Building

In order to embed a Scratch project in the executable, you'll need to compile the source code.

Docker

The recommended way to compile Scratch Everywhere! is with Docker. It does most of the heavy lifting for you! Look at our Building with Docker section for more info.

If you would rather compile manually, continue reading for how to do it.

NOTE

Due to how complicated the environment for building the PS4 version of SE! is, we do not provide instructions for compiling it manually. Please use Docker instead, it will save you many headaches.

Change App Information

If you would like to change the name of the app or any other information, you can do so with the following compile flags (see the section below):

• SE_APP_NAME: The name of the app.
• SE_APP_DESCRIPTION: The description of the app.
• SE_APP_AUTHOR: The author of the app.
• SE_APP_VERSION: The version of the app.
• SE_APP_TITLEID: The title ID of the app. Only applies to Vita and PS4.

Images for the various banners and icons can be found in gfx/.

NOTE

If you're going to use custom LiveArea images on Vita, you must run them through pngquant (install with your package manager) with --posterize set to 4 first before packaging.

Dependencies

If you are compiling with cloud variables, you will need to have DevkitPro's SDKs and Mist++ installed.

• For PC, the only thing you need is cmake, as all other dependencies will be automatically downloaded. However, if you'd like to manually install them, you'll need SDL2, SDL2_ttf, SDL2_gfx, lunasvg, stb_image (stb), and libcurl (curl) from your package manager.

  NOTE

  On Arch Linux, lunasvg is not in the official package repos. You will need to use the AUR or let SE! automatically download and build it from source.

• For the 3DS, you will need the DevkitARM toolchain, libctru, bannertool, and makerom.

  • If you want to compile with audio support, you will also need a 3DS compiled version of SDL3. See the Nightly Build commands for a reference on how to compile SDL3 3DS for yourself.

• For the Wii U, you will need the DevkitPPC toolchain, WUT, and the following SDL2-wiiu libraries:

  • SDL2
  • sdl2_ttf

• For the Wii, you need the DevkitPPC toolchain, libogc, and the following SDL2-wii libraries:

  • SDL2
  • sdl2_ttf

• For the GameCube, you need the DevkitPPC toolchain, libogc, and the following SDL2-gamecube libraries:

  • SDL2
  • sdl2_ttf

• For the Switch, you need the DevkitA64 toolchain, libnx, and the following SDL2-switch libraries:

  • SDL2
  • sdl2_ttf

• For the Vita, all you need is the vitasdk toolchain. It includes every SDL2 thing you might need.

• For the PSP, all you need is the PSPSDK toolchain. It includes every SDL2 thing you might need.

• For webOS, all you need is the webosbrew Native SDK installed to your home directory and ares-cli.

NOTE

DevkitPro's install instructions are available at: https://devkitpro.org/wiki/Getting_Started

Download the source code from the Releases tab and unzip it.

Embedding a Scratch Project (optional)

Make a romfs folder inside the unzipped source code and put the Scratch project inside of that.

• The Scratch project MUST be named project.sb3, all lowercase.
• For faster load times/less limitations, you can also unzip the sb3 project file and put the contents into a new folder called project.

Compile Commands

Then you need to compile the projects into proper Homebrew packages. This is done with cmake, though the exact commands differ between platforms:

