relative path for image.load()

Paths can be tricky in Python. There are many different ways to launch a py file making the "current working directory" different in each case. You can use os.getcwd() to see what your cwd really is.

So most people recommend using absolute paths. Here is the accepted cross-platform way to get the absolute path of the py file that is currently being executed. I know it looks a bit convoluted but once you get the correct value just store it like I do here in the mypath variable:

mypath = os.path.dirname( os.path.realpath( __file__ ) )pygame.image.load( os.path.join(mypath, 'ship.jpg') )

...from here just use mypath (don't need to recalculate it every time).
I hope this works for you.

The simplest solution is to just store your art in the same directory as your py script, and use a relative path to load it.

Quote:

Original post by doctorsixstring The simplest solution is to just store your art in the same directory as your py script, and use a relative path to load it.

Right, but this only works if your script is run from the same directory it resides in. While this tends to be the case on Windows or Linux, on a Mac it is only the case if you explicitly run the script from the command line (double clicking the script from the Finder will give you odd working directories).

Wow, you learn something every day. Hollower's comments make more sense now. I'll keep that in mind, since I want to support Mac with my Python game development, which has so far been limited to Windows and Linux.

Alright, I have several files to load though. So if I do

image.load(os.path.join(os.path.realpath(filename)), "filename")

it should be relative no matter where I distribute my file. This game is for a class. I need to upload the file to my class website, so this why the paths are crucial.

Awesome, it worked, thank you guys, that should do it.

Quote:

Original post by doctorsixstring Wow, you learn something every day. Hollower's comments make more sense now. I'll keep that in mind, since I want to support Mac with my Python game development, which has so far been limited to Windows and Linux.

Pyglet recently added a resource module, which handles figuring out file names across platforms and packaging systems (py2app, py2exe, etc.). Even if you aren't using Pyglet, worth a look to see how it is dealt with.