Hot-reloading for MonoGame
Get Started
$ dotnet add package MonoGame.ReloadReadme
MonoGame.Reload
MonoGame.Reload is an hot-reloader for your MonoGame application.
No more thousands of restarts of your game to try out a new version of your assets.
Set up the hot-reloader in a flash and simply enjoy the magic.
Installation
MonoGame.Reload is available as a NuGeT package here.
.NET CLI
dotnet add package MonoGame.Reload --version 0.0.3
Package Manager
NuGet\Install-Package MonoGame.Reload -Version 0.0.3
PackageReference
<PackageReference Include="MonoGame.Reload" Version="0.0.3" />
Getting started
On your Game class add an instance of FileWatcher:
private FileWatcher _watcher;
Then, instanciate it inside your Initialize function:
protected override void Initialize()
{
_watcher = new(Content);
base.Initialize();
}
Note: The watcher is instanciated with the ContentManager because it will be used to create all the assets collections.
Now, you'll need to initialize the AssetReloader, the class used to hot-reload your content files:
protected override void Initialize()
{
_watcher = new(Content);
AssetReloader.Initialize(
_watcher.ProjectRootPath,
PlatformHelper.GetTargetPlatform(ProjectPlatform.DesktopGL),
GraphicsDevice
);
}
Finally, you have to load the current Content files inside your LoadContent function:
protected override void LoadContent()
{
_spriteBatch = new SpriteBatch(GraphicsDevice);
_watcher.LoadFiles();
}
Congratulations!
The Hot-Reloader is now setup and you can easily access to an asset which will be automatically reloaded when you will update its source file:
// Access to a Texture2D
AssetsManager.GetInstance().Textures2D["Sprites/name_of_my_texture"];