godot-docs/development/compiling/compiling_for_windows.rst

.. _doc_compiling_for_windows:

Compiling for Windows
=====================

.. highlight:: shell

Requirements
------------

For compiling under Windows, the following is required:

-  Visual C++, `Visual
   Studio Community <https://www.visualstudio.com/vs/community/>`__
   (recommended), version 2013 (12.0) or later.
   **Make sure you read Installing Visual Studio caveats below or you
   will have to run/download the installer again.**
-  `Python 2.7+ or Python 3.5+ <https://www.python.org/downloads/>`__.
-  `Pywin32 Python Extension <https://github.com/mhammond/pywin32>`__
   for parallel builds (which increase the build speed by a great factor).
-  `SCons <https://www.scons.org>`__ build system.

Setting up SCons
----------------

Python adds the interpreter (python.exe) to the path. It usually
installs in ``C:\Python`` (or ``C:\Python[Version]``). SCons installs
inside the Python install (typically in the ``Scripts`` folder) and
provides a batch file called ``scons.bat``.
The location of this file can be added to the path or it can simply be
copied to ``C:\Python`` together with the interpreter executable.

To check whether you have installed Python and SCons correctly, you can
type ``python --version`` and ``scons --version`` into the
Windows Command Prompt (``cmd.exe``).

If commands above do not work, make sure you add Python to your PATH
environment variable after installing it, and check again.

Setting up Pywin32
------------------

Pywin32 is required for parallel builds using multiple CPU cores.
If SCons is issuing a warning about Pywin32 after parsing SConstruct
build instructions, when beginning to build, you need to install it properly
from the correct installer executable for your Python version
`located at Github. <https://github.com/mhammond/pywin32/releases>`__

For example, if you installed a 32-bit version of Python 2.7, you would want
to install the latest version of Pywin32 that is built for the mentioned version
of Python. That executable installer would be named ``pywin32-221.win32-py2.7.exe``.

The ``amd64`` version of Pywin32 is for a 64-bit version of Python
``pywin32-221.win-amd64-py2.7.exe``. Change the ``py`` number to install for
your version of Python (check via ``python --version`` mentioned above).

.. _doc_compiling_for_windows_install_vs:

Installing Visual Studio caveats
--------------------------------

If installing Visual Studio 2015 or later, make sure to run **Custom** installation, not
**Typical** and select C++ as language there (and any other things you might
need). The installer does not install C++ by default. C++ was the
`only language made optional <https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/vcblog/2015/07/24/setup-changes-in-visual-studio-2015-affecting-c-developers/>`__
in Visual Studio 2015.

If you have already made the mistake of installing a **Typical**,
installation, rerun the executable installer you downloaded from
internet, it will give you a **Modify** Button option. Running the
install from Add/Remove programs will only give you the "Repair" option,
which will do nothing for your problem.

If you're using Express, make sure you get/have a version that can
compile for ***C++, Desktop***.

Downloading Godot's source
--------------------------

`Godot's <https://github.com/godotengine/godot>`__ source is hosted on
GitHub. Downloading it (cloning) via `Git <https://git-scm.com/>`__ is recommended.

The tutorial will presume from now on that you placed the source into
``C:\godot``.

Compiling
---------

SCons will not be able out of the box to compile from the
Windows Command Prompt (``cmd.exe``) because SCons and Visual C++ compiler
will not be able to locate environment variables and executables they
need for compilation.

Therefore, you need to start a Visual Studio command prompt. It sets up
environment variables needed by SCons to locate the compiler.
It should be called similar to one of the below names (for your
respective version of Visual Studio):

* "Developer Command Prompt for VS2013"
* "VS2013 x64 Native Tools Command Prompt"
* "VS2013 x86 Native Tools Command Prompt"
* "VS2013 x64 Cross Tools Command Prompt"
* "VS2013 x86 Cross Tools Command Prompt"

You should be able to find at least the Developer Command Prompt for
your version of Visual Studio in your start menu.

