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This guide walks you through building Dalamud from source code. Dalamud is a plugin development framework for FFXIV with both C# and C++ components.
If you just want to use Dalamud, you don’t need to build it. Download XIVLauncher instead.

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Prerequisites

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Required Software

1

Install .NET SDK

Dalamud requires .NET 10.0 SDK or later.Download from https://dot.net or use the build scripts which will automatically download the required version.The project specifies version 10.0.0 in global.json with rollForward: latestMinor and allowPrerelease: true.
2

Install Visual Studio 2022 (Windows)

For Windows builds, you need Visual Studio 2022 with:
  • C++ desktop development workload (for native components)
  • .NET desktop development workload
  • Windows 10 SDK
  • Platform Toolset v143
  • MASM (x64) for assembly files
MSBuild is required to compile the C++ projects (Dalamud.Boot, DalamudCrashHandler, and ImGui native libraries).
3

Install Git

Git is required to clone the repository and manage submodules.
git clone --recursive https://github.com/goatcorp/Dalamud.git
cd Dalamud
The --recursive flag is important as Dalamud has several submodules including:
  • FFXIVClientStructs
  • Lumina.Excel
  • Native ImGui libraries (cimgui, cimplot, cimguizmo)

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Build Process

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Windows

Dalamud uses NUKE as its build system. The build process is orchestrated through PowerShell scripts.
1

Run the build script

Execute the build script from the repository root:
.\build.ps1
This will:
  • Auto-download the .NET SDK if not found (to .nuke/temp/dotnet-win)
  • Build the NUKE build project (build/build.csproj)
  • Execute the build targets
2

Build targets are executed

The default target is Compile, which depends on:
  1. Restore - Restores NuGet packages for the entire solution
  2. CompileImGuiNatives - Builds C++ native libraries:
    • cimgui.dll (Dear ImGui C bindings)
    • cimplot.dll (ImPlot C bindings)
    • cimguizmo.dll (ImGuizmo C bindings)
  3. CompileDalamud - Builds Dalamud.dll and dependencies
  4. CompileDalamudBoot - Builds Dalamud.Boot.dll (C++ injection loader)
  5. CompileDalamudCrashHandler - Builds DalamudCrashHandler.exe (C++ crash handler)
  6. CompileInjector - Builds Dalamud.Injector.dll (C# injector)
3

Find build output

Build artifacts are placed in:
bin/Debug/         # Debug builds
bin/Release/       # Release builds
Output includes:
  • Core assemblies (Dalamud.dll, Dalamud.Common.dll)
  • Native libraries (Dalamud.Boot.dll, cimgui.dll, etc.)
  • Dependencies (FFXIVClientStructs.dll, Lumina.dll, etc.)
  • ImGui bindings (Dalamud.Bindings.ImGui.dll, etc.)

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Linux

Linux builds are supported for documentation generation and managed code only.
1

Run the build script

chmod +x build.sh
./build.sh
The script will:
  • Auto-download .NET SDK if needed (to .nuke/temp/dotnet-unix)
  • Build with EnableWindowsTargeting=true to allow targeting Windows from Linux
  • Skip native C++ components (ImGui libraries, Dalamud.Boot)
2

Note on limitations

Linux builds cannot compile:
  • C++ native components (Dalamud.Boot, crash handler)
  • ImGui native libraries (cimgui, cimplot, cimguizmo)
These targets are automatically skipped when IsDocsBuild is detected.

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Build Configurations

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Debug vs Release

# Debug build (default for local builds)
./build.ps1

# Release build (default for CI)
./build.ps1 --configuration Release
Debug configuration:
  • Defines DEBUG and TRACE symbols
  • Includes debugging symbols (portable PDB)
  • No optimization
Release configuration:
  • Enables optimizations
  • Generates version metadata from Git
  • Creates commit hash and revision files

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CI Build Target

The CI target builds and tests: 
./build.ps1 ci
This runs:
  1. Full compilation
  2. Unit tests via Dalamud.Test project (xunit v3)
  3. API compatibility checks (on PRs)

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Project Structure

The solution contains multiple projects:
ProjectTypePurpose
DalamudC# LibraryCore framework, plugin API, game bindings
Dalamud.BootC++ DLL.NET Core loader, process injection
Dalamud.InjectorC# LibraryDLL injection logic
Dalamud.CommonC# LibraryShared utilities
Dalamud.CorePluginC# PluginInternal testbed plugin
Dalamud.TestC# TestUnit tests (xunit)
DalamudCrashHandlerC++ EXECrash reporting tool
FFXIVClientStructsC# LibraryGame structure definitions (submodule)
Dalamud.Bindings.ImGuiC# LibraryImGui C# bindings
cimguiC++ DLLDear ImGui native library

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Version Information

Dalamud version is defined in Dalamud/Dalamud.csproj: 
<DalamudVersion>14.0.2.2</DalamudVersion>
During Release builds, Git metadata is embedded:
  • Commit count (GitCommitCount)
  • Commit hash (GitHash)
  • Branch name (GitBranch)
  • Git describe output (SCMVersion)
  • FFXIVClientStructs version (GitHashClientStructs)

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Common Build Issues

Error: MSBuild.exe not found or C++ compilation failsSolution: Install Visual Studio 2022 with C++ desktop development workload. Ensure MSBuild is in your PATH or run from Developer Command Prompt.
Error: Missing files in lib/FFXIVClientStructs or lib/Lumina.ExcelSolution:
git submodule update --init --recursive
Error: The current .NET SDK does not support targeting .NET 10.0Solution: Let the build script download the correct SDK, or manually install .NET 10.0 SDK with preview support enabled.
Error: Platform target ‘AnyCPU’ is not validSolution: Dalamud requires x64 platform. All projects target net10.0-windows with PlatformTarget=x64.

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Advanced Build Options

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Clean Build

Remove all build artifacts: 
./build.ps1 Clean
This cleans:
  • All project output directories
  • ImGui native libraries
  • NuGet restore cache
  • Intermediate build files

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Restore Only

Just restore NuGet packages: 
./build.ps1 Restore

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Build Individual Components

# Build only Dalamud core
./build.ps1 CompileDalamud

# Build only native components
./build.ps1 CompileImGuiNatives

# Build only the injector
./build.ps1 CompileInjector

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Next Steps

Testing

Learn how to run tests and validate your build

Contributing

Guidelines for contributing to Dalamud

Build docs developers (and LLMs) love

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