Ren’Py Image Paths Explained

~Meowww, my dear code adventurers! 💌🐾(˶^ ᵕ ^˶)✨🩵 ~Mia here! Today I’ve prepared a clear, visual Ren’Py poll correction to show where your scene images really belong so everything loads perfectly, nyaa! If you want to join this poll (and future ones) for free, visit the adorable Community tab on my YouTube channel — you’ll also see the latest news from my meow channel, nyaa! 

🍪/ᐠ - ˕ •マ✨🎬 ~My YouTube channel:  

https://www.youtube.com/@MiaCodeExpedition/posts

Don’t hesitate to follow and leave a comment — it’s 100% free and means a lot to me, meoww! ~Your meoww feedback gives me extra meow-energy and shapes our next quests, nyaa! 

Summary:

Part I — Ren'Py poll correction

Part II — Ren'Py Images Tutorial

~All right, let’s dive in and put the right assets in the right folders together, nyaa! 

Part I — Ren'Py poll correction:

☕(=^･^=)✅ ~Meowww! Let’s start with the correct solution, nyaa!

Answer: B) game/images/.

Put new scene assets like backgrounds, characters, CGs in this meoww folder sooo Ren’Py auto-loads them by filename. 

📒(=^･^=)⚙️ ~Why game/gui is wrong for scene art, nyaa?

The images directory under /game/ is where Ren’Py auto-defines images by filename (subfolders included). Use game/images/ 

The GUI images (main menu, game menu, window icon, etc.) live in game/gui/ — that’s the interface skin, not scene sprites/backgrounds, nyaaa. 

Summary: 

UI assets: /game/gui/ 

Scene images: /game/images/

🗃️(=^･^=)🛠️ ~Why Project root is incorrect, nyaa?

Ren’Py looks for scene images in the images directory under /game/ and auto-defines them from the filename. If you leave files in the project root, they won’t be found and auto-loaded. 

In Ren’Py, file paths are (~with rare meoww exceptions) relative to the /game/ directory. Keeping assets outside /game/ (like in the root) breaks those nyaaa-paths. 

Keep it meoww tidy: store assets inside /game/ in coherent folders (e.g: game/images/, game/audio/) so they’re correctly picked up and packaged. 

🔍(=^･^=)❓ ~Why Outside /game is incorrect, nyaa!

Ren’Py auto-defines meoww image names only from the images directory under /game/. Files outside /game won’t be auto-loaded as images. 

When building a distribution, Ren’Py classifies and packages files inside the game/ folder, assets outside /game aren’t included by default. 

Paths you reference in meoww code are relative to the /game/ folder, putting assets elsewhere breaks those nyaaa-paths. 

🔦- ˕ •マ💡 ~Keep it safe: put meoww art in game/images/ (and audio in game/audio/, etc.) sooo nothing from your meowwsterpiece is missing at build time.

Part II — Ren'Py Images Tutorial

~Meoww! Now that the correction is done, let’s add images and display them in Ren’Py, nyaa! Five quick steps.

📂(=^･^=)☎️ 1) Open the right folder

~Why this matters: Ren’Py only auto-defines images that live under /game/images/. Opening this folder gets you to the exact place Ren’Py scans. 

Avoid: don’t use game/gui/ for scene art, that’s UI skin only, nyaa.

📦(=^･^=)🖼️ 2) Place your scene images

~What to place here: backgrounds, character sprites and anything you’ll meoww scene or show

📜(=^･^=)⏳ 3) Open your nyaa-script

~Why script.rpy: it’s your meoww game’s main script, nyaaa!

🖌️(=^･^=)⚙️ 4) A bit of Ren'Py nyaaa-code!

scene bg_outdoor: clears screen and sets the background.

show mia_happy at center: show the meoww sprite at center

hide mia_happy: hide the meoww sprite.

~Meoww, you can use this snippet code for your meoww project, nyaaa! Remember to replace your_background_name with the name of your image background and your_character_name with the name of your meoww character image without the nyaa-extension (png, jpg...)!

label start:     
    scene your_background_name     
    show your_character_name at center     
    "~It works, nyaaa!"     
    hide your_character_name     
    return

🐾(=^･^=)💓 5) that’s all for today folks, nyaaa!

~Meowww, now you can run the game, you should see the background then the sprite.

If it fails, check the meowww file is in game/images/, verify the name and relaunch Ren’Py, nyaaa.

~Thanks for following this mini Ren’Py poll-correction guide, nyaa! 

If you enjoyed it, follow me for free on YouTube and on socials media (X, Itchio, Discord) to join the next polls and catch future updates, nyaa!

~Don't hesitate to write me anytime if you need anything, nyaaa!

~Love you, and have a meow-blessed day!

📖✨(≧◡≦)💖🌟 ~Mia