Community Launcher: Step-by-Step Tutorial

Welcome! This guide will walk you through seting up your environment and building the Minecraft Legacy Console Edition (Oct 2014) source code using the Community Edition Launcher.

1. Prerequisites

Before you start, ensure you have the following tools installed:

• Git: Required for applying patches. Download here
• CMake: Required for modern builds. Download here
• Python: Required for internal scripts. Download here
• Visual Studio 2022: Required for modern builds. Community, Professional, or Enterprise editions are all supported.
• Visual Studio 2012: Required for Legacy Builds (raw Oct 2014 source).
• Java (JRE): Required if you want to inject custom titles using FFDec. Download here

⚠️ VS2012 Warning

If you previously had Visual Studio 2010 installed, your VS2012 installation might be missing critical header files.

• The Symptom: Compilation fails with "file not found" errors for standard C++ headers.
• The Fix: Copy the VC/include folder from a working VS2012 installation to your own.

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2. Using the Launcher

Step 1: Environment Audit

When you open the compiler, it will scan for your tools.

• If a tool is marked as Missing, click "Browse manually" to point the launcher to the correct executable or installation folder.

Step 2: Source Selection

Select the mc-console-oct2014.zip file. The launcher will verify its integrity.

Step 3: Extraction

Click Extract. This will unpack the source code into a temporary directory (build-temp).

Step 4: Patch Selection

Choose which patches you want to apply.

• Mandatory: If you are using VS2022, you MUST apply the "MSVC 2022 Compatibility" patch.
• Optional: Add features like Keyboard & Mouse support, LAN play, or custom logos.

Step 5: Build

Select your Build Profile (Release is recommended for playing) and click Start Build.

• You can watch the real-time build progress in the terminal window.

Step 6: Launch & Launcher Menu

Once the build is complete, you can click Launch to start the game immediately.

Alternatively, go to the Launcher menu from the Welcome screen:

• Compiled Versions: See a list of all your successful builds.
• Add Build Manually: If you have an existing .exe from a previous build, you can add it to the list.
• Settings Overlay: Click the Settings button on a build card to set your player name (-name) or enable Headless Server mode (-server).
• Multiplayer Servers: Click the Servers button to add server entries to the build's servers.txt file automatically.
• Play: Click PLAY to launch the game with your configured arguments.

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3. Creating Your Own Patches

If you've made changes to the source code and want to share them:

1. Go to the Create Patch section in the launcher.
2. Select your Original Source (the unpatched ZIP).
3. Select your Modified Source folder.
4. Fill in the name, author, and description.
5. Click Create Patch. The launcher will generate a .patch file and its metadata for you to share!

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4. Troubleshooting

• Build Fails: Check the terminal output. Most errors are due to missing tools or the VS2012 header issue mentioned above.
• Patch Application Fails: Ensure you are applying patches to the correct version of the source code.