# Building

Only Windows and Linux are officially supported for building. However, various other platforms are capable of building RPCS3.
Other instructions may be found [here](https://wiki.rpcs3.net/index.php?title=Building).

## Setup your environment

### Windows 10 or later

The following tools are required to build RPCS3 on Windows 10 or later:
- [Visual Studio 2022/2026](https://visualstudio.microsoft.com/thank-you-downloading-visual-studio/?sku=Community)
- **Optional** - [CMake 3.28.0+](https://www.cmake.org/download/) (add to PATH)

  **NOTES:**
  - **Visual Studio 2026** needs at least **CMake 4.2.0+**.
  - **Visual Studio 2022/2026** integrates **CMake 3.29+** and it also supports both the `sln` solution (`.sln`, `.vcxproj`) and `CMake` solution (`CMakeLists.txt`, `CMakePresets.json`).
    See sections [Building with Visual Studio sln solution](#building-with-visual-studio-sln-solution) and [Building with Visual Studio CMake solution](#building-with-visual-studio-cmake-solution)
    on how to build the project with **Visual Studio**.
  - Install and use this standalone **CMake** tool just in case of your preference. See section [Building with standalone CMake tool](#building-with-standalone-cmake-tool) on how to build the project
    with standalone **CMake** tool.

- [Python 3.6+](https://www.python.org/downloads/) (add to PATH)
- [Qt 6.11.1](https://www.qt.io/download-qt-installer) In case you can't download from the official installer, you can use [Another Qt installer](https://github.com/miurahr/aqtinstall) (In that case you will need to manually add the "qtmultimedia" module when installing Qt)
- [Vulkan SDK 1.4.341.1](https://vulkan.lunarg.com/sdk/home) (see "Install the SDK" [here](https://vulkan.lunarg.com/doc/sdk/latest/windows/getting_started.html)). Note that future SDKs may not work.

The `sln` solution available only on **Visual Studio** is the preferred building solution. It easily allows to build the **RPCS3** application in `Release` and `Debug` mode.

In order to build **RPCS3** with the `sln` solution (with **Visual Studio**), **Qt** libs need to be detected. To detect the libs:
- add and set the `QTDIR` environment variable, e.g. `<QtInstallFolder>\6.11.1\msvc2022_64\`
- or use the [Visual Studio Qt Plugin](https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=TheQtCompany.QtVisualStudioTools2022)

  **NOTE:** If you have issues with the **Visual Studio Qt Plugin**, you may want to uninstall it and install the [Legacy Qt Plugin](https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=TheQtCompany.LEGACYQtVisualStudioTools2022) instead.

In order to build **RPCS3** with the `CMake` solution (with both **Visual Studio** and standalone **CMake** tool):
- add and set the `Qt6_ROOT` environment variable to the **Qt** libs path, e.g. `<QtInstallFolder>\6.11.1\msvc2022_64\`

### Linux

These are the essentials tools to build RPCS3 on Linux. Some of them can be installed through your favorite package manager:
- Clang 17+ or GCC 13+
- [CMake 3.28.0+](https://www.cmake.org/download/)
- [Qt 6.11.1](https://www.qt.io/download-qt-installer)
- [Vulkan SDK 1.4.341.1](https://vulkan.lunarg.com/sdk/home) (See "Install the SDK" [here](https://vulkan.lunarg.com/doc/sdk/latest/linux/getting_started.html)). Note that future SDKs may not work.
- [SDL3](https://github.com/libsdl-org/SDL/releases) (for the FAudio backend)

**If you have an NVIDIA GPU, you may need to install the libglvnd package.**

#### Arch Linux

    sudo pacman -S glew openal cmake ninja vulkan-validation-layers qt6-base qt6-declarative qt6-multimedia qt6-svg sdl3 sndio jack2 base-devel

