Visual Studio 2013 Issues

Hi,

I've been trying out Unity (5.1.1f1) for a short while now, and I decided to try using Visual Studio Express 2013 as my IDE because I am at a point where I really need better C# debugging capabilities. I installed Visual Studio Tools for Unity (2.0.0.0), and followed the instructions for importing the VSTU package into my existing Unity project. However, when I click Open in Visual Studio, I get the following error message in the Unity Console:

Visual Studio Tools: Visual Studio 2013 not found

UnityEngine.Debug:LogWarning(Object)
SyntaxTree.VisualStudio.Unity.Bridge.Project:LogWarning(String, Object[])
SyntaxTree.VisualStudio.Unity.Bridge.ProjectFilesGenerator:OpenInVisualStudio()
SyntaxTree.VisualStudio.Unity.MenurojectFilesGenerator_OpenInVisualStudio()​

Furthermore, when I try clicking Start with Debugging (F5) within VS2013, while my Unity project appears to compile and build properly (e.g. it generates the same 2 warnings but succeeds as it does in the Unity Console), I get the following error message in a popup window:

A project with an Output Type of Class Library cannot be started.

In order to debug this project, add an executable project to this solution which references the library project. Set the executable project as the startup project.​

I get a similar error message when I click Start without Debugging (Ctrl-F5). I cannot find anything helpful via Google.

I would greatly appreciate any assistance. Thanks!

 

Update: I've discovered this forum post, which describes a similar issue. This led me to refer back to the aforementioned instructions page for confirmation that Express versions of VS are not compatible with VSTU, where I noticed that VS Express is not explicitly ruled out, but it is also not mentioned under the download links: only VS Community, Pro, and Enterprise versions are mentioned.

If this is indeed the problem though, I have to say, this reflects badly on Microsoft for failing to specify proper system requirements for VSTU on the download page (they give the okay for VS generally), failing to explicitly mention the incompatibility in the online instructions, and further failing to warn the user during installation that the Express version of MSVC one has installed is not compatible with VSTU...

Anyway, I will install the Community version of VS and report back.

 

VS 2015 Community now opens my Unity project correctly from Unity's Open in Visual Studio command. And debugging no longer generates that error.

Case closed, thanks for reading, and hopefully this post helps future developers interested in getting this to work.

 

Visual Studio Express does not support plug-ins, which Unity VS is. It's tells you that when you look at it on their website.