Python’s ImportError (ModuleNotFoundError) indicates that you tried to import a module that Python doesn’t find. It can usually be eliminated by adding a file named __init__.py to the directory and then adding this directory to $PYTHONPATH. If this file (__init__.py) is in the folder, change the position of the import in the file that is being imported from top to bottom.

Why does Python ImportError Occur?

An ImportError is detected when Python has problems with a successful module import. Usually this problem is caused by the incorrect path and is usually displayed with the message that there is “No module named (…)” or “cannot import name (…)”.

You can see an interactive example in our online browser project:

Exercise: Try to fix the error message by following the hint in the comment!

So what can we do with this error?

Creating Local Package

If the ImportError is raised (ImportError: No module named (…)), when you import your own script, you need to check if the script you want to import has a file named __init__.py in its directory, if it does not, then you need to create it, because files named __init__.py are used to mark directories on the disk as directories of Python packages, and directories without such file are ignored.

To add this file simply create a text document named __init__ in your folder and change its extension to .py => __init__.py.

Note: Remember that the __init__.py file cannot have any other characters in its name!!!

Adding Your Package To Path

When you want to add your module to the path permanently, you need to find the path to the site-packages folder and add the folder containing your module to this or another folder (where of course Python looks for modules).

The question is: How can the Path be found?

The easiest way to find the path is to write the following script:

import sys

print(sys.path) # Output:

[‘PathToYourFolders’, 'C:\\Users\\YourUsername\\AppData\\Local\\Programs\\Python\\Python38\\python38.zip', 'C:\\Users\\YourUsername\\AppData\\Local\\Programs\\Python\\Python38\\DLLs', 'C:\\Users\\YourUsername\\AppData\\Local\\Programs\\Python\\Python38\\lib', 'C:\\Users\\YourUsername\\AppData\\Local\\Programs\\Python\\Python38', 'C:\\Users\\YourUsername\\AppData\\Roaming\\Python\\Python38\\site-packages', 'C:\\Users\\YourUsername\\AppData\\Local\\Programs\\Python\\Python38\\lib\\site-packages']

Then we see all the paths in which Python looks for modules, just add your module to one of them (the best …\lib\site-packages). Once we do this, we will be able to call the module from any Python script.

When you have several files that import each other

Sometimes in Python, even if you have a __init__.py file in your folder, the ImportError occurs, it says that name cannot be imported. To eliminate this problem, the order of imports must be changed. The code causing the error:

 #a2.py file

from test.b import b2

def a1(): print('a1') b2()

from test.a import a1 #b2.py file

def b1(): print('b1') a1()

def b2(): print('b2')

if __name__ == '__main__': b1()

Output will be the following – ImportError: cannot import name 'a1'.
But if we change the position of from test.b import b2 in A like below:

def a1(): print('a1') b2()

from test.b import b2

Then we can get what we want:

b1

a1

b2

Summary

At the beginning we explained how to solve the problem from the title, and then we explained why the import error occurs. Then three ways of action were presented. First described how to make a local package (adding __init__.py), second how to make a package that can be called from any Python script (add the module to the site-packages folder) and third what to do when you have several files that import each other (ImportError: cannot import name (...)).

I hope this article helped you understand why this error occurred in your file and gave you a clue to remove it.

The post Python Import Error (ModuleNotFoundError) first appeared on Finxter.

A deal between Bytedance and Oracle to keep TikTok alike in the United States has been given the approval of US President Donald Trump, Just over a day before access to the app would have been curtailed in the United States.

Square Enix has announced the Japanese release date for the highly anticipated free-to-play mobile JRPG Octopath Traveler: Champions of the Continent. Pre-registration is now live in Japan for Android and iOS, and the game will be available to play from October 28, 2020. A localisation and international release date are yet to be announced.

We don’t know much about Octopath Traveler: Champions of the Continent as of yet, though Square Enix has revealed the combat features a command battle system with parties consisting of up to eight members. It is a prequel to the much-beloved Octopath Traveler and set in the same locale of Osterra. The original Octopath Traveler is a turn-based role-playing game, which initially released on Nintendo Switch in 2018 followed by PC, and Google Stadia in later years.

Octopath Traveler: Champions of the Continent is already proving to be extremely popular, and as of now has surpassed 500,000 pre-registered accounts. To commemorate this milestone, composer Yasunori Nishiki, best known for his work on the original Octopath Traveler soundtrack, has released a brand new song.

Check out the new trailer below:

Be sure to check back here to be updated on the international release date when we get it!

What a busy week we’ve had! With a Nintendo Direct, our very own Nintendo Life Indie Spotlight presentation, and plenty of exciting goings-on in the world of Nintendo, we’re all feeling pretty exhausted. What better time, then, to sit back and chat about what we’ll be playing over the weekend?

