Building iOS templates

This guide builds native export templates, not an editor or a finished game. To export a project, use Exporting for iOS.

Preparation

Open a terminal in Source, alongside SConstruct. You need Python 3.9+, SCons 4.4+ and full Xcode with the iOS SDK installed. Command Line Tools alone do not replace the iOS SDK. See Apple's tool-selection instructions and Xcode component installation.

Inspect the selected tools without changing settings:

xcode-select -p
xcrun --sdk iphoneos --show-sdk-path
xcrun --sdk iphonesimulator --show-sdk-path
xcrun --find swiftc
python3 --version
scons --version

The current build scripts use Swift 6, C++ interop and an iOS 15.0 deployment target. These are Reckfell 1.0.0 source settings, not a guarantee for every Xcode, SDK and device combination. If an SDK command fails, install the corresponding Xcode component and select full Xcode for Command Line Tools first.

Device and simulator

Matching arm64 architectures do not make a device library a simulator library. Configuring x86_64 without simulator=yes fails. The current configurator disables Metal and Vulkan for the simulator with warnings; use Compatibility/OpenGL ES there and validate Metal/Vulkan visuals on a device.

Build libraries

Build device debug and release first:

scons platform=ios target=template_debug arch=arm64 simulator=no -j4
scons platform=ios target=template_release arch=arm64 simulator=no -j4

Add simulator variants if needed. Choose the pair for your Mac architecture; run both pairs if you need both architectures:

scons platform=ios target=template_debug arch=arm64 simulator=yes -j4
scons platform=ios target=template_release arch=arm64 simulator=yes -j4
scons platform=ios target=template_debug arch=x86_64 simulator=yes -j4
scons platform=ios target=template_release arch=x86_64 simulator=yes -j4

-j4 selects four parallel jobs; lower it if memory runs out. The output is static libraries under bin/libreckfell…a. Names include the target, architecture, .simulator for simulator builds and any configuration suffixes. These are neither .ipa files nor executable editors.

These examples build the native part without C#: that module is disabled by default. A custom C# template requires module_mono_enabled=yes, but this flag alone is insufficient: compatible managed assemblies and the mobile publication/AOT toolchain are separate requirements. Do not substitute the Windows SDK into an iOS template. A successful native build does not confirm a working iOS C# game.

Package the template

Add generate_bundle=yes to the last command of the selected configuration, after building all required variants. For example, for a device-only set:

scons platform=ios target=template_release arch=arm64 simulator=no generate_bundle=yes -j4

The packager uses misc/dist/apple_embedded_xcode, puts available libraries in libreckfell.ios.debug.xcframework and libreckfell.ios.release.xcframework, then creates bin/reckfell_ios*.zip. It removes the intermediate bin/ios_xcode directory after archiving. Do not store personal files there. It does not compile missing variants: a ZIP does not prove all slices are complete. Check for a nonempty library for each required target and destination inside the archive.

Vulkan requires a static MoltenVK.xcframework containing device and simulator libraries; set vulkan_sdk_path to supply its location. The packager copies MoltenVK when found, so a ZIP alone does not prove that dependency was included. AccessKit also needs its iOS .xcframework; the configurator disables screen-reader support with a warning when it is missing. Resolve those warnings if your project needs the feature.

Build failures

This guide was checked against the build scripts. No macOS compilation, iOS launch, signing, C# export or graphics acceptance was performed in this review.