Why games compiled in .NET cant run on pc without .NET Frameworks installed?

Did you compile in debug or release mode? Tot the best of my knowledge you should only need the framework installed if its compiled in release mode.

Althoug I could be wrong.

I have it compiled in release mode. Thanks.

Depends what you mean.

Programs compiled with Visual Studio .NET do not require the .NET framework unless they are using the .NET framework. This means C++ (not C++/CLI), an unmanaged language, does not require the framework. However, they may require some DLLs for the C++ runtime.

Programs written in managed languages that use the .NET framework, however, will obviously require the framework.

There is a program called 'ngen' I think that it compiles .NET stuff to native code but I think that you would need to compile your .NET programs into IL or MSIL as an input to ngen...

You could search for ngen and see what that tells you aswell.

"(Ngen.exe) is a tool that improves the performance of managed applications. Ngen.exe creates native images, which are files containing compiled processor-specific machine code, and installs them into the native image cache on the local computer. The runtime can use native images from the cache instead using the just-in-time (JIT) compiler to compile the original assembly."

You can't do this pre-ship; you need to run ngen.exe on the target machine. It's usually done as part of the install process.

You shouldn't need VS 2005 to run any .NET program, only the framework -- unless you're trying to distribute a debug build. .NET programs are unlike normal ones because they are only compiled into an intermediate language. They require an interpreter to finish compiling them into the language of the machine they're run on. It's possible for you to make VS2005 compile .NET programs to x86 (a normal PC), but you'll still need to install .NET because it contains a whole pile of libraries every application depends on (someone correct me if I'm wrong).

For non-.NET applications created by Visual C++ 2005, they still depend on the new C runtime libraries. If you look in the VC directories there are some redistributables to easily install these on anyone's computer.

Hi,

It has been already said but .NET applications generates MSIL which can only executed by the CLR (.NET runtime). There's no trick that allow you to get rid of .NET runtime, sorry.

The worse part of this is that .NET runtime doesn't ship with Managed DirectX libraries :(

Most people won't have any of them. You can add a Redistributable .net framework to your setup (it basically adds dotnet setup to yours), but as far as i know you can't do the same for MDirectX.

Thanks for the reply everyone. I found out from somewhere that .NET Framework is actually a virtual machine, that's why it has to be installed in order to run an executable file on a machine. I think It is bad because many people will just lost interested on your games if they couldn't get it to run. Is there anyway to run the program without the Framework?

by the way, my game is written in C++ and OpenGL. Compiler I am using is Microsoft Visual Studio .Net 2005. Is there a way to fix this problem?

Quote:

I think It is bad because many people will just lost interested on your games if they couldn't get it to run. Is there anyway to run the program without the Framework?

If it doesn't use C++/CLR features like garbage collection, then you can compile your application as a Win32 application. This will only generate a dependency on the C/C++ runtime libraries, which are redistributable in a few megabytes. If you create a deployment project from your built Win32 project, it will automatically add the installer for the runtime libraries.

If you use the .NET framework, or C++/CLR features, then you will need to include the framework with your installer. The easiest way to do this is to let the deployment project generate a setup.exe in addition to your MSI; this setup will download the .NET framework installer from your web site only if the user doesn't already have it installed, then it will download your application installer as well. It's pretty slick.

Hasn't the framework been on windows update for years?

Are you sure you don't mean the VC runtime dll(s)? Like MSVCRT80.DLL or something like that?

Again, search for the redistributables..

thanks for the reply! I am new to Microsoft .NET technology, and I don't know the details of how DLL works. Is DLL a data file which an exe program will read from to help loosen the burden of the memory? I did look at the NGEN but it doens't seem like a solution to my problem. Can anyone provide me a link to a tutorial or information that will point me to the right direction? Again, I need information about making my game runs on machines even with no Framework installed.

Thanks Again!

A DLL file is simply a bit of a program. Generally a program will use the functions inside DLLs to accomplish its goals. Some DLLs are specific to certain programs, but other DLLs, like the msvcrt*.dll series, are common to nearly all programs, as they implement standard routines.

What this means, is that if you don't want to rely on DLLs, or indeed on the .NET framework, you mustn't use any of the functionality they provide. This may just be a case of ensuring that you compile your C++ code in unmanaged mode. You may also be able to link 'statically' which will move some functionality that you use in the standard libraries into your executable, but that is probably less important than the framework dependency you have.

ok, I did a little research on it. Can anyone give me a guide on how can I compile my game to make it runable by users on any pc with at least windows xp. If I am going to create an installer of my game that will install all the DLLs and files required to run my game, will it work? If so how can I create an installer, and how can I create a installer of the framework along with my game? or is it possible? Again, my game is written in C++ and OpenGL, compiler I am using is Microsoft Visual Studio .NET 2005.

Thanks!

windows has functionality to see if something is installed. What you Could do is have your program check if the person has the .NET Framework and if so run the game. Otherwise, open up their internet browser to the appropriate website to download the Framework.

Another alternative is to just include the .NET framework installation package from MS and use some form of shell execute to start the installation if they don't have .NET installed.

EDIT: Oh, and the most obvious way to not require .NET being installed... DON'T USE ANY OF THE MANAGED LANGUAGES/EXTENSIONS! If you don't use the .NET framework then other computers won't need it. If having your program run on computers without .NET is so important, don't use it. I don't know if you're using it because you haven't really said so. So... are you using .NET? Are you using managed extensions? If not then you can probably change some settings, if you are you'll have to seriously rewrite some code.

I am not sure whether I am using .NET or not. (Sorry I am newbie)Here are the library and header files I include in my program, is any of them a .NET technology?

// include windows files
#include // Header File For Windows
#include // Header File For Standard Input/Output
#include // Header File For The OpenGL32 Library
#include // Header File For The GLu32 Library
#include // Header File For The Glaux Library
#include
#include

Thanks for your help.

Just think of java.
Have you ever run across a webpage with a java applet or application and it refused to load saying java was missing?
Pretty much the same thing with .NET apps.
If your app makes use of .NET it will need .NET installed to run just as java apps need the java runtime installed to run.

Quote:

Original post by DvDmanDT Hasn't the framework been on windows update for years? Are you sure you don't mean the VC runtime dll(s)? Like MSVCRT80.DLL or something like that? Again, search for the redistributables..

Yes but unfortunately it's still only an optional update-DOH!
windows 2003 is the first windows os to actually include .net from what I know and of course Vista will come with .net 2.0.

ATI is doing a better job of getting people to start using .net by forcing people to install it to get their new control panel to work!

Quote:

Original post by dannielum I am not sure whether I am using .NET or not. (Sorry I am newbie)Here are the library and header files I include in my program, is any of them a .NET technology? // include windows files #include // Header File For Windows #include // Header File For Standard Input/Output #include // Header File For The OpenGL32 Library #include // Header File For The GLu32 Library #include // Header File For The Glaux Library #include #include Thanks for your help.

Nope, this looks like you're using ordinary c++ only. So, you should be able to change somewhere in the project settings to not require .NET at all. If you do so, and do a release build, it should only, if at all, require some small stdlib dll's, which you can distribute with your application (some kb, mb..).

But on how to do so, I don't really know, as i don't use c++ myself anymore. But I've done it, so it's doable.