diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 8ab731ebd..5ebb9dfcf 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -144,7 +144,7 @@ $(X): $(GAMES.CONF)
 
 # precompute binary data structure for mega-attract mode configuration file
 $(ATTRACT.IDX): $(MD)
-	bin/buildokvs.sh < res/ATTRACT.CONF > "$@"
+	bin/buildokvs.py < res/ATTRACT.CONF > "$@"
 
 # precompute binary data structure and substitute special characters in global help
 $(HELPTEXT): $(MD)
@@ -170,7 +170,7 @@ $(SS): $(SS.SOURCES) | $(MD)
 # precompute binary data structures for each game's mini-attract configuration file
 $(ATTRACT): $(ATTRACT.SOURCES) | $(MD)
 	mkdir -p "$@"
-	$(PARALLEL) 'bin/buildokvs.sh < "{}" > "$@/{/}"' ::: res/ATTRACT/*
+	$(PARALLEL) 'bin/buildokvs.py < "{}" > "$@/{/}"' ::: res/ATTRACT/*
 	(cd "$(ATTRACT)"/ && for f in [ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOP]*; do echo "$$f"; done) > "$(MINI.ATTRACT0.LIST)"
 	(cd "$(ATTRACT)"/ && for f in [QRSTUVWXYZ]*; do echo "$$f"; done) > "$(MINI.ATTRACT1.LIST)"
 	@touch "$@"
diff --git a/bin/buildokvs.py b/bin/buildokvs.py
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..395724971
--- /dev/null
+++ b/bin/buildokvs.py
@@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
+
+# parameters
+# stdin - input containing key=value pairs (e.g. res/ATTRACT.CONF or some file in res/ATTRACT/)
+# stdout - binary OKVS data structure
+
+import struct
+import sys
+
+def build(records):
+    # yield OKVS header (2 x 2 bytes, unsigned int, little-endian)
+    yield struct.pack('<2H', len(records), 0)
+
+    for key, dummy, value in records:
+        # yield record length (1 byte)
+        yield struct.pack('B', len(key) + len(value) + 3)
+
+        # yield key (Pascal-style string)
+        yield struct.pack(f'{len(key)+1}p', key.encode('ascii'))
+
+        # yield value (Pascal-style string)
+        yield struct.pack(f'{len(value)+1}p', value.encode('ascii'))
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    records = [x.strip() for x in sys.stdin.readlines()]
+    records = [x.partition('=') for x in records if x and x[0] not in ('#', '[')]
+    for b in build(records):
+        sys.stdout.buffer.write(b)
diff --git a/bin/buildokvs.sh b/bin/buildokvs.sh
deleted file mode 100755
index 03dd0c756..000000000
--- a/bin/buildokvs.sh
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,27 +0,0 @@
-#!/bin/bash
-
-# make temp file with just the key/value pairs (strip blank lines, comments, eof marker)
-records=$(mktemp)
-tr -d "\r" | awk '!/^$|^#/' > "$records"
-
-# make temp assembly source file that represents the binary OKVS data structure
-source=$(mktemp)
-(echo "*=0"                            # dummy program counter for assembler
- echo "!le16 $(wc -l <"$records"), 0"  # OKVS header
- while IFS="=" read -r key value; do
-     echo "!byte ${#key}+${#value}+3"  # OKVS record length
-     echo "!byte ${#key}"              # OKVS key length
-     echo "!text \"$key\""             # OKVS key
-     echo "!byte ${#value}"            # OKVS value length
-     echo "!text \"$value\""           # OKVS value
- done < "$records") > "$source"
-
-# assemble temp source file into binary OKVS data structure, then output that
-out=$(mktemp)
-acme -o "$out" "$source"
-cat "$out"
-
-# clean up
-rm "$out"
-rm "$source"
-rm "$records"
diff --git a/bin/buildsearch.py b/bin/buildsearch.py
index 7beaf67cf..48d12c611 100755
--- a/bin/buildsearch.py
+++ b/bin/buildsearch.py
@@ -49,15 +49,13 @@ def build(records, args):
 !word {record_count:>8}
 """)
 
-    # yield OKVS record count (2 bytes, unsigned int, little-endian)
-    yield struct.pack('<H', record_count)
-
-    # yield OKVS lookup table address (2 bytes, unsigned int, little-endian)
     # lookup table is stored after all record data, so first calculate total record size
     # record_count * (length-prefixed key + length-prefixed value + 8 other bytes)
     # then lookup table address is that + gSearchIndex + 4 bytes for the OKVS header
     total_record_size = len("".join([x for xs in records for x in xs[1:]])) + 10*record_count
-    yield struct.pack('<H', total_record_size + gSearchIndex + 4)
+
+    # yield OKVS header (2 x 2 bytes, unsigned int, little-endian)
+    yield struct.pack('<2H', record_count, total_record_size + gSearchIndex + 4)
 
     rec_key_address = gSearchIndex + 5
     key_addresses = []
diff --git a/bin/buildslideshow.py b/bin/buildslideshow.py
index 290dd9efb..43fa856b6 100755
--- a/bin/buildslideshow.py
+++ b/bin/buildslideshow.py
@@ -32,10 +32,9 @@ def build(records, args):
     else:
         for flags, key, dummy in games_list:
             games_cache[key] = (flags, "")
-    record_count = len(records)
     
     # yield OKVS header (2 x 2 bytes, unsigned int, little-endian)
-    yield struct.pack('<2H', record_count, 0)
+    yield struct.pack('<2H', len(records), 0)
 
     for key, dummy, value in records:
         filename = value or key