VC6 Ultimate

We think Visual C++ 6.0 was the best dev env ever made, but it had some weaknesses, so we kept improving it. VC6 Ultimate is a non-official collection of 500+ fixes, tweaks and new features for Visual C++ 6.0. These improvements make VC6 Ultimate an outstanding C++ IDE. Let's celebrate VC6's 20th anniversary by sharing it to the world.

Main Features

• Fully portable and Win7/10 compatible
• Multicore version of VC7.1 compiler (It's fast)
• Real-time highlighting and diagnostics
• Real multicursor editing
• Improved UX and UI, including DarkSkin Theme
• Free (as in free beer)
• Every feature/change has a toggle
• Perfectly integrates with Whole Tomato's Visual Assist X.
• More at VC6 Ultimate's homepage and below.

Getting Started

1. Execute "create_shortcuts.js". It will create two shortcuts to launch VC6 Ultimate, one with the VC7.1 compiler and one with the VC6 Compiler.
2. If you want to enable Visual Assist X, open a cmd with administrator rights. Go in "VisualUltimate/AddIns/Visual Assist X" and execute "regsvr32 VAssist.dll". Visual Assist X is shipped with VC6 Ultimate but obviously without a purchased license. Please note that VC6 Ultimate is only compatible with this exact version of Visual Assist X.
3. It's an internal spare time project so don't expect everything to work in every setup, but feel free to reach out by email, discord, or to report any issue you may encounter.

VC6 Licencing

For convenience, VC6 Ultimate includes a pre-installed Visual C++ 6.0 Enterprise Edition. You could also apply VC6 Ultimate as a patch on your original VC6 distribution.

If you are seeking for the original VC6 files (you lost the original installation CDs), the following external links can help:

• Original CDS here or here
• Instructions to install on modern windows
• MSDN Library for VC6
• VC6 Service Pack

Features List

Each feature can be enabled or disabled. Only take what you like, but be aware we can not check every combination.

Source Code - Current Line

Feature	Details	Demo
Highlight current line	Highlights the current line. Three styles are available.
Highlight current line margin
Always center the view on the current line
LineEnd command ignores trailing whitespaces on first call	The 'LineEnd' command first stops at the trailing whitespaces, then jumps to the end of line like the original function
Use LineCut instead of Cut when no text is selected

Source Code - Tooltips

Feature	Details	Demo
Fix Tooltip Display on Multi-Monitors
Allow Multi-line Tooltips
Display Tooltip Above Cursor Position
Enhanced Watch Tooltips (type and color)
Dockable Tooltips
Remain visible when trying to reach the tooltip
Dock at end of current line
Set Tooltip Delay

Source Code - Colors

Fine-grained Clang code highlighting customization: 50+ configurable coloring rules, plus underlining and markers.

Source Code - On-the-fly error messages

Display on-the-fly Clang Error Messages directly in source code edition view.

Source Code - Left Margin

Feature	Details	Demo
Modify Bookmark, Breakpoint, Current Statement, Current Error, Calls Highlight Signs
Display Line Modified Status in margin
Display Line Number
Use Clang Colorization
Display Line error Status

Source Code - Selected Text

VC6 Ultimate has advanced multicursor editing.

Feature	Details	Demo
Keep Selection Highlight in Inactive Windows
Enable Syntax Highlighting on Selected Text
Extend Selection Highlight to Full Lines
Display a different Caret in Overwrite Mode		bChangeCaretInInsertMode.gif
Single Selection Caret Color
Multiple Selection Caret Color
Draw a Blinking Border when there is an off-screen selection
Use tiny I-Beam pointer with small fonts (<=10)
Display Selections Count in SushiBar
Display Selections' Bytes and Columns Count in SushiBar
When a MultiSelection is cancelled, Merge all the Copy Buffers
Insert \r\n between Copy Buffers

Source Code - Custom Code Blocks

Feature	Details	Demo
Enable Custom Code Blocks Display
Highlight Odd Lines Background
Extend Background Color to Full Lines

Source Code - Highlights

Feature	Details	Demo
Highlight Selected Word Occurrences	Can also be disabled for comments occurrences
Highlight Odd Lines Background
Highlight Lines containing "///!" comment
Highlight Breakpoint Lines
Highlight Bookmark Lines
Use Special Color for '//--' comments
Use Special Color for '///--' comments
Use Special Color for '////--' comments
Gray Out Disabled Lines (#if 0)

Source Code - Enhanced Display

Feature	Details	Demo
Use Special Color for Doxygen comments
Check printf format String Syntax
Check String Escape Sequences	Also emits syntax warnings using a special color
Underline local symbols
Underline stable symbols
Enable image popups (@IMG)
Enable color preview and popups (@BGR	@RGB	@RGBf)
Enable LaTeX popups (@LTX)
Show three dots at the end of non-fully visible lines
Show blinking arrow at the end of lines with off-screen highlights
Force Visual Assist Navigation Bar background color
Use OpenGL to render text
Use Special color for Preprocessor Keywords
Use Special Color for colon (:) operator
Use Special Color for Float Numbers
Use Special Color for Preprocessor Sub Keywords
Use Special Color for Microsoft Specific Keywords
Use Special Color for Multicharacter Constants
Use Special Color for String and Character Delimiters
Use Special Color for Odd Parentheses Nested Blocks
Highlight Current Block Boundaries () [] {}
Preprocessor Symbols Color
Highlight Current Scope
Display Mini Map in Right Margin
Alternate Display of Visible Whitespaces
Open Links on Double-Click