However Visual Studio sometimes seems to not install some of the above
shortcuts, except the Developer Console at these locations that are
automatically searched by the start menu search option:

::

   Win 7:
   C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Visual Studio 2015\Visual Studio Tools
   C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Visual Studio 2013\Visual Studio Tools

If you found the Developer Console, it will do for now to create a 32-bit
version of Godot, but if you want the 64-bit version, you might need
to setup the prompts manually for easy access.

If you don't see some of the shortcuts, "How the prompts actually work"
section below will explain how to setup these prompts if you need them.

About the Developer/Tools Command Prompts and the Visual C++ compiler
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

There is a few things you need to know about these consoles and the
Visual C++ compiler.

Your Visual Studio installation will ship with several Visual C++
compilers, them being more or less identical, however each ``cl.exe``
(Visual C++ compiler) will compile Godot for a different architecture
(32-bit x86 or 64-bit x86; the ARM compiler is not supported).

The **Developer Command Prompt** will build a 32-bit version of Godot by
using the 32-bit Visual C++ compiler.

**Native Tools** Prompts (mentioned above) are used when you want the
32-bit cl.exe to compile a 32-bit executable (x86 Native Tools
Command Prompt). For the 64-bit cl.exe, it will compile a 64-bit
executable (x64 Native Tools Command Prompt).

The **Cross Tools** are used when your Windows is using one architecture
(32-bit, for example) and you need to compile to a different
architecture (64-bit). As you might be familiar, 32-bit Windows can not
run 64-bit executables, but you still might need to compile for them.

For example:

* "VS2013 x64 Cross Tools Command Prompt" will use a 32-bit cl.exe that
  will compile a 64 bit application.

* "VS2013 x86 Cross Tools Command Prompt" will use a 64-bit cl.exe that
  will compile a 32-bit application. This one is useful if you are
  running a 32-bit Windows.

On a 64-bit Windows, you can run any of above prompts and compilers
(``cl.exe`` executables) because 64-bit Windows can run any 32-bit
application. 32-bit Windows cannot run 64-bit executables, so the
Visual Studio installer won't even install shortcuts for some of
these prompts.

Note that you need to choose the **Developer Console** or the correct
**Tools Prompt** to build Godot for the correct architecture. Use only
Native Prompts if you are not sure yet what exactly Cross Compile
Prompts do.

Running SCons
~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Once inside the **Developer Console/Tools Console Prompt**, go to the
root directory of the engine source code and type:

::

    C:\godot> scons platform=windows

Tip: if you installed "Pywin32 Python Extension" you can append the -j
command to instruct SCons to run parallel builds like this:

::

    C:\godot> scons -j6 platform=windows

In general, it is OK to have at least as many threads compiling Godot as
you have cores in your CPU, if not one or two more. Feel free to add the
-j option to any SCons command you see below if you setup the
"Pywin32 Python Extension".

If all goes well, the resulting binary executable will be placed in
``C:\godot\bin\`` with the name of ``godot.windows.tools.32.exe`` or
``godot.windows.tools.64.exe``. SCons will automatically detect what
compiler architecture the environment (the prompt) is setup for and will
build a corresponding executable.

This executable file contains the whole engine and runs without any
dependencies. Executing it will bring up the Project Manager.

.. note:: If you are compiling Godot for production use, then you can
          make the final executable smaller and faster by adding the
          SCons option ``target=release_debug``.

How the prompts actually work
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Visual Studio command prompts are just shortcuts that call the
standard Command Prompt and have it run a batch file before giving  you
control. The batch file itself is called **vcvarsall.bat** and it sets up
environment variables, including the PATH variable, so that the correct
version of the compiler can be run. The Developer Command Prompt calls a
different file called **VsDevCmd.bat** but none of the other tools that
this batch file enables are needed by Godot/SCons.

Since you are probably using Visual Studio 2013 or 2015, if you need to
recreate them manually, use the below folders, or place them on the
desktop/taskbar:

::

   C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Visual Studio 2015\Visual Studio Tools
   C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Visual Studio 2013\Visual Studio Tools

Start the creation of the shortcut by pressing the ``right mouse
button/New/Shortcut`` in an empty place in your desired location.

Then copy one of these commands below for the corresponding tool you
need into the "Path" and "Name" sections of the shortcut creation
wizard, and fix the path to the batch file if needed.

