Building

After making changes, you need to build the ROM to test them.

Using VS Code

With Visual Studio Code focused, press Ctrl+Shift+B (Cmd+Shift+B on macOS). This builds the ROM and launches it in an emulator if one is found.

The output ROM is at ver/us/build/papermario.z64.

Building manually

If you prefer to build from the command line, or if the VS Code task isn't working:

1. Enter the development environment

nix develop

This provides the cross-compiler toolchain, build tools, and all other dependencies. You need to be in this shell for the following commands to work.

2. Generate the build configuration

./configure

This creates a build.ninja file. You only need to re-run this if you add or remove source files.

3. Build the ROM

n2

Note

If you're experiencing a weird build issue (e.g. after updating DX), try ./configure --clean to delete previously-built files and start fresh.

Running

DX will try to launch the ROM in a known emulator after building. We recommend the accurate emulator ares.

If DX did not find your emulator, load ver/us/build/papermario.z64 manually. For real hardware, copy this ROM to a flashcart.

Caution

If you don't regularly test with ares and/or real hardware, your mod may not work correctly for others.