Setting Up a Development Game Server¶

This guide walks you through the chronological steps to set up a development environment for the Brave Frontier emulator server, ensuring all prerequisites are met and potential issues are avoided from the start.

Installing Visual Studio 2022 Community with C++ for Developers¶

Before cloning the server repository or setting up dependencies, install Visual Studio 2022 Community with the necessary C++ development tools to prevent common build errors, such as the missing rc.exe issue.

Steps:

1. Download and install Visual Studio 2022 Community from https://visualstudio.microsoft.com/downloads/. (For best results, run the installer with Admin Privileges)

2. During installation, select the following in the Visual Studio Installer:

   • Workload: “Desktop development with C++” (ensure this is checked).

   • Individual Components (under “Installation details”):

     • “Windows 10 SDK” (select the latest version, e.g., 10.0.22621.0).

     • “MSVC v143 - VS 2022 C++ x64/x86 build tools.” (Usually selected by default)

   

3. Click “Install while downloading” or “Modify” to apply changes (approximately 10.7 GB of additional space may be required).

Cloning the Server Repository¶

Clone the server repository to begin working on the Brave Frontier emulator server.

Steps:

To clone the server repository, run the following command in a terminal (e.g., Git Bash, Command Prompt, or PowerShell):

git clone --depth=1 https://github.com/decompfrontier/server

Setting Up vcpkg¶

Set up vcpkg, a C++ library manager, to handle dependencies for the server project.

Steps:

1. Clone the vcpkg repository and bootstrap it with metrics disabled:

   • In a terminal, run:

     git clone https://github.com/microsoft/vcpkg.git
     cd vcpkg
     .\bootstrap-vcpkg -disableMetrics  (for Windows, PowerShell)
     ./bootstrap-vcpkg.sh -disableMetrics  (for Linux/macOS)
     

.\vcpkg integrate install

2. Set up a permanent environment variable named VCPKG_ROOT pointing to your vcpkg installation directory. Choose one of the following methods based on your preference:

   • User-Level (Recommended): Sets the variable for your user account only. In a PowerShell terminal, run:

     [Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable("VCPKG_ROOT", "C:\Projects\vcpkg", "User")
     

   • System-Level (Admin Required): Sets the variable for all users on the system. In an elevated PowerShell (Run as Administrator), run:

     [Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable("VCPKG_ROOT", "C:\Projects\vcpkg", "Machine")
     

   • Replace C:\Projects\vcpkg with the actual path to your vcpkg folder (e.g., A:\BF\vcpkg if that’s where it’s located).

   • To verify it worked, restart your terminal and run:

     $env:VCPKG_ROOT
     

     Example Output: C:\Projects\vcpkg

   • Alternatively, set it via the GUI:

     • Open sysdm.cpl (via Windows Key + R), go to “Advanced” > “Environment Variables.”

     • Under “User variables” (for user-level) or “System variables” (for system-level, admin required), click “New”:

       • Variable name: VCPKG_ROOT

       • Variable value: Your vcpkg path (e.g., C:\Projects\vcpkg).

Building the Server Using CMake¶

Configure and build the server project using CMake with a preset for your operating system.

Steps:

Using CMake, select the preset Development config for XXXXX (64-bit) based on your operating system. Alternatively, use one of these commands in a terminal (e.g., Developer PowerShell for VS 2022 on Windows):

• cmake --preset debug-win64 (Windows)

• cmake --preset debug-lnx64 (Linux)

• cmake --preset debug-osx64 (macOS)

Once built, you’ll find a binary named gimuserverw in the server\standalone_frontend folder. This is your development server executable, which you can run and debug to implement new features.

Double Click gimuserverw.vcxproj to open Visual Studio 2022 Community.

In Visual Studio 2022 Community, right click gimuserverw in the Solution Explorer pane and select Set as Startup Project.

From here, select the Debug dropdown menu in the top ribbon. Select gimuserverw Debug Properties at the bottom of the dropdown.

In this pop-up window, select Debugging under Configuration Properties, Change Configuration: dropdown to All Configurations, then change Working Directory to the server\deploy folder. Click OK to close this window, then click Apply and finally OK to return to Visual Studio 2022 Community.

Final Stretch¶

Complete the server setup by downloading and organizing assets.

Steps:

1. Download the assets from 21900.zip.

2. Extract assets.zip from 21900.zip as shown below:

   

3. Open assets.zip and extract the content and mst folders into deploy/game_content (if this folder doesn’t exist make it):

   

   After extraction, you should have two folders, content and mst, inside game_content:

   

   The content folder should contain the following assets:

   

   The mst folder should contain these assets:

   

4. Modify the server configuration by editing the JSON files in the system directory. You can also adjust additional settings in gimuconfig.json and tweak Drogon-specific options in config.json.

Your environment is now fully set up and ready for developing the Brave Frontier emulator. You can run the server by clicking the Green Filled-in Play Button at the top of Visual Studio 2022 Community.

What’s next?¶