* Visual Studio 2013 is in the "Microsoft Visual Studio 12.0" folder.
* Visual Studio 2015 is in the "Microsoft Visual Studio 14.0" folder.
* etc.

::

   Name: Developer Command Prompt for VS2013
   Path: %comspec% /k ""C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 12.0\Common7\Tools\VsDevCmd.bat""

   Name: VS2013 x64 Cross Tools Command Prompt
   Path: %comspec% /k ""C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 12.0\VC\vcvarsall.bat"" x86_amd64

   Name: VS2013 x64 Native Tools Command Prompt
   Path: %comspec% /k ""C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 12.0\VC\vcvarsall.bat"" amd64

   Name: VS2013 x86 Native Tools Command Prompt
   Path: %comspec% /k ""C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 12.0\VC\vcvarsall.bat"" x86

   Name: VS2013 x86 Cross Tools Command Prompt
   Path: %comspec% /k ""C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 12.0\VC\vcvarsall.bat"" amd64_x86

After you create the shortcut, in the shortcut's properties, that you
can access by right clicking with your mouse on the shortcut itself, you
can choose the starting directory of the command prompt ("Start in"
field).

Some of these shortcuts (namely the 64-bit compilers) seem to not be
available in the Express edition of Visual Studio or Visual C++. Before
recreating the commands, make sure that ``cl.exe`` executables are present
in one of these locations, they are the actual compilers for the
architecture you want to build from the command prompt.

::

    x86 (32-bit) cl.exe
    C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 12.0\VC\bin\cl.exe

    x86 (32-bit) cl.exe for cross-compiling for 64-bit Windows.
    C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 12.0\VC\bin\x86_amd64\cl.exe

    x64 (64-bit) cl.exe
    C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 12.0\VC\bin\amd64\cl.exe

    x64 (64-bit) cl.exe for cross-compiling for 32-bit Windows.
    C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 12.0\VC\bin\amd64_x86\cl.exe


In case you are wondering what these prompt shortcuts do, they call ``cmd.exe``
with the ``\k`` option and have it run a Batch file.

::

   %comspec% - path to cmd.exe
   \k - keep alive option of the command prompt
   remainder - command to run via cmd.exe

   cmd.exe \k(eep cmd.exe alive after commands behind this option run) ""runme.bat"" with_this_option

How to run an automated build of Godot
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If you just need to run the compilation process via a Batch file or
directly in the Windows Command Prompt you need to use the
following command:

::

   "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 12.0\VC\vcvarsall.bat" x86

with one of the following parameters:

* x86 (32-bit cl.exe to compile for the 32-bit architecture)
* amd64 (64-bit cl.exe to compile for the 64-bit architecture)
* x86_amd64 (32-bit cl.exe to compile for the 64-bit architecture)
* amd64_x86 (64-bit cl.exe to compile for the 32-bit architecture)

and after that one, you can run SCons:

::

   scons platform=windows

or you can run them together:

::

   32-bit Godot
   "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 12.0\VC\vcvarsall.bat" x86 && scons platform=windows

   64-bit Godot
   "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 12.0\VC\vcvarsall.bat" amd64 && scons platform=windows

Development in Visual Studio or other IDEs
------------------------------------------

For most projects, using only scripting is enough but when development
in C++ is needed, for creating modules or extending the engine, working
with an IDE is usually desirable.

You can create a Visual Studio solution via SCons by running SCons with
the ``vsproj=yes`` parameter, like this:

::

   scons p=windows vsproj=yes

You will be able to open Godot's source in a Visual Studio solution now,
and able to build Godot via the Visual Studio **Build** button. However,
make sure that you have installed Pywin32 so that parallel (-j) builds
work properly.

If you need to edit the compilation commands, they are located in
"Godot" project settings, NMAKE sheet. SCons is called at the end of
the commands. If you make a mistake, copy the command from one of the
other build configurations (debug, release_debug, release) or
architectures (Win32/x64). They are equivalent.

