Windows build

• Windows build command summary
• Requirements
  • System specifics
• Necessary software
  • Minor installations (CMake, git, make, Python3 x64)
  • Visual Studio 2017
  • Unreal Engine (4.24)
• CARLA build
  • Clone repository
  • Get assets
  • Set the environment variable
  • make CARLA

The build process can be quite long and tedious. The F.A.Q. page offers solution for the most common complications. Alternatively, use the CARLA forum to post any unexpected issues that may occur.

Windows build command summary

# Make sure to meet the minimum requirements

# Necessary software: 
#   CMake
#   Git
#   Make
#   Python3 x64
#   Unreal Engine 4.24
#   Visual Studio 2017 with Windows 8.1 SDK and x64 Visual C++ Toolset

# Set environment variables for the software

# Clone the CARLA repository
git clone https://github.com/carla-simulator/carla

# make the CARLA client and the CARLA server
make PythonAPI
make launch

# Press play in the Editor to initialize the server
# Run example scripts to test CARLA
# Terminal A 
cd PythonAPI/examples
python3 spawn_npc.py 
# Terminal B
cd PythonAPI/examples
python3 dynamic_weather.py 
# The PythonAPI will be built based on the installed Python version, but the docs will use Python3 by default.

Requirements

System specifics

• x64 system. The simulator should run in any 64 bits Windows system.
• 30GB disk space. Installing all the software needed and CARLA will require quite a lot of space. Make sure to have around 30/50GB of free disk space.
• An adequate GPU. CARLA aims for realistic simulations, so the server needs at least a 4GB GPU. A dedicated GPU is highly recommended for machine learning.
• Two TCP ports and good internet connection. 2000 and 2001 by default. Be sure neither the firewall nor any other application are blocking these.

Necessary software

Minor installations

• CMake generates standard build files from simple configuration files.
• Git is a version control system to manage CARLA repositories.
• Make generates the executables.
• Python3 x64 is the main script language in CARLA. Having a x32 version installed may cause conflict, so it is highly advisable to have it uninstalled.

Visual Studio 2017

Get the 2017 version from here. Community is the free version. Use the Visual Studio Installer to install two additional elements.

• Windows 8.1 SDK. Select it in the Installation details section on the right.
• x64 Visual C++ Toolset. In the Workloads section, choose Desktop development with C++. This will enable a x64 command prompt that will be used for the build. Check it up by pressing the Win button and searching for x64. Be careful to not open a x86_x64 prompt.

Unreal Engine

Since CARLA 0.9.11, we have included some fixes to the engine that requires to modify it so it is no longer possible to use the Unreal Engine version provided by Epic Games Launcher. To build this modified version, we need to download the engine's code from source and then apply some patches that we provide. Be aware that to download the Unreal Engine's source code, you need to have a Github account linked to the Unreal's account. If you do not have it, please follow this guide before going any further.

• 1. Open a terminal, go to the folder in which you want to save Unreal Engine and, clone the 4.24 branch on your computer.

git clone --depth=1 -b 4.24 https://github.com/EpicGames/UnrealEngine.git

• 2. Inside the engine's source folder, we need to download our patch and apply it.

    cd UnrealEngine
    powershell -Command "(New-Object System.Net.WebClient).DownloadFile('https://carla-releases.s3.eu-west-3.amazonaws.com/Backup/UE4_patch_wheels.patch', 'UE4_patch_wheels.patch')"
    git apply UE4_patch_wheels.patch

• 3. Run the configuration scripts.

    Setup.bat
    GenerateProjectFiles.bat

• 4. Now, we need to compile the engine. Open the UE4.sln file inside the source folder with Visual Studio (Epic recommends 2017 or 2019 versions). Make sure that in the build bar, it is selected the 'Development Editor', 'Win64' and, 'UnrealBuildTool' options. Check this guide if you need any help. Then, in the solution explorer, right-click in UE4 and select Build.

• 5. Once the solution is compiled you can open the engine to check that everything was correct launching the executable Engine\Binaries\Win64\UE4Editor.exe.

selector and when you use Switch Unreal Engine version when right-clicking on .uproject files, it should appear as Source Build at PATH where PATH is the installation path that you have chosen. If you can not see this selector or the Generate Visual Studio project files when you right-click on .uproject files, something went wrong with the UE4 installation and probably you need to reinstall it correctly.

CARLA build

Clone repository

The official repository of the project. Either download and extract it or clone it using the following command line in a x64 terminal.

git clone https://github.com/carla-simulator/carla

Now the latest content for the project, known as master branch in the repository, has been copied in local.

Get assets

Only the assets package is yet to be downloaded. \Util\ContentVersions.txt contains the links to the assets for CARLA releases. These must be extracted in Unreal\CarlaUE4\Content\Carla. If the path doesn't exist, create it.

Download the latest assets to work with the current version of CARLA.

Set the environment variable

This is necessary for CARLA to find the Unreal Engine installation folder. By doing so, users can choose which specific version of Unreal Engine is to be used. If no environment variable is specified, the CARLA will look up in the directories and use the last version in search order.

1. Open the Windows Control Panel and go to Advanced System Settings.
2. On the Advanced panel open Environment Variables....
3. Click New... to create the variable.
4. Name the variable as UE4_ROOT and choose the path to the installation folder of the desire UE4 installation.

make CARLA

The last step is to finally build CARLA. There are different make commands to build the different modules. All of them run in the root CARLA folder.

• make PythonAPI compiles the API client, necessary to grant control over the simulation. It is only needed the first time. Remember to run it again when updating CARLA. Scripts will be able to run after this command is executed.

make PythonAPI

• make launch compiles the server simulator and launches Unreal Engine. Press Play to start the spectator view and close the editor window to exit. Camera can be moved with WASD keys and rotated by clicking the scene while moving the mouse around.

make launch

The project may ask to build other instances such as UE4Editor-Carla.dll the first time. Agree in order to open the project. During the first launch, the editor may show warnings regarding shaders and mesh distance fields. These take some time to be loaded and the city will not show properly until then.

Finally, let's test the simulator. Inside PythonAPI/examples and PythonAPI/util there are some example scripts that may be especially useful for starters. The following commands will spawn some life into the town, and create a weather cycle. Each script should be run in one terminal

# Terminal A 
cd PythonAPI/examples
python3 spawn_npc.py  
# Terminal B
cd PythonAPI/examples
python3 dynamic_weather.py 
# The PythonAPI will be built based on the installed Python version, but the docs will use Python3 by default.

Now CARLA is ready to go. Here is a brief summary of the most useful make commands available.

Read the F.A.Q. page or post in the CARLA forum for any issues regarding this guide.

Some recommendations after finishing the build. Learn how to update the CARLA build or take your first steps in the simulation, and learn some core concepts.