Tool VN Ren'Py Porting Ren'Py games to Android

[MrFluffums]

Hi all! Figured I'd write an Android porting tutorial.

Tools required:
OpenJDK

You must be registered to see the links

Download the appropriate SDK version for your operating system. You have two options: Downloading a .msi (the installer, recommended if you don't know how to set environmental variables) or a .zip file. You need OpenJDK21+.

Spoiler: OpenJDK download

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If you download the installer:
Download and run the msi file. It's recommended to install to C:\vntools\openjdk21\. Make sure to select "modify PATH variable" and "Set JAVA_HOME" (see screenshot).

Spoiler: OpenJDK installation via MSI

You don't have permission to view the spoiler content. Log in or register now.

If you download the zip file, extract the files in the 'jdk-21.0.5+11' folder to C:\vntools\openjdk21\. Make sure to set your JAVA_HOME to C:\vntools\openjdk21\, and include C:\vntools\openjdk21\bin to your PATH.

When you've installed / extracted OpenJDK, run "java -version" in a command prompt to check if Java is installed correctly - it should say something like 'openjdk version "21.0.7"'.

Ren'Py SDK

You must be registered to see the links

The Ren'Py SDK is necessary to build Ren'Py games for android. Extract the contents of the self-extracting archive to something like C:\vntools\renpysdk

Game compressor (link)
Necessary as there's a limit of 2GB for Android APKs. Extract it to C:\vntools\ufcompressor or something.

Setting up Android

Start the SDK launcher. Select Tutorial project, click Android. Agree to download RAPT. Click android again, choose "install SDK".
Choose "generate keys". This will generate a set of android keys. Copy android.keystore and bundle.keystore from the tutorial folder (C:\vntools\renpysdk\tutorial) to C:\vntools\androidkeys.
Go to preferences and set projects folder to C:\vntools\visualnovels, then you don't clutter up your Ren'Py SDK folder.

Compressing game

Download the Windows / Linux variant of the game you wish to build. Copy the zip file to C:\vntools\visualnovels\<title of visual novel>, rename it to something like '.<title visual novel>.original.zip', make sure it has a '.' as first character (Ren'Py will ignore files with a filename that starts with a dot, otherwise it'll pack the zip into the APK). Extract the contents of only the game folder to C:\vntools\visualnovels\<title of visual novel>\game. You don't need any of the executables, renpy or lib folder!

Start ultrafast game compressor. Click 'Ren'py, RPGM, kirikiri compressors'. Click 'Compress Ren'Py' after unchecking 'pack unpacked files back to rpa'. It'll try to compress the files. If it fails, delete the game folder, after that reextract the game folder from the original zip, then retry compression but now check 'limit images processing speed'.

Copy android keys from C:\vntools\androidkeys to C:\vntools\visualnovels\<title of visual novel>. Don't worry, Ren'Py won't pack them in your release.

Create an android-icon_foreground.png image of exactly 256px x 256px in C:\vntools\visualnovels\<title of visual novel>, this'll be your icon.

Building Android version

In the SDK, select your project (maybe press refresh if you don't see it.). Press configure, it'll ask about the name of the game. Then it'll ask about a package name, I just use <developer name>.<gamename>. The developer name and game name should be alphanumeric only, no spaces or anything. Other settings can be left to default, most likely.

Then choose 'Build package', and you're done!

I'll add some screenshots later on, but hopefully this is already helpful.

Help! The APK was build, but the game doesn't start
This section is only necessary to do if your APK doesn't work after the last step!

Check if after compression + unpacking there are .rpy files available in the /game folder. If there aren't, you probably have to decompile the .rpyc files back to .rpy. Download unren.rpy from

You must be registered to see the links

, and run your game to automatically decompile the rpyc files. If you ran your game from the launcher, be advised that un.rpy apparently can create a folder /game in C:\vntools\renpysdk, which will stop renpy

You must be registered to see the links

. You solve this by deleting C:\vntools\renpysdk\game.

Then make sure to search the newly decompiled rpy files for any lines containing build.classify and build.archive, and remove them from the scripts.

After that you can try to rebuild your APK and it should work.

 

[Gwede titit]

Sorry, Can you explain how to instal JDK?

 

[MrFluffums]

Sorry, Can you explain how to instal JDK?

I tried clarifying the process in an edit now. Basically, if you're on windows, you need to download an installer from

You must be registered to see the links

, run the installer, and select "Set or modify JAVA_HOME" in the installer (see screenshot).

