GCubeSDK
©2026 FenixFox®Studios

Commands

GCubeSDK uses make. The editor starts these commands for you. You can also run them in a terminal in the project folder.

On Windows, use the MSYS2 make that Steam includes. The Makefile reads config.ini.

make

Compile your source into main.elf and main.dol. This is the default command.

Editor Shortcut
Build Shift+F7

make also creates missing .scf files, converts textures, and embeds files from data/. See make textures.

Usual order for a DOL: run make, then make rungui.

make textures

Create missing .scf files from PNG, BMP, JPG, and JPEG files in textures/. make runs this step first.

make clean

Remove the build folder, main.elf, and main.dol.

Editor Shortcut
Clean

make libbuild

Rebuild libgcubesdk.a in the GCubeSDK folder, when source files are present.

Editor Shortcut
Deploy

make run

Start the built DOL in Dolphin in batch mode. Batch mode does not show the Dolphin window. The command stops Dolphin first.

Editor Shortcut
Run F5

GCubeSDK offers to download Dolphin if it cannot find one.

make rungui

Start the built DOL in Dolphin and show the Dolphin window. The command stops Dolphin first. This is the same as make run, except Dolphin shows its main user interface.

Editor Shortcut
Run GUI Shift+F5

GCubeSDK offers to download Dolphin if it cannot find one.

make stop

Stop Dolphin.

Editor Shortcut
Stop F6

make runiso

Start Dolphin with the ISO in batch mode. The command stops Dolphin first. You can edit the ISO name in config.ini.

Editor Shortcut
Run ISO F9

make runguiiso

Start Dolphin with the ISO and show the Dolphin window. The command stops Dolphin first. You can edit the ISO name in config.ini.

Editor Shortcut
Run ISO GUI Shift+F9

make iso

Build a disc image. The editor Build ISO / GCM button runs this command.

Editor Shortcut
Build ISO / GCM F8

You cannot run this command if you do not set the Sys files.

make iso runs these steps, then starts nodtool makegcn:

Step Command
1 make isoclean
2 make banner
3 make copyfiles
4 make copysysfiles
5 make dolcopy

Usual order for an ISO: set the Sys files, run make, run make iso, then make runguiiso.

A DOL can embed files from data/. An ISO can also include files from data_ext/.

make banner

Build opening.bnr from banner.ppm. make iso runs this step.

make copyfiles

Copy data_ext/ to fsroot/files. make iso runs this step.

make copysysfiles

Copy apploader.img, fst.bin, bi2.bin, and boot.bin to fsroot/sys. make iso runs this step. GCubeSDK does not ship these files. See Sys files.

make dolcopy

Copy main.dol to fsroot/sys/main.dol. make iso runs this step.

make dolrelocate

Run dollz3 on the DOL, then write it to fsroot/sys/main.dol. Compression plus a new load address so a disc apploader can boot it. Not part of make iso.

make isoclean

Remove fsroot and the ISO file. make iso runs this step first.

make gdb

Start powerpc-eabi-gdb and attach to the USB Gecko port.

Editor Shortcut
Debug

For the debugger steps, see Debugger.