Installing Game Studio Express on Windows Vista

Thursday, January 11 2007 - gse

Game Studio Express

Installing Game Studio Express on Windows Vista

Getting Ready

The first thing that you should do when installing the system is to make sure that you have everything that you need. When installing the Game Studio Express system you first need to make sure that you have the correct hardware, next connect up to the XNA Development Centre on the Microsoft MSDN Site and Download the latest Game Studio Express System. This system includes every thing you need to install the main part of the package.

But the most important thing that you need for the Game Studio Express System is Visual Studio C# Express.

Starting the Install

Now that you have all of the needed parts for the install the first thing is to install the Visual Studio C# Express system. When doing this you need to make sure that the install is run as an Administrator. To do this go to the All Programs -> Accessories menu from the Start Menu and right click on the Command Prompt and select Run as Administrator. This will start a command window that will run all commands from inside with the same permissions as a Local Administrator on the machine.

Installing Visual Studio Express

To install the Visual Studio Express system you do have two main methods to install the package. The first is to use the Web Installer, and the second is to use the Image. When using the image you have the choice of running from the image or Burning the image to a CD. I would suggest burning the image to the CD as this will allow you to store and use it over and over. One thing to note is that if you use the CD Image you do not have to register the Express IDE, for more information on this I would have a look at the licensing and registration FAQ on the Visual Studio Express Home Page.

When you first put the disk in the drive you will be asked the normal Auto Run options, at this point just exit out and do nothing. For the Install we will have to run everything from the command line, so the first thing is to go to the command line and run the Setup.exe from the cd and then follow the normal Visual Studio Express Install. During the install you will be asked about a program compatibility problem with the SQL Server Express Product. This dialog will give you a chance to look for solutions online, do this. At the time of this article the solutions is to install Service Pack 2 or greater after the install is complete, just select run the program and continue we will fix it later.

Once the base Express IDE is installed we need to make sure that we install the Service pack 1 for the Express IDE, you can get this from the Microsoft Downloads Site. Remember that when you install this that you run it from the command line so that it runs under the administrators privileges.

This should do it for the Visual Studio Express needed for the Game Studio. You now need to run the Visual Studio Express IDE and have it go through its own setup; it will only do this the first time that the application starts. Note that you will be asked about running the application with increased permissions, this is needed and you can check the dialog box if you want so that it does not appear each time you run the application.

Installing Game Studio Express

With the hard part out of the way, we now need to go through the install for the Game Studio Express System (Which includes the XNA Framework). Remember that this install will also need to be executed under the Command prompt that setup earlier. You will need to make sure that you use the full name of the setup file for the install ("xnagse_setup.msi"). During the install you will be asked to allow the Visual Studio Express system to execute with raised permissions, this is normal as the XNA system is registering the different interfaces that it needs to run.

Finishing up and Testing

OK, that's it the system should now be installed and you are ready to go. To test the install open up the Game Studio Express IDE and select create a new project. On the project selection screen select a New Windows Game and let the IDE start it up. When that has finished just run the application, if all went well you should be presented with a single windows forms application with a Cornflower blue background.

Important Links

• Microsoft XNA Development Centre
• Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Express Editions Service Pack 1
• Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Service Pack 1 Update for Windows Vista Beta
• Visual Studio on Windows Vista
• Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Service Pack 1 Update for Windows Vista Beta Release Notes
• Visual Studio Express Home