Visual Studio .NET 2003 Setup

Visual Studio 2003 is fairly simple to set-up, but if you're only setting it up for Blocks3D you might want to make it ligher by only selecting useful programs.
Warning - This setup can encounter some issues. Please refer to the Common Issues section if you encounter one.

Common Issues

1. Prerequisites not met and failing to install

If you tried to install prerequisites already, and are completely unable, there's a simple workaround
This may happen on machines newer than Windows XP, or if you have already installed a newer .NET framework.

Resolution:
Ensure that in step 1 you have extracted the Visual Studio 2003 installation files to a known directory, rather than a temp folder.
In this instance, they are under C:\VS03.
In a command prompt, navigate to the Setup subdirectory of your installer files, in this case C:\VS03\Setup, and run the following command:
setup.exe /NO_BSLN_CHECK

This will bypass prerequisite checks, and you can continue installing Visual Studio .NET 2003. This will start you from step 3.

2. Cannot install on x64 based systems

Visual Studio .NET 2003 can install on x64 based systems, this is just some strange quirk in the installer.
It only appears to occur on Linux WINE based systems, but on Windows it should work fine.

Resolution:
When using WINE, make sure you use a 32-bit WINE Prefix. If you somehow had this occur under windows... good luck.

Installation

For the purpose of this installation, we are extracting insaller files to C:\VS03, but you can use any that work for you

1. Run the Extractor

This step depends on your installation medium. Visual Studio .NET 2003 came on both CD and EXE formfactor. If you have a CD, you can skip this step and move on to step 2.
Run the self-extracting executable and enter a path that you can remember:

When ready, press Unzip:

During this process, do NOT click or press a key within the window, including the title bar.
The self-extractor is terrible and will cancel itself.

Once complete, the setup should start itself. If not, you can navigate to the your folder and run setup.exe.

2. Setup Prerequisites

Setup has now started, and first you will need to install prerequisites. Select option 1 on the list.
You will be prompted about IIS and Frontpage extensions. We do not need these for Blocks3D, so click skip.

When you reach the prerequisites window, simply hit "Install Now!"

Everything should install successfully, and you will be able to proceed with the next step.
If something failed, you likely have a newer .NET framework or Windows installed. Refer to Common Issue 1.

3. Setup Visual Studio .NET 2003

You will be returned back into the main page. If you are coming from Common Issue 1, the Visual Studio installer will have already started. Otherwise,
Select option 2. to start the main Visual Studio .NET 2003 installer:

Accept the licence agreement, and you will be given a page with many options.
Default options will work just fine, however if you only want Visual Studio .NET 2003 for Blocks3D,
the only important option is the Visual C++ Language Tools. You can select options similar to below:

Now you can press "Install Now!"


Now with the installation complete, you are ready to develop for Blocks3D!