How to setup project for Monogame + Windows 8.1?

Question

I'm in the middle of app development with Monogame, and I wanted to add a project for Windows Phone. I have a device with Windows Mobile 8.1 for testing, and I'm using Monogame 3.5 (latest) + VS 2015. But how do I create a project?

The templates for Monogame have several platforms, but the only one for Windows Mobile seems to be Windows 10 Uniwersal Project (UWP). I doubt this would run on WM8.1. Or would it? If not, how do I create the project this otherwise?

Update:

Did more research on this and it seems you need to have minimum Windows 8.1 on your dev PC to develop for Windows Phone 8.1:

https://www.visualstudio.com/en-us/products/visual-studio-2015-compatibility-vs.aspx

So I guess I will just support Android and iOS like all other mobile apps.

Answer 1

Variant 1:

• Create win phone 8.1 project
• Add NuGet package MonoGame.Framework.WindowsPhone81 (NuGet)
• Add standart Game1.cs source code file from Monogame templates

• Add in MainPage.xaml.cs

  using MonoGame.Framework;
  

• Change in MainPage.xaml.cs

  public sealed partial class MainPage : SwapChainBackgroundPanel
  {
      readonly Game1 _game;
  
      public MainPage(string launchArguments)
      {
          this.InitializeComponent();
  
          _game = XamlGame<Game1>.Create(launchArguments, Window.Current.CoreWindow, this);
      }
  }
  

• Change MainPage.xaml (MyGame - default project namespace)

  <SwapChainBackgroundPanel
      x:Class="MyGame.MainPage"
      xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
      xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
      xmlns:local="using:MyGame"
      xmlns:d="http://schemas.microsoft.com/expression/blend/2008"
      xmlns:mc="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006"
      mc:Ignorable="d">
  
      <Grid >
  
      </Grid>
  </SwapChainBackgroundPanel>
  

• Change App class in App.xaml.cs

  protected override void OnLaunched(LaunchActivatedEventArgs args)
  {
      var gamePage = Window.Current.Content as MainPage;
  
      if (gamePage == null)
      {
          gamePage = new MainPage(args.Arguments);
  
          if (args.PreviousExecutionState == ApplicationExecutionState.Terminated)
          {
          }
  
          Window.Current.Content = gamePage;
      }
  
      Window.Current.Activate();
  }
  
  private void OnSuspending(object sender, SuspendingEventArgs e)
  {
      var deferral = e.SuspendingOperation.GetDeferral();
  
      deferral.Complete();
  }
  

• Add Content.mgcb

• Add monogameplatform to project file (.csproj) into PropertyGroup section

  <PropertyGroup>
  ...
  <MonoGamePlatform>WindowsStoreApp</MonoGamePlatform>
  <MonoGameContentBuilderExe>
  </MonoGameContentBuilderExe>
  ...
  </PropertyGroup>
  

• Add next line to project file (.csproj) into Project section

  <Import Project="$(MSBuildExtensionsPath)\MonoGame\v3.0\MonoGame.Content.Builder.targets" />
  

Variant 2: use tool from Protobuild.org