Source Code - Context Menu

Feature	Details	Demo
Add Visual Ultimate Options
Remove Browsing Commands
Add Visual Ultimate 'Show Preprocessed Content'
Add Visual Ultimate 'Open Containing Folder'
Add Visual Ultimate 'Find in Workspace View'
Display Containing Project into 'Insert File Into Project'

Source Code - Fonts

Feature	Details	Demo
Use Ctrl + MouseWheel to Change current font family and size	Useful for zooming or trying other fonts
Allow 'Antialised' Quality for source code fonts
Improve Font Quality by using Custom Anti-Aliasing

Source Code - C++ Parsing

Feature	Details	Demo
Improve the parsing of numeric values
Parse assembly hexadecimal values correctly (e.g. "10h")

Source Code - Completion

Feature	Details	Demo
Insert closing ) after (
Insert closing } after {
Insert closing ] after [
Insert closing " after "
Insert closing ' after '
Surround selection on /
Surround selection on *
Surround selection on (
Surround selection on {
Surround selection on #

Output Window

Feature	Details	Demo
Enable Ultimate Output
Use Ultimate 'Macros' Tab
Use Ultimate 'Build' Tab
Use Ultimate 'Debug' Tab
Use Ultimate 'Clang' Tab
Auto Set Debug Tab as Current
Enable Enhanced Output Window Colors

Output Window - Notifications

Feature	Details	Demo
Avoid "Could not find the file [filename]" messages
Don't display the "The thread ... has exited with code ..." message
Don't display the "The program '...' has exited with code ..." message
Don't display the "Error executing ..." message
Don't display the "Deleting intermediate files and output files ..." message
Delete logs at start
Redirect seemingly useless debugger messages
Redirect specific debugger messages depending on type

Output Window - Advanced Options

Feature	Details	Demo
GoToNextErrorTag/GoToPrevErrorTag jump on errors only
Add Output Tab for Visual Assist References
Avoid splitting long Output lines
OutputDebugString("\0xC") clears the output debug panel
Enable Extended Text Formatting using OutputDebugString (e.g. "\ftFF00FFHello\f/t")
Display Format Colors in Text

Project Files

Feature	Details	Demo
Save Workspace when saving all source files
Change Source File Jumps in DSP File
Remove Unnecessary Lines in DSP File
Avoid overwriting non-modified files
Save Workspace Settings (.OPT) in XML format (.SETTINGS)
Load Workspace Settings (.OPT) from XML format (.SETTINGS)
Save .OPT Settings in XML Files
Remove Workspace Settings file (.OPT)
Force Build Tools order inside .DSP File
Allow .NET Project Importation (.sln/.vcproject)
Save 'General' Settings per computer

Resource File

Feature	Details	Demo
Disable 80 columns limit in resource files (.rc)
Open resource files (.rc) in text mode

Debug

Feature	Details	Demo
Alternate Dialog for 'Resolve Source Line Ambiguity' dialog
Give the choice to Continue Execution at Debug Start when a Breakpoint is Invalid
Fix 'Stop Debugging Program' on Win7
Improve Callstack/ThreadList Symbols and Dialog
Display common waiting functions in gray	The considered waiting functions list can be customized
Alternate Dialog for Exceptions Management
Alternate Dialog for CPU Registers
Use executable directory as default working directory
Auto-Fill executable image for remote debugging
Fix: DebugRestart doesn't stop at the first instruction anymore

Debug - Assembly View

Feature	Details	Demo
Improve the Assembly View	Configure colors for memory address, assembly bytes, line numbers, file names, symbols
Highlight register aliases (e.g. eax -> ax,ah,al)
Highlight selected word
Highlight selected text in inactive windows too

Debug - Breakpoints

Feature	Details	Demo
Double-clicking a Breakpoint in breakpoints list jumps to its location
Display breakpoint's surrounding code
Use a fixed-width font in breakpoints list
Append breakpoint's corresponding source code in breakpoints list
Fix: Auto Breakpoint Location
Increase breakpoints list height

Watches

Feature	Details	Demo
Configure watches colors
Custom AutoExp.dat path
Auto Reload AutoExp.dat when modified
Add 'Type' Column in Watch Window
Exclude 'Type' Column when copying a watch
Use a specific AutoExp.ini file per Project
Edit AutoExp directly from Watch Window
Increase Watch Value Max Length from 256 to 1024 chars
Allow Multiline Watches (/mb#, /ma#, ...)
Display hexa watch values in uppercase
Use full ANSI table (char>=0x80) in memory watch
Add /sU format to display UTF-8 strings
Add Custom Formatting in watch submenu
Add /b format to display binary representations
Add /bgr and /rgb format to display colors (and @RGB{}/@BGR{} in type format)
Allow editing watch size of arrays
Simplify dragged & dropped Expressions
Increase Max AutoExp Expression Length to 4096 instead of 256
Enable Nested AutoExp Expressions	Max Depth can be configured
Evaluate Watch/AutoExp expressions	e.g. "width:@{-}") (e.g. "@d{..}" for double
Remove trailing carriage return on Watch copy
Add Sign on Watched for modification fields
Use Extended AutoExp Format	e.g. " <= ", "$right $(left,d)", "Price:$(price)\$"
Expand tab characters when displaying strings
In modes /mb and /ma, only highlight modified chars
Improve message names ",wm"
Display empty watch tabs with grayed title
Display a shadowed version of the previous watch value
Display unknown pointers as memory

