diff --git a/ChangeLog.md b/ChangeLog.md
index 2d14717b..b8c0d368 100644
--- a/ChangeLog.md
+++ b/ChangeLog.md
@@ -1,5 +1,8 @@
 # ChangeLog
 
+### v2.1.9
+
+Fix bug where setuptools was causing runtime errors
 ### v2.1.8
 
 fix bug on mac where non python kits assumed a windows platform
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index cbe43329..787740f1 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ pip install --upgrade luxai_s2
 pip install juxai-s2 # installs the GPU version, requires a compatible GPU
 ```
 
-If you have `gym` installation issues, we recommend running `pip install setuptools==56.2.0`. If you use conda, we highly recommend creating an environment based on the [environment.yml file in this repo](https://github.com/Lux-AI-Challenge/Lux-Design-S2/blob/main/environment.yml).
+If you have `gym` installation issues, we recommend running `pip install setuptools==59.8.0`. If you have issues installing `vec-noise`, make sure to read the error output, it's usually because you are missing some C/C++ build tools. If you use conda, we highly recommend creating an environment based on the [environment.yml file in this repo](https://github.com/Lux-AI-Challenge/Lux-Design-S2/blob/main/environment.yml). If you don't know how conda works, I highly recommend setting it up, see the [install instructions](https://conda.io/projects/conda/en/latest/user-guide/install/index.html#regular-installation).
 
 
 To verify your installation, you can run the CLI tool by replacing `path/to/bot/main.py` with a path to a bot (e.g. the starter kit in `kits/python/main.py`) and run
diff --git a/environment.yml b/environment.yml
index 3290fba0..dcbe69ce 100644
--- a/environment.yml
+++ b/environment.yml
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ dependencies:
   - gym=0.21
 
   - pip:
-    - pettingzoo
+    - pettingzoo==1.12.0
     - termcolor
     - pygame
     - vec_noise
diff --git a/luxai_s2/luxai_s2/version.py b/luxai_s2/luxai_s2/version.py
index 6f77ff7e..69a46c89 100644
--- a/luxai_s2/luxai_s2/version.py
+++ b/luxai_s2/luxai_s2/version.py
@@ -1,3 +1 @@
-import pkg_resources
-
-__version__ = pkg_resources.require("luxai-s2")[0].version
+__version__ = "2.1.9"
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/luxai_s2/setup.py b/luxai_s2/setup.py
index cffb73fd..2e160269 100644
--- a/luxai_s2/setup.py
+++ b/luxai_s2/setup.py
@@ -6,7 +6,13 @@
 def read(fname):
     return open(os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__), fname)).read()
 
-
+def get_version(rel_path):
+    for line in read(rel_path).splitlines():
+        if line.startswith('__version__'):
+            delim = '"' if '"' in line else "'"
+            return line.split(delim)[1]
+    else:
+        raise RuntimeError("Unable to find version string.")
 setup(
     name="luxai-s2",
     author="Lux AI Challenge",
@@ -17,7 +23,7 @@ def read(fname):
     long_description="Code for the Lux AI Challenge Season 2",
     packages=find_packages(exclude="kits"),
     entry_points={"console_scripts": ["luxai-s2 = luxai_runner.cli:main"]},
-    version="2.1.8",
+    version=get_version("luxai_s2/version.py"),
     python_requires=">=3.7",
     install_requires=[
         "numpy",