Dragonfly with Visual Studio v18 (2026)

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This is a setup guide for configuring Microsoft Visual Studio to use and develop Dragonfly. This setup guide is good as of SFML version 3.1.0 and Microsoft Visual Studio version 18 (2026).

Open Visual Studio.
Create a new Project
1. From the menu:
  "File" → "New" → "Project"
  "Empty Project"
2. Fill out information:
  Name: "Whatever you want"
  Location: "Wherever you want"
  Solution: "Create new solution"
  Solution name: "Whatever you want"
3. Click "Create"
  Note, if needed in the future, there are directions for Changing a Windows App to a Console App in Visual Studio
  Another note, to keep the console window open after the program ends, run with ctrl-F5 (instead of just F5). Other suggestions are available how-to-keep-the-console-window-open-in-visual-c++.
4. Click "Finish"
Set the compiler/linker settings for SFML:
1. Menu:
  "Project" → "Properties"
  
  Select:
  "Configuration Properties"
  
  Set Configuration in the top left drop-down to:
  "All Configurations"
  
  Set Platform in the top center drop-down to:
  "All Platforms"
2. Select:
  "VC++ Directories"
  "Include Directories" → (Dropdown arrow) → "Edit"
  
  Click top line, then "..." button on right. Use file browser to add:
  (Directory where extracted SFML)\include
  
  e.g., ..\..\SFML-3.1\include
  
  If linking in Dragonfly (versus developing Dragonfly), on the next line, also add:
  (Directory where extracted dragonfly)\include
  
  e.g., ..\..\dragonfly\include
  
  Click "OK"
  Set Configuration in the top left drop-down to:
  "Debug"
3. Select:
  "Library Directories" → (Dropdown arrow) → "Edit"
  
  Click top line, then "..." button on right. Use file browser to add:
  (Directory where extracted SFML)\lib
  
  e.g., ..\..\SFML-3.1\lib
  
  If linking in Dragonfly (versus developing Dragonfly), on the next line, also add:
  (Directory where extracted dragonfly library)
  
  e.g., ..\..\dragonfly\lib
  
  Make sure to have "Inherit from parent or project defaults" checked (tip: this may be the problem if you get the message: cannot open file 'Winmm.lib').
  Click "OK"
4. Select:
  "Linker" → "Input" → "Additional Dependencies" → (Dropdown arrow) → "Edit"
  
  Add:
  sfml-main-d.lib
  sfml-system-d.lib
  sfml-window-d.lib
  sfml-graphics-d.lib
  sfml-audio-d.lib
  sfml-network-d.lib
  Winmm.lib
  Ws2_32.lib
  
  If linking in Dragonfly (versus developing Dragonfly), also add:
  libdragonfly-x64-debug.lib
  
  (Adjust the name to the version of the library appropriate for the build). Click "OK"
  
  Note! Changing from "Debug" to "Release" requires different SFML libraries for linking.
5. Adjust C++ settings for compilation:
  "Configuration Properties" → "General" → "C++ Language Standard"
  Select:
  ISO C++17 Standard (/std:c++17)
6. (optional) Suppress realtime warning:
  "Configuration Properties" → "C/C++" → "Advanced" → "Disable Specific Warnings"
  Enter:
  4275

Create program to build.

Menu:

"View" → "Solution Explorer"
(Expand Project name)
Right click "Source Files" → "Add" → "New Item"

Select:

"Installed" → "Visual C++"
"C++ File (.cpp)"

Fill out information:

Name: "game.cpp"
Location: (leave as-is)

Click "Add"

Do ONE of the below options:

If linking in Dragonfly (versus developing Dragonfly), paste in the below code:

//
// game.cpp
// 

// Engine includes.
#include "GameManager.h"
#include "LogManager.h"

int main(int argc, char *argv[]) {

  // Start up game manager.
  df::GameManager &game_manager = df::GameManager::getInstance();
  if (game_manager.startUp())  {
    df::LogManager &log_manager = df::LogManager::getInstance();
    log_manager.writeLog("Error starting game manager!");
    game_manager.shutDown();
    return 0;
  }

  // Show splash screen.
  df::splash();

  // Shut everything down.
  game_manager.shutDown();
}

If developing Dragonfly (versus linking in Dragonfly), paste in the below code:

#include <SFML/Graphics.hpp>

int main() {
    sf::RenderWindow window(sf::VideoMode({200, 200}), "SFML works!");
    sf::CircleShape shape(100.f);
    shape.setFillColor(sf::Color::Green);

    while (window.isOpen()) {

      // See if window has been closed.
      while (const std::optional<sf::Event> p_event = window.pollEvent()) {
        if (p_event -> is<sf::Event::Closed>())
          window.close();
      } 

      window.clear();
      window.draw(shape);
      window.display();
    }

    return 0;
}