Tutorial 0: Getting Started

Requirements

Before you begin, install the following:

• Stronghold Crusader 1.41 (Latin version)

  The Steam release is the easiest version to obtain. Make sure the game installation uses a Latin-language version such as English or German.

• CMake 3.24 or later

  You can install it from:

  • https://cmake.org/download/

  • https://github.com/Kitware/CMake/releases/

  If you already installed the Microsoft Visual C++ Development Tools, you can also install CMake through Visual Studio.

• Python 3

• clang-format 22 or later

  Install it with:

  python -m pip install clang-format
  

• An IDE with CMake support (recommended)

  The repository is optimized for Visual Studio Code with the Microsoft C/C++ Extension Pack.

  To automatically format and style new C++ files, install the clang-format Extension Pack.

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Setup

1. Clone the repository

Clone the repository with submodules included:

git clone --recursive https://github.com/sourcehold/OpenSHC.git

Then enter the project directory:

cd OpenSHC

The --recursive flag is required because the repository depends on submodules, including the compiler.

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2. Create a symbolic link to the original game

Run the following command:

softlink.bat

The script will ask for the full path to your Stronghold Crusader installation directory.

After the link is created, a folder named _original will appear in the repository root.

This script may require administrator privileges to be able to create the symbolic link

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3. Set up the Python environment for binary comparison

To set up the binary comparison tools, run:

reccmp\dll\setup.bat

In the future, if you want to setup comparison of the reimplemented executable instead of the DLL, use:

reccmp\exe\setup.bat

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Verifying the Setup

If both commands complete successfully, your development environment is ready and you can start working on OpenSHC.

1. Build the project

From the OpenSHC directory, run:

build.bat RelWithDebInfo OpenSHC.dll

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2. Run binary comparison

This verifies byte-level accuracy between the reimplementation and the original binary:

reccmp/dll/run reccmp-reccmp --target STRONGHOLDCRUSADER

Tip: use reccmp/dll/run reccmp-reccmp --target STRONGHOLDCRUSADER --verbose <hex address of function> to investigate code byte mismatches.

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