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Configuring Your IDE

Carbon​

This guide was created using Carbons own documentation, their docs are the best source of information for anything Carbon related.

Step 1: Pick Your Drive Location​

Because Windows limits the number of characters in a single filepath, it's highly recommended to create your project in the root of a drive.

tip

For better organization, you may also want to create a separate partition for development work. If you’re unsure how to do this, you can follow this guide.

Step 2: 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.

Step 3: Download the Carbon QuickStart Files​

Download the Carbon QuickStart files from the Carbon QuickStart Repository and place them inside the Carbon Server folder.

Step 4: Update Carbon​

Run the update_edge.bat file inside the Carbon Server folder. This will download the latest files required for Carbon to function.

If you want to use a specific branch, run the appropriate update_*.bat file instead. Wait for the process to finish before continuing.

Step 5: 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.

Step 6: Start the Server​

Run run.bat and wait for the server to fully boot.

Step 7: Enable Developer Mode​

Navigate to the Carbon/server/carbon/ directory and open the config.json file. Find the DeveloperMode setting and change it to true.

Enabling Developer Mode ensures that Carbon saves the patched DLLs to Carbon/server/carbon/developer/patched_assemblies/. These DLLs are used by the Carbon.targets file, which is necessary for plugin development.

Step 8: 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 9: 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="F:\Carbon Server\Carbon\server\Carbon.targets" />

This ensures that your project has access to the necessary Carbon assemblies. Save the file once done.

Step 10: 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! 🚀