Building on windows made easier (#19507)

BUILDING.md

@@ -172,6 +172,22 @@ In case you preferred to install and use the standalone **CMake** tool:
    ```
 3) once the build is completed, the **RPCS3** application will be available under the `<rpcs3_root>\build-msvc\bin` folder
 
+#### Building with the PowerShell script
+
+As an alternative to building through Visual Studio, run the PowerShell helper from the repository root:
+
+```powershell
+.\scripts\win_build.ps1
+```
+
+The script locates a supported Visual Studio installation, finds Qt from `Qt6_ROOT` or a standard `C:\Qt` installation, configures a Release Ninja Multi-Config build, and then builds it. Pass `-Cores <count>` to set the parallel build count; by default it uses all logical processors:
+
+```powershell
+.\scripts\win_build.ps1 -Cores 8
+```
+
+The resulting application is placed in `<rpcs3_root>\build\bin`.
+
 ### Linux
 
 While still in the project root:

scripts/win_build.ps1

@@ -0,0 +1,194 @@
+#Requires -Version 5.1
+param(
+    [int]$Cores = 0
+)
+Set-StrictMode -Version Latest
+$ErrorActionPreference = 'Stop'
+[Console]::OutputEncoding = [System.Text.Encoding]::UTF8
+Clear-Host
+
+function Print-Elapsed {
+    param([datetime]$Start)
+
+    $Elapsed = (Get-Date) - $Start
+
+    Write-Host ''
+    Write-Host ('Total build time: {0}h {1}m {2}s' -f
+        [int]$Elapsed.TotalHours,
+        $Elapsed.Minutes,
+        $Elapsed.Seconds)
+}
+
+$StartTime = Get-Date
+
+# ============================================================
+# Visual Studio Detection
+# ============================================================
+$VsVarsPath = $null
+
+$UninstallKeys = @(
+    'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall',
+    'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall'
+)
+
+:vsSearch foreach ($BaseKey in $UninstallKeys) {
+    foreach ($SubKey in (Get-ChildItem $BaseKey -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue)) {
+        $DisplayName = $SubKey.GetValue('DisplayName', '')
+        if ($DisplayName -like '*Visual Studio*') {
+            $InstallLocation = $SubKey.GetValue('InstallLocation', '')
+            if ($InstallLocation) {
+                $Candidate = Join-Path $InstallLocation 'VC\Auxiliary\Build\vcvars64.bat'
+                if (Test-Path $Candidate) {
+                    $VsVarsPath = $Candidate
+                    break vsSearch
+                }
+            }
+        }
+    }
+}
+
+if (-not $VsVarsPath) {
+    Write-Error 'ERROR: Visual Studio not found.'
+    Read-Host 'Press Enter to exit'
+    exit 1
+}
+
+Write-Host "Using VS environment: $VsVarsPath"
+
+# Import VS environment variables by running vcvars64.bat and capturing the env
+$TempFile = [System.IO.Path]::GetTempFileName() + '.bat'
+@"
+@echo off
+call "$VsVarsPath"
+set
+"@ | Set-Content $TempFile -Encoding ASCII
+
+cmd /c $TempFile | ForEach-Object {
+    if ($_ -match '^([^=]+)=(.*)$') {
+        [System.Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable($Matches[1], $Matches[2], 'Process')
+    }
+}
+Remove-Item $TempFile -Force
+
+# ============================================================
+# Qt Detection
+# ============================================================
+$QtRoot = $null
+
+if ($env:Qt6_ROOT -and (Test-Path (Join-Path $env:Qt6_ROOT 'lib\cmake\Qt6\Qt6Config.cmake'))) {
+    $QtRoot = $env:Qt6_ROOT
+    Write-Host "Found Qt6 from environment variable: $env:Qt6_ROOT"
+}
+
+if (-not $QtRoot) {
+    foreach ($Drive in 'C','D','E','F','G','H') {
+        $QtBase = "${Drive}:\Qt"
+        if (-not (Test-Path $QtBase)) { continue }
