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To build CRE, you first need to build the server and install it (make install
if running under Linux).
CRE sources are part of the server sources.
You need Qt5 and the associated development package.
Depending on your system, installing qt5-default
may be enough.
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A quick reference for Debian 10 (Buster)
sudo apt install qttools5-dev qttools5-dev-tools qtscript5-dev
Instructions creation date: 2024-February-29
Last tested date: 2024-February-29
A quick reference for Debian 11 (Bullseye)
sudo apt install qttools5-dev qttools5-dev-tools qtscript5-dev
Instructions creation date: 2024-February-29
Last tested date: 2024-February-29
A quick reference for Debian 12 (Bookworm)
sudo apt install qttools5-dev qttools5-dev-tools qtscript5-dev
Instructions creation date: 2024-February-29
Last tested date: 2024-February-29
A quick reference for Devuan Chimaera 4.0
sudo apt install qttools5-dev qttools5-dev-tools qtscript5-dev
Instructions creation date: 2024-February-29
Last tested date: 2024-February-29
A quick reference for Daedalus 5.0
sudo apt install qttools5-dev qttools5-dev-tools qtscript5-dev
Instructions creation date: 2024-March-01
Last tested date: 2024-March-01
A quick reference for Fedora 37
sudo dnf install qt5-qtbase-devel qt5-qttools-devel
Instructions creation date: 2024-March-02
Last tested date: 2024-March-02
A quick reference for Fedora 38
sudo dnf install qt5-qtbase-devel qt5-qtscript-devel qt5-qttools-devel
Instructions creation date: 2024-March-02
Last tested date: 2024-March-02
A quick reference for Fedora 39
sudo dnf install qt5-qtbase-devel qt5-qtscript-devel qt5-qttools-devel
Instructions creation date: 2024-March-02
Last tested date: 2024-March-02
A quick reference for Linux Mint 20 (Ulyana)
sudo apt install qttools5-dev qttools5-dev-tools qtscript5-dev
Instructions creation date: 2024-March-03
Last tested date: 2024-March-03
A quick reference for Linux Mint 20.1 (Ulyssa)
sudo apt install qttools5-dev qttools5-dev-tools qtscript5-dev
Instructions creation date: 2024-March-06
Last tested date: 2024-March-06
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sudo apt install qt5-qmake qt5-qmake-bin qt5-default qtcreator
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sudo apt install qt5-qmake qt5-qmake-bin qttools5-dev qttools5-dev-tools qtbase5-dev
A quick reference for Ubuntu 23.10 (Mantic Minotaur)
sudo apt install qttools5-dev qttools5-dev-tools qtscript5-dev
Instructions creation date: 2024-February-29
Last tested date: 2024-February-29
Once the server has been built and installed (with ./configure && make install
), from the server sources root:
cd utils/cre && qmake && make
Make sure to use qmake from Qt version 5, and not a previous version. On Fedora for instance, you need to run qmake-qt5
cd utils/cre && qmake-qt5 && make
or
cd utils/cre qt5-qmake && make
This should build the tool, to run it:
utils/cre/cre
should do the trick.
Windows users wishing to use CRE have two options if they don't wish to compile CRE themselves: use the installer, or use the standalone executable. They are available from http://crossfire.weeger.org. Both are updated daily, with some archives
.
In both cases, it is required to get maps
and arch
(read below).
Both CRE versions are cross-compiled, so there may be unknown issues. Please report any issues, or problems with this documentation.
The latest version of the installer is available from this direct link (make sure to check the sha512 sum).
It will create required directories and add start menu and desktop shortcuts if wanted.
Note that if you run the installer when a version is already installed, the old version is uninstalled silently.
CRE standalone is available from this direct link (make sure to check the sha512 sum).
- are the manual setup steps listed below still required with the current .exe installer?
After putting the .exe
in the directory of your choice, you need to assemble a few prerequisites before it will run:
- Discord/IRC discussion indicates, “CRE expects cre's dir/var/{arch,maps}” - is this still correct?
First, create a directory alongside the .exe, named share
. Get the i18n
directory from the server source (it's in lib\i18n
) and place it here too.
Next, create a directory alongside the .exe, named etc
. Find exp_table
, settings
, and stat_bonus
from the server source (they're in lib\config
), and place them here in etc
. Note that if you are running a Crossfire server, maybe you want to pull these files from your server config instead.
Finally, create a directory alongside the .exe, named var
. CRE may place temporary files here at runtime.
Get arch
and maps
, and put them into share
.
One way is to get a snapshot from Sourceforge, available for maps and for arch.
Another option is to clone the git repositories so you can easily push your changes upstream.
Note that it can take quite a few seconds for CRE to launch, even longer if your disk is slow, as it loads many files on launch.
If CRE launches and then exits, it may be having trouble finding some paths. There should be a log file in %temp%\cre.log
giving some details.
Procmon from the Sysinternals Suite may be helpful, or a debugger.
- provide summary with each tool bar option
At first start, CRE will ask you to choose a cache
directory. This directory will contain data kept between runs, to speed up start. Don't use a temporary directory that is erased now and then, but you don't need a fully backup-ed one either, since the data may be rebuilt.
When launched, CRE will start browsing maps. As long as a message is displayed in the right side of the status bar, then the process is not complete. You can use almost all features, but some information may be incomplete (for instance, archetype use will not report on maps which are not yet browsed).
Once CRE is launched, you have the following menu options:
messages
file in arch)