Build from source

You do not need to build anything to run Lyra. Pre-built packages are on the GitHub release, and Install Lyra covers deploying them. This page is for developers building the release from the source tree.

The repository holds source only. No compiled binaries, scenes, or assets are committed, and the build regenerates them. Building a release is two steps, because the toolchains do not overlap.

Step 1: device binaries (Windows 7)

The device binaries are Windows CE ARM (ARMV4I), built with Visual Studio 2008 and the OpenZDK toolchain. Fetch the vendored dependencies first, then build from the repository root on a Windows 7 machine:

git submodule update --init --recursive
build.cmd

This builds four binaries: the native daemon (nativeapp.exe), the boot hook (zuxhook.dll), the XNA exploiter (exploiter.exe), and the Mods tab daemon (reposd.exe). Building the exploiter needs XNA Game Studio 3.1, and the install-splash shaders need the NVIDIA Tegra CE6 SDK.

Step 2: packaging (.NET 8)

Packaging runs on a machine with .NET 8, which the scene compiler needs and which does not run on Windows 7. With the four Step 1 binaries in place:

tools/packaging/build-release.sh        # macOS or Linux
tools\packaging\build-release.cmd       # Windows

This regenerates the mod artifacts from source, the gemstone class blobs, the install-splash image, and the compiled scenes, then writes both release forms under dist/: the lyra-hd-deploykit/ folder and the lyra-hd.ccgame package. Deploy either one with Install Lyra.

The full toolchain requirements and the per-target build commands are in the repository's BUILDING.md.