#### Debian & Ubuntu

    sudo apt-get install build-essential ninja-build libasound2-dev libpulse-dev libopenal-dev libglew-dev zlib1g-dev libedit-dev libvulkan-dev libudev-dev git libevdev-dev libsdl3-dev libjack-dev libsndio-dev libcurl4-openssl-dev qt6-base-dev qt6-base-private-dev qt6-multimedia-dev qt6-svg-dev libxkbcommon-dev

Ubuntu is usually horrendously out of date, and some packages need to be downloaded by hand. This part is for Qt, GCC, Vulkan, and CMake

##### Qt PPA

Ubuntu usually does not have a new enough Qt package to suit rpcs3's needs. There is currently no PPA available to work around this.

##### GCC 13.x installation

If the `gcc-13` package is not available on your system, use the following commands
```
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntu-toolchain-r/test
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install gcc-13 g++-13
```

You can either use `update-alternatives` to setup `gcc-13`/`g++-13` as your default compilers or prefix the `cmake` build file generation command by `CXX=g++-13 CC=gcc-13` to use it.

##### Vulkan SDK

For Ubuntu systems, it is strongly recommended to use the PPA from [LunarG](https://packages.lunarg.com/) which will provide a compatible Vulkan SDK to compile RPCS3. If your Vulkan SDK is older, it can lead to compilation errors.
```
. /etc/os-release
wget -qO - https://packages.lunarg.com/lunarg-signing-key-pub.asc | sudo apt-key add -
sudo wget -qO /etc/apt/sources.list.d/lunarg-vulkan-1.3.268-$UBUNTU_CODENAME.list https://packages.lunarg.com/vulkan/1.3.268/lunarg-vulkan-1.3.268-$UBUNTU_CODENAME.list
sudo apt update
sudo apt install vulkan-sdk
```

##### CMake

```
. /etc/os-release
wget -O - https://apt.kitware.com/keys/kitware-archive-latest.asc 2>/dev/null | sudo apt-key add -
sudo apt-add-repository "deb https://apt.kitware.com/ubuntu/ $UBUNTU_CODENAME main"
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install kitware-archive-keyring
sudo apt-key --keyring /etc/apt/trusted.gpg del C1F34CDD40CD72DA
sudo apt-get install cmake
```

#### Fedora

    sudo dnf install alsa-lib-devel cmake ninja-build glew glew-devel libatomic libevdev-devel libudev-devel openal-soft-devel qt6-qtbase-devel qt6-qtbase-private-devel vulkan-devel pipewire-jack-audio-connection-kit-devel qt6-qtmultimedia-devel qt6-qtsvg-devel llvm-devel libcurl-devel

#### OpenSUSE

    sudo zypper install git cmake ninja libasound2 libpulse-devel openal-soft-devel glew-devel zlib-devel libedit-devel vulkan-devel libudev-devel libqt6-qtbase-devel libqt6-qtmultimedia-devel libqt6-qtsvg-devel libQt6Gui-private-headers-devel libevdev-devel libsndio7_1 libjack-devel

## Setup the project

Clone and initialize the repository

```bash
git clone --recurse-submodules https://github.com/RPCS3/rpcs3.git
cd rpcs3
git submodule sync
# This is automatically done by `git clone --recurse-submodules`,
# but in case you forgot it, you can manually fetch submodules this way:
git submodule update --init --recursive
```

### Windows

#### Building with Visual Studio sln solution

Start **Visual Studio**, click on `Open a project or solution` and select the `rpcs3.sln` file inside the RPCS3's root folder

##### Configuring the Qt Plugin (if used)

1) go to `Extensions->Qt VS Tools->Qt Versions`
2) add the path to your Qt installation with compiler e.g. `<QtInstallFolder>\6.11.1\msvc2022_64`, version will fill in automatically
3) go to `Extensions->Qt VS Tools->Options->Legacy Project Format`. (Only available in the **Legacy Qt Plugin**)
4) set `Build: Run pre-build setup` to `true`. (Only available in the **Legacy Qt Plugin**)