• For Windows, you need to run cmake -B build-windows && cmake --build build-windows.
• For macOS, you need to run cmake -B build-macOS && cmake --build build-macOS.
• For Linux, you need to run cmake -B build-linux && cmake --build build-linux.
• For the 3DS, you need to run $DEVKITPRO/portlibs/3ds/bin/arm-none-eabi-cmake -B build-3ds -DSE_MAKEROM=/path/to/makerom -DSE_BANNERTOOL=/path/to/bannertool && cmake --build build-3ds. Replace /path/to/makerom and /path/to/bannertool with the actual paths to the executables.
• For the Wii U, you need to run $DEVKITPRO/portlibs/wiiu/bin/powerpc-eabi-cmake -B build-wiiu && cmake --build build-wiiu && cmake --build build-wiiu --target package_wiiu.
• For the Wii, you need to run $DEVKITPRO/portlibs/wii/bin/powerpc-eabi-cmake -B build-wii && cmake --build build-wii.
• For the GameCube, you need to run $DEVKITPRO/libogc2/gamecube/bin/powerpc-eabi-cmake -B build-gamecube && cmake --build build-gamecube.
• For the Switch, you need to run cmake -DCMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE=$DEVKITPRO/cmake/Switch.cmake -B build/switch && cmake --build build/switch.
• For the Vita, you need to run cmake -DCMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE=$VITASDK/share/vita.toolchain.cmake -B build/vita && cmake --build build/vita.
• For the PSP, you need to run psp-cmake -B build/psp -S . -DSE_SYSTEM=ON -DSE_CLOUDVARS=OFF && make -C build/psp.
• For webOS, you need to run cmake -B build/webos -S . -DCMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE="~/arm-webos-linux-gnueabi_sdk-buildroot/share/buildroot/toolchainfile.cmake" -DSE_CLOUDVARS=OFF -DWEBOS=ON -DSE_RENDERER=sdl2 && make -C build/webos all package.

  NOTE

  webOS requires the WEBOS=ON flag. It will not compile without it.

• For libretro, you need to run mkdir build && cd build && cmake .. -DLIBRETRO=ON && cmake --build ..

  NOTE

  Creating the build directory and using the LIBRETRO=ON flag is required for libretro builds.

Final Packages

The final packages are found in the build-<platform> folder and can be installed in the same way as the official releases (see the installation guide).

Compilation Flags

Compilation flags are used to select which features will be enabled in the compiled version of Scratch Everywhere!. To use a compilation flag simply add it to the end of the cmake configure command (e.g. cmake -B build -DSE_LOADSCREEN=OFF).

SE_APP_AUTHOR

The author or developer of the outputted app. Defaults to "Scratch Everywhere! Contributors".

SE_APP_DESCRIPTION

The description of the outputted app. Defaults to "Play Scratch games on anything!".

SE_APP_TITLEID

The title ID of the outputted app (only applies to Vita and PS4). Defaults to "NTXS00053" on Vita and "NTXS10053" on PS4.

SE_APP_VERSION

The version of the outputted app. Defaults to the current SE! version.

SE_APP_NAME

The name of the outputted app. Defaults to "Scratch Everywhere!".

SE_AUDIO

Whether or not audio is enabled. Defaults to ON.

SE_AUDIO_ENGINE

The audio backend to be used. Can be one of sdl2, sdl1, sdl3, nds, libretro, or headless.

Supported Audio Engines

Platform	sdl1	sdl2	sdl3	nds	libretro	headless
PC	✅	✅	✅	❌	❌	✅
3DS	❌	✅	✅	❌	❌	✅
DS	❌	❌	❌	✅	❌	✅
Wii U	❌	✅	❌	❌	❌	✅
Wii	✅	✅	❌	❌	❌	✅
GameCube	❌	✅	❌	❌	❌	✅
Switch	❌	✅	❌	❌	❌	✅
Vita	❌	✅	✅	❌	❌	✅
PSP	❌	✅	❌	❌	❌	✅
PS4	❌	✅	❌	❌	❌	✅
webOS	❌	✅	❌	❌	❌	✅
Libretro	❌	❌	❌	❌	✅	❌

The default value depends on the renderer being used (see below):

• sdl1: sdl1
• sdl2: sdl2
• sdl3: sdl3
• opengl: sdl2
• gl-core: sdl2
• citro2d: sdl3
• gl2d: nds
• headless: headless

Libretro will always use the libretro audio engine.

SE_BANNERTOOL

The path to the bannertool executable. Only relevant on 3DS.

SE_BITMAP

Whether or not bitmap images are supported. Defaults to ON.

SE_CACHING

Whether or not to cache pointers in Block, Monitor, and ParsedInput structs. This improves performance, but causes slightly longer load times and more RAM usage. Defaults to ON.

