EN Install Troubleshooting

Install troubleshooting

Français · Type: troubleshooting · Audience: author, contributor · Context: engine repository, created project · Status: ready · Applies from: 4.3.0

What goes wrong while installing the engine, creating a project or checking a machine, from what you see to the fix. Each section says where it happens: in a created project or in the engine repository.

doctor fails in a created project

Symptom. In a created project, npx quest-n-click doctor prints no report and stops with:

Error [ERR_MODULE_NOT_FOUND]: Cannot find package 'playwright' imported from …/node_modules/quest-n-click/tools/doctor.ts

Cause. doctor imports Playwright to locate the browsers. The engine package leaves Playwright out of its dependencies (scripts/pack.mjs: tests and Playwright stay out), so a created project never has it. Observed on 23 Oct 2026 with a project created from the v4.4.0 archive; main has the same code. Your project is not broken: nothing else in it uses Playwright.

Fix. Either give doctor what it imports, or check the prerequisites by hand.

1. In the created project, install Playwright as a development dependency, at the engine repository's range:

   # in the created project
   npm install --save-dev playwright@^1.64.1

2. doctor requires Chromium, though a created project never opens it. If it says ✖ Playwright Chromium: browser binary missing, install it:

   # in the created project
   npx playwright install chromium

3. Run doctor again:

   # in the created project
   npx quest-n-click doctor

   It ends with Development, asset and browser-test prerequisites are ready., or names what is missing.

4. Or, instead of steps 1 to 3, check by hand what a created project needs:

   # in the created project
   node --version                               # v22.12.0 or newer (22.13 for the local Studio)
   python3 -c "import PIL, numpy, scipy"        # no output: the art tools will run
   ffmpeg -version                              # only if the game has sounds or videos

Limit · doctor-created-project-workaround The workaround adds Playwright, and a browser if doctor asks for one, to a project that does not otherwise use them. Remove them afterwards with npm uninstall playwright and npx playwright uninstall --all if you prefer.

npm install answers 404

Symptom. npm error 404 Not Found - GET https://registry.npmjs.org/quest-n-click - Not found, at npm install in a created project, or at npx create-quest-n-click.

Cause. The engine is not on npm (checked on 23 Oct 2026). A project created without --engine=<archive URL> depends on ^<version>, which npm looks up in the registry.

Fix. In the created project, install the archive: npm install https://github.com/wanoo/quest-n-click/releases/download/v<version>/quest-n-click-<version>.tgz. For a new project, pass --engine=$T: Install from the release archive.

Node is too old

Symptom. npm warn EBADENGINE Unsupported engine at install, then errors from Vite or the tools; or, from 4.2.1, the local Studio or a writing tool (ids, i18n, voices, import-layout, provenance) stops on node:sqlite.

Cause. The engine needs Node 22.12; the Studio and the writing tools need 22.13, where node:sqlite is available without a flag. doctor does not catch this: it checks only the major version.

Fix. Install Node 22.13 or newer (nvm install 22), then node --version.

The art tools cannot import Pillow, NumPy or SciPy

Symptom. npm run assets or tools/cut-sheet.py stops on ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'PIL' (or numpy, scipy); doctor says ○ Python image modules: Pillow, NumPy and/or SciPy missing (optional).

Cause. The modules are not installed for the python3 the tools run.

Fix. In the engine repository, python3 -m pip install -r requirements.txt; in a created project, python3 -m pip install -r node_modules/quest-n-click/requirements.txt. If pip answers error: externally-managed-environment (a system Python, PEP 668), create a virtual environment first (python3 -m venv .venv && . .venv/bin/activate); in a created project, PYTHON=.venv/bin/python npm run assets then uses it.

doctor says Chromium is missing

Symptom. ✖ Playwright Chromium: browser binary missing, then 1 prerequisite missing., exit code 1.

Cause. In the engine repository, npx playwright install chromium was not run (or ran for another Playwright version, after a dependency update).

Fix. In the engine repository, npx playwright install chromium. A missing Firefox or WebKit is optional (○) and does not fail doctor.

No sound in the prepared assets

Symptom. doctor shows ○ ffmpeg: not found (optional); npm run assets stops when it reaches a sound or a video.

Cause. assets converts music, sound effects and videos with ffmpeg.

Fix. Install ffmpeg (brew install ffmpeg, or your system's package). npm run doctor -- --release requires it.

create refuses the folder

Symptom. my-game exists and is not empty.

Cause. create never writes into a folder that holds files.

Fix. Give another folder name, or empty that one.

An import of web-scumm/… no longer resolves

Symptom. After installing 4.3.0 or later, the game does not build: an import of web-scumm/content (or another web-scumm/…) is not found; npx web-scumm is not a command.

Cause. The former name's aliases were removed in 4.3.0.

Fix. In the created project, npx quest-n-click migrate, then npm install: Coming from web-scumm.

npm run audio -- setup stops on Windows

Symptom. mdpipe: install Furnace 0.6.8.3 yourself on Windows and put its executable in ….

Cause. The pipeline downloads Furnace on macOS and Linux only.

Fix. Install Furnace 0.6.8.3 yourself, then put its executable in tools/audio/.furnace/ or name it with FURNACE_BIN: Audio toolchain.

Neighbouring cases

• The Reality Bridge has its own doctor (npx quest-n-click-bridge doctor), about its journal and store, not about your machine: Bridge and connector troubleshooting.
• A game that installs but does not play as expected: Player troubleshooting.
• A deployment that fails: Deployment issues; a hosted Studio: Clever troubleshooting.

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