##### Building the projects

**NOTE:** The recommended build configuration is `Release`. (On older revisions: `Release - LLVM`)

To speed up the compilation time, you may want to download and extract to `<rpcs3_root>\build\lib_ext\<$(Configuration)>-x64` (e.g. `c:\rpcs3\build\lib_ext\Release-x64`; the path needs to be created) the following precompiled lib:
- [LLVM libs](https://github.com/RPCS3/llvm-mirror/releases/download/custom-build-win-19.1.7/llvmlibs_mt.7z)

**NOTES:**
- `<$(Configuration)>` can assume values `Release` or `Debug`.
- Unoptimised/debug libs are currently not available precompiled for **LLVM**. Trying to use it when building the **RPCS3** application in `Debug` mode will provide a `cannot open file` error.

If you're not using the precompiled libs, those dependency libs need to be compiled first. From the `Solution Explorer` panel:
1) expand `__BUILD_BEFORE`
2) from the `Solution Configurations` drop-down menu, select `Release` (select `Debug` if you want to build in `Debug` mode)
3) right-click one of the following projects and then click on `Build` to build the selected lib:
   - `llvm_build`
   - or `llvm_build_clang_cl` (if you have also the **clang** compiler installed on VS)

**NOTE:** Compiled dependency libs have priority over precompiled libs, if installed. It means that they will always be referenced and linked in case the precompiled libs are also available.

In order to build the **RPCS3** application:
1) from the `Solution Configurations` drop-down menu, select `Release` (select `Debug` if you want to build in `Debug` mode)

   **NOTE:** In case you previously compiled the dependency libs under `__BUILD_BEFORE`, you have also to select the same build configuration (e.g. `Release`, if you compiled the dependency libs in `Release` mode)

2) click on `Build` menu and then on `Build Solution`
3) once the build is completed, the **RPCS3** application will be available under the `<rpcs3_root>\bin` folder

#### Building with Visual Studio CMake solution

Start **Visual Studio**, click on `Open a local folder` and select the RPCS3's root folder

Once the project is open on VS, from the `Solution Explorer` panel:
1) right-click on `rpcs3` and then click on `Switch to CMake Targets View`
2) from the `Configuration` drop-down menu, select `msvc-release` (select `msvc-debug` if you want to build in `Debug` mode)
3) right-click on `CMakeLists.txt Project` and then click on `Configure Cache`
4) once the cache is created, the `rpcs3 project` will be available
5) right-click on `rpcs3 Project` and then click on `Build All`, or click on `Build` menu and then on `Build All`
6) once the build is completed, the **RPCS3** application will be available under the `<rpcs3_root>\build-msvc\bin` folder

#### Building with standalone CMake tool

In case you preferred to install and use the standalone **CMake** tool:
1) move on the RPCS3's root folder
2) execute the following commands to create the cache and to build the application (for the build, use `--preset msvc-debug` if you want to build in `Debug` mode), respectively:

   ```
   cmake --preset msvc
   cmake --build --preset msvc-release
   ```
3) once the build is completed, the **RPCS3** application will be available under the `<rpcs3_root>\build-msvc\bin` folder

### Linux

While still in the project root:

1) `cmake -B build -G Ninja` to generate build files with the default compiler (override the compiler by prepending e.g. `CC=clang CXX=clang++`)
2) `cmake --build build` to compile
3) run RPCS3 with `build/bin/rpcs3`

If compiling for ARM, pass the flag `-DUSE_NATIVE_INSTRUCTIONS=OFF` to the first `cmake` command. This resolves some NEON errors when compiling our SIMD headers.

When using GDB, configure it to ignore SIGSEGV signal (`handle SIGSEGV nostop noprint`).
If desired, use the various build options in [CMakeLists](https://github.com/RPCS3/rpcs3/blob/master/CMakeLists.txt).
