Machine Translation Guide

Update Feb 20, 2015:
USE VNR FOR EVERYTHING. this guide is outdated, VNR has made some pretty big steps into improving jp to eng machine translation and the changes have been really big. Disregard everything in this guide about chiitrans lite, shit sucks now, VNR has updates like almost every day improving machine translation. Update this guide when I can. But basically use VNR for everything, the best translators still are
Atlas with errzotl's dictionary + TAH script > LEC offline translator (torrent power translator 15) + TAH script >>> honyaku/infoseek/excite (all similar it seems like variations of LEC) = google >>>>>>>> bing

I'll update the guide when I'm not lazy.
June 8th-2015: holy shit im lazy.

Intro:
This is my own personal setup, I don't consider myself an expert on this, for all I know I might be doing it wrong. But it works for me as well as a few anons. Also before following this know you can just use VNR by itself since it contains everything in a neat package, these extra steps and programs are just for getting a better and more coherent machine translation, also autism.

General Settings and setup - http://a.pomf.se/sspvsp.PNG
How it looks like in the end - http://a.pomf.se/zyzodq.PNG

The Programs I use:
VNR (Visual Novel Reader):
http://sakuradite.com/

Chiitrans Lite:
https://alexbft.github.io/chiitrans/

Atlas V14:
Download and Installation Guide (Only follow the "Installing Atlas" section):
https://amaenboda.wordpress.com/2012/03/26/an-aero-gamers-guide-to-using-atlas/3/#Installing%20ATLAS
mirror of the link above - http://pastebin.com/vWpmFGK9
Alternative download (Just in case, also this torrent is a bit outdated since I believe its using an older update so use the one above if you can):
http://www.nyaa.se/?page=view&tid=89984

Errzotl's Atlas Dictionary:
http://www.hongfire.com/forum/showthread.php/94395-Translation-Aggregator-v0-4-9?p=2269439#post2269439
I only download the "Atlas dictionary 2014 rev 01", Instructions on how to install are inside. Don't need to download the TAH scripts since both VNR and Chiitrans Lite already come with them. Errzotl's work greatly improves the machine translation of Atlas.

Info:
VNR i use for text hooking (capturing the text/dialogue) and Chiitrans lite for translating. I do this because even though VNR can translate as well, I get better translations with Chiitrans lite. On the other hand, Chiitrans Lite can also text hook but the text hooking is currently better in VNR since it can text hook a wider variety of VNs and the like (for example Tinklebell's Rondo Duo).

I'm not entirely sure as to why VNR's Atlas translation and Chiitran Lite's Atlas translation are different despite using the same translator. I'm guessing it's because VNR doesnt use the proper Atlas Environment while Chiitrans does. It is for this reason that I use Chiitrans for translating, VNR's atlas translation will sometimes give you romaji and gibberish as if it doesnt know the word that it's translating, also I've found in VNR's Atlas with VNs like Rondo Duo you get messed up text and symbols in weird places.

Guide
1. Install everything listed on The Programs I use, follow the instructions there. don't mess up installing Atlas and merging the dictionary because that's possible and you might have to reinstall everything again.

2. http://a.pomf.se/yhkfsw.JPG
Start VNR then Chiitrans. Then on Chiitrans Lite options enable errzotl's TAH script. In Chiitrans you do it by going to Options > Translation > Additional Translators and adding "Atlas with TAHelper Replacements", also make sure the Atlas Environment that is used matches the one where you installed Errzotl's dictionary (usually in general).
(Optional: if using VNR to translate -which I don't but I still have this enabled just because- In VNR you do it by going to your preferences > translation > translators > check Atlas offline machine translation under TAH script for Jap-Eng machine translators.)

3. Run your game, in your in-game settings make sure the text/dialogue speed is set at max (usually its obvious which setting it is. if not, just test settings in game till you get it). VNR should automatically recognize your game. If not add it using VNR's Game Wizard (the 2nd blue button in the spring board), select the process of the game running and if VNR doesnt automatically grab the settings that are needed, you will have to figure out which text thread is the one that has the dialogue on the screen. In the actual VN make sure you're at a part where text/dialogue is shown, skip to next line so VNR attempts to find the dialogue. The default Text encoding (SHIFT-JIS) works for more VNs but for Tinklebell's works that use flash you will have to use UTF-16. If for whatever reason you still can't find the correct text thread, make sure you update your VNR (right click tray icon > check for updates).

4. http://a.pomf.se/sspvsp.PNG In VNR
As shown in the pic, VNR gives you a small menu to the left of your game. If you hover your mouse over the left side, under Option, make sure you enable "Text to clipboard" (I disable Game Text and Machine Translation too since I use Chiitrans). On Chiitrans Lite Options enable "Capture Text from clipboard".

5. On Chiitran Lite's main window click on "TL Window" (Do NOT click on Connect or select your exe/window this is for text hooking in chiitrans which you are already doing with VNR). This is the transparent window that has the actual translation. it will translate whatever japanese text is in your clipboard. You can change the transparency at the top left of this window (click the square) as well as the text size. This is it.

*********The order i open my programs is always VNR first. VNR > Game > Chiitrans. VNR > Chiitrans > Game also works. Make sure no other instances of chiitrans is running on your task manager before opening anything. If any of the programs start failing, restart/update.*********

Notes:
http://a.pomf.se/jjtmna.JPG
If you want romaji select latin under the chiitrans lite parsing options and on Translation Options select "Display Both".
For an even better translation add names in chiitrans lite, this is because sometimes you will get a literal translation of the word instead of it being recognized as a name. you can highlight the Japanese text on the TL window and right click > add name. If you have the japanese text but don't know what the name in English is supposed to be you can use http://www.edrdg.org/cgi-bin/wwwjdic/wwwjdic and choose "Japanese Names" for the dictionary.

Other Translators I like are Google and Honyaku, they're online so you get a small delay with them but if you don't have Atlas these work. Though Atlas surpasses them both 90% of the time (Though Honyaku ain't too shabby when it comes to phrasing). I use these 2 along Atlas just in case the Atlas translation is difficult to understand.

Hopefully you dont run into it, but I personally have problems with chiitrans lite. Sometimes it wont load properly as i keep trying to open and multiple instances of chiitrans' exe will be running but no UI that shows up. If you get this problem just keep trying to open till it finally does, maybe right click > "run as administrator" or "troubleshoot compatibility" help, not sure.

VNR is a cool program but also coded weirdly and it has its handful of bugs and hangups. Nevertheless, check out the guides on how to use it, Some games are so popular that a few people translate certain lines of untranslated VNs like a community project. you can see these under the shared dictionary of VNR.

Always have VNR up to date, for Tinklebell's Rondo Duo for example they released an update like a few days after it came out so the game would be read properly.

As good as Atlas is, machine translation is still pretty ass, the examples here are just some of the good ones. I wouldn't recommend it for complicated VNs though if you wanna read a simple nukige, dont care for a VN as much, or just can't wait for a translation, go for it. I would still wait for a translation patch if one is being worked on though.