Essential Free Apps for Reading VN (Windows)
Essential Free Apps for Reading VN (Windows)
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Publish Date: 20 December 2025 Last update: 28 December 2025
Table of Content
Table of Content
Introduction
Essential free apps
Luna Translator (Text hooker + On-screen translation)
7-Zip (File extractor)
Magpie (Turn windows to Full screen)
Twinkle Tray (Brightness adjustment for external monitor)
Dimmer (Lowering Brightness??)
Note: Please use ctrl + F to go to the topic you are interested
Introduction
Introduction
Wanna have a more enjoyable experience when reading VN. Over the course of the years, I have tried many different apps to improve my quality of life when it comes to reading visual novels. In this article, I will showcase all the free apps and their function that I have found useful.
Wanting to read VN but don’t have localization yet, or you want to learn Japanese by reading VN. Luna Translator has you covered. This app will hook the text from VN and translate it with an online translator such as Deepl. However, if you have a powerful GPU and a sufficient amount of VRAM, you can also use Local LLM (AKA “AI”) to do the translation locally. Wait, there is more, it can also grab the hiragana from kanji too. Below are some examples of how the app can be used, and “here” is the details setup tutorial for Windows. If you are interested in running this app on Linux, please check out “here”.
Example 1: On-screen translation
Example 2: It can replace the original Japanese text with English
Note: Not all games work and may experience crashes
Are you still using the default file extractor on Windows, and tired of extracting your newly bought novel one by one? Introducing 7-Zip, an app that you have probably heard of already. This app allows you to extract multiple zip files at once, which is handy when you have downloaded a load of visual novels and patches. Below is the mini tutorial on how to do it.
Step 1: Highlight all the files that you wish to extract by dragging while holding the right mouse key
Note: You can also select file by clicking on the 1st file, then while holding down the shift key, click on the last file that you wish to extract
Step 2: click on more option 7zip extract all
Step 3: Check the content and click ok
Step 4: Enjoy
Oh, you are playing one of those old VN that have weird scaling when you want to play it in full-screen mode. Don’t worry, Magpie allows you to turn that litter VN window to full screen with the press of a shortcut key. Below is a mini tutorial on how to use it.
Step 1: Set the shortcut that you want to press to trigger the full screen
Step 2: Press the shortcut you have set for Scale, and below are the comparisons before and after.
Before pressing “ctrl + shift + f”
After pressing “ctrl + shift + f”
A tech giant like Microsoft can’t even figure out on building a brightness slider for an external monitor. However, twinkle tray figure it out, and it is simple to use as well. Just install it, and you are ready to go.
Example 1: After installation, the app will automatically pick up the monitor that you have
Example 2: You can also set a shortcut key to do the brightness adjustment
Hey, you just use the Twinkle Tray, but the monitor is still too bright. Try Dimmer.
Conclusion
Conclusion
Hope you found some of these apps useful in your VN reading journey. Happy reading, お兄ちゃん.
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