diff --git a/tests/build.xml b/tests/build.xml
index c63edfe89..e82a2ed15 100644
--- a/tests/build.xml
+++ b/tests/build.xml
@@ -21,6 +21,20 @@
     <fileset dir="../lib" includes="**/*.jar"/>
   </path>
 
+  <!-- checks the availability of certain libraries -->
+  <target name="check-available">
+    <available property="jme.present"
+     classname="com.jme.scene.Node" classpathref="classpath"/>
+    <available property="jme-bui.present"
+     classname="com.jme.bui.BWindow" classpathref="classpath"/>
+    <condition property="build.jme">
+      <and>
+        <isset property="jme.present"/>
+        <isset property="jme-bui.present"/>
+      </and>
+    </condition>
+  </target>
+
   <!-- generates additional methods for distributed object classes -->
   <target name="gendobj" depends="prepare"> 
     <taskdef name="dobj"
@@ -83,10 +97,11 @@
   </target>
 
   <!-- build the java class files -->
-  <target name="compile" depends="prepare">
+  <target name="compile" depends="check-available,prepare">
     <javac srcdir="${src.dir}" destdir="${classes.dir}"
       debug="on" optimize="off" deprecation="off">
       <classpath refid="classpath"/>
+      <exclude name="com/threerings/jme/**" unless="build.jme"/>
     </javac>
   </target>