4 Here is a quick outline of *one* way you can build FG for Win32 using
5 a completely free development environment.
8 1. Install and configure the Cygnus Gnu-Win32 development
9 environment. The latest version is Beta 19. The main
10 Cygnus Gnu-Win32 page is at:
12 http://www.cygnus.com/misc/gnu-win32/
14 You can download the Cygnus Gnu-Win32 compiler from:
16 ftp://ftp.cygnus.com/pub/gnu-win32/latest/cdk.exe
18 To install, just run the file: "cdk.exe" by double-clicking in
19 windows explorer. Be sure to read this package's README :
21 http://www.cygnus.com/misc/gnu-win32/readme_toc.html
23 After installing the cygnus compiler and the usertools you should
24 find a program group "Cygnus" in your start menu.
27 2. Compiling Flightgear requires two updates of the Cygnus environment.
28 First, install Cygwin32 beta 19.1 upgrade which is available from:
30 ftp://ftp.cygnus.com/pub/gnu-win32/latest/b19.1-update/
32 Make sure to follow the directions you find there (it's less than
33 200Kb to download). Make sure you subsitute all the cygwinb19.dll's
34 around (particularly the one in \windows\system in case you put it
37 Next, install the EGCS upgrade which is available from:
39 http://www.xraylith.wisc.edu/~khan/software/gnu-win32/egcs.html
41 Again, make sure you follow the directions. (This is several
42 megabytes to download.) It is recommended that you unroll the egcs
43 stuff over top of your cygwin32 installation. It will replace many of
47 3. Install the OpenGL dynamic link libraries.
49 If you have an accelerated 3d card, it is highly recommended you
50 install the hardware OpenGL drivers for your specific card.
52 If you do not have an accelerated 3d card, you can install the SGI
53 software optimized drivers. For this purpose, get the file
54 sgi-opengl2.exe from the flight gear project site. This is a
55 win95/winnt self extracting installation program. Install it by
56 double-clicking in windows explorer.
59 4. Fetch the Flight Gear code and special Win32 libraries. These can
62 http://www.menet.umn.edu/~curt/fgfs/Downloads/Source/
64 Grab the latest "FlightGear-X.XX.zip" and "win32-libs-X.XX.zip"
68 5. Unpack the FG source code. Run:
70 pkunzip -d FlightGear-X.XX.zip
72 Be sure to use the -d option. This will create all the needed
73 subdirectories. Otherwise you will have one big mess! Trust me!
76 6. Change to the newly created FlightGear-X.XX directory and unpack
77 the Win32 libraries. Run:
80 pkunzip -d win32-libs-X.XX.zip
83 7. You will find a file called "install.exe" In the Win32 directory
84 created when you unzip the win32-libs-X.XX.zip file.
86 This version of install.exe should replace the one in your
87 H-i386-cygwin32\bin directory - it's sole claim to fame is that it
88 "understands" that when many calls to it say "install foo" they
89 mean "install foo.exe". If you skip this step, and attempt an
90 install with the older version present, "make install" will fail.
92 Side Note: we need to make a distinction between the "build tree" and
93 the "install tree." The "build tree" is what we've been talking
94 about up until this point. This is where the source code lives
95 and all the compiling takes place. Once the executables are
96 built, they need to be installed someplace. We shall call this
97 install location the "install tree". This is where the
98 executables, the scenery, the textures, and any other run-time
99 files will be located.
101 Open the Cygnus bash via its entry in the Start menu.
102 Mount the drive as follows (assuming you unpacked the code on d:):
107 You only have to do this once. The drive stays mounted (until you
108 umount it) even through reboots and switching off the machine.
111 8. Configure the make system for your environment and your "install
112 tree". Tell the configure script where you would like to install
113 the exectuables and all the scenery and textures by using the
114 "--prefix" option. In the following example the base of the
115 "install tree" is "\FlightGear". Stay within the bash shell. Run:
117 ./configure --prefix=/mnt/FlightGear
119 Side Note: the make procedure is designed to link against opengl.dll,
120 glu.dll, and glut.dll. However, some accelerated video cards
121 require you to link against opengl32.exe, glu32.exe, and
122 glut32.exe. If this is the case for your video card, you can edit
123 .../Simulator/Main/Makefile and rename these three libraries to
124 their version "32" counterparts. There is only one place in this
125 make file where these files are listed.
128 9. Build the executable. Run:
133 10. Assuming you have installed the updated version of install.exe (see
134 earlier instructions) you can now create and populate the install
139 You can save a significant amount of space by stripping all the
140 debuging symbols off of the executables. To do this run:
144 Important Note: so far you've built and installed the simulator and
145 related tools. Before you can actually try it out, you need to
146 make sure you have the appropriate scenery and texture downloaded
147 and unzip'ed in your "install tree".
150 11. Download and install the (most recent!) scenery and texture files.
153 12. In Windows explorer, change to /FlightGear/bin within your install tree.
154 Call runfg.bat which will set the environment variable FG_ROOT and
158 13. Try it out! There are several ways to run flight gear once it has
159 been installed. The simplest is as follows. Run:
161 \FlightGear\bin\runfg.bat (command shell)
164 14. I appreciate feedback. Tell me if it works! If it doesn't, tell me
165 what went wrong. My email is curt@me.umn.edu