you aren't sure which word Atlas is having trouble with, you can always just copy that word to the clipboard and see if Atlas is mistranslating it.

Here you can see that Atlas doesn't have œß‚«•¨ (meaning "obsession" according to JWPce) in it's dictionary. You can add this word to Atlas's dictionary so that it will translate it correctly later. Instructions on how to do this are given below.

Though it may take a little time and effort, just looking up words can help give sentences more meaning. Also, sometimes a little text editing may be needed, such as when furigana for kanji appear in the game, which gets mixed into the extracted text; you could copy the sentence over to JWPce, clean it up by removing the furigana, and then copy it to place it back on the clipboard for Atlas to translate in these cases. Additionally, you could even copy the sentences from the game over to JWPce and save it as a document if you wanted to save the script and go through the text later.

Another reason why using JWPce is so beneficial is in the case of partially compatible games: games where the text extracts, but requires manually editing to make it work with Atlas, such as removing line breaks or system characters. Many games made with Macromedia require the text to be copied over to JWPce, the line breaks fixed up, and then copying the text again to send it to Atlas to translate.

Add Words to the Atlas Dictionary - Atlas has the ability to add words to its dictionary. If you notice something that isn't translating right, and you look it up in JWPce, you can add that word with the correct meaning, so the next time it will translate it correctly. So in the example shown above, œß‚«•¨ can be added to the dictionary with the English translation of "obsession".

This is also particularly handy with character's names, since it can incorrectly romanize katakana names, and often tries to translate out the meanings of the kanji in kanji names. Here is an example from Bara no Ki ni Bara no Hanasaku:

As you can see, Kaname's name is being translated out as "Necessity". As you can imagine, this can throw off translation any time someone says his name. Therefore, I'd suggest that before you begin any game, you add all the characters' names (and any other proper nouns you can find, such as the name of towns or schools) to Atlas's dictionary. Here is how you can add names to the Atlas dictionary:

1. Visit the company website or Getchu website to see if they post the reading of the character's name. You can find a listing of over 1,000 bishoujo games company sites and Getchu links at my message board on this thread, all BL games on this thread, and all girls' games on this thread. If you need to look up the hiragana translations of a character's name, then you can use a kana chart such as Kana @ Wikipedia. You can also find an image of a hiragana chart here and a katakana chart here. Below is the Getchu page for Bara no Ki ni Bara no Hanasaku, which shows the kana readings of the characters' names in paranthesis next to the kanji reading.

2. Turn on Quick Atlas and copy the Japanese word you want to add to the dictionary so it is on the clipboard. Then at the top of the Quick Atlas window, click the button that has a J and E on it. This will open the main Atlas translator Editor window.

3. Click on the Dictionary option at the top of the Atlas Translator Editor window. and choose "Add Word" (or you can press the F5 key). It will open a Parts of Speech (EJ) window. Paste the Japanese word into the Japanese input, and type the English translation into the English input. Below you can pick the part of speech it is (if you are just adding names, then just leave it on Noun, but if you are adding other words, then change it accordingly). Then hit the "Settings" button at the bottom of the window.

4. This will open up a new window where you can supply even more dictionary settings for your word. For example, since Kaname is a person, I can change under "Meaning" from "Others" to "Human". After you are done making any additional settings, click the "Add JE" button.

You will get a confirmation box when you are finished. Just click on "OK". It will close, and it will be back on the previous window where you make your word settings. Since it is already set to noun with the meaning of "Human", you can now go ahead and paste in the rest of the names and their translations and hit "Add JE" until you've added all the characters' first and last names to the dictionary. When you are finished, close out the Atlas Translation Editor window (you don't need to save the information in the Atlas Translation Editor window, so when it asks just hit "No" and it will close).

You can use this same process to add any words you wish to the user dictionary in Atlas. If you would like to back up your user dictionary, then open the main Atlas window (not the Quick Atlas one), click on Tools, then go down to Management Menu, and from the pop-up menu select "Backup Dictionary".

This will bring up a window where you can highlight the dictionary you wish to backup, and a location for the backup to be placed. Then click the "Run" button to create the backup.

You can use this same process to restore a user dictionary as well, by choosing "Restore Dictionary" from the Management Menu under Tools in the main Atlas window.

Use Other Japanese Language Translation Services, Dictionaries, and Sites - If a line comes out pretty indecipherable and you really want to see if you can get a better understanding of it, get a second opinion: try copying it and pasting it into either Google Translator or Babelfish Translator. You can also try using SysTran Translation Software (which is the same engine used by Babelfish). You don't need to try Excite because it uses the same translation engine as Atlas. You can also try using online dictionaries or Japanese language informative sites. Here is a list of links I've compiled to useful online Japanese dictionaries and helpful grammar, dialect, and slang sites.

Excite Japanese < -- > English Translator - Translates full websites or just blocks of input text from Japanese to English or English to Japanese. The Japanese translation software Atlas uses the same translation programming as Excite.

Google's Translator - A new web translator from Google. It currently has Japanese <--> English Beta, and works pretty well.

Alta Vista's Babelfish Translator - Online translator for tons of languages, including Japanese < -- > English.

POPjisyo.com - A pop-up dictionary for Japanese, Chinese, and Korean. You enter a URL and it will highlight kanji on the page, and then when you mouse over one it will pop-up a dictionary entry. Very helpful with kanji.

Firefox Add-on: East Asian Translator - If you are using Firefox as your browser, you can install this add-on which will allow you to right-click on a site and translate it from Japanese (or other Asian languages) to English.

Firefox Add-on: PeraPera-kun - If you are using Firefox as your browser, you can install this add-on is a modded version of the pop-up Japanese dictionary Rikaichan 0.5.13, which uses the EDICT dictionary file. The dictionary file can be found here.

