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Building Stride from Source — Detailed Guide

This document covers detailed build prerequisites, alternative build paths, and troubleshooting beyond what's in the top-level README.

Detailed Prerequisites

Visual Studio 2026 — Required Components

When installing VS 2026, make sure these are selected:

.NET desktop development workload — defaults are sufficient.

Desktop development with C++ workload — defaults are sufficient. Specific components used:

  • Windows 11 SDK (10.0.22621.0 or later) (default)
  • MSVC Build Tools for x64/x86 (Latest) (default — currently v145.x in VS 2026)

Optional components:

  • MSVC Build Tools for ARM64/ARM64EC (Latest) — only needed if you actively develop or package for Windows ARM64. If missing, the ARM64 native build is automatically skipped with a warning (the rest of the build still succeeds).
  • .NET Multi-platform App UI development + Android NDK 20.1+ (via Tools > Android > Android SDK Manager) — to target iOS/Android.
  • Visual Studio extension development + .NET Framework 4.7.2 targeting pack — to build the VSIX package.

Note

The Visual Studio install with C++ + .NET workloads typically uses ~19 GB of disk space.

Warning

If this is your first time installing the .NET SDK, you might need to restart so that environment variables are picked up.

Build With Visual Studio

  1. git clone https://github.com/stride3d/stride.git
  2. Open build\Stride.slnx in Visual Studio 2026.
  3. Build the Stride.GameStudio project (default startup, in the 60-Editor folder) or run it directly from the toolbar.

Building Without Visual Studio

Using Build Tools + MSBuild

If you'd rather not install the full Visual Studio IDE:

  1. Install the .NET 10.0 SDK (bundled with VS Desktop Development workload, otherwise standalone).
  2. Install Visual Studio Build Tools (under Tools for Visual Studio → Build Tools for Visual Studio 2026), with the same workloads listed above.
  3. Add MSBuild to your PATH (e.g. C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\18\BuildTools\MSBuild\Current\Bin).
  4. Clone the repo: 
    git clone https://github.com/stride3d/stride.git
  5. From the build/ directory, run: 
    msbuild /t:Build Stride.build

Using dotnet build

dotnet build works without Visual Studio loaded — it auto-selects the Clang toolchain for the native C++ projects:

dotnet build build\Stride.slnx

Stride auto-selects the native toolchain: MSVC when running under MSBuild.exe with the VS C++ tools loaded (VS Developer Command Prompt or IDE), Clang in every other case — including dotnet build from a Developer Command Prompt. See SDK-GUIDE.md → Native Build Mode for the full logic.

Running a Sample Against Your Local Build

Instantiates a sample from the locally built template packages, bound to this checkout's engine build (-devN dev version — see versioning.md). Works in both package modes:

  1. Produce the packages.
    • Dev-redirect mode (StrideDevPackages=true in build/Stride.Local.props — fastest engine iteration): 
      dotnet run build/GenerateDevPackages.cs
      Builds the solution and deploys redirect packages to %LocalAppData%\stride\nugetdev, mirrored into bin\packages so the repo's own feed stays current too.
    • Normal mode: any engine build (Visual Studio or dotnet build build\Stride.slnx) auto-packs real packages into bin\packages.
  2. Deploy the package closure into the NuGet cache — this is what makes a version "installed" for the stride CLI, and it purges stale same-version extractions so a rebuilt package actually takes effect: 
    dotnet msbuild build/install-gamestudio.targets -t:Deploy
  3. Instantiate (browse with stride new list --version 4.4.0-devN): 
    stride new stride-animatedmodel --version 4.4.0-devN -n MySample -o C:\path\MySample
    Template content is stamped with the matching engine version at pack time, so the generated project restores as-is. Without the stride CLI installed, run it from source: dotnet run --project sources/launcher/Stride.Cli -- new ....
  4. Build and run. The graphics API is a per-game choice; it must be one of the StrideGraphicsApis values in build/Stride.Local.props the engine was built with: 
    dotnet build C:\path\MySample\MySample.Windows\MySample.Windows.csproj -p:StrideGraphicsApi=Vulkan
C:\path\MySample\Bin\Windows\Debug\MySample.Windows.exe

After engine changes: in dev-redirect mode rebuild the engine project, then rebuild the game (the redirect re-copies the tree's DLLs into its Bin); in normal mode rebuild (auto-repack) and run the Deploy step again.

Note

Any build run with -p:StrideDevPackages=false while dev-redirect packages are deployed deletes them (the intended cleanup when switching modes off) — rerun GenerateDevPackages.cs afterwards.

See also sources/templates/README.md for iterating on the template packages themselves.

Troubleshooting

  • Test project errors are usually normal — GameStudio will start anyway.
  • The Visual Studio extension may fail to build without the Visual Studio SDK, but Game Studio will still start.
  • Some changes require a system reboot — try that if you see Could not find a compatible version of MSBuild or Path to dotnet executable is not set.
  • Make sure your PATH doesn't contain older MSBuild versions (e.g. ...\Microsoft Visual Studio\2019\BuildTools\MSBuild\Current\Bin should be removed).
  • If an older Visual Studio is installed alongside VS 2026, ensure you're using VS 2026 specifically.
  • Ensure Git, Git LFS, and Visual Studio can reach the internet.
  • If problems persist: close Visual Studio, clear the NuGet cache (dotnet nuget locals all --clear), delete .vs inside build/ and the files in bin/packages/, kill any running msbuild/dotnet processes, then rebuild.

Further Reading

  • SDK-GUIDE.md — Stride build SDK internals (target structure, project SDK selection, native build modes)
  • versioning.md — versioning & release: engine version, per-checkout -devN dev versions, the release flow, and sample/template package versions
  • aot.md — NativeAOT & trimming: publishing games, feature switches for optional subsystems, keeping the engine AOT-clean
  • ../../sources/templates/README.md — dotnet new template packages (Stride.Templates.Games / .Games.Starters / .Samples): end-user usage, local dev workflow, adding a new sample
  • ../../sources/launcher/README.md — the stride CLI tool and the WPF launcher: usage, building (PackageCli), and the independent CLI release flow