Comparison

RuneTranslate vs MTool

MTool and RuneTranslate put the translation in two different places. MTool leaves the game's data untouched and translates it in memory as it runs — you drag Game.exe onto MTool, it translates the text up front, then starts the game with a version.dll beside the executable so the Japanese is swapped out live. RuneTranslate reads the game's own file formats, writes the translated strings back, and saves a translated copy of the game to a folder you choose, which then runs on its own with nothing else open. Everything else on this page follows from that one difference.

Made by: AdventCirno
Licence: Proprietary
Runs on: Windows 7+, Android 11+

The short answer

If you want to be playing in five minutes, on an RPG Maker or Wolf RPG title, with no account and no API key, MTool is hard to beat — and it gives you cheats and speed-up in the same window. If you want a translated copy of the game that keeps working after the tool is closed, or your game runs on Unity, Unreal, Godot or another engine outside MTool's list, RuneTranslate is built for that job. Neither one is a strict superset of the other: MTool reaches several RPG Maker family engines RuneTranslate does not, and RuneTranslate cannot match a live in-memory hook for iteration speed. Cost is close enough that it should not decide it for you — both have a genuinely usable free tier and paid tiers starting at $3 a month.

When MTool is the better choice

Pick MTool when the priority is playing tonight. The free public build translates a whole game through its Bing engine with no account, no API key and no token bill, which is a lower barrier than any tool that asks you to sign in or paste a key first. It is also the safer option when a game's archives worry you: MTool never rewrites the game's own data, so a bad run cannot damage an archive or an encrypted asset, and undoing it means deleting one DLL. Its edit loop is genuinely better than any extract-and-rebuild pipeline — change a term and it appears in the game you are already playing, with no restart and no reloaded save. It reaches engines RuneTranslate does not, including SMILE GAME BUILDER, Visual Novel Maker, ChoiceScript, Pixel Game Maker MV, the MKXP-Z and RGU runtimes and RPG Maker 2000/2003 game text, and it is the only one of the two with an Android distribution. And if you want item, gold and stat editing, movement speed and whole-game speed-up alongside the translation, that is a real part of the product rather than a side feature.

When RuneTranslate fits better

Choose RuneTranslate when the translated game needs to stand on its own — the exported build is an ordinary game folder you keep and play, with no launcher in front of it and no membership to keep current. It matters most when the engine is outside MTool's family: Unity on Mono or IL2CPP, Unreal Engine 4 and 5, Godot, NScripter, Artemis, YU-RIS, AliceSoft System, LiveMaker, Electron and Cocos Creator shells, and Gettext .po catalogs are all in scope here and none of them are on MTool's supported list. It also matters when you care about who does the translating: nine providers, three of which need no key at all, plus your own DeepL, OpenAI, Anthropic, DeepSeek or OpenAI-compatible key, or a local model through Ollama or LM Studio for a job that never leaves your PC. Because extraction works from the game's data structures, each line arrives whole with its control codes and variables masked, and cloud translation memory, a glossary, provider routing and an AI second-pass refiner keep terminology steady across a long game. The Image Studio is the other reason people land here — Japanese painted into a title screen or a menu button is not text a memory hook can reach, and it can be detected, inpainted, typeset and baked back into the artwork.

Side by side

RuneTranslate 0.53.1 against the current public MTool build. Details verified in August 2026; both projects ship often, so check each project's own site for anything you are about to rely on.

What you are comparing	RuneTranslate	MTool
How the translation reaches the game	Reads the game's own data files, writes the translated strings back, and saves a translated copy to a folder you choose.	Starts the game with a version.dll beside the executable and substitutes the text in memory while the game runs.
After the translation run	The exported copy is an ordinary game folder — start it and play, with nothing else running.	The game has to be launched through MTool every time for the translation to appear.
Your original game folder	Read during extraction; the translated build is written elsewhere, so the install you started from stays as it was.	Never rewritten. One DLL is added beside the executable, so a failed run cannot damage an archive and removing the file undoes everything.
Engines covered	17 engines and formats: the RPG Maker family (MV/MZ, XP/VX/VX Ace), Ren'Py, Kirikiri/KAG, Wolf RPG 2.x and 3.x, TyranoBuilder, Bakin, SRPG Studio, Unity, Unreal 4/5, Godot, NScripter, Artemis, YU-RIS, AliceSoft, LiveMaker, Electron and Cocos shells, .po catalogs.	RPG Maker 2000 through MZ including the MKXP-Z and RGU runtimes, Wolf RPG, Kirikiri 2/Z, Ren'Py, TyranoBuilder, SRPG Studio, Bakin, SMILE GAME BUILDER, Visual Novel Maker, ChoiceScript, Pixel Game Maker MV. Several of those are outside RuneTranslate's list.
Who does the translating	Nine providers you pick per project: Google and two DeepL free endpoints with no key, DeepL API, OpenAI, Claude, DeepSeek, any OpenAI-compatible endpoint, or a local model.	MTool's own hosted engines, gated by membership level — Bing on the free build; Sugoi JP→EN, Caiyun and DeepSeek from $3/mo; Baidu, Youdao and ChatGPT 3.5 from $7/mo.
Your own API key or a local model	Yes. Keys stay on your PC under Windows encryption, and Ollama or LM Studio runs the whole job with no cloud call.	No documented way to supply your own key, endpoint or local model. Translation runs on MTool's servers; when a membership lapses, existing translations keep working but new runs cannot be made.
Target languages	35 target languages, and the app's own interface in 18.	Depends on the engine chosen. Several of the stronger ones (Caiyun, Baidu, Youdao) target Chinese; for English the practical picks are Bing on the free build or Sugoi at $3/mo.
What the translator receives	Whole strings as the engine stores them, with control codes, tags and variables masked so a provider cannot drop them.	Text is exported split into clauses and fragments. The LinguaGacha project documents that this hurts translation quality and ships an MTool Optimizer feature to reassemble the fragments first.
Fixing a bad line	Edit it in the project, then re-export to see it in the game.	Applies live — no restart, no reloading a save, no rebuild.
Japanese drawn into the artwork	Image Studio detects it, inpaints the plate, typesets the replacement and bakes it back into the image. Free accounts can open and read but not edit.	Not documented. A memory hook substitutes text strings, not the pixels of a title screen or a menu button.
Cheats and in-game extras	Cheat Mode for RPG Maker and Ren'Py, plus a save editor.	Item, gold and stat editing, movement speed and whole-game speed-up across what it supports — a larger part of the product than it is here.
Handing the text to another tool	Developer tier exports and re-imports CSV, JSON, PO and XLIFF.	ManualTransFile.json, which Translator++, LinguaGacha and others already read and write — the more widely supported interchange of the two.
Platforms	Windows. Linux and Steam Deck work under Wine or Proton.	Windows 7+ and Android 11+, with per-engine plugin APKs and an early-preview Winlator component for running Windows games on Android.
Account and price	A Patreon sign-in is required even on the free tier, which is a speed throttle rather than a feature lock. Supporter $3/mo, Pro $5/mo, Developer quoted.	No account for the free public build. Patreon levels at $3, $7 and $15 a month; MTool's own page says level 3 is basically the same as level 2.