Find in Files

Feature	Details	Demo
Use Visual Ultimate "Find In Files"
Customize "Find in Files" Font
Show Matching Lines in scrollbar
Increase MRU List Size from 16 items to 64
Remove '\VCProject' from default search folder
Restore Dialog's Size and Position	Can be saved per computer
Return line number AND character position
Code Line
Active Code Line

Find / Replace

Feature	Details	Demo
Resizable 'Replace' Dialog
Restore Replace Dialog's Size and Position	Can be saved per computer
Resizable 'Find' Dialog
Restore Find Dialog's Size and Position
Save Position per computer	Can be saved per computer

Notifications

Feature	Details	Demo
Disable "Cannot access the ClassView information file." message
Disable "Do you want to close all documents?" confirmation
Avoid "The project settings have changed since the last build. Would ..." confirmation
Disable "Lines ending with only a carriage return have been detected ..." message
Disable "The file '%s' is unicode and cannot be read." message
Disable "The file contains invalid characters that will be converted to '.'s" message
Disable "One or more files are out of date ... Would you like to build them?" message
Auto-answer "Yes" to "This file does not exist. Do you want to build it?" message
Set a Build Complete Sound	Can be disabled when VS has focus
Build Up-to-date Sound	Can be disabled when VS has focus
Build Warning Sound	Can be disabled when VS has focus
Build Error Sound	Can be disabled when VS has focus
Modify Watches expansion threshold for requiring confirmation

Main Window

Feature	Details	Demo
DarkSkin Theme
Display Full File Path in Title
Remove Application Name from Title
Flash Main Window after Build
Show Build Progress Bar in Taskbar Button
Show Debug State in Taskbar Button
Fill SushiBar with Debug State Color
Fix FullScreen Display
Fix Status Bar on Big Screens

Sub Windows

Feature	Details	Demo
Use Ultimate Docking
Double-Clicking the Title Bar Toggles FullScreen (Maximize) instead of Docking

Toolbars and Menus

Feature	Details	Demo
Save Custom Toolbar Icons in 32bits
Use Gray Images for Disabled Items
Disable the 'Alt' Only shortcut (Giving Focus to Menu)
Allow Hotkeys to use only a modifier key (Alt/Ctrl/Win/Shift)
Disable the Default Action (i.e. Context Menu) of Apps Key
Always Display the active Window Icon in the Toolbar

Workspace Window

Feature	Details	Demo
Enable Dropping Files in 'FileView' tree
Ask for adding to Hg
Check Hg Before Asking for Adding
Display Project Name Only in 'FileView' tree (no ' Files' suffix)
Display Source File Path in 'FileView' tree
Add * On Dirty Source File in 'FileView' tree
Highlight Source File in 'FileView' tree
Highlight Selected Item in non focused 'FileView' tree
Replace Workspace Icons in 'FileView' tree
Add 'FileView' Options in 'FileView' context menu
Add 'Dependencies' menu item in project context menu

Dependencies Scan

Feature	Details	Demo
Force Dependencies Location
Force the Dependencies Scan when the computer name has changed
Display Progress Bar while building dependencies tree
Remove /FD (Generate file dependencies) switch
Fix date file set in the future

Window Tabs

Feature	Details	Demo
Set color for active window tab
Set color for other window tab
Set Min Time Per Pixel
Auto Update

Macros

Feature	Details	Demo
Add 10 Extra Parameters to 'ExecuteCommand' function
Translate Macro Variables in Menus	(e.g. $(FileName))
Skip VBScript Exceptions

Build

Feature	Details	Demo
Enable Win64 Platform Target
Allow to compile source from non-active project (BuildCompile / Ctrl + F7)
Skip the 'VCSpawn.exe' usage during build
Build action doesn't interrupt current build
Forbid build of 'excluded from build' source files
Translate Macro Variables in Custom Build Menus	(e.g. $(FileName))
Add Available Macro Variables in Custom Build Context Menu
Translate Custom Build Commands in Tooltip
Translate Post Build Commands in Tooltip
Add Available Macro Variables in PostBuild Context Menu
Translate Pre-Link Commands in Tooltip
Add Available Macro Variables in Pre-Link Context Menu
Display Splashscreen Slideshow during build	Best used with animated GIFs
Splashscreen Slideshow Start Delay
Splashscreen Slide Image Speed
Automatically Slide Movies	otherwise needs click
Choose Splashscreen Gifs Folder