It's been now 48 hours without a bug report, and that's awesome. I've been adding a little more content while deciding on the next steps to take, which judging by the poll results, should be focused on new features.
I've seen however several people having trouble with the interface at several levels. So I'd like to discuss those matters here.
I'd like to know first and foremost if any aspect of the game system or subsystems felt too unintuitive or unnecessarily complex to you.
Then I'd like to know your feelings about the large game font, the one that looks like an old typing machine's. I've gotten way too used to that font to judge it in an objective way, but I've seen several people complain about its legibility. I think it sets the mood nicely but I don't want people to suffer because of it either.
So the second question is, do you think the large font should be changed for another more readable one?
If you'd like to discuss any other matter, or report some late-to-the-party bug, I'm also listening.
Incidentally, I'm considering setting up a forum of some sort. It'll certainly make communication much easier and fluid for stuff like this. I think we're enough people in here for that now, but I might be wrong, and I don't want to set up a forum only to watch the tumbleweeds rolling about.
I've been playing the game for a week or so now and I haven't had any problem with the game's complexity, I mean sure it is more complex than your average game, but hardly to the point of tediousness IMO.
ReplyDeleteI have no issues with the current font, neither in taste nor legibility.
There was one thing I've run into that kinda bugs me: In most of my games one or two locations are duplicated (Like in my current game there are two Buh Pine Grove, and in my last game there were two Old Men Squares and two Flayer's Caves). I'm not sure if this is intended or not, but since locations are very unique I feel this kinda drains part of the immersion.
I know what you mean, it also bugs me some times.
DeleteI’ll give it a shot, I believe I can think of a way to avoid terrain duplication relatively easily in the next version.
On that note there is also duplication of unique characters like The Flayer, had that happen to me today.
DeleteI'll make a note about that too.
DeleteI did find the font difficult to read at first, before getting used to it.
ReplyDeleteAs for interface stuff:
Forces -> Unit description -> Unit Stats
Getting to this page requires one click too many, especially since I want to look at my unit's stats far more often then their current activity/wariness.
Given that wariness is already shown on the unit list, you might be able to move the other info from the description page to the stat page, then link each name on the list straight to the stat page.
Otherwise a second link next to each name would be appreciated.
Map screen looks pretty messy. Not much more to say there.
Sometimes when repeatedly returning to the same territory ("grinding" in a sense) it can become tiresome to click through the entire visiting process 50+ times, especially when extra options like the quest pieces appear.
A link that accelerates this process and takes you straight to that region's activity(or battle, if one breaks out) screen would be appreciated.
A good method for this might be a single button on the map screen that repeats the last visit that you made to a territory, using all the same parameters chosen by the player last time.
In a similar vein, the standard visit/expedition/envoy process can be streamlined by removing some steps. E.g. the extra step to start an event for a quest piece or stay the week can be eliminated by making the puzzle pieces on the map screen click-able, when appropriate.
Also the information about how much arkh it will cost to move a unit to that territory can instead be shown at the unit selection step.
Anomalies kind of threw me. When they appear it's stated that they can destroy a territory if left unattended, but no information on how to resolve them is presented. When one first appeared I spent ~10 turns visiting that region to see if some hint would reveal itself but none was forthcoming, and in that time two more anomalies had popped up, which was more then a little frustrating.
I think it was mentioned elsewhere that a region can be devastated if its tension reaches 100, so my best guess at the moment is that an anomaly raises the tension each turn and you have to keep visiting the territory and taking actions to keep it's tension down until the anomaly goes away by itself.
However, I have no way of knowing if this is the proper way of dealing with them and even that much was certainly not intuited when they first appeared.
Ok, not much more to say. Except that Elheiss is my lesbian waifu and I demand an epic quest allowing a certain Stalwart swords-woman to remove her curse.
Also marriage and magic-babies.
That is all.
Well that's a long comment, now let me see...
DeleteThere is a reason for the Forces menu to require a new screen related to future and past development courses, I could do the things you say but I'll have to undo them at some point in the future. I think however that I could add a quick list with your units' descriptions to be easily accessible at any point during the game, like your character screen.
I kind of like to have scrambled names around the map, I guess this is a matter of taste, but if this turns out to be a big issue it can be easily fixed.
