Why is Visual Studio 2019 not well-supported for C# scripting?

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:bust_in_silhouette: Asked By JimArtificer

The ability to use C# with godot is a great feature.

I am confused as to why Visual Studio Code has docs and appears to receive some engine support, but Visual Studio 2019 does not.

For example, no mention here: Introduction — Godot Engine (3.1) documentation in English

One of the big draws about being able to use C# is the ability to use a robust IDE that developers are already familiar with, and Visual Studio 2019 Community Edition is free, which also makes it viable for the hobbyist.

Why isn’t Visual Studio 2019 officially supported as a C# editor?

:bust_in_silhouette: Reply From: Jason Swearingen

As to why VSCode is prefered, I think it’s because it’s cross platform + open source (like Godot itself) and it’s easier to create extensions for.

But…

Have you tried using VS2019 VS VSCode? I have and I think they both work the same, though I haven’t tried debugging from VS2019.

I have. VS Code is improving, but it still feels more like a text editor and less like an IDE.

JimArtificer | 2020-01-10 01:14

I actually have been doing my coding in VS2019, just because it gives better intelisense.

your godot project even includes a .sln file, so you can just double-click that to open the project in VS.

Again though, I haven’t tried debugging, but as it’s “Just” a mono project, it seems like VS should be able to.

Jason Swearingen | 2020-01-10 14:50

FYI I tried, everything about VS2019 works, except debugging and profiling.

it seems you need an extension to debug mono projects, and the 2 extensions I could find don’t work.

see: Add support for profiling C# code using Visual Studio · Issue #371 · godotengine/godot-proposals · GitHub

Jason Swearingen | 2020-01-15 13:52

:bust_in_silhouette: Reply From: van800

Consider trying JetBrains Rider. Support for it landed in recent betas of Godot 3.2. https://github.com/godotengine/godot-docs/blob/master/getting_started/scripting/c_sharp/c_sharp_basics.rst#configuring-an-external-editor

Regarding your question, I guess noone added VS support yet, so it is not there.

:bust_in_silhouette: Reply From: JimArtificer

The April progress report mentioned that a Godot extension for Visual Studio 2019 will be announced soon.

July update:
C# progress report: Visual Studio and VSCode

Key takeaway: version 3.2.3 will be a big step forward.

JimArtificer | 2020-07-07 01:00