Eroges are made with different game engines. You may face some problems when making games work. So before playing an eroge, I suggest you to read the instructions below. If you are a experienced player, just skip the guide and play your games.
Requirements
1. (Only PC 64bit version updated if possible)
2. (Used to extract a RAR, ZIP or other archive file)
3. (Needed when missing a MSVC runtime dll)
RPG Games
Some games are made with RPG Maker. You may need install first and can run the game properly.
Flash Games
You need a when running Flash Games. Open flash player and load the swf file then play.
RenPy Games
RenPy Games are almost visual novels and also easy to run. Just extract and run game .exe on PC. Just extract and run game .sh on Linux. Just extract and run game .app on Mac only if you find it in the game directory.
HTML5 Games
Unlike Flash Games, HTML5 Games work on a browser. Choose your favorite browser, open the html file and play it. If the game can't work, try another browser to run, such as Chrome or Firefox.
Run English Games
Most English Games are very easy to run. Just extract and run for almost all English Games.
Run Japanese Games
Most Japanese Games should be running with Japanese Locale. So there are two options for you to choose.
1. On Win7, just click Start -> Control Panel -> Clock, Language and Region -> Region and Language -> Administrative Tab -> Change System Locale and Select Japanese. Restart and all errors and crashes are gone.
2. Use or a similar software. After installation, right-click a Japanese Game .exe or shortcut. Select Run with Japanese Locale or Run with Japanese Locale as Administrator to run it with Japanese Locale.
Cannot find Japanese Language in drop-down list? Install to add Japanese Language to Windows System.
Translate Japanese Games
Tools for translation are not perfect. If you don't want to wait the english version, you can use to extract and translate while running visual novels. It is an old all-in-one solution. Probably Visual Novel Reader has been dead for a long time, I would recommend you not to use it anymore. Apart from Visual Novel Reader, you can use to extract text and translate text with a translation extension or a translation aggregator while running video games. It is a new open-source solution. Highly recommend you to use it.
Play Eroges on Linux, Mac and Mobile
Sorry, most eroges have only PC version. But Flash Games, RenPy Games and HTML5 Games are cross-platform games, so if the game is made with Flash, RenPy or HTML5, you may run it on Linux, Mac and even Mobile. Many Patreon Games are made with these game engines. You can try them on Linux, Mac or Mobile, but it's not recommended, because PC is obviously the best platform to play the best eroge.