Prerequisites

Before building or running SSG Tether Capture, make sure the following are installed.

Rust toolchain

Install Rust via rustup:

curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://sh.rustup.rs | sh

The project targets stable Rust. Check Cargo.toml for the minimum supported version.

System dependencies

Bevy has a few platform-level dependencies depending on your OS.

macOS

xcode-select --install

Linux (Debian/Ubuntu)

sudo apt-get install -y \
  libasound2-dev \
  libudev-dev \
  libwayland-dev \
  libxkbcommon-dev

Full dependency list: Bevy Linux dependencies

Windows

No additional runtime dependencies are required for running the app, but building and bundling a Windows MSI installer uses the WiX Toolset and a few Windows build tools. To test the build/bundle process locally, install the following:

• Visual Studio C++ Build Tools: required to build native dependencies and for some packaging steps. Install via the Visual Studio installer: https://visualstudio.microsoft.com/visual-cpp-build-tools/
• WiX Toolset (v3.11.x): the repository's WiX project uses the classic heat.exe, candle.exe and light.exe workflow (see wix/main.wxs). Download and install WiX Toolset 3.11.2 from https://wixtoolset.org/releases/ (the script expects the WIX environment variable to point to the WiX install directory).
• Windows 10/11 SDK (optional but recommended): provides signtool.exe and other packaging utilities if you plan to sign the MSI. Install via the Windows SDK installer or Visual Studio components.

Install notes and quick checks:

• After installing WiX, set the WIX environment variable to the WiX installation folder (for example C:\Program Files (x86)\WiX v3.11). The packaging script scripts/run_windows_release_workflow.ps1 expects $env:WIX\bin\heat.exe to exist.

  PowerShell example (run as Administrator to set machine environment variable):

  setx WIX "C:\Program Files (x86)\WiX v3.11" /M

• Verify the WiX binaries are reachable:

  Test-Path "$env:WIX\bin\heat.exe"
  Get-ChildItem "$env:WIX\bin" -Filter "*.exe" | Select-Object -ExpandProperty Name

• Alternative install: you can also install WiX via Chocolatey:

  choco install wixtoolset --version=3.11.2

Notes:

• The build scripts in scripts/ use heat.exe, candle.exe and light.exe (WiX v3-style). If you install WiX v4, ensure the same executables are available or adjust the script accordingly.
• If you plan to sign the MSI for distribution, obtain an Authenticode certificate and use signtool.exe from the Windows SDK.

WiX v7 migration (what changed and how to migrate)

WiX has evolved significantly since v3. If you plan to migrate the project's packaging to WiX v7 (recommended long-term), here are the key points and a checklist to guide the transition:

• Tooling change: WiX v6+ and v7 use an SDK-style workflow delivered via NuGet (WixToolset.Sdk) and a new CLI (wix) rather than the classic heat.exe, candle.exe and light.exe binaries. Heat has been removed in v7.
• Local prerequisites for v7:
  • Install the .NET SDK (we recommend dotnet 8.x or newer).
  • Use the WixToolset.Sdk package in an SDK-style project (see wix/SSG.wixproj).
• Authoring changes: replace heat-generated fragments with Files/Payloads authoring or include a modern .wixproj that references main_v7.wix (see wix/main_v7.wix). The SDK approach lets you build with dotnet build.
• CI friendliness: SDK-based builds are preferred for CI — they only require actions/setup-dotnet and dotnet build on a Windows runner instead of installing WiX system-wide. We've already updated the repository CI to use dotnet build for packaging.
• EULA / OSMF: WiX v6+ introduced the Open Source Maintenance Fee (OSMF) EULA. Review the WiX release notes and OSMF terms before using WiX v6/v7 for commercial distribution.
• Compatibility option: if you need minimal changes, continue using WiX v3.11 (legacy heat/candle/light) — the repo still supports that flow as a fallback in scripts/run_windows_release_workflow.ps1 when dotnet is not available.
• Code signing: signing is unchanged — use signtool.exe from the Windows SDK and inject certificates through CI secrets for automated signing.

Quick local test commands (from repo root):

dotnet restore wix/SSG.wixproj
dotnet build wix/SSG.wixproj -c Release
# resulting MSI will be under wix/bin/Release (or similar output path)

Files added/updated in this repo to support v7:

• wix/SSG.wixproj — SDK-style WiX project for dotnet build
• wix/main_v7.wix — modern Files/Payloads authoring example
• scripts/run_windows_release_workflow.ps1 — now prefers dotnet build and falls back to legacy WiX v3 tools

Migration checklist (high level):

1. Convert any heat-dependent logic to Files/Payloads authoring or use an SDK target that harvests assets.
2. Add wix/SSG.wixproj (done) and ensure main_v7.wix authoring covers the files you need.
3. Update CI to use actions/setup-dotnet and dotnet build (done in workflows).
4. Add code-signing steps in CI (optional) using signtool.exe and secrets for certificates.
5. Validate the produced MSI on a clean Windows VM and test upgrade/uninstall behavior.

Assets

The app loads KTX2-compressed textures and font files at runtime from the assets/ directory. These are checked into the repository and do not require separate installation:

Asset	Path
Earth texture (8K)	assets/textures/earth_8192x4096_uastc.ktx2
Star field (8K)	assets/textures/8k_stars_uastc.ktx2
HDR cubemap	assets/textures/hdr-cubemap-2048x2048.ktx2
UI font	assets/fonts/FiraMono-Medium.ttf

KTX2/Basis Universal decoding is handled automatically by Bevy's asset pipeline.