VST 3 Project Generator Windows 10 64-bit Getting blank project compiled

Just a few words to help a new developer past those Windows 10 Visual Studio Community quirks.

First one the cmake.exe file is located under:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2019\Community\Common7\IDE\CommonExtensions\Microsoft\CMake

Second the vstgui_uidescription project’s CMakeLists.txt file has a little “bug” in it:

find_package(EXPAT) <— This is setting EXPAT_FOUND to true for some reason and I don’t have it!
if(EXPAT_FOUND)
target_compile_definitions(${target} ${VSTGUI_COMPILE_DEFINITIONS} “VSTGUI_USE_SYSTEM_EXPAT”)
target_link_libraries(${target} PRIVATE expat)
else()
message(STATUS “VSTGUI will use the embedded Expat package!”)
endif()

I had to comment out the find_package(EXPAT) command with a # sign.

Finally, when you start Visual Studio be sure to right click it and run as administrator because there is a file that has access denied if you don’t. Visual Studio Community puts a copy of your vst3 in this folder so it should be harmless to run as admin.

You should be able to build and run your project and your vst3 should be a blank window with a black background. Hope this helps!