discussion Other Simple Wine Launcher for Ren’Py Games on Linux for games with broken .sh

[llimdull]

Overview:
This script helps Linux users launch Ren’Py games when the provided .sh file does not work. It automatically looks for the game’s .exe file in the same folder and starts it with Wine, making it easier to run the game on Linux systems.

Updated: June 27, 2026
Game/Creator: Ren’Py / Any compatible Ren’Py game
Modder: llimdull
Mod Version: 1.0
Game Version: Any Linux based system with Bash and Wine
Language: N/A

Spoiler: Features

- Automatically searches for the .exe file in the game folder.
- Ignores files ending in -32.exe. (some games have double .exe for 64 and 32 bit versions, and nobody really uses 32 anymore, so it knows to use the 64 bit .exe)
- Checks for Wine before launching.
- Shows an error if no valid .exe file is found.
- Shows an error if more than one matching .exe file is found.

Spoiler: Installation

1. Place the script in the same folder as the game’s .exe file.
2. Make sure Wine is installed on your Linux system.
3. Run the script from the terminal or file manager.
4. The script will find the correct .exe and launch it through Wine.

Spoiler: Change-Log

- Initial release.

 

[llimdull]

The Story about that script is that it feels like 25% of games have a broken .sh, and i was lazy and i am "terminal lazy" xD so i made a script that i can copy in the folder where the game .exe is, make it executable (you can make it executable beforehand and save it in any place you want and copy it to every game with a broken .sh) and now i can click on it to start the game in wine without any extra wine stuff to make a .exe executable on my system.

I should work on every linux system with Bash and ofc Wine.

I know i can make .exe global executable on click and there are many other workarounds to that (link just using "wine xyz.exe" in terminal) but i prefer to have a clickable item in the folder of the game to launch it without making every .exe on my system a wine executable.

If you have a better Workaround for that problem pls share

Post automatically merged: Today at 12:25 AM

I needed to zip that file because sharing a .sh is not allowed here

You must be registered to see attachments

Post automatically merged: Today at 12:26 AM

Spoiler: Code

#!/usr/bin/env bash

SCRIPT_DIR="$(cd "$(dirname "$0")" && pwd)"
echo "Script folder: $SCRIPT_DIR"

mapfile -t EXE_FILES < <(find "$SCRIPT_DIR" -maxdepth 1 -type f -name "*.exe" ! -name "*-32.exe" -print)

if [ "${#EXE_FILES[@]}" -eq 0 ]; then
echo "Error: No matching .exe file (without -32) found in the folder!"
exit 1
elif [ "${#EXE_FILES[@]}" -gt 1 ]; then
echo "Error: More than one .exe file (without -32) found in the folder!"
printf '%s\n' "${EXE_FILES[@]}"
exit 1
fi

if ! command -v wine >/dev/null 2>&1; then
echo "Error: wine is not installed or not in PATH!"
exit 1
fi

echo "Starting: wine ${EXE_FILES[0]}"
wine "${EXE_FILES[0]}"

 

[pgm_01]

I find most of the time when the script doesn't work, executable permissions were stripped from the sh file and the game executable in the lib folder for linux. In KDE, I just have to right-click those files and make them executable and the games load.