diff --git a/scripts/generate-vs-projects-simple.py b/scripts/generate-vs-projects-simple.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..40f15aa6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/generate-vs-projects-simple.py
@@ -0,0 +1,328 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
+"""
+Simple Visual Studio project generator for YAZE
+This script creates Visual Studio project files without complex CMake dependencies
+"""
+
+import os
+import sys
+from pathlib import Path
+
+def generate_vcxproj():
+    """Generate the YAZE.vcxproj file with all source files"""
+    
+    # Source file lists (from CMake files)
+    app_core_src = [
+        "app/core/controller.cc",
+        "app/emu/emulator.cc", 
+        "app/core/project.cc",
+        "app/core/window.cc",
+        "app/core/asar_wrapper.cc",
+        "app/core/platform/font_loader.cc",
+        "app/core/platform/clipboard.cc",
+        "app/core/platform/file_dialog.cc"
+    ]
+
+    app_emu_src = [
+        "app/emu/audio/apu.cc",
+        "app/emu/audio/spc700.cc",
+        "app/emu/audio/dsp.cc",
+        "app/emu/audio/internal/addressing.cc",
+        "app/emu/audio/internal/instructions.cc",
+        "app/emu/cpu/internal/addressing.cc",
+        "app/emu/cpu/internal/instructions.cc",
+        "app/emu/cpu/cpu.cc",
+        "app/emu/video/ppu.cc",
+        "app/emu/memory/dma.cc",
+        "app/emu/memory/memory.cc",
+        "app/emu/snes.cc"
+    ]
+
+    app_editor_src = [
+        "app/editor/editor_manager.cc",
+        "app/editor/dungeon/dungeon_editor.cc",
+        "app/editor/dungeon/dungeon_room_selector.cc",
+        "app/editor/dungeon/dungeon_canvas_viewer.cc",
+        "app/editor/dungeon/dungeon_object_selector.cc",
+        "app/editor/dungeon/dungeon_toolset.cc",
+        "app/editor/dungeon/dungeon_object_interaction.cc",
+        "app/editor/dungeon/dungeon_renderer.cc",
+        "app/editor/dungeon/dungeon_room_loader.cc",
+        "app/editor/dungeon/dungeon_usage_tracker.cc",
+        "app/editor/overworld/overworld_editor.cc",
+        "app/editor/overworld/overworld_editor_manager.cc",
+        "app/editor/sprite/sprite_editor.cc",
+        "app/editor/music/music_editor.cc",
+        "app/editor/message/message_editor.cc",
+        "app/editor/message/message_data.cc",
+        "app/editor/message/message_preview.cc",
+        "app/editor/code/assembly_editor.cc",
+        "app/editor/graphics/screen_editor.cc",
+        "app/editor/graphics/graphics_editor.cc",
+        "app/editor/graphics/palette_editor.cc",
+        "app/editor/overworld/tile16_editor.cc",
+        "app/editor/overworld/map_properties.cc",
+        "app/editor/graphics/gfx_group_editor.cc",
+        "app/editor/overworld/entity.cc",
+        "app/editor/system/settings_editor.cc",
+        "app/editor/system/command_manager.cc",
+        "app/editor/system/extension_manager.cc",
+        "app/editor/system/shortcut_manager.cc",
+        "app/editor/system/popup_manager.cc",
+        "app/test/test_manager.cc"
+    ]
+
+    app_gfx_src = [
+        "app/gfx/arena.cc",
+        "app/gfx/background_buffer.cc",
+        "app/gfx/bitmap.cc",
+        "app/gfx/compression.cc",
+        "app/gfx/scad_format.cc",
+        "app/gfx/snes_palette.cc",
+        "app/gfx/snes_tile.cc",
+        "app/gfx/snes_color.cc",
+        "app/gfx/tilemap.cc"
+    ]
+
+    app_zelda3_src = [
+        "app/zelda3/hyrule_magic.cc",
+        "app/zelda3/overworld/overworld_map.cc",
+        "app/zelda3/overworld/overworld.cc",
+        "app/zelda3/screen/inventory.cc",
+        "app/zelda3/screen/title_screen.cc",
+        "app/zelda3/screen/dungeon_map.cc",
+        "app/zelda3/sprite/sprite.cc",
+        "app/zelda3/sprite/sprite_builder.cc",
+        "app/zelda3/music/tracker.cc",
