You've reached a page on the Ren'Py wiki. Due to massive spam, the wiki hasn't been updated in over 5 years, and much of the information here is very out of date. We've kept it because some of it is of historic interest, but all the information relevant to modern versions of Ren'Py has been moved elsewhere.
Some places to look are:
Please do not create new links to this page.
Note that these instructions are only needed when running Windows-only games on Mac systems. As most games are released for all three platforms, following these instructions is rarely necessary.
Ren'Py was designed to be as cross-platform as possible. It uses pygame and other libraries to abstract out as much platform dependency as possible, allowing the same game to run on multiple platforms.
If you're reading these instructions, then you're probably most interested in Mac OS X. These instructions cover how to get a Ren'Py game working on Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger). It's possible that Ren'Py games could work on earlier versions of OS X, but you're on your own to figure out how. These instructions will not work.
Getting a Ren'Py game running on Mac OS X requires three steps. You'll need to download the Ren'Py Launcher for Macintosh, download the game that you wish to run, and then use the launcher to launch the game.
You'll also want to download a Ren'Py game. We maintain a list of ../Ren'Py Games/. If the game has a Mac version, then you're all set. Just download the game, uncompress it, and double-click the application. Your Ren'Py game will start in a few seconds. (And there's no need to read the rest of these instructions, for that game.)
If the game has no mac version, you'll want to download a cross-platform version. While these are often labeled as "Cross-platform Zip" files, sometime it will be that the only version of a game is a cross-platform zip file. (Or perhaps some other compression format, like rar.) You'll want to uncompress the game once you have it, if it is not automatically uncompressed.
You'll then want to go to the ../Download Ren'Py/ page, download the latest version of Ren'Py Launcher for Macintosh, and uncompress it.
If you've already downloaded the launcher, then you can try using the old version. If the version of the launcher you have is not compatible with a game, a warning message will be produced directing you to this page.
To launch a game, first double-click on the "Ren'Py Launcher" application. This application will load, and bring up a window asking you to select a .py or .pyw file.
The .py and .pyw files are files that contain instructions needed to start the game. Most often, the file that you want is named "run_game.py", but not always. The file will always be at the same level as the "renpy" directory, but never inside the "renpy" directory itself.
Clicking "Choose" should then run the game. If any errors occur, you may want to check out the console to see them
Anyway, we hope you enjoy Ren'Py games running on Mac OS X, and please let us know if you can succesfully run them.
The Macintosh is not known for a plethora of mouse buttons, so here are some keybindings for useful Ren'Py functions. Please note that these are here as general guidance, and may not be present in all games.
Key |
Function |
|
Escape |
Shows the game menu, allowing you to load, save, and quit your game, and to change preferences. |
|
Page Up |
Rolls back to the previous thing that was displayed. |
|
Page Down |
Rolls forward to something that has been displayed already. |
It's possible to use the Ren'Py launcher to build a Mac OS X application containing a game that you developed. Once downloaded and unzipped, a user can then just click on your application to start it, without needing to interact with the launcher itself.
To do this, one must first realize that on OS X, an application is a directory containing a number of files. It's just a normal directory on other platforms, while on OS X one needs to control-click and pick "Show Package Contents" to see inside the application. Anyhow, inside the application there is a directory name "Contents/Resources". If inside that directory, one creates a directory named "autorun" containing a Ren'Py root directory, then the Ren'Py instance in that root directory will be run when the application runs. (The first .py file in "Contents/Resources/autorun is run. The directory "Contents/Resources/autorun/renpy" must also exist.)
One can then edit the Info.plist file inside the application to change the name that is shown to the user on the menu bar. Zipping up the directory creates a single download that can run on the mac.
If you have any question or comments, please ../Contact Us/.