Prime World Editor

Prime World Editor is a custom editor suite for Retro Studios' GameCube and Wii games, including the Metroid Prime series and Donkey Kong Country Returns.

Clone Submodules First!

Builders on all platforms should ensure submodules are up to date with the current PrimeWorldEditor by running git submodule update --init --recursive.

Building on Windows

Requirements

64-bit Note: Except for Visual Studio and the Qt installer, ensure 64-bit (x86-64, x64) packages are installed.

• Visual Studio 2026 (Desktop development with C++)
• Qt 6.5+ (MSVC 2022 64-bit specification)
  • Yes, MSVC 2022, since a Qt version with MSVC 2026 libs isn't provided yet as of writing. The ABI is still stable nonetheless.

Build using Qt Creator

Compiler Note: Before starting, it is wise to select the 64-bit compiler by opening Tools > Kits > Kits tab. The C and C++ compilers should be set to Visual Studio Community 2026 (amd64).

CMake Note: At the time of writing, Qt Creator will search for a user-installed CMake but this is not necessary. The CMake that comes with Visual Studio may be manually selected by opening Tools > Kits > CMake tab, then adding a manual CMake with the path: C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\18\Community\Common7\IDE\CommonExtensions\Microsoft\CMake\CMake\bin\cmake.exe.

Debugger Note: To use Qt Creator for debugging, Debugging Tools for Windows must be installed from the Windows SDK package. Once installed, the Qt Creator kit should automatically detect CDB. Make sure the x64 version is selected.

1. File > Open File or Project
2. Select CMakeLists.txt at root of cloned PrimeWorldEditor
3. Select desired build configurations within the Desktop Qt Kit. It is generally fine to just check Debug and Release.
4. Click Configure Project
5. Wait for dependencies to build and CMake project to generate (this may take a while).
6. Edit/Build/Debug/Run

Build using Visual Studio

Qt Note: It may be necessary to edit both CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH entries in the CMakeSettings.json file. They should be set to C:/Qt/<QT VERSION>/msvc2022_64/lib/cmake/Qt6.

1. File > Open > CMake
2. Select CMakeLists.txt at root of cloned PrimeWorldEditor
3. Wait for dependencies to build and CMake project to generate (this may take a while).
4. Edit/Build/Debug/Run

Build using Command Line

1. Launch x64 Native Tools Command Prompt for VS 2026
2. cd <PATH TO PrimeWorldEditor ROOT>
3. mkdir build
4. cd build
5. cmake -G Ninja -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release -DBUILD_SHARED_LIBS=OFF -DCMAKE_PREFIX_PATH=<PATH TO QT ROOT>/<QT VERSION>/msvc2022_64/lib/cmake/Qt6 ..
6. ninja
7. PrimeWorldEditor.exe is found in the build/bin directory.

Note that nothing is wrong if the CMake step is taking longer than usual. It's likely just downloading dependencies necessary for building PWE.

Building on macOS

Requirements

• Xcode 10.2+
• Qt 6.5+ (macOS specification)
• cmake and ninja installed using Homebrew

Build using Xcode

1. cd <PATH TO PrimeWorldEditor ROOT>
2. mkdir build
3. cd build
4. cmake -G Xcode -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release -DBUILD_SHARED_LIBS=OFF -DCMAKE_PREFIX_PATH=<PATH TO QT ROOT>/<QT VERSION>/clang_64/lib/cmake/Qt6 ..
5. Open PrimeWorldEditor.xcodeproj
6. Edit/Build/Debug/Run

Build using Command Line

1. cd <PATH TO PrimeWorldEditor ROOT>
2. mkdir build
3. cd build
4. cmake -G Ninja -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release -DBUILD_SHARED_LIBS=OFF -DCMAKE_PREFIX_PATH=<PATH TO QT ROOT>/<QT VERSION>/clang_64/lib/cmake/Qt6 ..
5. ninja
6. PrimeWorldEditor.app is found in the build/bin directory.

Building on Linux

Requirements

• A working compiler toolchain (GCC or Clang)
• cmake, ninja, qt6 (dev)

Build using Command Line

1. cd <PATH TO PrimeWorldEditor ROOT>
2. mkdir build
3. cd build
4. cmake -G Ninja -DBUILD_SHARED_LIBS=OFF -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release ..
5. ninja
6. PrimeWorldEditor is found in the build/bin directory.