4/Development setup

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This page describes how to set up a working development environment with D and Armageddon Engine on Windows, and build the sample ae demos.

D

There are two versions of the language: D 1 and 2. D2 is the current version, thus commonly referred to as just "D".

Warning: The D installer is known to truncate the system PATH environment variable over a certain limit. (If you don't know what this means, it most likely doesn't apply to you.)

• Download and run the D Windows installer.
  • On the component selection screen, uncheck "D 1".

ae and requisites

There are two ways to set up development libraries: the proper way (using source control), and the easy way (zip snapshots). The proper way allows to easily update and contribute back to the libraries, but requires a lot more work when setting up from scratch. This page covers the easy way.

• Download the following libraries:
  • Win32 bindings
  • Derelict2 Util
  • Derelict2 SDL
  • Derelict2 OpenGL
  • Armageddon Engine

 

Folder structure

• Unpack all ZIP files.
• Create a new folder, and place the unpacked folders in the new folder as shown in the picture to the right. You will need to:
  • rename the root folder from the last zip file from CyberShadow-ae-something to simply ae.
  • merge the derelict directories from the derelict zip files.
• Copy the path to the new folder from the address bar.

 

• Navigate to C:\D\dmd2\windows\bin, and open sc.ini in Notepad.
• Find the line starting with DFLAGS=
• At the end of the line, type a space, then "-I, then paste the path copied above, then type " to close the quotes.

Example correct sc.ini

• Save and close the file.

SDL runtime

You'll need the SDL 1.2 runtime to run the SDL demos.

• Download the Win32 runtime library from the SDL 1.2 download page.
• Place SDL.dll in your project's directory, or somewhere on the system path (e.g. C:\Windows)

Geany

There are many editors and IDEs supporting D. This page describes setting up Geany, but there are many others available. If you're feeling adventurous, you can try experimenting with some of the editors and IDEs on this page.

• Download and run the Windows Geany installer (with GTK) from the Geany download page.
• Start Geany, and open a D file (for example, ae/demo/pewpew/pewpew.d).
• From the Build menu, select Set build commands
• In the edit box near the Build button (in the Command column), replace the command with: rdmd --build-only -w -g -of.\ "%f"
  • You may need to add a -d switch to the above line currently to suppress typedef deprecation errors. This issue is expected to be temporary.

Screenshot

• You should now be able to compile the current file with F8, build the currently-opened D program with F9, and run it with F5.

Troubleshooting

Warnings about missing rpcns4.lib, mpr.lib, version.lib

These warnings can be safely ignored.

Derelict SharedLibLoadException

The program could not find the SDL DLL. Copy SDL.dll in the program's folder, or to any folder in the system PATH.