Creating your Project
This section will guide you through creating your project and linking it to a local development server.
Having a local server can help ensure you the latest DLLs for both Rust and Carbon.
You can download the Visual Studio 2022 project template for Carbon below. This acts as a self contained server and development environment for Carbon Plugins.
Features:
- Batch file to download the Carbon QuickStart Repository.
- Preconfigured
.csprojpointing toCarbon.targets. - Self contained local server inside project folder.
Picking an IDE
To get started with a good developing environment, you need to install Visual Studio 2022 or Rider.
Visual Studio 2022
This tutorial will be written assuming you are using VS2022.
Step 1: Create Your Directory Structure
Choose a location for your files, such as F:\RustModding\. Inside this location, create two subfolders:
- Carbon Server – This will contain all the server files needed to run Carbon.
- Plugin Dev – This is where you’ll develop your plugins.
Windows FileSystem Limitations
Windows has a limit of 256 characters for each file name, this includes all the folders in the filepath. It is recommended that you create your these folders in or close to your root directory.
Step 2: Download the Carbon QuickStart Files
Download the Carbon QuickStart files from the Carbon QuickStart Repository and place them inside the Carbon Server folder.
Installation Instructions
You can find the Installation Instructions here, please follow them when installing your local server.
Step 3: Update Carbon
Run the update_edge.bat file inside the Carbon Server folder. This will download the latest files required for Carbon to function.
Changing Branches
If you want to use a specific branch, run the appropriate update_*.bat file instead. Wait for the process to finish before continuing.
Options: production,preview,edge,rustbeta_staging
Step 4: Configure the Server
Open the run.bat file in a text editor and adjust the variables to meet your needs. This file controls key settings such as server name and port configurations.
Default Password
Make sure you change your password to something unique.
If your password is the default password, your RCON will not work.
Step 5: Start the Server
Run run.bat and wait for the server to fully boot.
Step 6: Enable Developer Mode
Navigate to the <root>/carbon directory and open the config.json file. Find the DeveloperMode setting and change it to true.
Developer Mode
Enabling Developer Mode ensures that Carbon saves the patched DLLs to <root>/carbon/developer/patched_assemblies/. These DLLs are used by the Carbon.targets file, which is necessary for plugin development.
Step 7: Create a New Project in Your IDE
Open your IDE (Visual Studio is recommended) and create a new project inside the Plugin Dev directory. Select Class Library (.NET Framework) as the project type.
When prompted to choose a framework, select .NET Framework 4.8 and proceed with the project creation.
Step 8: Modify the Project File
Inside your newly created project, locate the .csproj file. Open it in a text editor and add the following line on the second line of the file:
<Import Project="<root>/Carbon.targets" />
This ensures that your project has access to the necessary Carbon assemblies. Save the file once done.
Step 9: Restart Your IDE
To apply the changes, close and reopen your IDE.
Once you've completed these steps, your development environment will be fully set up, and you’ll have everything needed to start creating plugins for Carbon.
🎉 Happy coding! 🚀