+        "app/zelda3/dungeon/room.cc",
+        "app/zelda3/dungeon/room_object.cc",
+        "app/zelda3/dungeon/object_parser.cc",
+        "app/zelda3/dungeon/object_renderer.cc",
+        "app/zelda3/dungeon/room_layout.cc",
+        "app/zelda3/dungeon/dungeon_editor_system.cc",
+        "app/zelda3/dungeon/dungeon_object_editor.cc"
+    ]
+
+    gui_src = [
+        "app/gui/modules/asset_browser.cc",
+        "app/gui/modules/text_editor.cc",
+        "app/gui/canvas.cc",
+        "app/gui/canvas_utils.cc",
+        "app/gui/enhanced_palette_editor.cc",
+        "app/gui/input.cc",
+        "app/gui/style.cc",
+        "app/gui/color.cc",
+        "app/gui/zeml.cc",
+        "app/gui/theme_manager.cc",
+        "app/gui/background_renderer.cc"
+    ]
+
+    util_src = [
+        "util/bps.cc",
+        "util/flag.cc",
+        "util/hex.cc"
+    ]
+
+    # Combine all source files
+    all_source_files = (
+        ["yaze.cc", "app/main.cc", "app/rom.cc"] +
+        app_core_src + app_emu_src + app_editor_src + 
+        app_gfx_src + app_zelda3_src + gui_src + util_src
+    )
+
+    # Header files
+    header_files = [
+        "incl/yaze.h",
+        "incl/zelda.h",
+        "src/yaze_config.h.in"
+    ]
+
+    # Generate the .vcxproj file content
+    vcxproj_content = '''<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
+<Project DefaultTargets="Build" ToolsVersion="17.0" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">
+  <ItemGroup Label="ProjectConfigurations">
+    <ProjectConfiguration Include="Debug|x64">
+      <Configuration>Debug</Configuration>
+      <Platform>x64</Platform>
+    </ProjectConfiguration>
+    <ProjectConfiguration Include="Release|x64">
+      <Configuration>Release</Configuration>
+      <Platform>x64</Platform>
+    </ProjectConfiguration>
+  </ItemGroup>
+  <PropertyGroup Label="Globals">
+    <VCProjectVersion>17.0</VCProjectVersion>
+    <ProjectGuid>{B2C3D4E5-F6G7-8901-BCDE-F23456789012}</ProjectGuid>
+    <Keyword>Win32Proj</Keyword>
+    <RootNamespace>YAZE</RootNamespace>
+    <WindowsTargetPlatformVersion>10.0</WindowsTargetPlatformVersion>
+    <ProjectName>YAZE</ProjectName>
+  </PropertyGroup>
+  <Import Project="$(VCTargetsPath)\\Microsoft.Cpp.Default.props" />
+  <PropertyGroup Condition="'$(Configuration)|$(Platform)'=='Debug|x64'" Label="Configuration">
+    <ConfigurationType>Application</ConfigurationType>
+    <UseDebugLibraries>true</UseDebugLibraries>
+    <PlatformToolset>v143</PlatformToolset>
+    <CharacterSet>Unicode</CharacterSet>
+  </PropertyGroup>
+  <PropertyGroup Condition="'$(Configuration)|$(Platform)'=='Release|x64'" Label="Configuration">
+    <ConfigurationType>Application</ConfigurationType>
+    <UseDebugLibraries>false</UseDebugLibraries>
+    <PlatformToolset>v143</PlatformToolset>
+    <WholeProgramOptimization>true</WholeProgramOptimization>
+    <CharacterSet>Unicode</CharacterSet>
+  </PropertyGroup>
+  <Import Project="$(VCTargetsPath)\\Microsoft.Cpp.props" />
+  <ImportGroup Label="ExtensionSettings">
+  </ImportGroup>
+  <ImportGroup Label="Shared">
+  </ImportGroup>
+  <ImportGroup Label="PropertySheets" Condition="'$(Configuration)|$(Platform)'=='Debug|x64'">
+    <Import Project="$(UserRootDir)\\Microsoft.Cpp.$(Platform).user.props" Condition="exists('$(UserRootDir)\\Microsoft.Cpp.$(Platform).user.props')" Label="LocalAppDataPlatform" />
+  </ImportGroup>
+  <ImportGroup Label="PropertySheets" Condition="'$(Configuration)|$(Platform)'=='Release|x64'">
+    <Import Project="$(UserRootDir)\\Microsoft.Cpp.$(Platform).user.props" Condition="exists('$(UserRootDir)\\Microsoft.Cpp.$(Platform).user.props')" Label="LocalAppDataPlatform" />
+  </ImportGroup>
+  <PropertyGroup Label="UserMacros" />
+  <PropertyGroup Condition="'$(Configuration)|$(Platform)'=='Debug|x64'">