I'm not usually a grindy person, so I never really considered a repeat action button, but I'll think about it from several angles. I might try to make grinding less necessary in some way instead of adding a repeat button. Alternatively I could simply add it in the main menu to save one more click.
At some point during the bugfix versions I added a little extra line under the map stating what must be done to correct an anomaly, it was probably easily missed or maybe not even there when you played. You must first control it, then start the corresponding project in the Projects menu to fix it.
We'll see how the whole romancing thingy develops in the future. We'll leave the magic-babies aside for now, but I'm grateful for the time you took to send me your feedback.
>no magic-babies
DeleteDarn. I guess I'll live.
And you are very welcome.
Found a possible bug.
ReplyDeleteManaged to buy land in The Smuggler Tunnels. The area produces 9 Arkhe a day.
My starting partner, The Lambda Swashbuckler, has an IN of 55, and IN is required for Arkhe extraction project there.
If I assign my partner to do that project, they complete it in a single day (that seems fine, if intended), but instead of getting 9 Arkhe (what had been there) or even 18 Arkhe (Since it took a full day to complete the project, maybe makes sense to get both days' Arkhe production), but gains a whopping 33 Arkhe. I cannot immediately repeat this project, but I can wait a single day and then start it over again, apparently because of the newly accumulated 9 Arkhe, which my awesome Swashbucker will turn into almost 4x that value as he brings it to me.
tldr version: I can get more Arkhe out of a region than exists in that region, repeatedly and without apparent risk or cost.
Hm, what I'm getting is a wrong display in the total Arkhe collected. The game shows what would have been collected if there were enough reserves for it, but at least in my case it doesn't really add more than there is to your total Arkhe in the end.
DeleteI'm trying to get at least the display right at this moment and I'll see if there is any way in which it can leak into your actual reserves.
It appeared to be adding the 33 to my total Arkhe, but for all I know that actually wasn't there if that's what you say...
DeleteThat game ended 'oddly'. I was on the Influenced side. I'd gotten that land and was raking in the Arkhe, compared to how all my previous games had gone at least. Some of the other territories I wanted to buy land in cost in the 10s of thousands... I had nowhere NEAR that much even with my use of that bug, and I was hoarding the money. And then the game ended, apparently influence overcame the other side.
I don't remember what turn I was on. 60 something? My character was on the influenced side, does this mean I won because my side won? I hadn't gained any of those pieces things and.... I really didn't want to win like that. The game ended and I had to start over, yuck. I assume we're not supposed to ever gain some of these lands then, the ones that cost like 16,000 arkhe? The fastest money gain I've found so far is about 20 a turn, and that was using that 'get 33 every other turn' that I reported as a bug. Is there somewhere I can read about controling the balance between influence and the other side, especially on how to lessen my own side if it looks like I'm in danger of winning that way? Or did I actually lose to my own side?
Or am I supposed to treat this game as a race, and know that I've only got about 60 turns to do whatever I think I want to do during it? I'm sad because I had NO idea that game was about to end and it was the first that seemed to be 'going well'.
May I suggest making the local tension and influenced population bars far easier to see/read? To be honest, until the game immediately after the one I lost from the influenced side winning, I'd expected to see numbers after the colons there, and wondered why there was never any information there. Even now that I've seen the bars, the color of their fill is almost the color of the background.
That's surely a bug of some sort, I'm looking into it.
DeleteThe game is certainly not a race, even when you do get the pieces you are given the option to linger all you want about before actually winning.
I'll look into the bars too.
I'm worried about my tone in this continued bug report. I really want to like this game and explore it, it has several unique features and unusual mechanics I'd like to check out, but my reaction to how some of these mechanics play out as a whole is negative, 'player walk away' level of negative. And I'm concerned that I maybe cannot keep that ‘this is a dealbreaker, I hate this’ tone out of my explanation of what causes that reaction, in case some of it is a bug – intended and working right features are not loved by everyone either, and I don’t want to darken your joy of your game. So please take this list of dislikes as if wrapped in cotton wool – and don’t let them disappoint you, please.
