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by vlovich123 19 days ago
Well for c++ memory safety and sharp abstractions and even worse compile times than Rust. I’m not aware of hot reload really being done in c++ at any scale but I’m not a game dev so I’m open to learning.

C# AFAIK holds a minor place in gamedev and also has slow compile times maybe? I assume it has better support for hot reload times. But generally the performance profile isn’t there for the most demanding games even if the DX is.
1 comments
Rohansi 19 days ago
It's not specific to game dev but Visual Studio has hot reload for C++ that you should be able to make use of.

C# compile times are fast. Performance is a lot better than you probably think, especially with modern .NET (not what Unity uses).

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vlovich123 19 days ago
Visual Studio limitations around hot reload are quite unrealistic for any serious codebase and only work on Windows with Visual Studio when you started it under a debugger.

Rust’s hot reload is cross platform if I recall correctly and is always available until you disable it from the build (eg debug on, release off). It also has a better story for working around the limitations that Visual Studio just throws up on.

C++ hot reload is not a common experience in the ecosystem.

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Rohansi 19 days ago
> only work on Windows with Visual Studio

Really shouldn't be a dealbreaker when 95% of your users will be using Windows (to play games), so your most tested platform should be Windows.

> when you started it under a debugger

Hot reload isn't a replacement for scripting IMO. It will never be as good. Even hot reload in Rust would have more limitations than an actual scripting language.

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vlovich123 19 days ago
Sure, that doesn't take away from the experience of Rust being better than C++ even if you probably still want a scripting language too.

In total Microsoft only holds ~12% of the total video game market share across PC and console in terms of owning the platform (i.e. Xbox + Windows). I think you're overestimating how many game developers get to use reverse debugging for gaming. In practice given the limitations for Visual Studio's implementation, I highly suspect that number is very rarely used anyway.

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pjmlp 19 days ago
It is a share big enough that Valve cannot have games for the SteamDeck without Proton.
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pjmlp 19 days ago
Yes, it is, most game studios use Live++, a commercial product which whole goal is to enable live reload in game engines.

Likewise CERN's ROOT is quite famous, nowadays superseded by CINT, and integrated in Jupiter netbooks via Xeus.

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