+    <LinkIncremental>true</LinkIncremental>
+    <OutDir>$(SolutionDir)build\\bin\\$(Configuration)\\</OutDir>
+    <IntDir>$(SolutionDir)build\\obj\\$(Configuration)\\</IntDir>
+  </PropertyGroup>
+  <PropertyGroup Condition="'$(Configuration)|$(Platform)'=='Release|x64'">
+    <LinkIncremental>false</LinkIncremental>
+    <OutDir>$(SolutionDir)build\\bin\\$(Configuration)\\</OutDir>
+    <IntDir>$(SolutionDir)build\\obj\\$(Configuration)\\</IntDir>
+  </PropertyGroup>
+  <ItemDefinitionGroup Condition="'$(Configuration)|$(Platform)'=='Debug|x64'">
+    <ClCompile>
+      <WarningLevel>Level3</WarningLevel>
+      <SDLCheck>true</SDLCheck>
+      <PreprocessorDefinitions>_DEBUG;_CONSOLE;%(PreprocessorDefinitions)</PreprocessorDefinitions>
+      <ConformanceMode>true</ConformanceMode>
+      <AdditionalIncludeDirectories>$(ProjectDir)src;$(ProjectDir)incl;$(ProjectDir)src\\lib;$(ProjectDir)vcpkg\\installed\\x64-windows\\include;%(AdditionalIncludeDirectories)</AdditionalIncludeDirectories>
+      <LanguageStandard>stdcpp23</LanguageStandard>
+      <BigObj>true</BigObj>
+      <MultiProcessorCompilation>true</MultiProcessorCompilation>
+      <RuntimeLibrary>MultiThreadedDebugDLL</RuntimeLibrary>
+    </ClCompile>
+    <Link>
+      <SubSystem>Console</SubSystem>
+      <GenerateDebugInformation>true</GenerateDebugInformation>
+      <AdditionalLibraryDirectories>$(ProjectDir)vcpkg\\installed\\x64-windows\\lib;%(AdditionalLibraryDirectories)</AdditionalLibraryDirectories>
+      <AdditionalDependencies>SDL2.lib;SDL2main.lib;libpng16.lib;zlib.lib;absl_base.lib;absl_strings.lib;%(AdditionalDependencies)</AdditionalDependencies>
+    </Link>
+  </ItemDefinitionGroup>
+  <ItemDefinitionGroup Condition="'$(Configuration)|$(Platform)'=='Release|x64'">
+    <ClCompile>
+      <WarningLevel>Level3</WarningLevel>
+      <FunctionLevelLinking>true</FunctionLevelLinking>
+      <IntrinsicFunctions>true</IntrinsicFunctions>
+      <SDLCheck>true</SDLCheck>
+      <PreprocessorDefinitions>NDEBUG;_CONSOLE;%(PreprocessorDefinitions)</PreprocessorDefinitions>
+      <ConformanceMode>true</ConformanceMode>
+      <AdditionalIncludeDirectories>$(ProjectDir)src;$(ProjectDir)incl;$(ProjectDir)src\\lib;$(ProjectDir)vcpkg\\installed\\x64-windows\\include;%(AdditionalIncludeDirectories)</AdditionalIncludeDirectories>
+      <LanguageStandard>stdcpp23</LanguageStandard>
+      <BigObj>true</BigObj>
+      <MultiProcessorCompilation>true</MultiProcessorCompilation>
+      <RuntimeLibrary>MultiThreadedDLL</RuntimeLibrary>
+    </ClCompile>
+    <Link>
+      <SubSystem>Console</SubSystem>
+      <EnableCOMDATFolding>true</EnableCOMDATFolding>
+      <OptimizeReferences>true</OptimizeReferences>
+      <GenerateDebugInformation>true</GenerateDebugInformation>
+      <AdditionalLibraryDirectories>$(ProjectDir)vcpkg\\installed\\x64-windows\\lib;%(AdditionalLibraryDirectories)</AdditionalLibraryDirectories>
+      <AdditionalDependencies>SDL2.lib;SDL2main.lib;libpng16.lib;zlib.lib;absl_base.lib;absl_strings.lib;%(AdditionalDependencies)</AdditionalDependencies>
+    </Link>
+  </ItemDefinitionGroup>
+  <ItemGroup>
+'''
+
+    for header in header_files:
+        vcxproj_content += f'    <ClInclude Include="{header}" />\n'
+
+    vcxproj_content += '''  </ItemGroup>
+  <ItemGroup>
+'''
+
+    for source in all_source_files:
+        vcxproj_content += f'    <ClCompile Include="src\\{source}" />\n'
+
+    vcxproj_content += '''  </ItemGroup>
+  <ItemGroup>
+    <None Include="CMakeLists.txt" />
+    <None Include="vcpkg.json" />
+    <None Include="README.md" />
+    <None Include="LICENSE" />
+  </ItemGroup>
+  <Import Project="$(VCTargetsPath)\\Microsoft.Cpp.targets" />
+  <ImportGroup Label="ExtensionTargets">
+  </ImportGroup>
+</Project>'''
+
+    return vcxproj_content
+
+def generate_solution():