DeleteThe problem started because of the ‘perceived time limit’ of that Influenced Population bar creeping always to the right. Now that I know how to see and read that bar, it haunts my play. I like starting on the Influenced side, but I haven’t had any ideas how to lower the bar’s creep to my own side – and even if I started on the Court side, my goal with that bar is to have it not end my game. I want to freeze the bar, or force it to oscillate… I don’t see a way to do either. The starting page for every game-week’s play even tells me, again and again, that if that bar reaches 0, the Court wins, and if it’s full, the Influence does. And that if I own enough of the right things, the bar will move in my favor – thing is, the bar always creeps towards influenced, even when I start as influenced. And it doesn’t sound like I can freeze or oscillate that bar…. I haven’t seen a way to give up lands. Randomly get attacked and maybe lose them – but that’s a very poor form of oscillation, hard to control, and full of additional negative factors.
The time pressure my awareness of this bar creates and maintains is ‘too high for good enjoyment of play’. You mentioned you wanted some tension in players, that this was why we needed to click several times entering a territory where we could be attacked; oh man, you have that effect in spades from me with that creeping ‘bar of end game’. I’ve only gotten one game to play for long enough that the bar apparently ended my game, but things take SO long in this game, I don’t have enough joy in play to balance out what seems to be an inevitable early end. Many of the goals in this game take 10s to 100s of weeks to accomplish… my first ‘bar game end’ experience suggests that I don’t have 100 weeks.
The time pressure does worse things to me – now I am HIGHLY aware that most of the events waste time. I have one turn (called a WEEK at that) to travel to a place, and then see a list of options. Oh, this one is a contest, I shall try! Oh wow, it’s a contest about shooting at each other, my SR damage is 0, my character thinks it has no chance to win and I really agree… withdraw…. Oh, week ended? Already? Took a whole week to almost participate in a contest I couldn’t win? Some of the other options included windowshopping or trying to woo someone…. Surely I could have done –all three- of those probably useless and timewasting ‘opportunities’ in that one week – after all, even if I did all three actions, that week cost me 1 Arkhe, probably gained me nothing to help me, and that accursed ‘the game will soon end’ bar has incremented again.
And the time pressure has made me acutely aware of how days and nights seem to last for a week. Oh, a week has past, and now it’s night! Sorry, you can’t wait until morning my diurnal partner, gotta leave now and only act during the night, hope you don’t get challenged out there! Maybe the day/night cycle is a week long here? Combined with the very high failure rate, the very low ‘success rate’ (actions that result in no gains), and the time pressure, wow. I can’t find the fun.
Part two, because there's a character limit here...
DeleteI could play the Court side, and race to get enough property with whatever the right upgrades are in time to stop the bar from filling, and I can see that as fun – but I fear that will just start the bar filling in the other direction. And how am I going to stop that direction? Wait until I randomly lose that (those?) lands, which were highly resource expensive? My average Arkhe change is around -1 to +1 a game day, every game except the one I reported the bug about, the one that actually got ended by this ‘time limit bar’, and this does not encourage me to build strategies that require the expenditure of hundreds to thousands of Arkhe every 80 turns or so, as WELL as requiring luck to make work.
I accept that I may be ‘playing wrong’, but I can’t find a way to play right. And I really want to like this game, but the feeling it triggers in me is that of having a treat held out of reach over my head to leap for, while occasionally being kicked or tripped when I jump. I –do- want the treat, I just…. How I perceive these mechanics… I’m going to go sit in the corner and pout.
Here’s a couple screen shots. The first shows a closeup on that ‘game ending bar’ on week 5, I’d forgotten to catch it at week 1, but it’s very easy to see where that bar is when you start a new game, it appears to always start in the same spot. The second shows week 8, and weather. The bar increment is small, but it’s there. And I own nothing, I’ve done nothing except explore territories for the first time.
[IMG]http://i47.tinypic.com/2r2vwva.png[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i50.tinypic.com/2dhcthg.png[/IMG]
I watched the weather closely, and had a LOT of trouble properly screenshotting it. It seems there’s a processing lag between when I alt-printscreen for this game that I’ve never seen in any other attempt to screenshot any game… so I messed around and about 30 tries later caught a decently sized snowflake sharing space with some text. It’s amazing, even trying to screenshot this game feels like jumping for a trick… Having studied the weather so closely, I no longer think it’s in front of the text. It fades out as it goes ‘behind’ the text window, but the colors of these objects are all so similar, the effect is visual distortion as if the snow were passing in front. That said, the weather is a nice touch, and it keeps moving. I can read the text despite the weather, and I like the weather, and I like that it startled me SO much when I first saw it. I haven’t figured out the connection between the weather and the game world events yet, snow and rain can last for upwards of 20+ weeks it seems and do not appear to be triggered by events in the game world… that I’ve been able to spot yet.
