Compiler Choices

You have several choices for compiling the Source SDK:

1. Visual Studio 2013 — officially-supported compilers for SDK 2013, works the best for it.
2. Visual Studio 2010 / Visual C++ Express 2010 — needs a manual fix for Alien Swarm SDK, but works best for it.
3. GCC — which is used to compile Linux Dedicated Servers.

If you own a copy of Visual Studio you'll probably want to use that, and if you're compiling for Linux you don't have a choice to make, which leaves only the Express editions and the free but non-commercial Community to choose between. Differences between the free Express 2013 for Windows Desktop and Professional/Premium/Ultimate most likely won't be a concern of yours. If you are a current student though you can get a free copy of the Professional edition from Microsoft.

Additional SDKs

• SDK 2013 users should read this
• Visual C++ Express 2005 users need to download the Windows SDK (Windows 2000 users: Platform SDK).
• If you want to create new shaders, the DirectX SDK is required.

See also

• Compiling under VS2005
• Compiling under VS2008
• Compiling under VS2010
• Source SDK 2013 Compiling
• Compiling under Linux