Windows Build

Running from the launchers uses the engine binary in tools\godot. A Windows export produces a standalone GUO.exe that carries the project's own icon and splash. Source of truth: tools\windows\README.md and its run table.

launchers\windows\doctor.bat    REM what a Godot 4.7 .NET Windows export needs, and what this machine has
launchers\windows\export.bat    REM headless --export-debug "Windows Desktop" into build\windows\GUO.exe, then the icon check

Underneath: python tools\windows\run.py <doctor|preset|export|icon>.

What an export does

1. Generates godot\GUO\GUO.sln if the editor has not (the .NET export needs it).
2. Renders tools\windows\export_presets.template.cfg into godot\GUO\export_presets.cfg (gitignored). The Android and web tools render the same file from their own templates, and each re-renders before it exports, so the three never have to coexist.
3. Runs godot-console --headless --path godot\GUO --export-debug "Windows Desktop" build\windows\GUO.exe. That runs dotnet publish for win-x64 and packs the project into GUO.pck beside the executable, with GUO.console.exe as the console wrapper.
4. Extracts the icon Windows associates with the exported GUO.exe, saves it as build\windows\exe_icon.png, and compares it with the 32 px frame of icon.ico (must match) and with the icon of the export template itself (must differ: that one is the engine's logo). A build whose icon is still the engine's fails the export.

The exported build ships the plugin host, so assistant plugins load from it as they do from a launcher run (commit "Ship plugin_host in an exported build").

The icon and the splash

Godot 4.7 writes the executable's PE resources itself; the rcedit setting of Godot 4.3 and earlier no longer exists, so there is nothing to install. The preset's application/modify_resources=true turns the rewrite on and both application/icon and application/console_wrapper_icon name res://icon.ico.

Where the brand shows	Setting	File
Window and taskbar at runtime	application/config/icon	godot\GUO\icon.png
Same, with proper small sizes on Windows	application/config/windows_native_icon	godot\GUO\icon.ico
The exported .exe and .console.exe	preset application/icon, console_wrapper_icon	icon.ico
Boot splash	application/boot_splash/image	godot\GUO\splash.png
Android launcher and Android 12 splash	Android preset launcher_icons/*	godot\GUO\android_icons\*.png

All of them are built from the one committed master, design\brand\guo-sigil.png, by python tools\brand\run.py (launchers\dev\brand_icons.bat). Change the sigil, rerun the tool, commit what it wrote. The sigil is not pixel art, so the tool resamples it with Lanczos; AGENTS.md rule 7 is about the game's art.

One thing an export cannot change: a run through the engine binary (play.bat, screenshot.bat, the editor) shows the engine's icon in the title bar for the first few hundred milliseconds, until Godot applies the project icon. The exported GUO.exe never shows it.

What has been run

From the README's table, recorded 2026-09-26 on the branch that introduced the sigil: doctor all ok; export produced GUO.exe, GUO.console.exe and GUO.pck with the icon check passing (distance 0.0 to ours, 103.5 to the engine's); the exported executable's window, title bar and taskbar showed the sigil, captured through PrintWindow into build\windows\ and build\brand_capture_exe\. The desktop smoke was 5/5.

Requirements

doctor.bat lists them. In short: the pinned mono engine, the mono export templates for 4.7.2 in %APPDATA%\Godot\export_templates\4.7.2.stable.mono, and the .NET SDK. Build output is gitignored under build\windows\.