Members of Nintendo Life have done just that below (and yes, Mario 3D All-Stars is mentioned a lot), and we’d love for you to join in via our poll and comment sections. Enjoy!

Ryan Craddock, news editor

Yes, I’ve played them all before, and yes, I really didn’t need to buy it, but I just couldn’t help myself. Super Mario 3D All-Stars arrived yesterday and I plan to absolutely smother myself in Super Mario Sunshine goodness this weekend.

Sunshine was my first ever 3D Mario experience – Super Mario 64 just passed me by as I got into gaming towards the end of the N64’s life – so it holds a special place in my nostalgia loving heart. I’ve played Mario 64 quite recently, and with Galaxy being slightly newer than the others, I feel like Sunshine’s the best place to start for me.

I’m just really, really hoping that I still love it now as much as I did as a kid. There’s nothing worse than replaying an old favourite and realising, ‘yeah, this sucks actually.’ I’m sure it’ll be great! Have a good one!

Gavin Lane, features editor

It’s an odd one, this weekend. I know what I should be playing, but honestly a part of me begrudges redeeming my last remaining Game Voucher on Super Mario 3D All-Stars. Of course I’ll be getting it before it disappears off the eShop, but I’ve got so much else to play and the collection’s merely ‘adequate’ remaster treatments means I’ll probably hold off for a while.

I started the excellent Rogue Legacy the other evening (which may well leach all my weekend gaming time), but I’m also gagging to play Hades and Ori and the Will of the Wisps. Prior to this week’s surprise drop, received wisdom suggested it was too colossal a task to optimise the gorgeous Xbox One game for Switch. Yet here it is, and apparently all 60 fps of it!

Stuart Gipp, reviewer

In its lamentable absence from Super Mario 3D All-Stars, I’ve been plugging away at Super Mario Galaxy 2 in an attempt to finally finish it after about thirty arrested attempts to see it through. I’ve also dropped my last two game vouchers on the upcoming Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury and Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity; the latter being the sequel to a game I have bought on three formats and poured hundreds of hours into it while achieving approximately 8% completion.

I’ve also been playing through Earthworm Jim 2‘s excellent SNES incarnation via the rather lovely Evercade. Soon, I’ll be looking into the recently translated Ganbare Goemon titles – between plugging away at reviews for Nintendo Life, that is.

Gonçalo Lopes, contributing writer

Rejoice for I am back! It has been quite a while since I wrote one of these.

I shall begin a “New Hero Journey” with Furano MS in Captain Tsubasa: Rise of New Champions. Assuming I can stray away long enough from both Inertial Drift and Hotshot Racing, I also want to spend some more time with Hades and Super Punch Patrol (those extra costumes won’t unlock themselves), replay the demo of Hardcore Mecha a few dozen times and round up with Fight Crab lobster for dessert.

I shall cheat with my game of the week award by unsurprisingly picking Super Mario 3D All-Stars. However, the lack of Super Mario Galaxy 2 is an annoying itch I can’t seem to stop scratching… Glad I still keep my Wii hooked up… They still sell AA batteries, right?

PJ O’Reilly, reviewer

Hello. This weekend my plan was to get stuck deep into Super Mario 3D All-Stars. I’ve never played Sunshine so was absolutely looking forward to getting started with that one, however, Nintendo decided to drop a bunch of other really cool stuff at this week’s Indie Direct so I’m now having a Hades-flavoured couple of days instead. It’s a tough job, dodging and hacking through the worst the underworld can throw at me, but I guess someone’s got to do it.

Elsewhere I’ve also grabbed Ori and the Will of the Wisps, which I’ve already beaten but simply must play again in handheld, and am making my way through Rollercoaster Tycoon 3 in order to get my review up in time for launch next week. Have a good weekend whatever you are playing and stay safe out there!

Austin Voigt, contributing writer

THIS WEEKEND I AM PLAYING ALL THINGS SUPER MARIO 3D ALL-STARS AND THAT’S ABOUT IT. YOU CAN’T MAKE ME PLAY ANYTHING ELSE. I DON’T HAVE ANYTHING ELSE TO SAY. SUPER MARIO GALAXY IS MORE BEAUTIFUL THAN ODYSSEY AND I CRIED THE FIRST TIME I PLAYED IT, SUE ME. BYE. … [Is everything OK, Austin? — Ed.]

As always, thanks for reading! Make sure to leave a vote in the poll above and a comment below with your gaming choices over the next few days…

While Obsidian gears up on new games like Grounded and Avowed, it hasn’t turned away from last year’s standout hit The Outer Worlds. This month saw the release of Peril on Gorgon, a new DLC adventure for the developer’s capitalistic dystopian RPG.

