Windows MSVC (requires MSVC, i.e. Microsoft Visual C++)

Prerequisites

1. Make sure cargo is installed. Check using cargo -V in Command Prompt (cmd) or PowerShell. If you see one of the following:
   • 'cargo' is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file.
   • cargo : The term 'cargo' is not recognized as the name of a cmdlet, function, script file, or operable program.
   • Click here to follow the installation steps.
2. Download the source code from GitHub:
   • If git is installed, run git clone https://github.com/TeamFlos/phira.git to clone the repository.
   • If git is not installed, go to the Phira repository page, click the Code button, select Download ZIP, and extract to any local directory.
   • GitHub should be your primary source. Use a Git mirror or accelerator only if GitHub is genuinely inaccessible for you.
   • To build a specific version, go to the release page and download Source code(zip) from Assets.
   • Warning: To avoid hard-to-diagnose build issues, we recommend using a path that contains only ASCII characters.
3. For static library files, download from ESA or EdgeOne and extract to the project root. If prompted to overwrite, click overwrite.
4. Ensure you have x64 Native Tools Command Prompt for VS 20**. If you have cargo but not this environment, install Visual Studio 20xx separately, selecting MSVC and Windows SDK components during installation. After installation, you will have x64 Native Tools Command Prompt for VS 20**.
   • If you don't have cargo yet, follow step 1 to install it; you will also get x64 Native Tools Command Prompt for VS 20**.

Building

1. Open x64 Native Tools Command Prompt for VS 20** and navigate to the project root (e.g., D:\phira\). Note: Do NOT use regular cmd or PowerShell.
2. Run cargo build -r --bin phira-main. If building an older version, the terminal may hang at openssl-sys(build) for a long time — this is normal, do not exit.
3. After the build, find the compiled binary in .\target\release\.
4. Copy all files from .\assets\ to .\target\release\assets\. The build is now complete. Run phira-main.exe to check that resource files are intact.

• Note: At the time this document was written, the repository did not include a complete set of resource files. If the program crashes on startup, download any package from the Releases page and copy the missing resource files from there.

Troubleshooting

Q. Error: failed to send request: connection timed out

A. Check your network first and make sure GitHub is accessible. Mirrors should be treated as a fallback, not the default source.

Q. Error: failed to send request: unable to resolve server name or address

A. Check or change your DNS settings, then flush the DNS cache.

Q. Build error contains: note: LINK : fatal error LNK1181: cannot open input file 'kernel32.lib'

A. Missing Windows SDK. Check that Windows SDK is correctly installed and try again.

Q. Not challenging enough?

A. Try the GNU build method instead — it's slightly harder.

A2. You could try compiling the static library yourself — definitely more challenging. But I doubt you came to the build guide for a challenge...