Installing development environment (IDE)
Writing plugins with plugin-sdk implies the use of Microsoft Visual Studio or Code::Blocks. A detailed list of supported development environments can be found below.
| IDE | Creating a new project | Multi-target project | Compiler |
|---|---|---|---|
| Visual Studio 2017 | Project Wizard | Yes | msbuild |
| Visual Studio 2015 | Project Wizard | Yes | msbuild |
| Visual Studio 2013 | Project templates | No | mingw-64 |
| Visual Studio 2012 | Project templates | No | mingw-64 |
| Visual Studio 2010 | Project templates | No | mingw-64 |
| Code::Blocks | Project Wizard | Yes | mingw-64 |
! For Code::Blocks, and also for Visual Studio versions before 2015 you will also need to install the compiler (mingw) (for details, see Installing mingw-64).
When installing Visual Studio, make sure that you have selected these components:
- Common tools for VC++
- Windows SDK (not needed for Visual Studio 2010-2013)
- Windows XP Support for C++ (not needed for Visual Studio 2010-2013)
! The names of these components may differ slightly in different versions of Visual Studio.
Visual Studio 2017 is distributed in three main versions - Community, Professional and Enterprise.
You can download Visual Studio 2017 at the page https://www.visualstudio.com/downloads/
The Community version is available for free, Professional and Enterprise versions are available for trial period.
In the installer window, select the "Develop classic applications in C++" component, and on the right, in the "Summary" section, select these components:
For more detailed settings, go to the "Individual components" tab. Here you can enable the Git and GitHub extensions for Visual Studio.
In the "Language Packages" tab, select the languages you want.
When you start Visual Studio for the first time, you need to select a color theme, as well as the parameters of the development environment ("Visual C++").
Download the latest Code::Blocks version at the official Code::Blocks website (Download the regular version there, usually called as codeblocks-***-setup.exe, where *** is a Code::Blocks version).
Once you launched Code::Blocks installer, click Next on Welcome screen, and accept License Agreement. Select Full installation type on Choose components screen:
Then, select destination folder and click Install. Run Code::Blocks after installation. Skip Compilers auto-detection window if it was shown. Go to Settings > Compiler... and open Toolchain executables tab.
Select Compiler's installation directory (a directory where MinGW compiler was installed) and then setup all other parameters as shown on a screen below:
Save your changes by pressing OK button.
A SpellChecker plugin for Code::Blocks is enabled by default, and it may be annoying for you sometimes.
Go to Settings > Editor and select SpellCheker tab on the left panel and disable Enable online spell checker option.
Try to avoid paths with space characters in Code::Blocks. This applies to project folder path, along with paths to plugin-sdk folder, paths to CLEO SDK and DirectX SDK folders and paths to GTA folders.