 

[Gwede titit]

I tried clarifying the process in an edit now. Basically, if you're on windows, you need to download an installer from

You must be registered to see the links

, run the installer, and select "Set or modify JAVA_HOME" in the installer (see screenshot).

Thank you

 

[Taebaek1913]

Hi all! Figured I'd write an Android porting tutorial.

Tools required:
OpenJDK

You must be registered to see the links

Download the appropriate SDK version for your operating system. You have two options: Downloading a .msi (the installer, recommended if you don't know how to set environmental variables) or a .zip file. You need OpenJDK21+.

Spoiler: OpenJDK download

You don't have permission to view the spoiler content. Log in or register now.

If you download the installer:
Download and run the msi file. It's recommended to install to C:\vntools\openjdk21\. Make sure to select "modify PATH variable" and "Set JAVA_HOME" (see screenshot).

Spoiler: OpenJDK installation via MSI

You don't have permission to view the spoiler content. Log in or register now.

If you download the zip file, extract the files in the 'jdk-21.0.5+11' folder to C:\vntools\openjdk21\. Make sure to set your JAVA_HOME to C:\vntools\openjdk21\, and include C:\vntools\openjdk21\bin to your PATH.

When you've installed / extracted OpenJDK, run "java -version" in a command prompt to check if Java is installed correctly - it should say something like 'openjdk version "21.0.7"'.

Ren'Py SDK

You must be registered to see the links

The Ren'Py SDK is necessary to build Ren'Py games for android. Extract the contents of the self-extracting archive to something like C:\vntools\renpysdk

Game compressor (link)
Necessary as there's a limit of 2GB for Android APKs. Extract it to C:\vntools\ufcompressor or something.

Setting up Android

Start the SDK launcher. Select Tutorial project, click Android. Agree to download RAPT. Click android again, choose "install SDK".
Choose "generate keys". This will generate a set of android keys. Copy android.keystore and bundle.keystore from the tutorial folder (C:\vntools\renpysdk\tutorial) to C:\vntools\androidkeys.
Go to preferences and set projects folder to C:\vntools\visualnovels, then you don't clutter up your Ren'Py SDK folder.

Compressing game

Download the Windows / Linux variant of the game you wish to build. Copy the zip file to C:\vntools\visualnovels\<title of visual novel>, rename it to something like '.<title visual novel>.original.zip', make sure it has a '.' as first character (Ren'Py will ignore files with a filename that starts with a dot, otherwise it'll pack the zip into the APK). Extract the contents of only the game folder to C:\vntools\visualnovels\<title of visual novel>\game. You don't need any of the executables, renpy or lib folder!

Start ultrafast game compressor. Click 'Ren'py, RPGM, kirikiri compressors'. Click 'Compress Ren'Py' after unchecking 'pack unpacked files back to rpa'. It'll try to compress the files. If it fails, delete the game folder, after that reextract the game folder from the original zip, then retry compression but now check 'limit images processing speed'.

Copy android keys from C:\vntools\androidkeys to C:\vntools\visualnovels\<title of visual novel>. Don't worry, Ren'Py won't pack them in your release.

Create an android-icon_foreground.png image of exactly 256px x 256px in C:\vntools\visualnovels\<title of visual novel>, this'll be your icon.

Building Android version

In the SDK, select your project (maybe press refresh if you don't see it.). Press configure, it'll ask about the name of the game. Then it'll ask about a package name, I just use <developer name>.<gamename>. The developer name and game name should be alphanumeric only, no spaces or anything. Other settings can be left to default, most likely.

Then choose 'Build package', and you're done!

I'll add some screenshots later on, but hopefully this is already helpful.

Hey, thanks a lot for the tutorial; I followed all the steps, but when I open the APK on Android, the game just shuts down; what do you think I did wrong, bro?

 

[MrFluffums]

So first the good news: If it produced an APK, you followed all the steps correctly. Otherwise it would fail to build.

The bad news: That means something within the game code crashes

Could you PM me the APK? I'll take a look if I can figure out what's going wrong.

 

[Taebaek1913]

So first the good news: If it produced an APK, you followed all the steps correctly. Otherwise it would fail to build.

The bad news: That means something within the game code crashes

Could you PM me the APK? I'll take a look if I can figure out what's going wrong.

