Development IDEs
The Spring engine is highly complex; it is recommended that you use an IDE such as Microsoft's Visual Studio .NET 2003, Code::Blocks or Eclipse. In order to compile your code you'll need the MS Visual Studio .NET 2003 C++ compiler. This is the compiler that comes with Visual Studio. Since the project is being developed in Visual Studio it is recommended that you use this if possible (it will make life easier for you). If you aren't using MS Visual Studio, the recommendation is to use Code::Blocks. You'll need to download the FREE command line version of the compiler from MicroSoft: http://msdn.microsoft.com/visualc/vctoolkit2003/ and point your IDE at it.
Although the ad-hoc standard is Visual Studio, it is extremely expensive and heavy weight. Code::Blocks (and also Dev C++) is a light weight (around 3MB download), widely-used and a free and legal alternative to Visual Studio .NET, and can be downloaded here: http://www.codeblocks.org/ . Dev C++ is in the same vein as Code::Blocks, but slightly less advanced. It can be downloaded here: http://www.bloodshed.net/devcpp.html
A good full blown free C++ IDE is Eclipse. Eclipse does not come with C++ support by default but has a downloadable plugin that provides C++ support. See http://www.eclipse.org/ and http://www.eclipse.org/cdt/. The download is much larger at around 100MB for the basic tool without the C++ plugin.
Eclipse, Code::Blocks and Dev C++ all rely on an external compiler. They all use the gnu compiler by default (gcc/g++) which does NOT produce compatible binaries with the MS VS C++ compiler. So, whilst you can edit in either of these development environments, note that you won't be able to use them to build anything to work with the real Spring engine unless you install the MS Compiler as instructed above. Code::Blocks and Dev C++ can both be downloaded with the Gnu compiler bundled in (total download around 10MB), which you should avoid as it's the wrong compiler, but Eclipse forces you to configure your machine yourself. Unless you're prepared to buy visual studio, the current recommendation is to download and install first the free MS compiler, then Code::Blocks, since this should auto-detect the MS Compiler for you, making setup a lot simpler.
Look at the end of this forum thread for more information on getting Code::Blocks to compile the code succesfully.
The bulk of the game engine is found inside the /rts/ folder. The AI and Lobby subsystems are located in respective folders. Take a peek and see where everything is. You can take a look at http://taspring.clan-sy.com/doxygen/ for a good (graphical) and dynamic display of how the Spring engine code hangs together.
Compiling the source will make it into a playable.exe. The very same IDEs previously mentioned can compile the source, so see the appropriate documentation for the program you are using to compile properly. Make sure that you are in Release mode and not Debug mode when you compile.
