ThordekkCore/BUILD_INSTRUCTIONS.md

TrinityCore Build Instructions

This document describes the persistent build solution for TrinityCore with Playerbot module.

Prerequisites

• Visual Studio 2022 Enterprise with C++ tooling
• CMake 3.24+
• Git
• vcpkg at C:\libs\vcpkg
• Boost libraries at C:\libs\boost_1_88_0-bin-msvc-all-32-64

Build Configurations

We support four build configurations:

1. Debug - Full debug symbols, no optimizations, for development
2. Release - Full optimizations, no debug symbols, for production
3. RelWithDebInfo - Optimized with debug symbols, for profiling/debugging production issues
4. Test - Debug build with testing enabled

Build Process

Step 1: Configure

Run the appropriate configure script once or when CMake configuration needs to be regenerated:

# For Debug build
configure_debug.bat

# For Release build
configure_release.bat

# For RelWithDebInfo build
configure_relwithdebinfo.bat

# For Test build (with tests enabled)
configure_test.bat

What this does:

• Sets correct vcpkg path: C:\libs\vcpkg
• Sets Boost paths to the correct library directories
• Creates/cleans the build directory
• Runs CMake with the appropriate configuration
• Generates Visual Studio 2022 solution files

When to reconfigure:

• After pulling new code that changes CMakeLists.txt
• When switching between configurations
• When adding/removing build options
• When CMake cache becomes corrupted

Step 2: Build

After configuration, run the corresponding build script:

# For Debug build
build_debug.bat

# For Release build
build_release.bat

# For RelWithDebInfo build
build_relwithdebinfo.bat

# For Test build and run tests
build_test.bat

What this does:

• Verifies build directory and CMake cache exist
• Runs MSBuild with appropriate configuration
• Uses 2 CPU cores for parallel compilation
• Outputs minimal verbosity to reduce noise
• 30-minute timeout for large builds

Build Outputs

After successful build, binaries are located in:

• Debug: build\bin\Debug\
• Release: build\bin\Release\
• RelWithDebInfo: build\bin\RelWithDebInfo\

Main executables:

• worldserver.exe - Main game server with Playerbot module
• bnetserver.exe - Authentication server

Switching Configurations

To switch from one configuration to another:

1. Run the new configuration's configure script
   • Example: configure_release.bat
2. Run the new configuration's build script
   • Example: build_release.bat

The configure script will clean the CMake cache, so you don't need to manually delete the build directory.

Troubleshooting

CMake Configuration Fails

Problem: vcpkg or Boost not found

Solution: Verify paths in configure scripts:

• vcpkg should be at C:\libs\vcpkg
• Boost should be at C:\libs\boost_1_88_0-bin-msvc-all-32-64

Build Fails with Missing MSBuild

Problem: MSBuild.exe not found

Solution: Verify Visual Studio 2022 Enterprise installation path matches:

C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\2022\Enterprise\MSBuild\Current\Bin\MSBuild.exe

Build Timeout

Problem: Build takes longer than 30 minutes

Solution: Increase timeout in build scripts by modifying the script header comment (informational only - actual timeout is system-dependent)

Incremental Build Issues

Problem: Strange build errors after code changes

Solution:

1. Clean the solution: Run configure script again
2. Delete build directory entirely
3. Run configure script
4. Run build script

Performance Tips

• Use Release for production/performance testing
• Use Debug for development and debugging
• Use RelWithDebInfo when you need performance with debugging capability
• Build scripts use /m:2 to limit parallel jobs to 2 cores (adjustable in build scripts)

Git Integration

These build scripts are designed to persist across git operations:

• Safe with git pull, git merge, git rebase
• Safe with git checkout (switching branches)
• Not tracked in git (should be .gitignore'd if needed)
• Stored at repository root for easy access

Build Customization

To customize builds, edit the respective configure script:

Example: Add custom CMake options

cmake .. -G "Visual Studio 17 2022" ^
    -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Debug ^
    -DBUILD_PLAYERBOT=1 ^
    -DYOUR_CUSTOM_OPTION=ON ^
    -DCMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE="%VCPKG_ROOT%\scripts\buildsystems\vcpkg.cmake" ^
    ...

Example: Change MSBuild parallelism

In build scripts, change /m:2 to /m:4 for 4 cores:

%MSBUILD% TrinityCore.sln ^
    /p:Configuration=Debug ^
    /p:Platform=x64 ^
    /m:4 ^
    ...

Quick Reference

Task	Command
First-time Debug build	configure_debug.bat then build_debug.bat
Rebuild Debug	build_debug.bat
Switch to Release	configure_release.bat then build_release.bat
Run tests	configure_test.bat then build_test.bat
Clean rebuild	configure_*.bat then build_*.bat

Notes

• Configure scripts will not delete your entire build directory, only CMakeCache.txt
• Build scripts include error checking and will stop on failure
• All scripts use pause at the end so you can see the results
• Timeout is set to 30 minutes as specified in requirements