About Stingray build configurations

This topic contains some information for developers about the different build configurations offered in the Stingray build system.

By default, make.rb only builds the dev configuration.

You can specify the configuration you want to build by adding the --config option to the command line when you call the make.rb script. For example:

> make.rb --config release

This is the only build mode of the engine that works with the Stingray Editor, and contains all functionality needed to create game content and compile data. Use this build mode for most tasks during your game production cycle.

This build mode turns on internal error checking, such as asserts. However, because it disables all compiler optimizations, it typically runs much more slowly than the dev configuration. It is therefore recommended for use only when necessary. For example, you may want to run the engine in the debug configuration if you need to debug engine code.

This build mode is intended only for final builds of a game or application. It strips from the engine all code that is intended only for use during the production cycle, such as console communication, data compilation, etc. This makes your game run as efficiently as possible.

By default, all configurations generate .pdb files. This makes it easier for customers with source access (and for Autodesk support) to track down the cause of any crashes that may occur in the engine and tools, regardless of which configuration was used to build the binaries.

You can disable the generation of these .pdb files by adding the --nodebug option to the command line when you call make.rb.