diff --git a/.drone.yml b/.drone.yml
index f31522a4..6aa3d35d 100644
--- a/.drone.yml
+++ b/.drone.yml
@@ -300,7 +300,8 @@ steps:
     commands:
       - mkdir ~/.ssh
       - echo $buildbot_key_b64 > ~/.ssh/id_rsa.b64
-      - base64 -d ~/.ssh/id_rsa.b64 > ~/.ssh/id_rsa
+      - ls -lh ~/.ssh/id_rsa.b64
+      - base64 -d -i ~/.ssh/id_rsa.b64 -o ~/.ssh/id_rsa
       - chmod 400 ~/.ssh/id_rsa
       # force by pass of ssh host key check, less secure
       - ssh-keyscan -H git.openprivacy.ca >> ~/.ssh/known_hosts
@@ -319,20 +320,21 @@ steps:
       - ./fetch-tor-macos.sh
       - echo `git describe --tags --abbrev=1` > VERSION
       - echo `git log -1 --format=%cd --date=format:%G-%m-%d-%H-%M` > COMMIT_DATE
-      - export PATH=$PATH:/Users/Dan/development/flutter/bin
+      - export PATH=$PATH:/Users/drone/development/flutter/bin
       - flutter pub get
       - mkdir deploy
       - ./fetch-libcwtch-go-macos.sh
-      - gem install --user-install cocoapods
+      # Drone builds in container directories and gem seems to have some weird side effects so have to manually re install these locally
+      - gem install --user-install ffi -v 1.15.5 -- --enable-libffi-alloc
+      # currently unneeded to reinstall but was, and may be again? so saving
+      #- gem install --user-install cocoapods -v 1.11.3
 
   - name: build-macos
     commands:
-      - export PATH=$PATH:/Users/Dan/development/flutter/bin
-      - export GEM_HOME=$HOME/.gem
+      - export PATH=$PATH:/Users/drone/bin/flutter/bin
       - export PATH=$GEM_HOME/ruby/2.6.0/bin:$PATH
-      - flutter config --enable-macos-desktop
       - flutter build macos --dart-define BUILD_VER=`cat VERSION` --dart-define BUILD_DATE=`cat COMMIT_DATE`
-      - export PATH=$PATH:/usr/local/bin #create-dmg
+      - export PATH=$PATH:/opt/homebrew/bin/ #create-dmg
       - macos/package-release.sh
       - mkdir -p deploy
       - mv Cwtch.dmg deploy/Cwtch-`cat VERSION`.dmg
diff --git a/macos/dmg/.VolumeIcon.icns b/macos/dmg/.VolumeIcon.icns
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..e7493ffe
Binary files /dev/null and b/macos/dmg/.VolumeIcon.icns differ
diff --git a/macos/package-release.sh b/macos/package-release.sh
index 2e244c0d..7d32a3c9 100755
--- a/macos/package-release.sh
+++ b/macos/package-release.sh
@@ -6,20 +6,28 @@ cp libCwtch.x64.dylib build/macos/Build/Products/Release/Cwtch.app/Contents/Fram
 cp libCwtch.arm64.dylib build/macos/Build/Products/Release/Cwtch.app/Contents/Frameworks/
 cp -r macos/Tor build/macos/Build/Products/Release/Cwtch.app/Contents/MacOS/
 
+
+
 rm Cwtch.dmg
 rm -r macos_dmg
 mkdir macos_dmg
 cp -r "build/macos/Build/Products/Release/Cwtch.app" macos_dmg/
+# prep DMG with pregenerated components from GUI supportred run of create-dmg
+cp macos/dmg/.* macos_dmg/
+ln -s /Applications macos_dmg/Applications
+hdiutil create -fs HFS+ -volname Cwtch -srcfolder macos_dmg Cwtch.dmg
 
+# create-dmg requires GUI and is therefore less suited to automated builds, preserving here for
+# manual runs to generate new .DS_Store and .VolumeIcon.icns for capture to the dmg dir for automated reuse
 # https://github.com/create-dmg/create-dmg
-create-dmg \
-	--volname "Cwtch" \
-	--volicon "macos/cwtch.icns" \
-	--window-pos 200 120 \
-	--window-size 800 400 \
-	--icon-size 100 \
-	--icon "Cwtch.app" 200 190 \
-	--hide-extension "Cwtch.app" \
-	--app-drop-link 600 185 \
-	"Cwtch.dmg" \
-	macos_dmg
+#create-dmg \
+#	--volname "Cwtch" \
+#	--volicon "macos/cwtch.icns" \
+#	--window-pos 200 120 \
+#	--window-size 800 400 \
+#	--icon-size 100 \
+#	--icon "Cwtch.app" 200 190 \
+#	--hide-extension "Cwtch.app" \
+#	--app-drop-link 600 185 \
+#	"Cwtch.dmg" \
+#	macos_dmg