## Windows

You need Microsoft Visual Studio 2017 or more recent.

You can download the free Visual Studio Community Edition from Microsoft at

https://visualstudio.microsoft.com/vs/community/.

OpenTTD needs the Platform SDK, if it isn't installed already. This can be

done during installing Visual Studio, by selecting

`Visual C++ MFC for x86 and x64` (and possibly

`Visual C++ ATL for x86 and x64` depending on your version). If not, you

Install the SDK by following the instructions as given.

Dependencies for OpenTTD on Windows are handled via

[vcpkg](https://github.com/Microsoft/vcpkg/). First you need to install vcpkg

by following the `Quick Start` instructions of their

[README](https://github.com/Microsoft/vcpkg/blob/master/README.md).

After this, you can install the dependencies OpenTTD needs. We advise to use

the `static` versions, and OpenTTD currently needs the following dependencies:

- breakpad

Good pull requests—patches, improvements, new features—are a fantastic help.

Pull requests should fit with the [goals of the project](./CONTRIBUTING.md#project-goals).

**Please do ask first** before embarking on any significant pull request (e.g. implementing features, refactoring code, porting to a different language), otherwise you risk spending a lot of time working on something that the project's developers might not want to merge into the project.

Every pull request should have a clear scope, with no unrelated commits.

[Code style](./CODINGSTYLE.md) must be complied with for pull requests to be accepted; this also includes [commit message format](./CODINGSTYLE.md#commit-message).

Adhering to the following process is the best way to get your work included in the project:

```bash

git clone https://github.com/<your-username>/OpenTTD.git openttd

git clone https://github.com/OpenTTD/OpenTTD-git-hooks.git openttd_hooks

cd openttd

git remote add upstream https://github.com/OpenTTD/OpenTTD.git

cd .git/hooks

ln -s ../../../openttd_hooks/hooks/* .

```

2. If you cloned a while ago, get the latest changes from upstream:

By contributing your code, you agree to license your contribution under the [GPL v2](https://github.com/OpenTTD/OpenTTD/blob/master/COPYING.md).

### Privacy Notice

We would like to make you aware that contributing to OpenTTD via git will permanently store the name and email address you provide as well as the actual changes and the time and date you made it inside git's version history.

This is inevitable, because it is a main feature of git.

If you are concerned about your privacy, we strongly recommend to use "Anonymous <anonymous@openttd.org>" as the git commit author. We might refuse anonymous contributions if malicious intent is suspected.

Please note that the contributor identity, once given, is used for copyright verification and to provide proof should a malicious commit be made.

Please also note that your commit is public and as such will potentially be processed by many third-parties.

Git's distributed nature makes it impossible to track where exactly your commit, and thus your personal data, will be stored and be processed.

If you would not like to accept this risk, please do either commit anonymously or refrain from contributing to the OpenTTD project.

### Attribution of this Contributing Guide

This contributing guide is adapted from [Bootstrap](https://github.com/twbs/bootstrap/blob/main/.github/CONTRIBUTING.md) under the [Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/) terms for Bootstrap documentation.

The GDPR notice is adapted from [rsyslog](https://github.com/rsyslog/rsyslog/blob/master/CONTRIBUTING.md) under the [GNU General Public License](https://github.com/rsyslog/rsyslog/blob/master/COPYING).