Jeffrey's Japanese < -- > English Dictionary Server - My favorite quick look-up online Japanese < -- > English dictionary. Enter a Japanese word in romaji and it looks up the meaning.

Spencer's Japanese < -- > English Online Dictionary - An online dictionary that will show results written in Japanese as well as the English meanings. Helpful with kana and kanji.

The Kanji Site - A dictionary that looks up words written in Japanese kana or kanji.

Kana @ Wikipedia - A Wikipedia entry about Japanese kana which includes a chart of the readings of all the hiragana and katakana symbols. You can also find an image of a hiragana chart here and a katakana chart here.

Japanese Language @ About.com - A good site for actually learning some Japanese through online lessons and information regarding Japanese culture and the like.

Japanese Language Grammar Notes - Some Japanese grammar information, such as particles and verb conjugation.

Web Japanese - A site with information on learning Japanese. Has kanji worksheets, a photo dictionary, reading practice, and games for practicing kana.

Japanese Slang and Other Powerful Expressions - Great site of slang words and phrases.

Bad Japanese Words - A site with the meanings of Japanese expletives. Face it, it is stuff like this that typically doesn't make it into a dictionary, and you still need to know what they mean.

Japanese Sex Slang - Very helpful if you commonly play adult Japanese games. *coughs*

Japanese Sound Effects and What they Mean - Awesome site for looking up sound effects.

Kansai-Ben Grammar and Kansai-Ben Word List - In the southern part of Japan in the kansai region (such as Osaka), the people use a different Japanese dialect. This is a great page for Kansai-ben grammar and words in Kansai-ben, since they use many different words than traditional Japanese. It will show the word in Kansai-ben, the word in normal Japanese, and the meaning. This is a great resource, since online translators usually can't handle Kansai-ben well at all.

Troubleshooting

Atlas is showing question marks instead of the Japanese text. How do I fix this?

This is really only a problem with older versions of AGTH; if you are running an older version of AGTH, go to the AGTH website and update the program, and it should fix this problem. If you are still having this problem even on a recent version of AGTH, then do the following: on Windows XP, go into Control Panel > Regional and Language Options, and make sure your Language tab you have east Asian language support installed and on the Advanced tab the language for non-unicode programs is set to Japanese. Then go back to the Languages tab, click Details, and on the Settings tab under Preferences click the Language Bar button. Checkmark "Show Language Bar on the Desktop". With your AGTH window open, make it the active window, and change the language bar from EN to JP (you may also need to activate the Atlas window and change it from EN to JP as well). It should now send texts fine.

Atlas keeps stealing the focus from the game window. How do I fix this?

If Atlas is stealing the focus from the game window, then you can try to edit the Windows registry to correct the problem. Click on the Start button in the corner of the screen, then Run, and in the box type "regedit". The Registry Editor will be opened. Browse to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop, and look for the Key ForegroundLockTimeout and set it to a high value (one user suggests something along the lines of "30d40"), then reboot Windows so that the changes can take effect. Also, Freaka's Atlas mod removes focus stealing from Atlas Ver. 14, and can be downloaded here.

AGTH used to run with my games fine, but now when I click on a shortcut, AGTH loads but the game does not load. How do I fix this?

I ran into this situation before. My solution was to go into the Windows Registry Editor and delete all instances of "AGTH" found in the registry -- after this, all my old shortcuts worked fine, loading both AGTH and the game. To do this, go down to Start and click on Run, and in the box type "regedit". In the Windows Registry Editor, go up to Edit and then down to Find. Type "AGTH" in the box and hit "Find Next". When it stops on something that matches AGTH, hit the Delete key to delete it. Hitting F3 will go to the next search result. When all instances are removed from the registry, it should start working again.

From what I can tell, this problem occured when I tried running a game in compatibility mode with AGTH and for some reason or another compatibility mode didn't work, or the game froze up and I had to force it closed through Task Manager.

I can't get AGTH to load with my game at all. What is causing this issue?

This may be due to your antivirus software. Some antivirus software may block AGTH, and even adding AGTH to their exeption list or turning off the protection may not help. It is also possible that they may misreport AGTH as a potential virus due to its nature of interfering with other processes.

I can't get my game to play in a window, so it covers the screen and I can't see AGTH or the Atlas translation. Is there a way to fix this?

If you are having problems with games that will only play in full-screen and give you no option to play in a window, so you can't run Atlas next to your game window, then you can try using DirectX Windower, which can be downloaded here. Here is an example of how to use it, using the game Angelique Special:

1. Open D3DWindower.exe

2. Click the " + " button and select the game .exe for the game you want to play in a window. (Note: The actual game .exe, not your shortcut .exe you use for AGTH)

3. Right-click the game .exe that is now showing in the DirectX Windower, and pick the first option on the menu (has an (O) ).

4. On this window, on the first tab, click the button next to the input bar at the bottom and browse to D3dHook.dll in your DirectX Windower program directory.

5. Now click on the third tab, and put a checkmark next to "Get Active Window". Hit OK.

6. Highlight your game .exe in the DirectX Windower program, and hit the "Play" button at the top. (Note: You won't see it do anything after turning it on). After hitting the Play button, it will be grayed out and the "Stop" button will be lit up.

7. Open your game shortcut .exe that you use to run the game with AGTH.

8. Now your game will be playing in a window! As you can see in the below image, now Angelique Special, a Windows 95 game that would only run in full-screen mode, is now playing in a window, where I can easily see my Atlas translation window as well. No more Alt+Esc constantly to look at the translation!

9. Make sure to keep DirectX Windower open while you play your game. When you are finished, hit the "Stop" button and shut the program off.


Boys' Love Games Headquarters Complete Idiot's Guide to Japanese Gaming © March 2009
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