Help & Install Notes

Before you install: Windows 10 or 11 (64-bit). Leave a few GB of disk space for Helena and everything she carries with her. Everything runs on your PC; no cloud account is needed for local features.

Install: Download the installer from this site — the Downloads page, or Dashboard → H.E.L.E.N.A. OS on your account page for the tier you hold — and run it. Helena sets herself up: there are no loose files to unzip, place, or configure by hand, and the installer verifies what it installs before anything runs. Lite needs no account to start. For a paid tier, sign in with the account that holds your license and Helena activates against it — your license lives in your account, not in a file on your machine. On first launch her local brain takes a little longer to load. When the top bar says “Ready — H.E.L.E.N.A. is online”, she's ready.

Updating: When a new version is available, you download and run the new installer — updates are yours to install, and Helena never fetches or installs anything on her own. Every update is signed and hash-verified before anything is installed.

What gets installed: H.E.L.E.N.A. OS — the interface, her local knowledge, and her local AI — placed on your machine by the installer. Her working data (memory, build journal, pictures she draws) lives on your machine with the rest of your things. She does not write anywhere else.

What starts when Helena runs: Helena's brain runs as a small local server on your own machine only (127.0.0.1 — nothing is exposed to your network or the internet). Her vision lane starts the first time she needs to describe a picture. Startup messages like “already listening” are normal — they mean a lane was already running and she reused it.

Reading vs. seeing: Helena reads documents and text inside pictures with built-in text recognition on your PC — no AI model needed. Describing a picture (what's in a scene) uses her vision model. If vision isn't available, reading still works.

Uninstall: Remove Helena the ordinary Windows way — Settings → Apps → H.E.L.E.N.A. OS → Uninstall. Nothing is left running. What you created with her is yours and stays yours; uninstalling ends the install on that machine, and your license stays in your account if you ever want her back.

Helena does not need Unreal Engine — she is a standalone program that lives on your machine. Separately, when you open Unreal Engine, Helena can attach and work inside the editor through her plugin: building, editing, and teaching there too. The attach is an addition to the standalone install, not the install itself, and it happens only with your approval, when you ask.

The top bar never says “Ready”: The first launch loads her brain from disk — give it a minute. Still stuck? Restart Helena; that reloads everything cleanly.

“My vision isn't available right now”: Helena couldn't start her vision lane on this PC, so she can't describe that picture. You can still chat and build, and she can still read documents and picture text. Restarting Helena is the first thing to try.

She answered like she can't see your document: Attach the file in the same message as your question (the paperclip button, then “can you explain this to me?”). She reads PDFs and picture text directly from the attachment.

A build went wrong: Click Undo Last Build in the sidebar, or press KILL to stop Helena instantly. Everything she creates is journaled, and only you can resume her after a KILL.

Working in Unreal, and seeing “Oodle corruption” errors in the Output Log: Those point at a corrupt texture asset in your project (often from a marketplace pack). Re-download or replace that asset — it isn't caused by Helena.

Still stuck? You are in the right place — this page is the canonical help home for Helena OS. A screenshot of what Helena said, plus the exact words you sent her, is the most helpful thing to bring to any support conversation.

1 · Ask. Type what you want in Talk to Helena. She plans the build and shows you a preview before anything is created.

2 · Review. Reply “yes” to build, or describe changes to revise the plan.

3 · Build. Helena creates each piece one at a time. If a piece fails, the rest are kept — nothing is lost.

4 · Undo. Don't like the result? Undo Last Build in the sidebar removes it cleanly.