The following sections give step-by-step instructions for installing the 9.00 version of G3D on Windows XP, Vista, and 7.

For experienced Visual Studio developers, the short version of these instructions is simple:

Unzip G3D-9.00-win32.zip and configure Visual Studio's Include and Library paths.
Set your G3D9DATA environment variable to the G3D/data directory.
Add G3D/bin to your PATH environment variable (or remember to put the DLLs in each project, or rebuild G3D to statically link FFMPEG)
See G3D9\demos\starter for a simple application framework.

Visual Studio 2010 (VC++ 10.0) Installation

Visual Studio 2010 (officially known as Visual C++ 2010 Express Edition) is available as a free download from Microsoft. For 64-bit application development, you will also need to install the free Windows SDK. Note that there is also a professional edition of Visual Studio 2010 that can be purchased and includes 64-bit support directly.

Visual Studio 2010: http://www.microsoft.com/express/download/#webInstall
If you have Visual Studio 2010 Service Pack 1 (SP1) installed, you must uninstall it from the Control Panel before installing the Windows SDK 7.1 because of a bug in Microsoft's installer. They have the wrong version numbers on the SDK and using SP1 will force you to use the old SDK, which is incompatible with G3D. See this Stackoverflow post and this blog for more information.
Windows SDK 7.1: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/bb980924
Windows SDK patch: (may not be needed; only install if you see the error "Error: The "ConfigurationGeneral" rule is missing from the project.") http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?displaylang=en&id=4422

After installing the Windows SDK 7.1, any previous projects will still continue to use the old SDK. You can fix this by changing the project's Configuration Properties\General\Platform Toolset as shown below:

All of the project files that come with G3D already have this done.

G3D Installation

Download G3D-9.00-b03-win.zip and unzip it into a directory like c:\libraries. This will create the directories c:\libraries\G3D9, c:\libraries\G3D9\manual, etc.
Run Visual Studio 2010
Do one of the following to set global directories:
- Use the Property Manager
  1. Open any VC10 project, for example C:\libraries\G3D9\samples\starter\starter.sln
  2. Select View -> Property Manager, as shown below:
  3. Select Debug | Win32 \> Microsoft.Cpp.Win32.user in the Property Manager.
  4. Select Common Properties -> VC++ Directories as shown below:
  5. Add the G3D include directory (e.g., C:\libraries\G3D9\include) to the Include Directories
  6. Add the G3D lib directory (e.g., C:\libraries\G3D9\lib) to the Library Directories
  7. Press OK
- Edit XML Manually
  1. Open Microsoft.Cpp.Win32.user.props in Visual Studio. The default location in Windows XP is
```
C:\Documents and Settings\%USERNAME%\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\MSBuild\v4.0\Microsoft.Cpp.Win32.user.props
```
    The default location in Windows Vista is:
```
C:\Users\%USERNAME%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\MSBuild\v4.0
```
    where %USERNAME% is your Windows login name.
  2. Add IncludePath and LibraryPath entries that refer to your G3D install location. For example,
```
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Project DefaultTargets="Build" ToolsVersion="4.0" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">

  <PropertyGroup>
    <IncludePath>$(IncludePath);C:\libraries\G3D9\include</IncludePath>
    <LibraryPath>$(LibraryPath);C:\libraries\G3D9\lib</LibraryPath>
  </PropertyGroup>

</Project>
```
  3. Save and close Microsoft.Cpp.Win32.user.props.
Repeat the previous step for Microsoft.Cpp.x64.user.props, also adding the following include and library paths:
- C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v7.0A\Include
- C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v7.0A\Lib
Click on the Tools menu and then select Options, as demonstrated in this image:
In the tree list on the left of the entire dialog, select TextEditor/Extensions. Add each of the following extensions with the "Microsoft C++ Experience" by typing it into the text box and pressing "Add": "pix", "vrt", "geo", "cu", "any". The completed dialog should look like:
Push Ok to close the Options dialog.
Quit Visual Studio to ensure that your changes are saved.
Set the G3D9DATA environment variable to the directory containing the G3D data files (e.g., c:\libraries\G3D9\data). Add the G3D9\bin directory to your PATH environment variable. For instructions on setting environment variables for different versions of Windows, see:

See the instructions for creating a new project on Windows for information about how to write your first G3D program, or explore the provided sample programs.