I want to like this game so much! I want to figure it out a lot. But I don’t want to keep being kicked as I jump at the gameplay.
Are you playing as a governor? If you haven't already I would advise that you try the adventurer role and see if that helps at all.
DeleteI've been playing this game for a few days, always as an influenced asexual adventurer aristocrat, my longest game reaching ~200 weeks, so far all my games have culminated in me losing my Refuge, and the only effect I've seen to my influence bar; is a miniscule loss towards the court side.
Judging from the explanatory text on the right side of the screen once you've started a game, the influence bar shouldn't move in your favor until you have a Dungeon/Fortress, which I assume is an upgrade to the Refuge. Adding Vaccean's earlier reply to this, my personal assessment would be that you are the victim of a vicious bug.
My hope is that my described experience of the game might bring you some comfort until Vaccean replies and/or your problem is resolved.
P.S I love the desperate and harsh tone in your wall of text that you generated due to this bug (yes I read it all), while I sympathize completely with the predicament you are in, I also find hilarity in the situation. No offense intended.
Imp, the time you took to write such a large report shows that you care about the game a lot, which is moving in a way. It is clear to me that you are not trying to convey any ill feeling towards me or the game so I'm not particularly upset about it.
DeleteI want you however to bear in mind that things are still settling down. I assure you I'm expending every hour of my free time fixing bugs, tweaking the game difficulty, and making it as accessible as possible for everyone.
I've addressed the weather effect already by making the text screen background more opaque and the bug that upset you should also be fixed in the next release. By now I even have a numerical display for the values of bars put in place.
I have a few other people's issues to address before the next release is ready though.
Thank you for all the work you're putting into this very unusual game! I look forward to seeing how it evolves :D
DeleteAnd thanks to you too, Scab, for your perspective, and glad to know you've gotten a character easily past what seems to be a stopping point in my games. I'll try again and see how it goes!
Just wanted to write a quick comment in regards to the font in the game. Yes I agree that it is hard to read. Currently I am running the mac version and just wanted to show you a quick comparison.
ReplyDeletehttp://i.imgur.com/KpSB6.png
If you notice the text on the left vs the text on the right is not very legible. The broken appearance of each letter makes it hard for the text to stand out which requires a lot more focus to read. The clean font on the right is better even though smaller.
Also context of ambient lighting makes it easier / harder to read. White on black is better in a darker area so playing the game during daytime ( at least for me ) causes a bit of eye strain.
Using a different font or maybe providing outlines around the current font could minimize these effects. Also adding a day / night mode ( ala kindle or other ebook readers ) would make it definitely a lot more palatable.
My two cents.
The big font is definitively going away, I'm almost done replacing it now for a much clearer one.
DeleteAre the day/night problems also present with the smaller font for you?
One thing that really stands out to me is the weather effects. Sometimes it'll start raining randomly, which makes the screen really hard to read. Maybe have the weather effects happen in the background, without covering up what's going on in the foreground?
ReplyDeleteYou mean the raindrops show up over text, maps and everything else? Because they are most definitively not supposed to, they appear in the background in my computer.
DeleteThey are in the foreground for me too, I believe. I'll screenshot and post to verify soon as I get weather again.
DeleteYeah, they appear in the foreground in mine too. I'll try to screenshot top if I see it again.
DeleteYou don't seem to have any contact details in ReadMe.txt so I'll post my bug report here. When starting Anamnesis121109-linux on Ubuntu Linux 12.04 64-bit I get the following:
ReplyDeleteTraceback (most recent call last):
File "/usr/local/games/Anamnesis/Anamnesis.py", line 144, in
main()
File "/usr/local/games/Anamnesis/Anamnesis.py", line 141, in main
renpy.bootstrap.bootstrap(renpy_base)
File "/data/local/games/Anamnesis/renpy/bootstrap.py", line 215, in bootstrap
renpy.import_all()
File "/data/local/games/Anamnesis/renpy/__init__.py", line 110, in import_all
import renpy.loadsave #@UnresolvedImport
File "/data/local/games/Anamnesis/renpy/loadsave.py", line 30, in
import zipfile
File "./install/lib/linux-x86_64/lib/python2.7/zipfile.py", line 6, in
File "./install/lib/linux-x86_64/lib/python2.7/io.py", line 60, in
ImportError: /usr/lib/python2.7/lib-dynload/_io.so: undefined symbol: PyUnicodeUCS4_EncodeUTF32
I'm looking into this but I can't make heads or tails of it so far. Is that all there is to the traceback? It seems awfully short.
