CODEWITHSUNDEEP
c++debuggingvisual-studio-2012dllsettings
CaptainTid
CaptainTid

Reputation: 19

The required DLLs in a visual studio c++ project

I've done some searching and seen questions similar in nature to mine, but none that quite hit the nail on the head of the issue I'm having.

I'm making C++ game in Visual Studio (with the Allegro 5 library) and encountering difficulty running it on other computers. I'm well aware of the 'MSVCR##.dll is missing from this computer' issue, but what I'm wondering is why I'm unable to run my Release build because I'm missing the MSVCR##'D'.dll on a certain computer, when I was under the impression that the 'D' suffixed .dll was exclusively required for running the debugger. I've checked in my configuration manager for release build settings and I have 'Generate Debug Info' set to No, which I thought was the only thing I needed to do. My question I guess is whether or not there are any other settings I need to configure to make sure my Release build isn't looking for the MSVCR##D.dll. Thanks in advance anyone who has any info!

Upvotes: 0

Views: 553

Answers (3)

CaptainTid
CaptainTid

Reputation: 19

Thank you very much for all your inputs, I was able to learn a fair bit from this. It turns out the issue was (of course) entirely my fault, as when setting up the Allegro 5 dependencies in the project settings (under General->Linker) I was accidentally including a dependency for the debug version of the Allegro monolith-md.dll as well as the non-debug version in my Release build, and that .dll was in turn referencing the *D version of the MSVCR .dll. The issue has been resolved by removing that dependency from the Release build of my game.

Upvotes: 1

MSalters
MSalters

Reputation: 179779

You're a bit confused about the use of the *D libraries. They're indeed used for debug builds, but debug builds differ in multiple ways from release builds. For starters, debug builds by default come with a *.PDB file that contains all the function names (This is your "Generate Debug Info" option). A debugger looks into the .PDB file to find a readable name for a crash site.

Another debug option is to not inline code - this keeps your named functions intact. Inlining may put that single finction inside three other functions, which complicates debugging a bit.

Finally the Debug CRT includes functions that perform extra error checking against bad arguments. Many functions exhibit Undefined Behavior when passed a null pointer, for instance. The Debug libraries will catch quite a few of those, whereas the Release versions assume you pass valid pointers only.

Now DLL's can reference each other; there's a whoel dependency graph. That's why the Dependency Walker tool exists: it figures out which DLL's rqeuire which other DLL's, and this will tell you why you need the *D version.

Upvotes: 1

Nit
Nit

Reputation: 22

Install dependency walker on that machine. Load the exe. Check if any of the dependent dlls are missing.

Upvotes: 0

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