Before modifying source:

ZK's Devving Philosophy (social rules)

• Core devs have the last word.
• "War is anticommunication!"
• Communicate with other devs about your changes/fixes, let them understand the issue. Do not make 'random' changes.
• "Do not create work for other people."
• Have responsibility for your changes/commit. Do not leave bugs that require other people to fix.
• "Readability & performance are equally important."
• Optimize code but not to the point of unreadability. Remember the rules of optimization:
• Don't.
• Don't (yet).
• Profile before doing it.
• "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."
• Don't code fixes that nobody wants to problems that don't exist.

What is in source codes

• Zero-K contains the game proper
• units folder contains unit definition files
• you can read wiki about game development for spring engine
• Zero-K-Infrastructure
• ZeroKLobby - is the lobby program for windows used as main interface and downloader
• Zero-K.info - is the website sources
• Zero-K-Artwork contains sources for 2D art, 3D art and sounds
• SpringRTS-tools contains various dev tools
• Upspring - required to edit the .3do and .s3o model files used in the game
• MapIconBuilder - unit map icon sources are here
• Zero-K-Missions contains source files for official ZK missions

Getting sources

• Get a GitHub account and download GitHub Desktop
• Locate the repository you want to edit and click the "Fork" button on the GitHub website to create your own copy on GitHub
• Locate your fork and click the "Clone or download -> Open in Desktop" button on the GitHub website to create a local repository on your computer
• Before you start modifying sources:
• Use GitHub Desktop to create a new branch in your repository for the specific changes you want to make; create the new branch from the master branch in the original ZeroK-RTS repository
• After you finish modifying sources:
• Use GitHub Desktop to commit your changes to your local repository
• Use GitHub Desktop to publish or sync your commits to your repository on GitHub
• Submit your changes for review: Use GitHub Desktop or the GitHub website to create a Pull Request from your new branch in your fork (the "head fork") into the master branch in the original ZeroK-RTS repository (the "base fork")

Modifying the game

• Fork the Zero-K game repository
• Locate the folder where you installed the game
• Example: C:\Users\<username>\Documents\My Games\Zero-K
• This folder will have subfolders such as games, engine, and maps
• Clone your repository into the games subfolder. GitHub Desktop will create a new subfolder under games.
• Example: C:\Users\<username>\Documents\My Games\Zero-K\games\Zero-K
• Rename the folder that GitHub Desktop created to zk.sdd
• Example: C:\Users\<username>\Documents\My Games\Zero-K\games\zk.sdd
• This folder will have subfolders such as LuaUI, units, and the .git folder.
• The zk.sdd folder contains the game source files you will modify.
• To test your modifications:
• Launch the game lobby (chobby.exe)
• Go to Settings -> Developer -> Singleplayer and change it to "Zero-K Dev"
• Start a new game: Singleplayer -> Skirmish
• The newly-started skirmish will use your modified source code

Modifying infrastructure/tools

1. Install Visual Studio Community edition
2. Install SQL Server express
3. Clone to desktop Zero-K infrastructure
4. Test by opening Zero-K.sln in Visual Studio

Debugging infrastructure

• Right click asp.net -> properties -> web -> check "Specific Page" and leave it blank. Otherwise you get errors when trying to host locally.
• To run a project right click it, choose "set as startup project" and hit F5 to run using debugger.
• You can enable multiple startup projects to test entire infrastructure locally (game servers, lobby etc). Enable asp.net, springie and ZeroKLobby projects to test it all together. Setup
• Note: in order to run asp.net it's required that you install MS SQL Express on your local PC. Get one from here. The file you will need is called SQLEXPR_x64_ENU or SQLEXPR_x86_ENU. Make sure you install version that matches your version of Windows (i.e. x86 vs x64). During the installation leave all the parameters default except that I changed server name to SQLEXPRESS in one of the first steps of wizard.

Artwork:

Missions:

KingRaptor Edits: 3 First: 23 months ago Last: 23 months ago

Licho Edits: 7 First: 23 months ago Last: 23 months ago

[2up]knorke Edits: 1 First: 17 months ago Last: 17 months ago

ivand Edits: 1 First: 17 months ago Last: 17 months ago

CrazyEddie Edits: 1 First: 4 months ago Last: 4 months ago