How to build VCMI (Windows/Cmake/MSVC)

Prerequisites

• Microsoft Visual Studio 2013
  • You can use Express Edition(download
  • If you are student you can get Professional Edition on Microsoft DreamSpark

• HoMM 3 (can be bought at gog.com)

• CMake download
• Git or git GUI, for example, SourceTree download

• Qt5 bundle download
• Boost libraries download

• Libraries pack (download), which contains
  • FFmpeg
  • SDL libraries
    • SDL2
    • SDL2_image
    • SDL2_mixer
    • SDL2_ttf
  • ZLib

Create initial directory

Create a directory for VCMI development, eg. C:\VCMI We will call this directory as [VCMIBUILD_DIR]

It is recommended to avoid non-ascii characters in the path to your VCMI development folder. The folder should not be write-protected by system.

Good location:

• C:\VCMI

Bad locations:

• C:\Users\Michał\VCMI (non-ascii character)
• C:\Program Files (x86)\VCMI (write protection)

Preparing place

Clone VCMI

• open SourceTree
• File -> Clone
• select https://github.com/vcmi/vcmi/ as source
• select [VCMIBUILD_DIR]/vcmi/source as destination
• click Clone

Install Boost bundle

• Run installer
• Select [VCMIBUILD_DIR]/boost as destination folder
• Install

Install Qt bundle

• Run installer
• Select latest Qt for MSVC 2013 (12)
• Select [VCMIBUILD_DIR]/qt as destination folder
• Install

Unpack libraries

• Download libraries pack and unpack it in [VCMIBUILD_DIR]/depends folder

So, you should get

• [VCMIBUILD_DIR]
  • depends
    • bin
    • include
    • lib

Compiling

Create toolchain file

Create [VCMIBUILD_DIR]/toolchain.txt

SET(CMAKE_SYSTEM_NAME Windows)
SWT(VCMIBUILD_DIR [ENTER YOUR VCMIBUILD_DIR PATH])

SET(CMAKE_C_COMPILER   cl)
SET(CMAKE_CXX_COMPILER cl)
set(CMAKE_RC_COMPILER rc)


SET(ENV{BOOST_ROOT} ${VCMIBUILD_DIR}/boost)
SET(ENV{BOOST_LIBRARYDIR} ${VCMIBUILD_DIR}/lib32-msvc-12.0)

SET(CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH  ${VCMIBUILD_DIR}/depends)
list(APPEND CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH ${CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH})
list(APPEND CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH ${VCMIBUILD_DIR}/Qt/5.3/msvc2013)

SET(CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH_MODE_PROGRAM BOTH)
SET(CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH_MODE_LIBRARY BOTH)
SET(CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH_MODE_INCLUDE BOTH)

Compile VCMI

• Open CMake-gui
• Select [VCMIBUILD_DIR]/vcmi/source as source directory
• Select [VCMIBUILD_DIR]/vcmi/binary as binary directory
• click "Configure"
• Select "Visual Studio 12 2013" in combobox
• Select "Specify toolchain file for crosscompiling"
• Select toolchain file
• Set variables:
  • CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX = [VCMIBUILD_DIR]/vcmi/result
• click Configure
• click Generate
• go to [VCMIBUILD_DIR]/vcmi/binary directory
• open VCMI.sln in visual studio
• select "Release" build type in combobox
• right click on BUILD_ALL project - build project
• right click on INSTALL project - build project
• Grab VCMI in [VCMIBUILD_DIR]/vcmi/result folder!

Appendix A. Libraries compilation

How to compile FFmpeg yourself

• Download Msys (link) and unpack it to [VCMIBUILD_DIR]/msys
• Download Yasm (link) and unpack it to [VCMIBUILD_DIR]/msys/bin
• Download FFmpeg source tarball and unpack it to temp folder, for example, [VCMIBUILD_DIR]/ffmpeg/source
• Open Visual Studio console from start menu
• Open [VCMIBUILD_DIR]/msys/msys.bat
• Go to /c/[VCMIBUILD_DIR]/ffmpeg/source folder

./configure --toolchain=msvc --enable-shared --prefix=/c/[VCMIBUILD_DIR]/depends
make 
make install