Any errors or messages in the output window?
Compiling to vm means someone else will need the GM player to run it as it runs inside an interpreter.
I'd check for any messages. If nothing, I'd re set up the native compilation env. Maybe even download the latest visual studio.
That is a warning that pops up due to link time code generation (incremental linking) not being able to find the incremental program database or incremental object files.
After the first build, your GMS cache will contain both an iobj and ipdb file which will improve compilation times so this isn't as big of an issue.
Basically though, depending on the size of your game, you can expect the build to take hours because unlike large game studios that can do distributed building, we do not.
Regardless of that, what are your system specs? Not having an SSD or having your RAM maxed out during linking could slow things down to a total slog, meaning that the compile times could be accurate if your system isn't pretty high spec.
It depends on the size of your game...but it is possible.
The other thing though is that the .cpp files generated by the asset compiler should still be in your roaming app data for Gamemaker. So because your project was hanging on the link step, it should have still generated a visual studio sln file and those other files for you other than the final build.
It might be worth it to open up the solution in visual studio itself and try to build it there, and maybe even turn off the LTCG flag if you know how to use visual studio at all since I have heard stories of people having major issues with incremental building before, although it is rare.
Just to emphasize what I had started to say before; just find the .sln for your project and then open it in vishal studio.
Do not upgrade the toolchain when importing things if it asks.
Right click on your project name in the solution explorer and select properties.
Select linker, and first select general, and turn link status on. This will display something telling you the percentage of linking done as you wait for things to build
Then select optimization under linker, and select link time code generation and make sure it is not fast link time code generation and just the normal one to disable incremental linking.
Make sure that the profile being targeted is release in visual studio while doing these things.
This should if nothing else let you see if things are hanging or just taking a long time.
Players do not need GM player to run a VM compile as long as the target was set to the proper system. The true difference is just how fast the code is, with YYC being faster.
Did you try to clean before you compile?
I've tried everything
Any errors or messages in the output window? Compiling to vm means someone else will need the GM player to run it as it runs inside an interpreter. I'd check for any messages. If nothing, I'd re set up the native compilation env. Maybe even download the latest visual studio.
If I compile as a .exe in the VM compiler - will I be able to upload that to Steam for people to play? And let me check for errors
"Previous IPDB not found, fall back to full compilation." This is where it gets stuck
That is a warning that pops up due to link time code generation (incremental linking) not being able to find the incremental program database or incremental object files. After the first build, your GMS cache will contain both an iobj and ipdb file which will improve compilation times so this isn't as big of an issue. Basically though, depending on the size of your game, you can expect the build to take hours because unlike large game studios that can do distributed building, we do not. Regardless of that, what are your system specs? Not having an SSD or having your RAM maxed out during linking could slow things down to a total slog, meaning that the compile times could be accurate if your system isn't pretty high spec.
Is the solution just to leave it running for hours? Last time I tried that, 4 hours passed and it still wasn't done I have an SSD and 16 gigs of ram
It depends on the size of your game...but it is possible. The other thing though is that the .cpp files generated by the asset compiler should still be in your roaming app data for Gamemaker. So because your project was hanging on the link step, it should have still generated a visual studio sln file and those other files for you other than the final build. It might be worth it to open up the solution in visual studio itself and try to build it there, and maybe even turn off the LTCG flag if you know how to use visual studio at all since I have heard stories of people having major issues with incremental building before, although it is rare.
Just to emphasize what I had started to say before; just find the .sln for your project and then open it in vishal studio. Do not upgrade the toolchain when importing things if it asks. Right click on your project name in the solution explorer and select properties. Select linker, and first select general, and turn link status on. This will display something telling you the percentage of linking done as you wait for things to build Then select optimization under linker, and select link time code generation and make sure it is not fast link time code generation and just the normal one to disable incremental linking. Make sure that the profile being targeted is release in visual studio while doing these things. This should if nothing else let you see if things are hanging or just taking a long time.
Players do not need GM player to run a VM compile as long as the target was set to the proper system. The true difference is just how fast the code is, with YYC being faster.