Compiling for Windows

See also Exporting for Windows.

Requirements

For compiling under Windows, the following is required:

  • Visual Studio Community, version 2017 or later. VS 2019 is recommended. Make sure to read “Installing Visual Studio caveats” below or you will have to run/download the installer again.
  • MinGW-w64 with GCC can be used as an alternative to Visual Studio. Be sure to install/configure it to use the posix thread model.
  • Python 3.5+. Make sure to enable the option to add Python to the PATH in the installer.
  • SCons build system. Using the latest release is recommended, especially for proper support of recent Visual Studio releases. Note Scoop installed, you can easily install MinGW and other dependencies using the following command:
    1. scoop install gcc python scons make
    Note MSYS2 installed, you can easily install MinGW and other dependencies using the following command:
    1. pacman -S mingw-w64-x86_64-python3-pip mingw-w64-x86_64-gcc \    mingw-w64-i686-python3-pip mingw-w64-i686-gcc make
    For each MSYS2 MinGW subsystem, you should then run pip3 install scons in its shell. See also Getting the source. Introduction to the buildsystem.

    Setting up SCons

    To install SCons, open the command prompt and run the following command:
    1. python -m pip install scons
    Defaulting to user installation because normal site-packages is not writeable, you may have to run that command again using elevated permissions. Open a new command prompt as an Administrator then run the command again to ensure that SCons is available from the PATH. python --version and scons --version into a command prompt (cmd.exe). PATH environment variable after installing it, then check again. You can do so by running the Python installer again and enabling the option to add Python to the PATH. python -m pip install --upgrade scons.

    Installing Visual Studio caveats

    C++ in the list of workflows to install. Custom installation instead of Typical and select C++ as a language there. Modify button. Running the installer from Add/Remove Programs will only give you a Repair option, which won’t let you install C++ tools.

    Downloading Godot’s source

    Getting the source for detailed instructions. C:\godot. Warning To prevent slowdowns caused by continuous virus scanning during compilation, add the Godot source folder to the list of exceptions in your antivirus software. Virus & threat protection, go to Virus & threat protection setting and scroll down to Exclusions. Click Add or remove exclusions then add the Godot source folder.

    Compiling

    Selecting a compiler

    use_mingw=yes to the SCons command line. Note that MSVC builds cannot be performed from the MSYS2 or MinGW shells. Use either cmd.exe or PowerShell instead. During development, using the Visual Studio compiler is usually a better idea, as it links the Godot binary much faster than MinGW. However, MinGW can produce more optimized binaries using link-time optimization (see below), making it a better choice for production use.

    Running SCons

    cd) and type:
    1. C:\godot> scons platform=windows
    You can specify a number of CPU threads to use to speed up the build:
    1. C:\godot> scons -j6 platform=windows
    -j option to any SCons command you see below. Note When compiling with multiple CPU threads, SCons may warn about pywin32 being missing. You can safely ignore this warning. C:\godot\bin\ with the name godot.windows.tools.32.exe or godot.windows.tools.64.exe. By default, SCons will build a binary matching your CPU architecture, but this can be overridden using bits=64 or bits=32. This executable file contains the whole engine and runs without any dependencies. Running it will bring up the Project Manager. Note target=release_debug. use_lto=yes. As link-time optimization is a memory-intensive process, this will require about 7 GB of available RAM while compiling. Note Self-contained mode by creating a file called ._sc_ or _sc_ in the bin/ folder.

    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. vsproj=yes parameter, like this:
    1. scons p=windows vsproj=yes
    Build button. If you need to edit the build 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

    MinGW-w64, which typically comes in 32-bit and 64-bit variants. The package names may differ based on your distribution, here are some known ones: PATH environment variable:
    1. i686-w64-mingw32-gccx86_64-w64-mingw32-gcc
    PATH (e.g. /usr/bin), you can define the following environment variables to give a hint to the build system:
    1. 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):
    1. ${MINGW32_PREFIX}gcc --version# i686-w64-mingw32-gcc (GCC) 6.1.0 20160427 (Mageia MinGW 6.1.0-1.mga6)

    Troubleshooting

    this bug, due to a default configuration lacking support for POSIX threading. You can change that configuration following those instructions, for 64-bit:
    1. 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>
    And for 32-bit:
    1. 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>

    Creating Windows export templates

    Windows export templates are created by compiling Godot without the editor, with the following flags:
    1. C:\godot> scons platform=windows tools=no target=release_debug bits=32C:\godot> scons platform=windows tools=no target=release bits=32C:\godot> scons platform=windows tools=no target=release_debug bits=64C:\godot> scons platform=windows tools=no target=release bits=64
    <version> with the version identifier (such as 3.1.1.stable or 3.2.dev):
    1. %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Roaming\Godot\templates\<version>\
    With the following names:
    1. windows_32_debug.exewindows_32_release.exewindows_64_debug.exewindows_64_release.exe
    However, if you are using custom modules or custom engine code, you may instead want to configure your binaries as custom export templates here: bin\ directory of your Godot source folder, so the next time you build, you will automatically have the custom templates referenced.