Build Labrador

You build Labrador on its own first. That proves the tools work before your own project adds anything, and it builds the samples you will look at next.

1. Clone the repository into your projects folder:

   cd C:\dev
   git clone https://github.com/matt439/Labrador.git
   cd Labrador

2. Configure the build:

   cmake --preset x64-debug

   A preset is a named configuration in the repository’s CMakePresets.json. x64-debug is a 64-bit debug build using the Direct3D 11 renderer, with its output in out\build\x64-debug.

   The first time you run this, vcpkg downloads and builds Labrador’s dependencies: DirectX Tool Kit, the XAudio2 redistributable and the doctest test framework. That takes several minutes, and vcpkg keeps the results, so later configures are quick.

3. Build it:

   cmake --build --preset x64-debug

   This builds the engine, all five samples, the tests and the benchmarks. Warnings are errors in every Labrador build, so a successful build has none.

4. Run the tests:

   ctest --preset x64-debug

   Fourteen test programs run, and ctest should report 100% tests passed, 0 tests failed out of 17. One of them, RenderPixelTests, draws real frames through Direct3D and compares them with reference images, so a pass also tells you the renderer works on your machine.

Other configurations

The repository has a debug and a release preset for each renderer. Swap the preset name in all three commands to use one:

Preset	Renderer
x64-debug, x64-release	Direct3D 11
x64-debug-d3d12, x64-release-d3d12	Direct3D 12
x64-debug-gl, x64-release-gl	OpenGL 3.3
x64-debug-vulkan, x64-release-vulkan	Vulkan, which needs the Vulkan SDK
x64-debug-null, x64-release-null	None: records what it was asked to draw, for testing on machines without a graphics card

The renderer is chosen when you configure rather than when the game starts. Asking for one that was not built is a link error, not a crash on the first frame.

If something fails

Filename too long

The clone was made in a folder whose path is too long. Move to a shorter folder, or run git config --global core.longpaths true, delete the partial clone and clone again. See Choose a short folder.

cmake, cl or fxc is not recognised

The command prompt is not the x64 Native Tools Command Prompt. Open that one and run the command again from the Labrador folder.

Could not find toolchain file: "/scripts/buildsystems/vcpkg.cmake"

VCPKG_ROOT is not set, so the preset’s path to vcpkg starts with nothing. The errors about Ninja and the compiler that follow it are consequences of the first one. Set VCPKG_ROOT as in step 4 of Install the tools, delete the half-configured out\build\x64-debug folder, and configure again.