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Compiling 64 Bit plugins in Visual C++ Express

Posted on by Frank Willeke

Many people, especially developers who write free plugins, or hobbyists, use only the free Visual C++ 2010 Express for their Windows builds. However, that version of C++ does not support 64 Bit builds.

There is an easy solution for this, and many people already know it. But since the questions comes up from time to time, here is how to get Visual C++ 2010 Express to build for 64 Bit, too.

How it works

Just follow the steps below:

  1. First, you need to download and install the Windows SDK for your Windows version. Here is the downlaod for the Wuindows 7.1 SDK:
    http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/windowsserver/bb980924.aspx
  2. Now start Visual c++ Express and change your project configuration:
    1. Open the properties of your project
    2. From the configuration drop-down on top of the properties dialog, choose “All Configurations”
    3. In the top-right of the dialog, click the “Configuration Manager…” button
    4. In the configuration manager’s list, select your project
    5. In the Platform column drop-down, select “<New>” to open the “New project platform” dialog
    6. Select “x64” and close the dialog.
    7. In the Platform column drop-down, select “x64”. Then close the configuration manager.

    More information on this step can be found here:
    http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/9yb4317s.aspx

  3. From the tree on the left side of the properties dialog, choose “Configuration Properties > General”
  4. On the right side, change “Platform Toolset” from “v100” to “Windows7.1SDK”

Issue with updating to Service Pack 1

There is a known issue where the x64 compiler is removed from Visual C++ Express when updating it to SP 1. Microsoft has released an update to fix the problem:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2519277/en-us

Avatar

Frank Willeke

worked with computers since more than 20 years | got hooked on computer graphics back on the AMIGA | started programming at the age of 13 | relesed some successful plugins for cinema 4d | started working for maxon computer gmbh in 2009 | now contributing to cinema 4d as a senior developer making electronic music since 1993 | playing the electric guitar since 1995 age of 14 | first live gigs in 1997 | playing the bass guitar 2005 | playing keyboards and synths since 2012 experimenting with photography since 2003

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3 Comments

  1. may be this comment is off topic but i wanted to ask a question for a problem :S

    I’m using a computing library in compiling a plugin for cinema4d
    this library doesn’t support a path with space (like C:my path)

    so what i did is copied the cinema4d folder to another folder without pathes so the plugin work

    now I wanted to use the plugin with the long path (which is the usual path for all cinema4d users)

    i tried to run cinema 4d 64.exe with its short path from RUN in windows
    but I didn’t see my plugin!!!(it is command plugin) …when i run cinema4d normally i find my plugin but it crashes

    any solution?

    thanks in advance

    cheers,
    Mohamed Sakr

  2. Hi. Yes, pretty offtopic 😉

    If the library does not support paths with spaces, then it sounds like a strange library. You should rewrite the critical parts to use C4D filenames and strings as much as possible.

    The plugin type (CommandData) has no influence in this case.

    You should debug your plugin and see where it fails.

  3. thanks a lot 🙂
    and yea I know it is not about CommandData (was just giving you the full image of the problem)

    cheers,
    MohamedSakr

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