Hey, thanks for replying; I fixed the game crashing—turns out it was because I had it as a .rar instead of a .zip. Now it doesn’t close anymore, but it still throws an error; if you’ve got some time, maybe you could take a look at the APK?

You must be registered to see the links

 

[MrFluffums]

Seems like you selected the "don't automatically update Java source code" option when you configured your project.
When I unpacked your APK and tried to build it myself, I couldn't get it to work either until I selected this option in launcher > android > configure:

When I had enabled this option and build the APK anew, it worked on my end.

If you ask me what it does, I wouldn't know. I just always choose yes because it says it's the best choice for most projects.

Could you try reconfiguring your project and rebuilding it?

 

[Taebaek1913]

Seems like you selected the "don't automatically update Java source code" option when you configured your project.
When I unpacked your APK and tried to build it myself, I couldn't get it to work either until I selected this option in launcher > android > configure:
View attachment 4876323
When I had enabled this option and build the APK anew, it worked on my end.

If you ask me what it does, I wouldn't know. I just always choose yes because it says it's the best choice for most projects.

Could you try reconfiguring your project and rebuilding it?

Wow ok I'll try right now

 

[Taebaek1913]

Seems like you selected the "don't automatically update Java source code" option when you configured your project.
When I unpacked your APK and tried to build it myself, I couldn't get it to work either until I selected this option in launcher > android > configure:
View attachment 4876323
When I had enabled this option and build the APK anew, it worked on my end.

If you ask me what it does, I wouldn't know. I just always choose yes because it says it's the best choice for most projects.

Could you try reconfiguring your project and rebuilding it?

I picked the one you mentioned, but it keeps crashing. I checked it out and it looks like a coding error, so I guess there's not much we can do. Still, thanks a lot — you're awesome!

 

[MrFluffums]

Ah, that error "ScriptError: could not find label 'start'", is most likely due to not unpacking the RPA archive (the game/archive.rpa file contains all script files etc., but must be unpacked to rebuild the game properly).

Have you done this step?

Click 'Compress Ren'Py' after unchecking 'pack unpacked files back to rpa'.

At least on my end I end up with a working APK of the game when I've unpacked the RPA file.

 

[Taebaek1913]

Ah, that error "ScriptError: could not find label 'start'", is most likely due to not unpacking the RPA archive (the game/archive.rpa file contains all script files etc., but must be unpacked to rebuild the game properly).

Have you done this step?



At least on my end I end up with a working APK of the game when I've unpacked the RPA file.

Hey man, I unzipped the RPA and now the APK works perfectly. The only issue is that the translation patch I added doesn’t show up in the APK. Do you know how to fix that or why it’s happening?

 

[MrFluffums]

Have you checked by unzipping the APK, is it really not there or is it simply not detected? (your files should be in assets\x-game\x-tl) And does the patch have any special characters in its name?

 

[Taebaek1913]

Have you checked by unzipping the APK, is it really not there or is it simply not detected? (your files should be in assets\x-game\x-tl) And does the patch have any special characters in its name?

I got it sorted, bro — seriously, thanks a ton for the tutorial and for helping me out with all the issues I had. I really appreciate it.

 

[MrFluffums]

I got it sorted, bro — seriously, thanks a ton for the tutorial and for helping me out with all the issues I had. I really appreciate it.

No problem, although I am now quite curious what the issue with the translation files was

 

[Taebaek1913]

No problem, although I am now quite curious what the issue with the translation files was

I fixed the patch issue by putting it back in the Game folder—probably missed some files the first time I added it.

 

[Nobile1701]

Hi all! Figured I'd write an Android porting tutorial.

Tools required:
OpenJDK

You must be registered to see the links

Download the appropriate SDK version for your operating system. You have two options: Downloading a .msi (the installer, recommended if you don't know how to set environmental variables) or a .zip file. You need OpenJDK21+.

Spoiler: OpenJDK download

You don't have permission to view the spoiler content. Log in or register now.

If you download the installer:
Download and run the msi file. It's recommended to install to C:\vntools\openjdk21\. Make sure to select "modify PATH variable" and "Set JAVA_HOME" (see screenshot).

Spoiler: OpenJDK installation via MSI

You don't have permission to view the spoiler content. Log in or register now.

If you download the zip file, extract the files in the 'jdk-21.0.5+11' folder to C:\vntools\openjdk21\. Make sure to set your JAVA_HOME to C:\vntools\openjdk21\, and include C:\vntools\openjdk21\bin to your PATH.

