Ren'Py 7.4.2 "The Betterer One"

was released on January 31, 2021. The main downloads of Ren'Py 7.4.2 are:

Download SDK 7z.exe - 87 MiB Download SDK dmg - 110 MiB Download SDK tar.bz2 - 107 MiB
Download SDK zip - 115 MiB

You only need to download one of these files. Each contains the full Ren'Py software development kit, with everything needed to develop Ren'Py games for the Windows, Mac, and Linux platforms; the Ren'Py tutorial; and "The Question", an example game.

Ren'Py is free to download and use for commercial and non-commercial purposes. It may be modified and distributed under the terms of its license.

Additional Downloads. When necessary, the Ren'Py SDK will automatically download additional packages, such as text editors and Android/iOS support. These packages are available for direct download at the bottom of this page.

Release History and Updates

Ren'Py 7.4.1 is the first patch release, addressing bugs and compatibility issues found in Ren'Py 7.4.0. As some of these issues may affect end-users of games without affecting creators, everyone is encouraged to upgrade as soon as possible.

Announcement

I'm happy to announce Ren'Py 7.4.2, the second patch release for the 7.4 series. This release fixes a number of issues found in Ren'Py 7.4, including some that only affect users that need accessibility options. Everyone should upgrade.

Ren'Py 7.4 is the the product of over a year of development, and one of the biggest releases of Ren'Py to date. This series of releases focuses on updating Ren'Py's internals so that Ren'Py is ready for its next 15 years.

Some of the bigger changes are:

  • A new model-based renderer. While this is opt-in for the moment, it opens the way to features that creators have been requesting for a long time, such as being able to recolor displayables, blurring the screen, and using Live2D to animate sprites. The model-based renderer is extensible with shaders, allowing for custom effects.
  • A new Python 3 compatibility mode has been added, to pave the way for Python 3 support in the next release. This mode changes the ways in which Ren'Py runs, to allow you to begin porting your game before full Python 3 comes out in Ren'Py 8.0.
  • Ren'Py's build system has been modernized, and the libraries underlying it have been updated. This allows 64-bit Windows to be supported.
  • The web platform has been updated, to allow for the incremental download of games.

This release also raises the minimum requirements to run a Ren'Py game. It is now required that a user's computer have OpenGL 2, DirectX 9, OpenGL ES 2, or WebGL to run Ren'Py. The model-based renderer requires OpenGL ES 3 or WebGL 2.

With these changes, there have been a few deprecations. Ren'Py no longer runs on Windows XP. The minimum version of macOS Ren'Py supports is now 10.10. The 32-bit armv7l platform has been removed on iOS, as this platform hasn't been supported by Apple for several years. The Editra text editor has been removed, as it hasn't been supported for quite some time, and wasn't compatible with the new build system.

It's my hope that this release will enable creators to take on projects they couldn't before, and will provide a solid basis for the next releases of Ren'Py.

Ren'Py 7.4 is brought to you by:

  • Andrej
  • Andrí Wilford
  • Andy_kl
  • Capntrips
  • Cherie Davidson
  • CobaltCore
  • Daniel Conley
  • Daniel Luque
  • Dogtopus
  • Eric Ahn
  • GimmiRuski
  • Gio
  • Gouvernathor
  • Gratusfr
  • Hyper Sonic
  • Jackmcbarn
  • Jan Masek
  • Joaquin Garmendia Cabrera
  • Joshua Fehler
  • Joshua Stone
  • Kapil Gain
  • Kyouryuukunn
  • Lee Yunseok
  • Lezalith
  • Lucas Ramage
  • Maciej Katafiasz
  • Mal Graty
  • Mason Chou
  • Maxwell Paul Brickner
  • Midgethetree
  • Moshibit
  • Neotus
  • Paul J Martinez
  • Remix
  • Shawna-p
  • Sylvain Beucler
  • Uyjulian
  • Xavimat
  • Zedraxlo
  • 被诅咒的章鱼
  • 逆转咸鱼

everyone who's tested this release, and myself, Tom "PyTom" Rothamel.

Downloads of Ren'Py 7.4.2 can be found at:

https://www.renpy.org/release/7.4.2

A full list of changes to Ren'Py can be found at:

https://www.renpy.org/doc/html/changelog.html

A list of changes that may require you to update your game can be found at:

https://www.renpy.org/doc/html/incompatible.html

Please also check out the credits and list of sponsors.

Editor Downloads

When first asked to edit a file, the Ren'Py launcher will prompt you to download and install an editor. As this may fail if your Internet connection is unreliable, the editors can be downloaded separately. To install, extract the contents of the editor archive to the Ren'Py directory.

Atom (Windows): renpy-7.4.2-atom-windows.zip
Atom (Mac): renpy-7.4.2-atom-mac.zip
Atom (Linux): renpy-7.4.2-atom-linux.tar.bz2
jEdit: renpy-7.4.2-jedit.zip

Android and iOS Support

When building Android packages, iOS packages, or web distributions, Ren'Py will prompt you to download RAPT (Ren'Py Android Packaging Tool), Renios (Ren'Py iOS Support), or Renpyweb (Web Platform Support). As these downloads may fail if your Internet connection is unreliable, these packages can be downloaded separately. To install, extract the contents of the archive to the Ren'Py directory. (Place the "rapt", "renios", or "web" directory into the "renpy-7.4.2" directory.)

Android Support (RAPT): renpy-7.4.2-rapt.zip
iOS Support (Renios): renpy-7.4.2-renios.zip
Web Platform Support (Renpyweb): renpy-7.4.2-web.zip

Additional Downloads

Raspberry Pi Support: renpy-7.4.2-raspi.tar.bz2
Contains files required to allow Ren'Py to run on the Raspberry Pi. This should be untarred in the Ren'Py sdk directory.
Ren'Py Source Code: renpy-7.4.2-source.tar.bz2
Contains the source code of the Ren'Py distribution without any binary components.
Pygame_SDL2 Source Code: pygame_sdl2-2.1.0-for-renpy-7.4.2.tar.gz
Contains the source code for the version of pygame_sdl2 required to run this version of Ren'Py. This may be newer than any released version of pygame_sdl2.
Other Dependencies: https://www.renpy.org/doc/html/license.html
Ren'Py contains free software licensed under a number of licenses, including the GNU Lesser General Public License. A full list of software and links to git repositories from which the software can be downloaded is linked above.
Checksums: checksums.txt
Checksums for the various files making up the Ren'Py distribution.

We also maintain a complete list of releases.