#Releasing to Steam

RenMori protects an already built Ren'Py distribution build. Publishing to Steam takes three ordered steps, and the order matters:

Ren'Py launcher: Build Distributions   →   renmori protect   →   SteamPipe upload
   (from your project source)              (encrypt game/)        (upload the folder)

This guide uses the Ren'Py SDK sample project the_question and its market build as the example, because that build contains all three platforms.

#Which build to upload

The Ren'Py launcher can produce the following builds:

• pc: Windows and Linux
• mac: macOS
• market: one universal package with Windows (.exe), macOS (.app) and Linux (.sh) launchers sharing a single game/

Both patterns work on Steam:

RenMori's protection is platform-agnostic: the renmori.rpe loader runs inside Ren'Py's own bundled Python on each operating system. As a result, one protect run on the market build covers Windows, macOS and Linux at once.

#Step 1: Protect

Extract the launcher's market archive to a folder (RenMori takes a directory, not a .zip), then run:

renmori protect ./the_question-7.0-market -o ./the_question-7.0-market-protected
renmori verify  ./the_question-7.0-market-protected

Only game/ changes; the per-platform launchers are untouched:

the_question-7.0-market-protected/
├─ game/
│   ├─ renmori.rmc        # all assets, encrypted
│   ├─ renmori.rpe        # runtime loader (Ren'Py loads it automatically)
│   └─ steam_appid.txt    # kept as plaintext (the Steam SDK reads it directly)
├─ lib/                   # untouched — per-platform Python runtimes
├─ renpy/                 # untouched
├─ the_question.app/      # untouched — macOS launcher
├─ the_question.exe       # untouched — Windows launcher
├─ the_question.py
├─ the_question.sh        # untouched — Linux launcher
└─ renmori-manifest.json

The plaintext .rpa archives and .rpyc files that were under game/ are gone, leaving unrpa and unrpyc nothing to work with.

#Step 2: Upload with SteamPipe

Steam does not accept a single file. A build is the contents of a folder, uploaded to a depot with SteamPipe. Therefore:

• Do not upload the .zip
• Do not upload only renmori.rmc
• Do point the depot's contentroot at the protected folder and let SteamPipe upload everything in it (game/, lib/, renpy/ and the launchers)

app_build_<APPID>.vdf:

"appbuild"
{
  "appid"       "YOUR_APPID"
  "desc"        "the_question 1.0 (renmori protected)"
  "buildoutput" "D:\steam\output\"
  "contentroot" "D:\dists\the_question-7.0-market-protected\"
  "setlive"     ""          // upload only; set the live branch in the web UI
  "depots"
  {
    "YOUR_DEPOTID"
    {
      "FileMapping" { "LocalPath" "*"  "DepotPath" "."  "recursive" "1" }
    }
  }
}

steamcmd +login YOUR_ACCOUNT +run_app_build "D:\steam\app_build_YOUR_APPID.vdf" +quit

The Steamworks SteamPipe GUI performs the same operation; point it at the protected folder.

For per-platform depots, protect each platform build separately and give each its own depot with its own contentroot.

#Step 3: Launch options

In the Steamworks web interface (Installation → General Installation → Launch Options), set one launch option per operating system, each pointing at the corresponding launcher inside the build:

The launcher boots Ren'Py, and renmori.rpe then takes over asset loading and decrypts assets in memory. The process is transparent to players.

#Steam compatibility notes

• Do not add Steam DRM on top (the DRMToolkit executable wrapper): it rewrites the launcher binary, can conflict with runtime self-checks, and is weak on its own, whereas RenMori already protects the data layer
• The Steam overlay works normally: RenMori only hooks Ren'Py's file loading and never performs process or DLL injection, so the overlay is unaffected
• Achievements and Cloud save data go through Ren'Py's Python API and are unaffected; renmori.rmc is a static file, so Steam's file verification and delta updates work normally
• steam_appid.txt is read by the Steam SDK directly, outside renpy.loader, so RenMori keeps it as plaintext by default (DEFAULT_KEEP_ON_DISK); keeping it in the distribution build is harmless, and other externally read files can be added through keep_on_disk in renmori.toml (see Configuration)

#Checklist

• Built from source in the Ren'Py launcher (Build Distributions)
• Ran renmori protect on the extracted build folder
• renmori verify passed
• SteamPipe contentroot points at the protected folder, not a .zip
• Launch options set per operating system (the_question.exe / .sh / .app)
• No Steam DRM wrapper applied
• Did not re-run the launcher on the protected folder