To build the executable run the following commands:

    build deps (creates necessary directories and downloads SDL3 binaries)
    build dist (compiles the executable using MSVC)

To run the emulator frontend you will need SwanStation Libretro core, game ROM, PlayStation BIOS 
and a configuration file.

You can get SwanStation source code from here:

    https://github.com/libretro/swanstation

and compile it yourself or download precompiled DLL:

    https://github.com/xfnty/armored-core/releases/download/deps/swanstation_libretro.dll

Game ROM is a file supported by SwanStation like "Armored Core (USA).chd".
Note that Japanese version is not supported.

PlayStation BIOS that was used during development was SCPH1001.bin.

And finally the configuration file is a simple INI file that specifies paths to necessary files and 
a few input settings. A sample configuration can be downloaded from here:

    https://github.com/xfnty/armored-core/releases/download/deps/sample.cfg

Remember to create "save" and "system" directories and put BIOS file into the latter.

Change "game" and "core" fields to paths to game ROM and Libretro core. Set field "mouse_hack_for" 
to "ac" if you're playing Armored Core 1, "acpp" for AC: Project Phantasma and "acmoa" for Master 
of Arena.

To run the game drag the config file onto the "emu.exe" or create a shortcut and add the config name
as the first startup argument in "Target" field outside of quotes. 

Icons for shortcuts can also be found in dependency release on GitHub:

    Armored Core 1: https://github.com/xfnty/armored-core/releases/download/deps/ac1.ico
    Project Phantasma: https://github.com/xfnty/armored-core/releases/download/deps/acpp.ico
    Master of Arena: https://github.com/xfnty/armored-core/releases/download/deps/acmoa.ico

Note that Master of Arena requires multi-disc support which is not currently implemented.
Replays are also broken due to mouse hack overriding camera angle.

If you see message "unhandled core command 65576" in program log which means that SwanStation failed
to initialize OpenGL context and switched to software rendering which is not supported try to change
graphics device that gets assigned to the app to a different one:

    Settings -> System -> Graphics settings (at the bottom) -> Desktop app (choose "emu.exe")

To know what graphics card was used look for a line similar to the following in the log:

    configured OpenGL 3.3.0 - Build 20.19.15.5070 on Intel(R) HD Graphics 405 (1024x512)