DarkBASIC Next

DarkBASIC Next is a community revival and modernization of DarkBASIC Professional for creating Windows applications and games.

The supported Windows bring-up in this repo targets:

• Visual Studio 2022 MSBuild with the v143 toolset
• Win32 builds
• Microsoft DirectX SDK (June 2010), discovered from DXSDK_DIR or the default install path
• A repo-local install rooted at Install\
• .NET 8 SDK or .NET 8 Desktop Runtime for the rebuilt editor
• A rebuildable .NET 8 editor published as Install\Editor\EditorNew.exe
• A repo-local package manager published as Install\Tools\dbnext.exe

Use the Windows scripts to build and verify the core toolchain:

• .\scripts\windows\build-core.ps1
• .\scripts\windows\smoke-hello-world.ps1
• .\scripts\windows\smoke-editor.ps1

Detailed instructions are in docs/windows-build.md.

Notes:

1. .\scripts\windows\build-core.ps1 now stages compiler, editor, and package-manager outputs under artifacts\stage\ and syncs validated binaries into Install\.
2. The legacy BCG-dependent Synergy source remains in the repository for reference, but the supported editor build is the new open src\DarkBasic.Next.Editor application that publishes to Install\Editor\EditorNew.exe.
3. The default folder destination assumed by legacy plug-in installers might differ from the actual folder where the installation sits. When prompted by an installer to choose a different destination, point it at this repo-local Install\ tree or use dbnext.exe.
4. The official package index lives in sabino/darkbasic-next-packages, and dbnext.exe can also consume additional compatible package sources.

Useful commands:

• .\Install\Tools\dbnext.exe doctor
• .\Install\Tools\dbnext.exe search ode
• .\Install\Tools\dbnext.exe install ode
• .\Install\Editor\EditorNew.exe --project ".\Install\Projects\Hello World\Hello World.dbpro" --compile --exit