Can't install anything because lutris can't find zlib

Support
1

Every time I try to install a game I get a very similar error. Basically a variation on this:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<frozen zipimport>", line 601, in _get_decompress_func
ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'zlib'

During handling of the above exception, another exception occurred:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<frozen zipimport>", line 649, in _get_data
  File "<frozen zipimport>", line 604, in _get_decompress_func
zipimport.ZipImportError: can't decompress data; zlib not available

During handling of the above exception, another exception occurred:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<frozen runpy>", line 159, in _get_module_details
  File "<frozen zipimport>", line 137, in get_code
  File "<frozen zipimport>", line 783, in _get_module_code
  File "<frozen zipimport>", line 651, in _get_data
zipimport.ZipImportError: can't decompress data; zlib not available

The above exception was the direct cause of the following exception:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<frozen runpy>", line 191, in _run_module_as_main
  File "<frozen runpy>", line 240, in _get_main_module_details
  File "<frozen runpy>", line 161, in _get_module_details
ImportError: can't decompress data; zlib not available
Monitored process exited.
Initial process has exited (return code: 256)
All processes have quit
Exit with return code 256

I tried reinstalling zlib, I tried reinstalling lutris, I can’t find anything that suggests a solution and I’m just frustrated because I’m sure I’ve missed a stupid config variable somewhere. The biggest reason for my frustration, though is that this all used to just work.
Does anyone have any suggestions?

2

One thing that could cause this is if you’re unknowingly running some other python interpreter instead of your system’s. It may be broken against the distro’s zlib or something. (I don’t know what distro you’re using, or what method… native or flatpak etc.)

[grogan@nicetry ~]$ which python
/usr/bin/python
[grogan@nicetry ~]$ python --version
Python 3.14.4