How to Use Textractor

This guide walks you through setting up Textractor and connecting it to a browser-based UI using the WebSocket extension. Ideal for reading and mining from Japanese visual novels using Yomitan in your browser.

Step 1: Set Up Textractor

1. Download Textractor from Chenx221's GitHub. (On the releases tab, you will find a list of files that go texthook_xxxxxx.7z. Get the newest one listed as "Textractor (仅英语)")
2. Extract the .zip file.
3. You will see two folders: x86 and x64. These correspond to 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Textractor.
   • Use x86 for most games.
   • Use x64 for modern visual novels that don't work with the x86 version.

Step 2: Install the WebSocket Extension

Download the WebSocket extension from the Releases page of the kuroahna/textractor_websocket repository.

File Setup

1. Unzip the release package.
2. Copy textractor_websocket_x86.dll into your Textractor/x86 folder.
3. Copy textractor_websocket_x64.dll into your Textractor/x64 folder.

Add Extensions to Textractor

For x86:

1. Open Textractor/x86/Textractor.exe
2. Click the Extensions button (left sidebar).
3. Right-click in the Extensions window → Add Extension
4. In the file picker:
   • Change the file type to *.dll
   • Select textractor_websocket_x86.dll

For x64:

1. Open Textractor/x64/Textractor.exe
2. Repeat the same steps above using textractor_websocket_x64.dll

Tip: You can remove any unhelpful extensions (like extra new lines) from your Extensions list. My settings are provided below for reference.

Step 3: Hook the Visual Novel

1. Launch your visual novel and get to a point where you can start loading text.

2. Open the matching version of Textractor (x86 or x64) based on your game.

3. In Textractor, click "Attach to game" in the top-left to open the process list.

4. Select the visual novel’s process.

   🛠 If the game doesn’t appear in the list, try running Textractor as Administrator.

5. Advance the VN by a few lines to generate text for Textractor to capture.

6. Use the top dropdown in Textractor (where it says "Console") and press up and down to cycle through the hooks.

7. Find a hook that accurately reflects the game's text.

If textractor can't automatically find a working hook, you can try searching manually by selecting "Search for hooks" or checking the discussion tab of the game's VNDB page to see if anyone has listed a working hook code.

How to View Text in the Browser

1. Open Renji-XD's Texthooker UI or Kizuna Texthooker in your browser. If the WebSocket is working, the colored icon in the top right should be green. If it's still red, trying clicking on it to reconnect.

2. Click the Start button in the top-right corner. (Or enable "Allow new Line during Pause" and "Autostart Timer by Line during Pause" in the settings.)

3. Once Textractor is hooked and sending text, the UI will display it in real time.

4. The WebSocket server will be automatically started by Textractor at:

   ws://localhost:6677

This allows the texthooker UI to receive text directly from Textractor using the WebSocket extension.

Running Texthooker Page Locally for Mobile Access

Want to look up words on your phone or tablet while playing VNs fullscreen on your PC? By hosting the texthooker UI locally and using Tailscale, you can access the texthooker page from any device on your network while still receiving text via WebSocket. This lets you read and look up words without alt-tabbing or using tools like Magpie.

1. Build the Texthooker UI

First, install Node.js if you don't have it already.

Then clone or download Renji-XD's Texthooker UI from GitHub and build it:

npm install --global pnpm
pnpm install
pnpm run build

This creates a docs folder with the built application.

2. Run a Local Web Server

Create a file called start-server.bat in the texthooker-ui folder with the following contents:

@echo off
cd docs
python -m http.server 8080
pause

Double-click the batch file to start the server. The texthooker UI will be available at http://localhost:8080.

3. Set Up Tailscale (Recommended)

Tailscale creates a secure private network between your devices, allowing your phone to connect to your PC even when not on the same Wi-Fi.

1. Install Tailscale on your PC and mobile device
2. Sign in with the same account on both devices
3. Note your PC's Tailscale IP address (visible in the admin console)

4. Access from Mobile

1. On your mobile device, open http://[your-ip]:8080 in your browser (where [your-ip] is the IP of your PC running Textractor)
2. In the texthooker UI settings, change the WebSocket URL to ws://[your-ip]:6677
3. Click connect. You should now receive text from Textractor on your phone

Recommended Mobile Browsers

These browsers support Chrome extensions like Yomitan for dictionary lookups:

• Edge (Android/iOS) - Recommended
• Kiwi Browser (Android) - No longer maintained

Tip: This setup lets you keep your game running fullscreen while looking up words on a separate device. No need for windowed mode or screen upscalers.

Useful Regex Patterns

Below are common regular expressions you can use to clean up text captured by Textractor. These patterns can be used with the Textractor "Regex Filter" and "Regex Replacer" extensions, texthooking pages, or any text processing tool that supports regex.

1. Remove bracketed speaker tags

Example: 【太郎】こんにちは → こんにちは

^\s*[【\[][^】\]]+[】\]]\s*

2. Remove everything before a name tag

Example: garbage【太郎】こんにちは → 【太郎】こんにちは

^.*?(?=[【\[][^】\]]+[】\]])

3. Strip ruby/furigana

Example: 今日《きょう》です → 今日です

《[^》]+》

Keep base text with leading pipe: ｜今日《きょう》 → 今日

｜([^《]+)《[^》]+》

Replace with: $1

4. Remove timestamps

Example: [00:01:23]こんにちは → こんにちは

^\s*[\[\(]?\d{1,2}:\d{2}(?::\d{2})?[\]\)]?\s*

5. Normalize spaces and newlines

Example: こんにちは　世界 → こんにちは 世界

\u3000

Replace with: (single space)

Collapse repeated newlines:

\n{2,}

Replace with: \n\n

6. Remove control characters

Example: Remove invisible control characters

[\x00-\x1F\x7F]+

Additional Tips

• Keep both x86 and x64 folders ready — the version depends on the VN.
• Some games may not hook correctly if you set Textractor to automatically use a saved hook. Try restarting the game or clicking "Forget game".
• If you don't see text in the UI, check that:
  • The WebSocket extension is installed correctly.
  • Textractor is actually hooked to the VN.
  • You're using a supported browser (Chrome, Firefox, Brave etc.).
  • Your firewall settings and browser extensions aren't blocking the WebSocket connection.