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Using RakNet - Part 1, Installing

Hi there. Chances are you came to this article because you want to get started with multiplayer game programming. If you're not just getting started, then... don't go, you might still find this helpful.

Installing RakNet
Download the .zip from the RakNet website. Unzip it somewhere. Anywhere is fine, but I'm going to put mine in a common library folder (on my machine, F:\Exoterra\Engine\Libs\Raknet).

Now, in Visual C++, go to Tools. Click on "Options...". Go to "Projects and Solutions" on the tree-view. Under it, click VC++ Directories.

Now, there's a drop-down labeled "Show directories for:". Click the drop-down and go to "Include files". Click the new button (a folder with an asterisk) to make a new entry. Double-click it, and find where you unzipped RakNet. Now, there's a folder called "Source" in the RakNet directory. That's the one you want.

Now, go to "Library files" in "Show directories for:". Do the same, except, replace "Source" with "Lib".

Congratulations, you can now access RakNet in your projects.

Now, how do we set up a project? That depends. Do you want to use the DLL? Or would you rather make your executable larger?

Right. Make a new project, or open an existing one. Go to the Project menu, then open "(Project name) Properties" or press Alt+F7.

In the tree-view, expand Configuration Properties. Then go to Linker > Input. In Additional Dependencies, enter the following depending on the method you want to use.

Static Library (bigger .EXE)
RakNetLibStatic.lib

DLL
RakNetDLL.lib

Now, if you used the DLL, go to the Lib directory and copy RakNet.dll over to your project base directory. Now you can go on to the next part of this article series. Find "Using Raknet - Part 2, Client" if you want to make the client, or "Using RakNet - Part 2, Server".

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