Use natural-sounding AI voices in Ren'Py visual novels on Linux, powered by Piper TTS.

Ren'Py's built-in self-voicing feature uses espeak to read dialogue aloud. This project replaces it with a wrapper script that silently redirects speech synthesis to Piper — a fast, local neural TTS engine — while staying fully compatible with Ren'Py's existing self-voicing system.

📖 Also available as a Reddit guide on r/RenPy

• 🔊 High-quality neural TTS voices (local, no internet required after setup)
• 🎮 Works transparently with Ren'Py's self-voicing (V key)
• 🔇 Filters out system messages (Self-voicing enabled, Skipping:, etc.)
• 🌍 Supports multiple English voice models (US and UK accents)
• ⏭️ Optional auto-advance: press Space automatically after each line (requires xdotool)
• 🔄 Switch voices by changing one variable in the script

• Linux (x86_64)
• Python 3.9 or later: sudo apt install python3
• aplay (ALSA/PulseAudio): sudo apt install alsa-utils
• (Optional) xdotool for auto-skip: sudo apt install xdotool

# 1. Install piper-tts (Python package)
pip install --user piper-tts

# 2. Create the model directory
mkdir -p $HOME/.local/share/piper/models

# 3. Download a voice model (UK English female)
python3 -m piper.download_voices en_GB-jenny_dioco-medium \
    --data-dir $HOME/.local/share/piper/models

# 4. Install the espeak wrapper
mkdir -p $HOME/.local/share/piper/scripts
cp piper_espeak_wrapper.sh $HOME/.local/share/piper/scripts/espeak
chmod +x $HOME/.local/share/piper/scripts/espeak
ln -sf $HOME/.local/share/piper/scripts/espeak $HOME/.local/bin/espeak

# 5. Test
espeak "Piper installation complete."

$HOME/.local/bin is included in PATH by default on most modern Linux distributions (Ubuntu 21.04+, Fedora, Arch, etc.). If espeak is not found, add it to your shell profile: export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"

See install.sh for the full annotated script, and guide.txt for step-by-step instructions.

1. Launch your Ren'Py game
2. Press V to enable self-voicing
3. Piper will now speak each line of dialogue using your selected voice model

Edit the MODEL variable at the top of $HOME/.local/share/piper/scripts/espeak:

# Available models (uncomment one):
#MODEL=en_GB-cori-high
#MODEL=en_GB-alba-medium
MODEL=en_GB-jenny_dioco-medium
#MODEL=en_GB-semaine-medium
#MODEL=en_US-hfc_female-medium
#MODEL=en_US-amy-medium

Browse all available voices at: https://rhasspy.github.io/piper-samples/

Download additional voices with:

python3 -m piper.download_voices                                      # list all voices
python3 -m piper.download_voices en_US-lessac-medium \
    --data-dir $HOME/.local/share/piper/models

The wrapper can automatically press Space after each line finishes speaking, mimicking Ren'Py's auto mode while self-voicing is active.

# Install xdotool
sudo apt install xdotool

# Launch Ren'Py with auto-skip enabled
RENPY_MODE=1 ./your_game

Ren'Py calls espeak -v <voice> -a <amp> <text> when self-voicing is active. This wrapper script:

1. Parses the arguments (ignoring -v and -a options)
2. Cleans up the text (removes unicode special characters Piper can't handle)
3. Filters out Ren'Py system messages
4. Kills any previously playing audio to prevent overlap
5. Pipes the text to piper → aplay for immediate playback

No audio output:

• Verify aplay works: aplay /usr/share/sounds/alsa/Front_Left.wav
• Try changing aplay -D pulse to just aplay in the script
• Check that $HOME/.local/bin is in your $PATH: echo $PATH

espeak command not found:

• Verify the symlink: ls -la $HOME/.local/bin/espeak
• Manually add to PATH: export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"

Piper binary not found:

• Check: ls $HOME/.local/share/piper/piper
• Re-extract the archive if missing

This wrapper script is released into the public domain. Piper TTS is licensed under the MIT License.