To lead up this DLC, Obsidian tapped lead narrative designer Carrie Patel, who took over game directing duties from Leonard Boyarsky and Tim Cain. It’s a huge task for any game developer to take the role, since it often involves a move into leadership over departments they weren’t previously involved in.

Peril on Gorgon is structured similar to some of the DLC content you might have seen in BioWare’s RPG games from the 2009-2014 period, or what Gearbox has used to fill out its Borderlands releases. They’re specific stories sequestered away in a new area of the game, meant to be experienced by players who’ve reached the endgame or new players attracted to the title with the release of new content.

Peril on Gorgon takes place on the sequestered Gorgon asteroid, home of a mysterious research facility. Patel credited the post-release development of Gorgon for giving Obsidian time to look closely at what players responded positively to in the original game, which helped her team hone the vision for the DLC.

She said this led Obsidian to look closely at the game’s Marauder enemy types and the in-game drug called Adrena-Time as sources of inspiration, since both go somewhat unexplored in the main game. Unlike most of the other games’ areas, Gorgon draws players into a noir-type adventure by way of a package containing a severed arm, where a mysterious heiress tasks them with tracking down her missing mother.

Patel credited lead narrative designer Kate Dollarhyde with helping shape Peril on Gorgon’s overall thematic direction. “One thing that Kate specifically brought up was the idea of the Manhattan Project and the notion of these people who work together on something terrible and destructive, and then they sort of split up and fell apart from each other,” Patel said.

She said the team looked at the problem as “how you tell a story where someone’s personal experience is very much what grounds  a much larger epic, world altering experience?”

What’s neat about Patel’s described approach is this storytelling focus centers on the game’s non-playable characters, rather than the player character. She compared it to The Outer Worlds’ other planet-driven arcs, which focused on local disputes informed by a system-wide crisis, and drift away from the game’s main quest.

“This is one of the thing that I think that I think is very interesting about RPGs in general is that this genre has a reputation for being all about the the survival of kingdoms the conquest of world…but I think what many players really attached to are stories that feel personal.”

When it came to taking over the role of game director, Patel said there wasn’t necessarily pressure to live up to Cain and Boyarski’s original vision, and that the main challenge was in learning to provide vision for other, non-narrative departments that were outside her previous purview.

The DLC’s noir-focused vision meant the team had to figure out how a far-off asteroid could resemble the classic look of ’40s crime flicks, and how character and story could be filled out without an area filled with bustling NPCs.

“The pulp noir version of The Outer Worlds had really big implications for environment art and area lighting,” she explained. “[As a director,] it’s really helpful to just say ‘here’s the vision we want to create, and as a cross-disciplinary team, if we’re all on the same page about this, what are the different tools that we have from our disciplines to do that?”

Laying the foundation for making that shared vision meant learning how to ask questions over her seven years with the studio. “I think doing well in that transition is very much about learning how to ask the questions that you need to ask,” she said. “I will never be an expert programmer or an accomplished artist. But I do need to be able to talk to the programming and the art teams to understand what their processes and concerns are and how that affects the content we’re gonna make.”

Patel’s narrative designer background gave her a new perspective on a classic RPG problem–what happens when you make great content, only for the player to speed right by it, or ignore it, on their choice-drive adventure? She explained that Obsidian’s procedure by this point is to test and build around the possibility of any NPC in a questline being killed, but part of the process means adopting a mentality that players may not be approaching your game for the same moments you enjoyed in maknig it.

“Part of the beauty of an RPG, I think, is having a structure that is open and flexible enough to give all of those players enough room to make their story the way they want it,” Patel said. “I think as a designer, you just have to accept that like, ‘okay, I put this thing here, not everyone’s gonna see it, but the people who are interested in it, who do look for it and find it like they’re gonna I love it.'”

“In a way that makes it even more meaningful because you kind of know who you’re creating those moments for.”

Patel’s leadership rise comes with one particular complication–the COVID-19 pandemic that moved the team to remote work. Any leader has particular challenges in uniting the team, but without face-to-face interactions, the normal tools of team unity aren’t available to her. This led Obsidian to push for some creative teambuilding efforts.

One of them was Peril on Gorgon bingo. “[What] we actually did as a team that was that was pretty fun is have [Twitch streamer] Cohh Carnage play through the DLC over the last few days, and we set up an office bingo,” Patel said with a laugh. The boards were specifically built to cover Peril on Gorgon’s wilder moments, to see what he’d find in his run.

“It was something we could do to remotely just to connect around the stuff we worked on in a really light hearted social manner.”