Notes:

This is guaranteed to build out of the box!
Please ping me on discord if you have any suggestions/questions.

This branch significantly simplifies the startup process for coding in Cryengine by improving SDK and CMake management and development. You only need Code/GameXXXX/CMakeLists.txt and .cryproject files to integrate any additional project(s) with Cryengine.

The engine is basically the latest official release, Cryengine 5.5.2.

Just two edits to CryEngine itself, backwards compatible:

• Improved comment syntax on XXX.cfg & .cryproject files
• (Renderer) Hacky fix to strange view bug

Installation:

This install guide assumes a Windows system, and pretends you have nothing installed.

If you don't see it, you don't need it. e.g. CMake is not needed, comes with CE.

Only exception's are C++ Distributables. I did my tests with C++2013 32/64-bit and 2017 64bit.

1. Download VStudio Community 2017 64-bit.

   • Optionally, get version 15.6.7 as it's the one I'm currently using
   • Direct download link: https://aka.ms/eac464

2. During VStudio configuration:

   1. Select "Desktop Development with C++"
   2. Find "MFC and ATL support (x86 and x64)", location depends on VStudio version.
      • Windows SDK 10.0.16299.0 or 15063 required.

3. Double-click cry_cmake.exe: In the drop down, Select VStudio 2017 -> Click Generate Solution.

   • This process automatically downloads and unpacks most SDKs.
   • Ignore the perforce-plugin warning, since CryTek uses perforce internally.
   • Once GUI pops up click 'Open Project' to launch the VisualStudio sln file.

4. Optional: Download additional SDKs

   • FbxSDK: images.autodesk.com/adsk/files/fbx20161_fbxsdk_vs2015_win0.exe:

     1. Copy and rename "Program Files/Autodesk/FBX/FBX SDK/2016.1" to "Code/SDKs/FbxSdk"
     2. The path should be e.g. %ENGINEROOT%/Code/SDKs/FbxSdk/include/moreStuffetc.

   • FMOD: https://www.fmod.com/download

     1. Get the api and plugin folders.
     2. Copy "C:\Program Files (x86)\FMOD SoundSystem\FMOD Studio API Windows\XXXX" to "%ENGINEROOT%/Code/SDKs/Audio/fmod/windows/XXX"

5. Optional: Generate again if you added SDK's

6. Build the solution in Debug or Profile. Obviously debug will be slower.

7. Right click on your project In Solution Explorer (e.g. SampleFPS) and select 'Set as Startup Project':

   • This will launch your SampleFPS project by default when you press F5/play.

8. Run InstallEngine.bat, to register local engine version.

   • It takes a bit for the icons to update on Cryengine files but you can right-click the .cryproject files and launch stuff normally.
   • This step doesn't depend on or affect anything for Installation. Engine-version is only used when you launch a project. So no need to re-run this every time you update CMake.

9. Launch the project :)

Install DEBUG:

If you have little-to-no virtual memory allocated, this error will pop up during the build:

Virtual memory could not be created for PCH. Compiler limit reached internal heap limit.

1. Go to "Adjust the appearance and performance of Windows"
2. Click advanced -> Click "Change" under virtual memory
3. Make it system-managed for the drive that's lacking it, I have ~2432MB atm.

Working with PyInstall:

download_sdks, cry_cmake, cryselect and cryrun are python scripts wrapped into a .exe by PyInstall.
If you want to work with them you have to do a bit of setup.

1. Get Python 3.5 installed in C:\Python35: https://www.python.org/ftp/python/3.5.4/python-3.5.4-amd64.exe

2. As admin-CLI. pypiwin32 is for CrySelect, make sure to re-open shell (if you using that) to get paths right setup.

   pip install PyInstaller pypiwin32
   

3. To run python script in CLI, run wrappers:

   python Tools/CMake/cry_cmake/wrapper.py  
   python Tools/CMake/download_sdks/wrapper.py  
   python Tools/CryVersionSelector/cryrun_exe.py  
   python Tools/CryVersionSelector/cryselect_exe.py
   

4. To run PyInstall from CLI, generates and copies .exe:

   call Tools/CMake/cry_cmake/setup xxx  
   call Tools/CMake/download_sdks/setup xxx  
   call Tools/CryVersionSelector/setup xxx
   

Make sure wrapper's include modules you add for non-wrapper use. To activate debug mode for .exe, make sure debug=True and console=True in the XXX.spec file before PyInstalling.

To run .exe from CLI in case you want debug the output in the same terminal.:

Tools\CMake\cry_cmake\cry_cmake.exe  
Tools\CMake\download_sdks\download_sdks.exe  
Tools\CMake\CryVersionSelector\cryrun.exe  
Tools\CMake\CryVersionSelector\cryselect.exe

You can check out my SDK/cry_cmake improvement commits for sample edits.

General file info, more is in the respective file comments:

1. CrySelect:
   Updates CE-related icons and file types. This is what your right click on any .cryproject file triggers.
   Cryselect can register engine versions, run .cryprojects directly, and more.
2. editor.cfg: Config file for Sandbox-only CVars (Console Variables) and the like.
3. system.cfg: Default Cryengine settings, .cryproject files override these.
4. XX.cryproject: Your project file, its location is the project's root. It handles CVars, the target engine version and more.
5. cryengine.cryengine:
   Defines a custom engine version that your projects can use. You have to register this to use it.
   You can register cryengine.cryengine with InstallEngine.bat or by right-clicking it file and selecting 'Register'.
6. cry_cmake.exe: Configures CMake for your target VStudio version then generates solution etc.
7. Tools/CMake/download_sdks.exe: Downloads SDKs. Generating the solution triggers this automatically.
8. Tools/CryVersionSelector/Utility/InstallEngine.bat: Installs the github version of CrySelect and registers your custom Engine version.
9. CMakeLists.txt files:
   These files are how you use CMake to build and generate everything you have.
   Cryengine Engine building is located in Tools/CMake/XXX.cmake files.
10. Tools/CMake/OVERRIDE.cmake: Use this to configure permanent CMake options and have them be traceable.

Ignore everything WAF related, CMake is the new solution builder.

PR/Commit rules that I (try to) follow are here:

• https://docs.cryengine.com/display/CEPROG/Pull+Request+Submission
• https://docs.cryengine.com/display/CEPROG/Commit+description+rules

Annoyances:

1. Personwithhat is messy:
   In order to clean up my commits, I frequently rebase my branches. You may find that a simple git pull won't cut it.
   You can do merges or simply rebase everything you have, e.g. git rebase -i origin/release_fixed
   If you're worried just make a backup via git checkout -b BAKUP and do your tests there.

2. Release-branch RC is messy:

   • When building a solution, you'll always get "13", even with no changes cuz of PCH issues on RC.
   • As "!B Release branch RC changes shader case" shows, RC also has messy case issues.
   • Main branch RC has neither of these issues.

Recommended 3-d party apps:

1. AstroGrep (http://astrogrep.sourceforge.net/):
   The best windows-based file search tool, helps a lot when looking for certain lines in the engine/CMake/etc.

2. BandiZip (https://www.bandisoft.com/bandizip/):
   My preferred zip-manager, clean interface and runs well. Handles most types too.

3. Notepad++ (https://notepad-plus-plus.org/):
   Great text editor, lots of options.

4. Github Desktop (https://desktop.github.com/):
   Great for quick commit overviews, anything complex has an option to open in CLI, and so on.

5. GitExtensions (https://github.com/gitextensions/gitextensions/releases):
   For when you need more info, an easier way to clean large files, and for the better rebase editor.