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| Ren'Py Vita 8 | |
|---|---|
 | |
| General | |
| Author | Grimiku |
| Type | Game Engine |
| Version | 0.1 |
| License | MIT License |
| Last Updated | 2024/12/02 |
| Links | |
| Download | |
| Website | |
| Source | |
| Support Author | |
Ren'Py Vita 8 is an updated version of SonicMastr's Ren'Py 7 Vita port that changes the underlying library from Python2.7 to Python3.11 and bumps the supported features from late 2021 up to end of 2024.
Instructions for regular users
This repo presupposes that you have your Ren'Py game already installed on the Vita. Please use the Ren'Py PSVita Distribution Tool to create your VPK if you haven't done it yet and install your game before proceeding.
- Go into Release section of this repo and download the latest .zip archive (ie. RenPy_Vita_8_v0.1.zip);
- Open the app folder of your game on the Vita (ie. ux0:app/BRBRB001/) and delete everything apart from game/ and sce_sys/ folders;
- Unpack everything from the .zip from step 1) into the folder from step 2);
- Proceed to run the game as you normally would by selecting it from LiveArea.
Build instructions for some crazy people who want to build this, ignore otherwise
One of the many things I learned during the update process for this particular port is that every build instruction becomes outdated extremely fast. Another thing is that vast majority of the build process boils down to work outside of the main repo (ie. VITASDK setup, SDL2 setup, other dependencies). That's why below are just major points to look out for while maybe at a later stage more detailed steps will follow:
- Requires linux enviroment or WSL on Windows;
- Requires Python 3.11;
- Works under Cython 0.29.37 but not >3.0;
- Requires rsync for the bash script to work;
- Requires SDL2 built with -DVIDEO_VITA_PVR=ON flag;
- Requires you make sure openssl-1.1.1 is recognized by your vitasdk during cmake;
- Requires a couple of additional modifications to CPython3.11 for Vita and additional libraries. You can take a look at my fork and modify your vitasdk with it or just run your own stuff based on my commits there;
- Requires modifying vitasdk freetype package to compile with harfbuzz;
- all_in_one.bash will try to do all the work for you but expect it will throw errors;
- Requires a lot of patience.
FAQS
What is this really?
Ren'Py Vita is a port of Ren'Py visual novel engine for our beloved console. In the repo linked above you will find files necessary to update it to support Python3.11 instead of previously used Python2.7. It also introduces support for functionalities that were included in Ren'Py between late 2021 up until end of 2024 (ie. enabling speechbubbles which wouldn't work on previous version).
Why should I bother?
If you don't want to package Ren'Py games onto the Vita - you shouldn't. If you want to - you may check this one out and see if it clears any issues you had with the previous Ren'Py Vita for your game from the get go.
Will this improve performance for my existing successful game port?
No, at least in terms of gameplay/framerate. My testing experience actually shows a very minimal decrease in framerate overall compared to previous port, most likely due to updates in the codebase of Ren'Py and introduction of new functionalities. What you will most likely notice though is that starting with the second boot-up your wait time getting to the game itself will be cut nearly in half. Which is nice, especially for larger games that took literally up to 5 mins to start. Which doesn't sound bad unless you need to actually wait for the game to start that long.
Will this run every Ren'Py game ever created?
Absolutely not. In fact, the older the game the more likely you are to run it under previous port than this one. Ren'Py is very dynamic in terms of development and has a list of changes which are not backward compatible (see here).
Is video playback supported in this release?
No, but most likely will be at some point in the future.
Are we set for the future now with Ren'Py 8 support?
Funnily enough - also no. According to the latest Developer Update from PyTom the next major release will not only be the last which could potentially run on Python2 but it will also drop support for OpenGL ES 2 which is what allows us to run it on the Vita graphically speaking so far. Further work will need to be done to introduce OpenGL 2 for our Ren'Py or find other workarounds.
Hope this gives at least some clarity as to what this post is about. Lastly I just wanted to mention that while it may not seem like much, I have, without exaggeration, sunk in at least 200 working hours into this release. Of course this is mostly due to learning curve as I haven't done any C or proper VitaSDK app dev beforehand but I can assure you Ren'Py on Vita is a compatibility hellhole. And I was just updating stuff someone else created with minor additions of my own.
Pleeease consider supporting people who either make games for the Vita or make that process possible. For Ren'Py Vita the OG is SonicMastr whom you can support on Github. If you're feeling generous here is my KoFi as well.
One last thing, if you have issues with running a certain game, please do post it on github rather than here, helps stuff be better organised.
Changelog
v0.1
- First Release.