Cross-compiling for Windows from other operating systems
--------------------------------------------------------

If you are a Linux or macOS user, you need to install `MinGW-w64 <https://mingw-w64.org/doku.php>`_,
which typically comes in 32-bit and 64-bit variants. The package names
may differ based on your distro, here are some known ones:

+---------------+--------------------------------------------------------+
| **Arch**      | ::                                                     |
|               |                                                        |
|               |     pacman -S scons mingw-w64-gcc                      |
+---------------+--------------------------------------------------------+
| **Debian** /  | ::                                                     |
| **Ubuntu**    |                                                        |
|               |     apt-get install scons mingw-w64                    |
+---------------+--------------------------------------------------------+
| **Fedora**    | ::                                                     |
|               |                                                        |
|               |     dnf install scons mingw32-gcc-c++ mingw64-gcc-c++  |
+---------------+--------------------------------------------------------+
| **macOS**     | ::                                                     |
|               |                                                        |
|               |     brew install scons mingw-w64                       |
+---------------+--------------------------------------------------------+
| **Mageia**    | ::                                                     |
|               |                                                        |
|               |     urpmi scons mingw32-gcc-c++ mingw64-gcc-c++        |
+---------------+--------------------------------------------------------+

Before allowing you to attempt the compilation, SCons will check for
the following binaries in your ``$PATH``:

::

    i686-w64-mingw32-gcc
    x86_64-w64-mingw32-gcc

If the binaries are not located in the ``$PATH`` (e.g. ``/usr/bin``),
you can define the following environment variables to give a hint to
the build system:

::

    export MINGW32_PREFIX="/path/to/i686-w64-mingw32-"
    export MINGW64_PREFIX="/path/to/x86_64-w64-mingw32-"

To make sure you are doing things correctly, executing the following in
the shell should result in a working compiler (the version output may
differ based on your system):

::

    user@host:~$ ${MINGW32_PREFIX}gcc --version
    i686-w64-mingw32-gcc (GCC) 6.1.0 20160427 (Mageia MinGW 6.1.0-1.mga6)

Troubleshooting
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Cross-compiling from some versions of Ubuntu may lead to `this bug <https://github.com/godotengine/godot/issues/9258>`_,
due to a default configuration lacking support for POSIX threading.

You can change that configuration following those instructions,
for 32-bit:

::

    sudo update-alternatives --config i686-w64-mingw32-gcc
    <choose i686-w64-mingw32-gcc-posix from the list>
    sudo update-alternatives --config i686-w64-mingw32-g++
    <choose i686-w64-mingw32-g++-posix from the list>

And for 64-bit:

::

    sudo update-alternatives --config x86_64-w64-mingw32-gcc
    <choose x86_64-w64-mingw32-gcc-posix from the list>
    sudo update-alternatives --config x86_64-w64-mingw32-g++
    <choose x86_64-w64-mingw32-g++-posix from the list>

Creating Windows export templates
---------------------------------

Windows export templates are created by compiling Godot as release, with
the following flags:

-  (using Mingw32 command prompt, using the bits parameter)

::

    C:\godot> scons platform=windows tools=no target=release bits=32
    C:\godot> scons platform=windows tools=no target=release_debug bits=32

-  (using Mingw-w64 command prompt, using the bits parameter)

::

    C:\godot> scons platform=windows tools=no target=release bits=64
    C:\godot> scons platform=windows tools=no target=release_debug bits=64

-  (using the Visual Studio command prompts for the correct
   architecture, notice the lack of bits parameter)

::

    C:\godot> scons platform=windows tools=no target=release
    C:\godot> scons platform=windows tools=no target=release_debug

If you plan on replacing the standard templates, copy these to:

::

    C:\USERS\YOURUSER\AppData\Roaming\Godot\Templates

With the following names:

::

    windows_32_debug.exe
    windows_32_release.exe
    windows_64_debug.exe
    windows_64_release.exe

However, if you are writing your custom modules or custom C++ code, you
might instead want to configure your binaries as custom export templates
here:

.. image:: img/wintemplates.png

You don't even need to copy them, you can just reference the resulting
files in the ``bin\`` directory of your Godot source folder, so the next
time you build you automatically have the custom templates referenced.