+        foreach ($VersionDir in (Get-ChildItem $QtBase -Directory -Filter '6.*' -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue)) {
+            $Candidate = Join-Path $VersionDir.FullName 'msvc2022_64'
+            if (Test-Path (Join-Path $Candidate 'lib\cmake\Qt6\Qt6Config.cmake')) {
+                $QtRoot = $Candidate
+                Write-Host "Found Qt6 at: $Candidate"
+                break
+            }
+        }
+        if ($QtRoot) { break }
+    }
+}
+
+if (-not $QtRoot) {
+    Write-Error @'
+ERROR: Qt6 not found. Please set the Qt6_ROOT environment variable.
+Example: [System.Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable('Qt6_ROOT','C:\Qt\6.8.3\msvc2022_64','User')
+'@
+    Read-Host 'Press Enter to exit'
+    exit 1
+}
+
+# ============================================================
+# Build Configuration
+# ============================================================
+if ($Cores -le 0) {
+    $Cores = (Get-CimInstance Win32_ComputerSystem).NumberOfLogicalProcessors
+}
+
+$SourceDir = Split-Path -Parent $PSScriptRoot
+$BuildDir  = Join-Path $SourceDir 'build'
+
+# ============================================================
+# Selective Clean (SDL3 export conflict fix)
+# Only wipe SDL3 folder to avoid the export() CMake 4.x conflict
+# while preserving all other compiled objects (LLVM, ffmpeg, etc.)
+# ============================================================
+$SdlDir = Join-Path $BuildDir '3rdparty\libsdl-org'
+if (Test-Path $SdlDir) {
+    Write-Host ''
+    Write-Host 'Cleaning SDL3 build cache to prevent export conflicts...'
+    Remove-Item $SdlDir -Recurse -Force
+    Write-Host 'SDL3 clean done.'
+}
+
+if (-not (Test-Path $BuildDir)) {
+    New-Item $BuildDir -ItemType Directory | Out-Null
+}
+
+# ============================================================
+# CMake Configure
+# Skipped if CMakeCache.txt already exists from a previous run.
+# Delete build\CMakeCache.txt or the entire build folder to force
+# a full reconfigure (e.g. after changing cmake flags).
+# ============================================================
+$CacheFile = Join-Path $BuildDir 'CMakeCache.txt'
+if (-not (Test-Path $CacheFile)) {
+    Write-Host ''
+    Write-Host "Configuring CMake with $Cores cores..."
+    Write-Host "Qt6 Root: $QtRoot"
+    Write-Host ''
+
+    & cmake $SourceDir -G 'Ninja Multi-Config' `
+        -DBUILD_LLVM=ON `
+        -DUSE_SYSTEM_OPENCV=OFF `
+        -DUSE_SYSTEM_CURL=OFF `
+        -DUSE_SYSTEM_ZLIB=OFF `
+        -DUSE_SYSTEM_LIBPNG=OFF `
+        -DUSE_SYSTEM_SDL=OFF `
+        -DUSE_VULKAN=ON `
+        "-DQt6_ROOT=$QtRoot" `
+        "-DCMAKE_PREFIX_PATH=$QtRoot" `
+        -B $BuildDir
+
+    if ($LASTEXITCODE -ne 0) {
+        Write-Host ''
+        Write-Error 'ERROR: CMake configuration failed!'
+        Print-Elapsed $StartTime
+        Read-Host 'Press Enter to exit'
+        exit 1
+    }
+} else {
+    Write-Host ''
+    Write-Host 'Skipping CMake configure (cache exists).'
+    Write-Host "To force a full reconfigure, delete: $CacheFile"
+}
+
+# ============================================================
+# Build
+# Ninja will only recompile files that have actually changed.
+# ============================================================
+Write-Host ''
+Write-Host "Building with $Cores cores..."
+
+& cmake --build $BuildDir --config Release --parallel $Cores
+
+if ($LASTEXITCODE -ne 0) {
+    Write-Host ''
+    Write-Error 'ERROR: Build failed!'
+    Print-Elapsed $StartTime
+    Read-Host 'Press Enter to exit'
+    exit 1
+}
+
+Write-Host ''
+Write-Host "Build complete! Output is in `"$BuildDir\bin\`""
+Print-Elapsed $StartTime
+Read-Host 'Press Enter to exit'
+exit 0