diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yaml b/.github/workflows/ci.yaml
index 005fce2..963722d 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yaml
@@ -41,4 +41,6 @@ jobs:
       - name: Build
         run: cargo build --verbose
       - name: Run tests
-        run: cargo test --verbose
+        run: |
+          source venv/bin/activate
+          cargo test --verbose
diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 311c305..12b6116 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ __pycache__/
 # Distribution / packaging
 socha_builds/
 .Python
-.venv/
+venv*/
 env/
 bin/
 build/
diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index 6c406ae..1a87dcd 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -8,8 +8,8 @@ name = "socha"
 crate-type = ["cdylib"]
 
 [dependencies]
-pyo3 = { version = "0.21.2" }
-pyo3-log = "0.10.0"
+pyo3 = { version = "0.27.1", features = ["extension-module"] }
+pyo3-log = "0.13.2"
 log = "0.4.20"
 itertools = "0.13.0"
 
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 48f75f5..3f3b7b5 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -6,13 +6,13 @@ build-backend = "maturin"
 name = "socha"
 version = "4.3.4"
 authors = [
-  { name = "yoente", email = "stu250140@mail.uni-kiel.de" },
+  { name = "yoente", email = "anthony@software-challenge.de" },
   { name = "maxblan", email = "stu222782@mail.uni-kiel.de" },
 ]
 description = "Dieses Paket ist für die Software-Challenge Germany 2026, bei der in dieser Saison das Spiel 'Piranhas' im Mittelpunkt steht."
 readme = "README.md"
 requires-python = ">=3.10"
-dependencies = ["xsdata==22.9"]
+dependencies = ["xsdata==25.7", "setuptools==80.9.0"]
 classifiers = [
   "License :: OSI Approved :: MIT License",
   "Operating System :: MacOS",
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ classifiers = [
   "Programming Language :: Python :: 3.11",
   "Programming Language :: Python :: 3.12",
   "Programming Language :: Python :: 3.13",
+  "Programming Language :: Python :: 3.14",
   "Programming Language :: Python :: Implementation :: CPython",
   "Programming Language :: Python",
   "Programming Language :: Rust",
diff --git a/python/socha/api/networking/xml_protocol_interface.py b/python/socha/api/networking/xml_protocol_interface.py
index c8507fa..908dc83 100644
--- a/python/socha/api/networking/xml_protocol_interface.py
+++ b/python/socha/api/networking/xml_protocol_interface.py
@@ -76,8 +76,6 @@ def map_last_move(last_move: LastMove, params: dict):
 
 
 def custom_class_factory(clazz, params: dict):
-    # print("TEST01: ", clazz, params)
-
     if clazz.__name__ == 'Data':
         return map_object(clazz, params)
     if clazz.__name__ == 'LastMove':
diff --git a/python/socha/api/protocol/protocol.py b/python/socha/api/protocol/protocol.py
index f4d9d0c..7397010 100644
--- a/python/socha/api/protocol/protocol.py
+++ b/python/socha/api/protocol/protocol.py
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+from __future__ import annotations
 from dataclasses import dataclass, field
 from typing import List, Optional
 
@@ -493,7 +494,6 @@ class Meta:
         },
     )
 
-
 @dataclass
 class Joined(ResponsePacket):
     """
diff --git a/python/socha/starter.py b/python/socha/starter.py
index b722f26..2ebdec8 100644
--- a/python/socha/starter.py
+++ b/python/socha/starter.py
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@
 import logging
 import urllib.request
 
-import pkg_resources
+from importlib.metadata import version, PackageNotFoundError
 from socha.api.networking.game_client import GameClient, IClientHandler
 from socha.utils.package_builder import SochaPackageBuilder
 
@@ -56,6 +56,7 @@ def __init__(
             log: If True the client write a log file to the current directory.
             verbose: Verbose option for logging.
             build: If set, the client will build a zip package with the given name.
+            python_version: When building, takes string for specified python version. Standard: "3.10".
         """
         VERBOSE = 15
         logging.addLevelName(VERBOSE, "VERBOSE")
@@ -141,7 +142,7 @@ def _setup_debugger(self, verbose: bool, log_level: int):
     def check_socha_version():
         package_name = "socha"
         try:
-            installed_version = pkg_resources.get_distribution(package_name).version
+            installed_version = version(package_name)
             # trunk-ignore(bandit/B310)
             response = urllib.request.urlopen(
                 f"https://pypi.org/pypi/{package_name}/json"
@@ -157,7 +158,7 @@ def check_socha_version():
                 logging.info(
                     f"You're running the latest version of {package_name} ({latest_version})"
                 )
-        except pkg_resources.DistributionNotFound:
+        except PackageNotFoundError:
             logging.error(f"{package_name} is not installed.")
         except urllib.error.URLError as e:
             logging.warning(
@@ -241,10 +242,11 @@ def _handle_start_args():
         parser.add_argument(
             "-a",
             "--architecture",
-            help="Specifies the build architecture (e.g.: manylinux1_x86_64).",
+            help="Specifies the build architecture (e.g.: manylinux2014_x86_64).",
         )
 
         parser.add_argument(
+            "-pyv",
             "--python-version",
             help="Specifies the build python version (e.g.: 3.10 - this is standard).",
         )
diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index 0c0bad1..e69de29 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-xsdata==22.9
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/lib.rs b/src/lib.rs
index c746fe7..ecdc195 100644
--- a/src/lib.rs
+++ b/src/lib.rs
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 use pyo3::*;
 use types::PyModule;
+use pyo3::types::PyModuleMethods;
 
 pub mod plugin2026;
 
diff --git a/src/plugin2026/test/game_state_test.rs b/src/plugin2026/test/game_state_test.rs
index 532a053..7ff0cb7 100644
--- a/src/plugin2026/test/game_state_test.rs
+++ b/src/plugin2026/test/game_state_test.rs
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 #[cfg(test)]
 mod tests {
+    use pyo3::Python;
+
     use crate::plugin2026::{
         field_type::FieldType, r#move::Move, test::common::create_test_game_state, utils::{coordinate::Coordinate, direction::Direction}
     };
@@ -39,7 +41,7 @@ mod tests {
 
     #[test]
     pub fn perform_move_test() {
-        pyo3::prepare_freethreaded_python();
+        Python::initialize();
 
         let mut state = create_test_game_state();