Tutorials:TSM Creating a game compatible Visual Studio project

Introduction

Unfortunately, you can't just go right ahead and begin crafting a mod for TSM in Visual Studio. There is a couple of things that you need to setup beforehand. Now you can either choose to follow this tutorial and do it yourself, or skip to the end where you can download the project template I've created.

Requirements

• Microsoft Visual Studio
  • Visual C# 2008 Express (The Sims Medieval is a .NETv4 build which means that VS2008, and any prior versions, can't be used to craft mods for TSM)
  • Visual C# 2010 Express
  • Visual Studio Express 2012 for Windows Desktop
  • Visual Studio Community 2015
• Any text editor, but I'd recommend using an editor with syntax highlighting like Notepad++ or Sublime Text (shareware).

Tutorial

Step 1: Getting Started

• Download the customized The Sims Medieval .NET profile.
• Extract the folder into:
  • 32-bit Windows: C:\Program Files\Reference Assemblies\Microsoft\Framework\.NETFramework\v4.0\Profile.
  • 64-bit Windows: C:\Program Files (x86)\Reference Assemblies\Microsoft\Framework\.NETFramework\v4.0\Profile.

Step 2: Create a New Project

• Make sure that .NET Framework 4 is selected.
• Open the Templates > Visual C# tree and select Class Library.
• You may name your project and solution and change the location as you see fit.

Step 3: Remove All Existing References

• Mark all existing references, which usually will be:
  • Microsoft.CSharp
  • System
  • System.Core
  • System.Data
  • System.Data.DataSetExtensions
  • System.Xml
  • System.Xml.Linq
• Right-click and click Remove.

Step 4: Additional Configuration

• Save all and close Visual Studio.
• Now locate the .csproj file in your solution folder, and open it with your text editor of choice - but just not Visual Studio itself. If you don't see any extensions on your files, you may need to change your folder settings in Windows, which is beyond the scope of this tutorial.

• Inside the first PropertyGroup tag, you should be able to find the following line:

  <TargetFrameworkVersion>v4.0</TargetFrameworkVersion>

• Now add the following right below that line:

  <TargetCompactFramework>true</TargetCompactFramework>
  <TargetingClr2Framework>true</TargetingClr2Framework>

• Close the text editor as you won't be needing it anymore.

Step 5: Change .NET profile

• Open up Visual Studio again and load your project.
• Right-click on your project and click Properties.

• Change the target framework to the .NET profile you installed earlier, .NET Framework 4 TheSimsMedieval Profile, and click Yes on the dialog that'll pop-up.

Step 6: Add References To the Sims Medieval Assemblies

• Right-click references and click Add Reference....

• You'll find the assemblies at the following locations:
  • VS2010: At the top under the .NET tab.
  • VS2012/15: Under Assemblies > Framework highlighted in white.
• Add references to the following assemblies:
  • GameplaySystems
  • Metadata
  • SimIFace
  • System
  • System.Xml
  • UI

Step 7: All Done

Happy coding. :)

Download Project Template

This process can become quite trivial if you intend to create more than one mod. That's why I've created a project template, and here's how to use it:

• Download the project template.
  • VS2010: Move the whole ZIP-archive to C:\<your user folder>\Documents\Visual Studio 2010\Templates\ProjectTemplates\Visual C#.
  • VS2012: Move the whole ZIP-archive to C:\<your user folder>\Documents\Visual Studio 2012\Templates\ProjectTemplates\Visual C#.
  • VS2015: Move the whole ZIP-archive to C:\<your user folder>\Documents\Visual Studio 2015\Templates\ProjectTemplates\Visual C#.
• When you create a new project, choose the The Sims Medieval Library template.