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This page is only valid up to version 1.8. Later versions require Visual C++ 2015 or newer.

This article gets you started on compiling OpenTTD using Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 Express Edition.

Required software

Download these pieces of software. Then follow the installation instructions provided in this article.

1. Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 Express Edition
2. Microsoft® Windows® SDK
3. Microsoft® DirectX® SDK August 2007
4. openttd-useful.zip, a collection of files of varying age.
5. TortoiseSVN
6. The newest source from svn://svn.openttd.org/trunk; download with TortoiseSVN.

Note: This guide has been made on Windows XP with VTP applied. For Vista, see the guide for MSVC++ 2008 Express.

Alternative files

For the latest zlib, libpng and FreeType files you can browse their websites below.

• zlib
• GnuWin32 libpng
• GnuWin32 FreeType
• ICU4C

While TortoiseSVN is great for SVN novices, some advanced developers prefer the command line SVN client:

• Subversion 1.3.2 Win32 binaries

Installation and setup

• Install Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 Express Edition. This should be fairly easy. Download it, run it and drink a beer while waiting ;)
• Install Microsoft Platform SDK. I recommend to install the same options way I did, so it won't use a lot of unnecessary space (see the images below).

Setting up includes and libraries

Now extract the Openttd-useful.zip file and copy:

• The contents of the include folder to C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\VC\include.

• The contents of the library folder to C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\VC\lib.

Setting up the DirectX SDK

Well, from the components screen remove the documentation and sample source code you'll save a lot of space (800+ MB). They're pretty useless if you just need to compile OpenTTD. Note:You should not use a version newer than August 2007 as DirectMusic is no longer supported as of the November 2007 release.

Setting up the VC++ Directories

Go to Tools -> Options, then to Projects and Solutions -> VC++ Directories. Add the following lines:

Executable files:

• C:\Program Files\Microsoft Platform SDK\Bin

Include files:

• C:\Program Files\Microsoft Platform SDK\Include
• C:\Program Files\Microsoft DirectX SDK\Include

Library files:

• C:\Program Files\Microsoft DirectX SDK\Lib\x86
• C:\Program Files\Microsoft Platform SDK\Lib

Note: Please update the paths as necessary.

Only a few changes are required to use the Platform SDK with Visual C++ 2005 Express. Please follow steps 3, 4 and maybe 5 of the guide from Microsoft.

Compiling

Open projects/openttd_vs80.sln. This will open your IDE with the project loaded. If you want to compile a debug version straight ahead, press F7 and enjoy. To compile a non-debug version, go to Build -> Configuration Manager and select Release for OpenTTD. Press F7.