Build Instructions

Build Instructions

These instructions can also be found on our wiki.

0. Install Microsoft Visual Studio 2013 or greater.
1. Download the source code, either with a git client or with the "Download ZIP" option from your chosen repository.

Visual Studio GUI build

0. If you prefer the Visual Studio graphical interface, open Meridian59.sln from the root folder of the codebase. Click on the BUILD menu and select Build Solution (or press CTRL+SHIFT+B) to build.

Makefile build

0. Locate your Visual Studio install folder, usually something like "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 12.0". Navigate to the Common folder, and then the Tools folder. Example: "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 12.0\Common7\Tools".
1. Create a shortcut (by right-clicking on vsvars32.bat and selecting Create shortcut) called "Meridian Development Shell" on your desktop or in your start menu with the following property: Target: %windir%\system32\cmd.exe /k "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 12.0\Common7\Tools\vsvars32.bat"
2. OPTIONAL: set the "Start In" property of your shortcut to the folder that contains the meridian source code for ease of use.
3. Open the Meridian Development Shell and navigate to the folder containing the source code, then enter nmake debug=1 to compile.

Getting Started: Server

0. After compilation completes, browse to the .\run\server folder, and double click blakserv.exe to start the server.
1. Go to the Administration tab on the server's interface and enter the command: create account admin username password (with your desired username and password). You will see a message saying Created ACCOUNT 4 or similar.
2. Then create a character slot on that account with create admin 4, using whichever number the previous line returned instead of 4.
3. You'll now be able to log in with this account name and password. Be sure to "save game" from the server interface to save this new account.

Getting Started: Client

You will need to obtain the client graphics before you can run the client locally. To do this, download the patcher and use that program to download a copy of the 103 or 112 client. When this is installed, building the client (via makefile or VS solution) will automatically copy the needed resources to the appropriate directory. If for some reason this isn't done, copy the files manually from the 103/112 client's resource directory to your repo's .\run\localclient\resource directory. Running postbuild.bat from the root directory of the repo will also perform the copy function.

0. After compilation completes, the client is located at .\run\localclient.
1. You can point your local client at your local server by running the client meridian.exe with command line flags, like this: meridian.exe /U:username /W:password /H:localhost /P:5959.
2. Building the client will generate a shortcut to meridian.exe, with these flags, however if this shortcut isn't present in your client directory, you can create it by making the shortcut, right-clicking it and selecting Properties, and adding /H:localhost /P:5959 after the existing link in the Target: box.

Note that any time you recompile KOD code, changes need to be loaded into your local blakserv server by clicking the 'reload system' arrow icon, next to the 'save game' disk icon.