SE_CLOUDVARS

Whether or not cloud variables are supported. If set to OFF, cloud variables are treated like normal variables.

If your project doesn't use cloud variables, it is recommended to leave this turned off. If you run into errors while building, try turning this off and see if it fixes the errors.

Defaults to ON on all supported platforms.

SE_DECTALK

Whether or not to allow using DECtalk for text-to-speech. If set to OFF, DECtalk options will not be available.

Defaults to ON on PC, Switch, Vita, and Wii U.

SE_DECTALK_DEFAULT

Whether or not to use DECtalk for text-to-speech by default. Also turns SE_DECTALK=ON. Defaults to ON on Switch, Vita, and Wii U.

SE_DEPS

Determines which mode the dependency loading system will use. Can be one of the following:

• source: Dependencies are forced to be built from source.
• system: Dependencies are forced to be loaded from the system.
• fallback: Dependencies are sourced from the system if possible, otherwise they are built from source.

The allowed modes depend on the platform you are building for:

Supported Dependency Modes

Platform	source	system	fallback
PC	✅	✅	✅
3DS	❌	✅	✅
DS	❌	✅	✅
Wii U	❌	✅	✅
Wii	✅	✅	✅
GameCube	❌	✅	✅
Switch	❌	✅	✅
Vita	❌	✅	✅
PSP	❌	✅	✅
PS4	❌	✅	✅
webOS	❌	❌	✅
Libretro	✅	✅	✅

SE_DOWNLOAD

Whether or not to allow downloading files. Currently, this is only used for Text-to-Speech blocks. Defaults to ON on all supported platforms.

SE_INSPECTOR

Whether or not the runtime inspector is enabled. Defaults to ON.

SE_LOADSCREEN

Whether or not to show the leading screen while loading a project. If set to OFF, the screen will simply be black while loading.

This option crashes on Wii and GameCube when trying to load large projects.

Defaults to ON on every platform except Libretro.

SE_MAKEROM

The path to the makerom executable. Only relevant on 3DS.

SE_MENU

Whether or not the main menu will appear. Defaults to ON on every platform except Libretro.

SE_OUTPUT_NAME

The file name given to the final executable file. The default depends on the target platform.

SE_RAM

The amount of RAM that will be available to SE!, in MB. Only on 3DS. Defaults to 72.

SE_RENDERER

The renderer backend to be used. Can be one of sdl1, sdl2, sdl3, opengl, gl-core, citro2d, gl2d, or headless.

Supported Renderers

Platform	sdl1	sdl2	sdl3	opengl	gl-core	citro2d	gl2d	headless
PC	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	❌	❌
3DS	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	✅	❌	✅
DS	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	✅	✅
Wii U	❌	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	✅
Wii	✅	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	✅
GameCube	❌	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	✅
Switch	❌	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	✅
Vita	❌	✅	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌	✅
PSP	❌	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	✅
PS4	❌	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	✅
webOS	❌	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	✅
Libretro	❌	❌	❌	✅	✅	❌	❌	❌

Defaults to citro2d on 3DS, gl2d on NDS, gl-core on PC and Libretro, and sdl2 on everything else.

SE_SVG

Determines whether or not vector (SVG) images are supported. Defaults to ON.

SE_WINDOWING

The windowing backend to be used. Can be one of sdl1, sdl2, sdl3, glfw, 3ds, nds, libretro, or headless.

Supported Windowing Backends

Renderer	sdl1	sdl2	sdl3	glfw	3ds	nds	libretro	headless
sdl1	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌
sdl2	❌	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌
sdl3	❌	❌	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌
opengl	✅	✅	✅	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌
gl-core	✅	✅	✅	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌
citro2d	❌	❌	❌	❌	✅	❌	❌	❌
gl2d	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	✅	❌	❌
headless	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	✅

SE! prioritizes windowing backends in the following order: glfw, sdl3, sdl2, sdl1, 3ds, nds, headless, and finally libretro. It will pick the first backend in that order that is supported by the chosen renderer, unless the windowing backend is manually set. Libretro will always use the libretro windowing backend.