When you've installed / extracted OpenJDK, run "java -version" in a command prompt to check if Java is installed correctly - it should say something like 'openjdk version "21.0.7"'.

Ren'Py SDK

You must be registered to see the links

The Ren'Py SDK is necessary to build Ren'Py games for android. Extract the contents of the self-extracting archive to something like C:\vntools\renpysdk

Game compressor (link)
Necessary as there's a limit of 2GB for Android APKs. Extract it to C:\vntools\ufcompressor or something.

Setting up Android

Start the SDK launcher. Select Tutorial project, click Android. Agree to download RAPT. Click android again, choose "install SDK".
Choose "generate keys". This will generate a set of android keys. Copy android.keystore and bundle.keystore from the tutorial folder (C:\vntools\renpysdk\tutorial) to C:\vntools\androidkeys.
Go to preferences and set projects folder to C:\vntools\visualnovels, then you don't clutter up your Ren'Py SDK folder.

Compressing game

Download the Windows / Linux variant of the game you wish to build. Copy the zip file to C:\vntools\visualnovels\<title of visual novel>, rename it to something like '.<title visual novel>.original.zip', make sure it has a '.' as first character (Ren'Py will ignore files with a filename that starts with a dot, otherwise it'll pack the zip into the APK). Extract the contents of only the game folder to C:\vntools\visualnovels\<title of visual novel>\game. You don't need any of the executables, renpy or lib folder!

Start ultrafast game compressor. Click 'Ren'py, RPGM, kirikiri compressors'. Click 'Compress Ren'Py' after unchecking 'pack unpacked files back to rpa'. It'll try to compress the files. If it fails, delete the game folder, after that reextract the game folder from the original zip, then retry compression but now check 'limit images processing speed'.

Copy android keys from C:\vntools\androidkeys to C:\vntools\visualnovels\<title of visual novel>. Don't worry, Ren'Py won't pack them in your release.

Create an android-icon_foreground.png image of exactly 256px x 256px in C:\vntools\visualnovels\<title of visual novel>, this'll be your icon.

Building Android version

In the SDK, select your project (maybe press refresh if you don't see it.). Press configure, it'll ask about the name of the game. Then it'll ask about a package name, I just use <developer name>.<gamename>. The developer name and game name should be alphanumeric only, no spaces or anything. Other settings can be left to default, most likely.

Then choose 'Build package', and you're done!

I'll add some screenshots later on, but hopefully this is already helpful.

Hey man I followed every instruction, but when i make a Windows build, the game works fine. But when I make an Android build. It crashes. Would you mind if I send you only the game folder and you can find out whats wrong?

 

[MrFluffums]

Sure thing! You can also try 'force recompile' first in the Ren'py SDK launcher. Sometimes there's an error in a source code file that'll only reveal itself when it's compiled, and then the windows build seems to work (because that particular file wasn't rebuild), while the android one fails.

But yeah, if you can send me the files I can take a look.

 

[MrFluffums]

Hey man I followed every instruction, but when i make a Windows build, the game works fine. But when I make an Android build. It crashes. Would you mind if I send you only the game folder and you can find out whats wrong?

Strange problem. For some reason, there were only .rpyc.bak files, no .rpyc files.

Using powershell, you can rename all .rpyc.bak files to .rpyc files.

Get-ChildItem -Recurse -Filter "C:\path\to\game\*.rpyc.bak" | Rename-Item -NewName { $_.Name -replace '\.rpyc\.bak$', '.rpyc' }

Then you need to download un.rpy

You must be registered to see the links

. Put it in the /game folder, and run the game from the launcher. Note: It'll take quite a while to start up while it converts all .rpyc files to .rpy. After that, can you try to build again?

 

[Nobile1701]

Strange problem. For some reason, there were only .rpyc.bak files, no .rpyc files.

Using powershell, you can rename all .rpyc.bak files to .rpyc files.

Get-ChildItem -Recurse -Filter "C:\path\to\game\*.rpyc.bak" | Rename-Item -NewName { $_.Name -replace '\.rpyc\.bak$', '.rpyc' }

Then you need to download un.rpy

You must be registered to see the links

. Put it in the /game folder, and run the game from the launcher. Note: It'll take quite a while to start up while it converts all .rpyc files to .rpy. After that, can you try to build again?

I'll let you know