DeleteIt looks like it might be a problem of the Ren'py engine, and if that's the case it won't depend on me to fix.
If it is, I'll forward it to the engine's developer. In such a case perhaps you could try using the windows version with Wine for now.
Apparently this one is cause by mixing libraries.
DeleteHave you tried running the .sh file? That might help.
Like the poster above, I have a bug report unrelated to your original blog post:
ReplyDeleteWhen I start the game, I get the following message to the terminal (Ubuntu 11.04):
Could not find platform dependent libraries <exec_prefix>
Consider setting $PYTHONHOME to [:<exec_prefix>]
... and a warning about drivers or something when I start the game.
If the game has sounds or music (I assume so from the preferences screen), they aren't playing on my system.
The game crashes immediately after I select full screen in the preferences menu with the following traceback:
Full traceback:
File "/home/colin/Games/Anamnesis121109-linux/renpy/execution.py", line 266, in run
node.execute()
File "/home/colin/Games/Anamnesis121109-linux/renpy/ast.py", line 646, in execute
renpy.python.py_exec_bytecode(self.code.bytecode, self.hide, store=self.store)
File "/home/colin/Games/Anamnesis121109-linux/renpy/python.py", line 1172, in py_exec_bytecode
exec bytecode in globals, locals
File "common/_layout/screen_main_menu.rpym", line 11, in
$ ui.interact()
File "/home/colin/Games/Anamnesis121109-linux/renpy/ui.py", line 237, in interact
rv = renpy.game.interface.interact(roll_forward=roll_forward, **kwargs)
File "/home/colin/Games/Anamnesis121109-linux/renpy/display/core.py", line 1813, in interact
repeat, rv = self.interact_core(preloads=preloads, **kwargs)
File "/home/colin/Games/Anamnesis121109-linux/renpy/display/core.py", line 2092, in interact_core
self.set_mode()
File "/home/colin/Games/Anamnesis121109-linux/renpy/display/core.py", line 1375, in set_mode
raise Exception("Could not set video mode.")
Exception: Could not set video mode.
While running game code:
Exception: Could not set video mode.
Full traceback:
File "/home/colin/Games/Anamnesis121109-linux/renpy/execution.py", line 266, in run
node.execute()
File "/home/colin/Games/Anamnesis121109-linux/renpy/ast.py", line 646, in execute
renpy.python.py_exec_bytecode(self.code.bytecode, self.hide, store=self.store)
File "/home/colin/Games/Anamnesis121109-linux/renpy/python.py", line 1172, in py_exec_bytecode
exec bytecode in globals, locals
File "common/00library.rpy", line 787, in
renpy.call_in_new_context("_main_menu")
File "/home/colin/Games/Anamnesis121109-linux/renpy/game.py", line 335, in call_in_new_context
context.run()
File "/home/colin/Games/Anamnesis121109-linux/renpy/execution.py", line 266, in run
node.execute()
File "/home/colin/Games/Anamnesis121109-linux/renpy/ast.py", line 646, in execute
renpy.python.py_exec_bytecode(self.code.bytecode, self.hide, store=self.store)
File "/home/colin/Games/Anamnesis121109-linux/renpy/python.py", line 1172, in py_exec_bytecode
exec bytecode in globals, locals
File "common/_layout/screen_main_menu.rpym", line 11, in
$ ui.interact()
File "/home/colin/Games/Anamnesis121109-linux/renpy/ui.py", line 237, in interact
rv = renpy.game.interface.interact(roll_forward=roll_forward, **kwargs)
File "/home/colin/Games/Anamnesis121109-linux/renpy/display/core.py", line 1813, in interact
repeat, rv = self.interact_core(preloads=preloads, **kwargs)
File "/home/colin/Games/Anamnesis121109-linux/renpy/display/core.py", line 2092, in interact_core
self.set_mode()
File "/home/colin/Games/Anamnesis121109-linux/renpy/display/core.py", line 1375, in set_mode
raise Exception("Could not set video mode.")