RuneTranslate is not affiliated with MTool or its author. MTool's engine list, membership levels, platforms and build date were verified in August 2026 against the project's own site, release page and subscription page; RuneTranslate details describe version 0.53.1.

Questions people actually ask

Does a game translated with MTool still need MTool to play?

Yes. MTool leaves the game's own data files alone and injects the translation while the game runs, so the game has to be started through MTool each time for the translated text to appear. That is stated by MTool's own tutorial flow and independently by the LinguaGacha wiki. RuneTranslate takes the other route: it writes the translation into a copy of the game's files, and that copy is what you keep and play afterwards.

Does MTool support Unity, Unreal or Godot games?

No. MTool's supported list is the RPG Maker and doujin visual novel family — RPG Maker 2000 through MZ, Wolf RPG, Kirikiri 2/Z, Ren'Py, TyranoBuilder, SRPG Studio, Bakin, SMILE GAME BUILDER, Visual Novel Maker, ChoiceScript and Pixel Game Maker MV. Unity, Unreal Engine, Godot, NScripter, Artemis, YU-RIS, AliceSoft, LiveMaker and custom Electron shells are not on it. RuneTranslate covers those, though its Unity and Unreal support reaches externalized text rather than every string in a game.

Can I use my own OpenAI or DeepSeek key with MTool?

There is no documented way to supply your own API key, base URL or local model to MTool — its engines are hosted by MTool and unlocked by membership level, and new translations stop working when a membership lapses. The practical workaround is MTool's own export: write out ManualTransFile.json, translate it with whatever you like, and load it back. RuneTranslate is the opposite arrangement, with nine providers, your own keys, and a local model through Ollama or LM Studio.

Why does my antivirus flag MTool?

MTool reaches into the game process by placing a version.dll beside the executable and letting Windows load it, which is a pattern antivirus engines watch for. Kaspersky flagged that file as Trojan.Win64.DLLhijack.gen in a January 2026 false-positive thread, and MTool is also known to hang when other hooking software such as Windhawk is active, so users often add an exclusion. RuneTranslate never touches the running game process, though its installer is not code-signed, so Windows SmartScreen may warn on first launch.

Is RuneTranslate free, and do I need an account?

RuneTranslate has a free tier, but it does require a Patreon sign-in — there is no anonymous use, which is a real disadvantage against MTool's no-account free build. What the free tier gives you is every engine, every provider, the whole editor, the save editor and the AI refiner, throttled to roughly half speed on AI providers with one project open at a time. Supporter is $3 a month for full speed, translation memory, the glossary and the batch queue; Pro is $5.

Which one gives better translation quality?

That depends more on the engine behind each tool than on the tool itself, but there is one structural difference worth knowing: MTool exports text split into clauses and fragments, and the LinguaGacha project documents that translating those fragments produces worse results, which is why it ships a feature to reassemble them. RuneTranslate sends whole strings with control codes masked, and adds translation memory, a glossary and an optional AI second-pass refiner for consistency across a long game. On the free tiers, MTool's Bing engine and RuneTranslate's free Google and DeepL endpoints are in the same class.

Try it on the game you are stuck on

The free tier unlocks every engine, every provider and the whole editor — it just runs at about half speed on AI providers and keeps one project open at a time. Point it at your game, see how much text it finds, and export a copy you keep. If MTool already handles your game and you like playing through it, there is no reason to switch.

Download for Windows Get Supporter ($3/mo)