Visual Studio toolset setup for building without installing the Microsoft Game Development Kit
For building Microsoft GDK projects, you can set up Visual Studio 2022 (which can build v141, v142, v143 and Clang platform toolset VC++ projects) or Visual Studio 2019 (16.11) (which can build v141, v142 and Clang platform toolset VC++ projects). You can also use either a full Visual Studio install or Build Tools for Visual Studio. Be sure to install the following components:
There are a number of references to Windows 10 SDK (10.0.19041.0) below. For the October 2023 release or later, you must use Windows 11 SDK (10.0.22000.0) instead.
Visual Studio 2022
Full Visual Studio Install for VS 2022
| Workload | Component ID (for command line install) |
|---|---|
| Game Development with C++ | Microsoft.VisualStudio.Workload.NativeGame |
| Required Component: Windows 10 SDK (10.0.19041.0) -or- Windows 11 SDK (10.0.22000.0) |
Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.Windows10SDK.19041 -or- Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.Windows11SDK.22000 |
| Optional Component: MSVC v142 - VS 2019 C++ x64/x86 build tools | Microsoft.VisualStudio.ComponentGroup.VC.Tools.142.x86.x64 |
| Optional Component: MSVC v141 - VS 2017 C++ x64/x86 build tools | Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.VC.v141.x86.x64 |
| Optional Component: C++ Clang tools for Windows | Microsoft.VisualStudio.ComponentGroup.NativeDesktop.Llvm.Clang |
| Optional: Desktop development with C++ | Microsoft.VisualStudio.Workload.NativeDesktop |
Build Tools Visual Studio for VS 2022
| Workload | Component ID (for command line install) |
|---|---|
| Desktop development with C++ | Microsoft.VisualStudio.Workload.NativeDesktop |
| Required Component: Windows 10 SDK (10.0.19041.0) -or- Windows 11 SDK (10.0.22000.0) |
Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.Windows10SDK.19041 -or- Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.Windows11SDK.22000 |
| Required Component: MSVC v143 - VS 2022 C++ x64/x86 build tools | Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.VC.Tools.x86.x64 |
| Optional Component: MSVC v142 - VS 2019 C++ x64/x86 build tools | Microsoft.VisualStudio.ComponentGroup.VC.Tools.142.x86.x64 |
| Optional Component: MSVC v141 - VS 2017 C++ x64/x86 build tools | Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.VC.v141.x86.x64 |
| Optional Component: C++ Clang tools for Windows | Microsoft.VisualStudio.ComponentGroup.NativeDesktop.Llvm.Clang |
Visual Studio 2019
Full Visual Studio Install for VS 2019
| Workload | Component ID (for command line install) |
|---|---|
| Game Development with C++ | Microsoft.VisualStudio.Workload.NativeGame |
| Required Component: Windows 10 SDK (10.0.19041.0) -or- Windows 11 SDK (10.0.22000.0) |
Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.Windows10SDK.19041 -or- Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.Windows11SDK.22000 |
| Optional Component: MSVC v141 - VS 2017 C++ x64/x86 build tools | Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.VC.v141.x86.x64 |
| Optional Component: C++ Clang-cl for Windows C++ Clang-cl for v142 build tools (x64/x86) |
Microsoft.VisualStudio.ComponentGroup.NativeDesktop.Llvm.Clang |
| Optional: Desktop development with C++ | Microsoft.VisualStudio.Workload.NativeDesktop |
Build Tools Visual Studio for VS 2019
| Workload | Component ID (for command line install) |
|---|---|
| Desktop development with C++ | Microsoft.VisualStudio.Workload.NativeDesktop |
| Required Component: Windows 10 SDK (10.0.19041.0) -or- Windows 11 SDK (10.0.22000.0) |
Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.Windows10SDK.19041 -or- Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.Windows11SDK.22000 |
| Required Component: MSVC v142 - VS 2019 C++ x64/x86 build tools (Latest) | Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.VC.Tools.x86.x64 |
| Optional Component: MSVC v141 - VS 2017 C++ x64/x86 build tools | Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.VC.v141.x86.x64 |
| Optional Component: C++ Clang-cl for Windows C++ Clang-cl for v142 build tools (x64/x86) |
Microsoft.VisualStudio.ComponentGroup.NativeDesktop.Llvm.Clang |