+    """Generate the YAZE.sln file"""
+    return '''Microsoft Visual Studio Solution File, Format Version 12.00
+# Visual Studio Version 17
+VisualStudioVersion = 17.0.31903.59
+MinimumVisualStudioVersion = 10.0.40219.1
+Project("{8BC9CEB8-8B4A-11D0-8D11-00A0C91BC942}") = "YAZE", "YAZE.vcxproj", "{B2C3D4E5-F6G7-8901-BCDE-F23456789012}"
+EndProject
+Global
+	GlobalSection(SolutionConfigurationPlatforms) = preSolution
+		Debug|x64 = Debug|x64
+		Release|x64 = Release|x64
+	EndGlobalSection
+	GlobalSection(ProjectConfigurationPlatforms) = postSolution
+		{B2C3D4E5-F6G7-8901-BCDE-F23456789012}.Debug|x64.ActiveCfg = Debug|x64
+		{B2C3D4E5-F6G7-8901-BCDE-F23456789012}.Debug|x64.Build.0 = Debug|x64
+		{B2C3D4E5-F6G7-8901-BCDE-F23456789012}.Release|x64.ActiveCfg = Release|x64
+		{B2C3D4E5-F6G7-8901-BCDE-F23456789012}.Release|x64.Build.0 = Release|x64
+	EndGlobalSection
+	GlobalSection(SolutionProperties) = preSolution
+		HideSolutionNode = FALSE
+	EndGlobalSection
+	GlobalSection(ExtensibilityGlobals) = postSolution
+		SolutionGuid = {A1B2C3D4-E5F6-7890-ABCD-EF1234567890}
+	EndGlobalSection
+EndGlobal'''
+
+def main():
+    """Main function to generate Visual Studio project files"""
+    print("Generating simple Visual Studio project files for YAZE...")
+    
+    # Get the project root directory
+    script_dir = Path(__file__).parent
+    project_root = script_dir.parent
+    
+    # Generate .vcxproj file
+    vcxproj_content = generate_vcxproj()
+    vcxproj_path = project_root / "YAZE.vcxproj"
+    
+    with open(vcxproj_path, 'w', encoding='utf-8') as f:
+        f.write(vcxproj_content)
+    
+    print(f"Generated: {vcxproj_path}")
+    
+    # Generate .sln file
+    solution_content = generate_solution()
+    solution_path = project_root / "YAZE.sln"
+    
+    with open(solution_path, 'w', encoding='utf-8') as f:
+        f.write(solution_content)
+    
+    print(f"Generated: {solution_path}")
+    
+    print("Visual Studio project files generated successfully!")
+    print("")
+    print("IMPORTANT: Before building in Visual Studio:")
+    print("1. Make sure vcpkg is set up: .\\scripts\\setup-vcpkg-windows.ps1")
+    print("2. Install dependencies: .\\vcpkg\\vcpkg.exe install --triplet x64-windows")
+    print("3. Open YAZE.sln in Visual Studio 2022")
+    print("4. Build the solution (Ctrl+Shift+B)")
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    main()
diff --git a/scripts/setup-windows-dev.ps1 b/scripts/setup-windows-dev.ps1
index 2db1624e..daa311dd 100644
--- a/scripts/setup-windows-dev.ps1
+++ b/scripts/setup-windows-dev.ps1
@@ -164,11 +164,19 @@ switch ($SkipVcpkg) {
 Write-Host "Step 6: Generating Visual Studio project files..." -ForegroundColor Yellow
 switch ($pythonFound) {
     $true {
-        & python scripts/generate-vs-projects.py
+        & python scripts/generate-vs-projects-simple.py
         $generateSuccess = ($LASTEXITCODE -eq 0)
         switch ($generateSuccess) {
             $true { Write-Host "✓ Project files generated successfully" -ForegroundColor Green }
-            $false { Write-Host "⚠ Failed to generate project files" -ForegroundColor Yellow }
+            $false { 
+                Write-Host "⚠ Failed to generate project files with simple generator, trying original..." -ForegroundColor Yellow
+                & python scripts/generate-vs-projects.py
+                $generateSuccess2 = ($LASTEXITCODE -eq 0)
+                switch ($generateSuccess2) {
+                    $true { Write-Host "✓ Project files generated successfully" -ForegroundColor Green }
+                    $false { Write-Host "⚠ Failed to generate project files" -ForegroundColor Yellow }
+                }
+            }
         }
     }
     $false { Write-Host "⚠ Python required to generate project files" -ForegroundColor Yellow }