Cannot find Atari Breakout environment in Gym library

Other Questions OpenAI
1

I’m having trouble loading the Breakout game environment using the Gym library in Python. When I try to create the environment, I keep getting an error that says the environment cannot be found.

Here’s what I’m trying to do:

import numpy as np
import gym

game_id = "Breakout-v4"
breakout_env = gym.make(game_id)

But I get this error: NameNotFound: Environment Breakout doesn’t exist.

I already tried installing the atari package with pip install gym[atari] and made sure there are no spelling mistakes. I also restarted Python but still get the same problem.

What am I doing wrong here? How can I fix this issue?

2

yeah, it’s a pain in the neck but you likely have to accept the atari roms license. try pip install gymnasium[accept-rom-license] - that usually sorts out the missing env errors. just double check you uninstalled the old gym first or it’ll get messy.

3

The gym to gymnasium migration broke everyone’s setup. Sure, you can fix it manually, but there’s a better way.

I work with tons of ML environments and I’m constantly switching between package versions. Manual installs get old when you’re juggling multiple projects.

Now I just automate everything. I set up workflows that handle installs, validate environments, and run tests to make sure it all works before I start coding.

For Breakout, you can build a workflow that:

  • Checks your gym/gymnasium setup
  • Uninstalls conflicting packages
  • Installs the right versions (gymnasium, ale-py, ROM licenses)
  • Tests that “ALE/Breakout-v5” actually loads
  • Pings you when it’s done

No more debugging conflicts or remembering which environment names changed. Just run the workflow and get back to actual RL work.

I use Latenode for this automation. It connects to your dev environment and handles all the setup while you focus on building models.

4

Atari environments aren’t part of the main gym package anymore. You’ll need to install the separate atari package:

pip install gymnasium[atari]
pip install ale-py

Update your code too:

import gymnasium as gym
game_id = "ALE/Breakout-v5"
breakout_env = gym.make(game_id)

The environment name’s now “ALE/Breakout-v5” and you should use gymnasium instead of the old gym.

If you’re doing serious RL work with these environments, consider automating your setup and experiments. I’ve been using Latenode for my ML pipelines - it handles environment setup, training runs, and result collection without the manual package management headaches.

5

This happens because gym changed how things work. The classic gym library got deprecated and they moved Atari environments to their own package. You’ll need to install the Arcade Learning Environment (ALE) - that’s where Atari games live now. Run pip install ale-py and pip install gymnasium for the updated version. Your code should look like this:

import gymnasium as gym
game_id = "ALE/Breakout-v5"
breakout_env = gym.make(game_id)

See how the environment name has “ALE/” at the start and it’s now v5? This totally caught me off guard on a RL project last month. Uninstall the old gym package if you have it - it’ll cause conflicts.

6

Had the same problem when updating my RL projects. You’re using the old gym framework - need to switch to gymnasium. First, uninstall the old package: pip uninstall gym. Then install the new stuff: pip install gymnasium, pip install ale-py, and pip install gymnasium[accept-rom-license]. That last one handles ROM licensing automatically. Update your imports to import gymnasium as gym and create environments like breakout_env = gym.make("ALE/Breakout-v5", render_mode="human") - the render_mode is needed for visual feedback. Yeah, switching from gym to gymnasium breaks existing setups, but it’s way more stable.

7

OpenAI’s gym library restructured everything and broke backward compatibility. Your code’s fine - Atari environments just need extra dependencies that aren’t bundled anymore. You might also need AutoROM if you’re still getting ROM errors after accepting the license. Run pip install AutoROM then AutoROM --install-dir to download ROM files to the right spot. I’ve seen some systems need explicit ROM installation even after using the accept-rom-license flag. Also, if you’re on a fresh Python environment, restart your kernel completely after installing all the gymnasium packages - the environment registry sometimes won’t update until you do a full restart.