mDuo13

In association with my resolution to work on my Japanese more actively, I have decided that my next project will be to play Little Busters! in Japanese, using Rikaichan and AGTH to help me out. I started out with Blitzwing's assisted reading setup, but quickly ditched Wakan in favor of a simpler Rikaichan-only setup. I also found it cumbersome to go and open all the different applications and things in the right order, so I wrote a Windows batch file that launches them in order. Here's how it works:

1. Install Little Busters! EX into the following location:
   C:\Program Files\KEY\リトルバスターズ！ＥＸ\RealLive.exe
   This setup can be modified to work on other games, too - but the defaults are set up for LB!EX, 'cause that's what I have. If you installed to a non-default folder, you'll have to modify the Little Busters! EX +AGTH.lnk shortcut file I include below. And of course, your Windows Localization settings should already be set to Japanese.
2. Install Firefox and the Rikaichan extension.
3. Install the Anime Games Text Hooker to the following location:
   C:\AGTH\agth.exe
   Like with LB, if you install it somewhere else, you'll have to modify the shortcut file.
4. Install AutoIt v3. This tool lets you script Windows actions.
5. Download my rikai_lb.zip package and extract it to wherever you want. This file has 4 contents:
   • agth.html - This page acts as a scratchpad between Little Busters and Firefox.
   • lbex.bat - The main file you care about in the zip. Running this basically starts up everything you need to get reading. (You might want to make a shortcut to this and put it on your desktop or something.)
   • Little Busters! EX +AGTH.lnk - This file launches LB with AGTH attached, and is used by the lbex.bat file.
   • rikai_script.au3 - This AutoIt script just repeatedly waits for you to focus Firefox, then copies the clipboard text into Notepad, saves, and refreshes the Firefox window, and waits for you to focus LB again.
6. If you did everything right, you should be able to run lbex.bat and get it all running. Arrange your Firefox, Notepad, AGTH, and LB windows as desired. I also like to bump up the font size in Firefox.
7. Load a save in Little Busters! or start a new game. When it starts displaying dialogue, you need to select the right thread from the AGTH dropdown. For me, it's usually the very last of the ones named RealLive:
   
   The correct text should start displaying in the AGTH window.
8. Now, each time you click through the dialogue in Little Busters! EX, you can switch over to Firefox, which will subsequently refresh with the current line of dialogue.
9. When you're done playing, it's best to close the AutoIt script first. (It shows up as an icon in your system, tray, a blue circle with a white triangleish A.) If you close other stuff first, it might do something weird like pressing Ctrl+A or Ctrl+S on your Firefox window.
10. You're on your own from here. One last thing I'll say is that it helps to have a good grasp of the characters' names, because Rikaichan is not so good at picking up on them (Masato's name comes out as "Shinjin - True Man").