Building EG-Overlay From Source

Building EG-Overlay From Source#

Most users should use pre-built binaries, but EG-Overlay can be built from source for development or debugging purposes.

Visual Studio#

EG-Overlay is built using the MSVC compiler. The most straightforward way to install a functional compiler toolchain is to install Microsoft Visual Studio.

Note

The Visual Studio IDE itself does not need to be used to build EG-Overlay, but installing it is the easiest way to get all needed components installed. In fact, the author of EG-Overlay uses Neovim and command line tools for development.

It may be possible to use Build Tools for Visual Studio instead, but that is outside the scope of this documentation.

Install Visual Studio 2022 Community from https://visualstudio.microsoft.com/downloads/.

During installation select the ‘Desktop development with C++’ workload.

CMake#

A few of the libraries that EG-Overlay depends on are built with CMake. It can be installed with Visual Studio.

After Visual Studio is installed, open the Visual Studio Installer from the start menu. Select ‘Modify’ on the Visual Studio Community 2022 installation.

Go to the ‘Individual Components’ tab, type cmake into the search box and verify that ‘C++ CMake tools for Windows’ is checked.

Click ‘Close’ and wait for any changes to complete, and then close the installer window.

Warning

It is also possible to install CMake independently of Visual Studio, however the method detailed here ensures that CMake can find the MSVC compiler paths properly.

Meson and Ninja#

EG-Overlay uses the Meson Build system and Ninja. Install both by using the Meson and Ninja MSI Installer.

Sources#

Download the EG-Overlay sources from The-EG/EG-Overlay. Sources for a particular release can be downloaded or the latest from The-EG/EG-Overlay.

Alternatively, git can be used to clone the repository:

PS > git clone https://github.com/The-EG/EG-Overlay.git

Command Line Build#

EG-Overlay can be built from the command line using either CMD or PowerShell.

  1. Open either Developer Command Prompt for VS 2022 or Developer PowerShell For VS 2022 from the start menu.

  2. Navigate to the sources downloaded above.

  3. Run meson setup builddir .

  4. Run meson compile -C builddir

    Note

    By default a debug build is configured. You can request a release build using the command line argument --buildtype release. For example, meson setup builddir . --buildtype release.

At this point, EG-Overlay is in the builddir/src folder.

Visual Studio Code#

Meson integrates lightly with Visual Studio Code.

First, install the Meson extension in Visual Studio Code. Then open the folder containing the sources downloaded previously.

To configure the build, open the command pallet (ctrl-shift-p) and select ‘Meson: Reconfigure’. Type ‘Meson’ in the search box if that option is not visible.

After configuration, build by opening the command pallet again and selecting ‘Meson: Build’ and then ‘Build All Targets’.

Debugging#

CDB#

CDB is Microsoft’s command line debugger. It is quite powerful, but has a steep learning curve; however it is useful for ‘light’ debugging.

CDB can be installed as part of ‘Debugging Tools for Windows’ in the Windows SDK. See ‘As a standalone toolset’ at https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/drivers/debugger/debugger-download-tools for details.

The included scripts\debug.ps1 will start CDB as long as it is installed in the default location.

scripts\debug.ps1 can be given arguments that control how EG-Overlay is run:

  • terminal : Overlay Windows Terminal instead of GuildWars 2

  • notepad : Overlay Notepad instead of GuildWars 2

  • no-hooks : Do not install mouse/keyboard hooks

  • terminal-no-hooks : combine terminal and no-hooks

  • notepad-no-hooks : combine notepad and no-hooks

  • script <scriptpath.lua> : run the lua script at <scriptpath.lua>

For example, to run EG-Overlay in the debugger and overlay Notepad instead of GW2: PS > .\scripts\debug.ps1 notepad

WinDbgX#

WinDbg is a friendly UI built on top of CDB. All of the commands from CDB work inside of WinDbg, however most tasks can also be performed through the UI as well. WinDbgx is an updated version that is available in the Windows App Store.

WinDbgX can be installed directly from the Windows App Store (it is called WinDbg) at https://apps.microsoft.com/detail/9pgjgd53tn86?launch=true&mode=mini&hl=en-us&gl=US.

The script scripts\start-windbgx.ps1 will start a debugging session in WinDbgx and takes the same options as scripts\debug.ps1 described above.

Debugging in VSCode#

The EG-Overlay sources come with the following VSCode debug configurations:

  • Debug: run EG-Overlay normally, but in debug mode.

  • Debug (Terminal Window): run EG-Overlay with an option that causes it to overlay the Windows Terminal instead of GW2. This is useful for debugging without running the game.

  • Update static database: Run scripts/updatestaticdb.lua instead of running the full overlay.

These debug configurations can be selected on the ‘Run and Debug’ tab of VSCode and the current configuration can be run by pressing F5.

While debugging in VSCode, the log will also be output to the debug log.

Dependencies#

All dependencies are either bundled with the source code or automatically handled by Meson. They are listed below for reference only.

  • FreeType 2.13.2

  • zlib 1.3

  • libxml 2.13.1

  • Lua 5.4.6

  • Jansson 2.14

  • sqlite 3.46

  • Inter font

  • CascadiaCode font (also includes CascadiaMono)