Exception: Could not set video mode.
While running game code:
Exception: Could not set video mode.
Output continues in next post.
In fact, the traceback just loops a couple more times:
DeleteFull traceback:
File "/home/colin/Games/Anamnesis121109-linux/renpy/bootstrap.py", line 228, in bootstrap
renpy.main.main()
File "/home/colin/Games/Anamnesis121109-linux/renpy/main.py", line 342, in main
run(restart)
File "/home/colin/Games/Anamnesis121109-linux/renpy/main.py", line 98, in run
game.context().run()
File "/home/colin/Games/Anamnesis121109-linux/renpy/execution.py", line 266, in run
node.execute()
File "/home/colin/Games/Anamnesis121109-linux/renpy/ast.py", line 646, in execute
renpy.python.py_exec_bytecode(self.code.bytecode, self.hide, store=self.store)
File "/home/colin/Games/Anamnesis121109-linux/renpy/python.py", line 1172, in py_exec_bytecode
exec bytecode in globals, locals
File "common/00library.rpy", line 787, in
renpy.call_in_new_context("_main_menu")
File "/home/colin/Games/Anamnesis121109-linux/renpy/game.py", line 335, in call_in_new_context
context.run()
File "/home/colin/Games/Anamnesis121109-linux/renpy/execution.py", line 266, in run
node.execute()
File "/home/colin/Games/Anamnesis121109-linux/renpy/ast.py", line 646, in execute
renpy.python.py_exec_bytecode(self.code.bytecode, self.hide, store=self.store)
File "/home/colin/Games/Anamnesis121109-linux/renpy/python.py", line 1172, in py_exec_bytecode
exec bytecode in globals, locals
File "common/_layout/screen_main_menu.rpym", line 11, in
$ ui.interact()
File "/home/colin/Games/Anamnesis121109-linux/renpy/ui.py", line 237, in interact
rv = renpy.game.interface.interact(roll_forward=roll_forward, **kwargs)
File "/home/colin/Games/Anamnesis121109-linux/renpy/display/core.py", line 1813, in interact
repeat, rv = self.interact_core(preloads=preloads, **kwargs)
File "/home/colin/Games/Anamnesis121109-linux/renpy/display/core.py", line 2092, in interact_core
self.set_mode()
File "/home/colin/Games/Anamnesis121109-linux/renpy/display/core.py", line 1375, in set_mode
raise Exception("Could not set video mode.")
Exception: Could not set video mode.
While running game code:
Exception: Could not set video mode.
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/usr/lib/python2.7/site.py", line 562, in
main()
File "/usr/lib/python2.7/site.py", line 544, in main
known_paths = addusersitepackages(known_paths)
File "/usr/lib/python2.7/site.py", line 271, in addusersitepackages
user_site = getusersitepackages()
File "/usr/lib/python2.7/site.py", line 246, in getusersitepackages
user_base = getuserbase() # this will also set USER_BASE
File "/usr/lib/python2.7/site.py", line 236, in getuserbase
USER_BASE = get_config_var('userbase')
File "/usr/lib/python2.7/sysconfig.py", line 558, in get_config_var
return get_config_vars().get(name)
File "/usr/lib/python2.7/sysconfig.py", line 457, in get_config_vars
_init_posix(_CONFIG_VARS)
File "/usr/lib/python2.7/sysconfig.py", line 303, in _init_posix
makefile = _get_makefile_filename()
File "/usr/lib/python2.7/sysconfig.py", line 297, in _get_makefile_filename
return os.path.join(get_path('platstdlib').replace("/usr/local","/usr",1), "config" + (sys.pydebug and "_d" or ""), "Makefile")
AttributeError: 'module' object has no attribute 'pydebug'
Any suggestions on how I could get sound and fullscreen working?
The good news is, there is no sound yet, I just left those options there as placeholders.
DeleteThe bad news is, the fullscreen crash seems to come from the Ren'py engine too.
Unfortunately, the only thing I can do for now is notify the creator and wait.
Thanks. I'll download the new version and have a play. Looking forwards to it :)
DeleteI'm sorry but not even the Ren'Py creator could find the problem, apparently it involves the system python rather than the Ren'Py engine.
DeleteI have exhausted all my available resources on this now.