From d7b7b491b56d34e91c4a3c456db426ff13045fea Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: LemonNexus <nexus@lemonlink.eu>
Date: Sat, 14 Feb 2026 20:27:31 +0000
Subject: [PATCH] docs: Add OCR requirements section to README and improve
 error handling

Added to README.md:
- New 'OCR Requirements (Optional)' section after Installation
- Instructions for installing EasyOCR (recommended), Tesseract, or PaddleOCR
- Note that Game Reader works without OCR, just shows 'not available'

Improved Game Reader Test plugin:
- Better error message when Tesseract binary is not installed
- Provides download link and installation steps in error message
- Updated Calibration tab to check if Tesseract binary is available
- Shows recommendation to use EasyOCR in backend status

This helps users understand why they get 'tesseract is not installed'
errors and how to fix them.
---
 README.md                          | 27 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 plugins/game_reader_test/plugin.py | 27 ++++++++++++++++++++++-----
 2 files changed, 49 insertions(+), 5 deletions(-)

diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index d96fd4e..cdc845e 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -70,6 +70,33 @@ python -m core.main
 
 ---
 
+## 📷 OCR Requirements (Optional)
+
+For **Game Reader** and **Skill Scanner** plugins that use OCR (text recognition), you need to install one of these OCR engines:
+
+### Option 1: EasyOCR (Recommended - Auto-installs)
+```bash
+pip install easyocr
+```
+EasyOCR downloads models automatically on first use. No additional setup needed.
+
+### Option 2: Tesseract (Alternative)
+1. Download Tesseract installer: https://github.com/UB-Mannheim/tesseract/wiki
+2. Install to `C:\Program Files\Tesseract-OCR\`
+3. Add to PATH or install Python wrapper:
+```bash
+pip install pytesseract
+```
+
+### Option 3: PaddleOCR (Advanced)
+```bash
+pip install paddleocr
+```
+
+> ℹ️ **Note:** If no OCR engine is installed, the Game Reader plugin will show "OCR not available" but the rest of EU-Utility will work fine.
+
+---
+
 ## 🏁 Quick Start
 
 ### First Launch
diff --git a/plugins/game_reader_test/plugin.py b/plugins/game_reader_test/plugin.py
index a4edee2..b6bc115 100644
--- a/plugins/game_reader_test/plugin.py
+++ b/plugins/game_reader_test/plugin.py
@@ -606,6 +606,16 @@ class GameReaderTestPlugin(BasePlugin):
                         backend_used = "tesseract"
                     except Exception as e:
                         if backend == 'tesseract':
+                            error_msg = str(e)
+                            if "tesseract is not installed" in error_msg.lower() or "not in your path" in error_msg.lower():
+                                raise Exception(
+                                    "Tesseract is not installed.\n\n"
+                                    "To use Tesseract OCR:\n"
+                                    "1. Download from: https://github.com/UB-Mannheim/tesseract/wiki\n"
+                                    "2. Install to C:\\Program Files\\Tesseract-OCR\\\n"
+                                    "3. Add to PATH or restart EU-Utility\n\n"
+                                    "Alternatively, use EasyOCR (auto-installs): pip install easyocr"
+                                )
                             raise e
                 
                 processing_time = time.time() - start_time
@@ -782,21 +792,26 @@ class GameReaderTestPlugin(BasePlugin):
         
         try:
             import easyocr
-            statuses.append("✅ EasyOCR - Available")
+            statuses.append("✅ EasyOCR - Available (recommended)")
         except ImportError:
-            statuses.append("❌ EasyOCR - Not installed (pip install easyocr)")
+            statuses.append("❌ EasyOCR - Not installed\n   Install: pip install easyocr")
         
         try:
             import pytesseract
-            statuses.append("✅ Tesseract - Available")
+            # Also check if tesseract binary is available
+            try:
+                pytesseract.get_tesseract_version()
+                statuses.append("✅ Tesseract - Available")
+            except Exception:
+                statuses.append("⚠️ Tesseract - Python wrapper installed but tesseract binary not found\n   Install binary from: https://github.com/UB-Mannheim/tesseract/wiki")
         except ImportError:
-            statuses.append("❌ Tesseract - Not installed (pip install pytesseract)")
+            statuses.append("❌ Tesseract - Not installed\n   Install: pip install pytesseract\n   Then install binary from: https://github.com/UB-Mannheim/tesseract/wiki")
         
         try:
             from paddleocr import PaddleOCR
             statuses.append("✅ PaddleOCR - Available")
         except ImportError:
-            statuses.append("❌ PaddleOCR - Not installed (pip install paddleocr)")
+            statuses.append("❌ PaddleOCR - Not installed\n   Install: pip install paddleocr")
         
         try:
             from PIL import ImageGrab
@@ -804,6 +819,8 @@ class GameReaderTestPlugin(BasePlugin):
         except ImportError:
             statuses.append("❌ Screen Capture - PIL not available")
         
+        statuses.append("\n💡 Recommendation: Use EasyOCR - it auto-installs required models")
+        
         self.backend_status.setPlainText('\n'.join(statuses))
     
     def shutdown(self):