To make it easier to get started with Unreal-NATS, this document will describe how to set up an example project in Unreal Engine which uses the plugin.

Unreal Engine Source

• 4.27
• 5.0

CMake 3.21 or greater

Visual Studio 2019 or greater

See the Unreal Engine documentation on how to build Unreal Engine.

Create the Unreal Project and add at least one C++ class if you haven't already. Even if you already have a project, I highly recommend you start with a fresh project for experimenting. You can always copy your code to your real project later.

Note: Unreal Engine has problems with long file names and with spaces in folders and project names, so it's highly recommended that you keep your projects in as close to a root folder as possible.

Install vcpkg in an easy to remember location (i.e. C:\vcpkg, for example

git clone https://github.com/microsoft/vcpkg.git C:\vcpkg
C:\vcpkg\bootstrap-vcpkg.bat

Note: Make sure to set VCPKG_ROOT environment variable to the location of vcpkg (i.e. C:\vcpkg). Be sure this is set through the Windows Control Panel. You may need to close and re-open all of your cmd prompts, or reboot for the changes to take place.

Using vcpkg, install openssl

%VCPKG_ROOT%\vcpkg install openssl:x64-windows

Using vcpkg, install protobuf

%VCPKG_ROOT%\vcpkg install protobuf:x64-windows

If you're using git, the best way is to use the git submodule command to import the GBSNats Git repository as a submodule within an existing repository.

In a command prompt shell, from within your project folder where the uproject file exists do the following.

Note: It is important to make sure you are executing these commands in a command prompt shell and not a PowerShell terminal. This sequence of commands will not execute correctly in a PowerShell terminal.

mkdir Plugins
cd Plugins
git submodule add https://github.com/GamesBySarge/Unreal-NATS.git GBSNats
cd GBSNats
git checkout main
git submodule update --init --recursive
echo %VCPKG_ROOT%

Note: Make sure VCPKG_ROOT is set appropriately.

In the top level folder of the Unreal Engine project where the *.uproject file exists, execute the following commands.

mkdir Plugins
git clone https://github.com/GamesBySarge/Unreal-NATS.git GBSNats
cd GBSNats
git checkout main
git submodule update --init --recursive
echo %VCPKG_ROOT%

Note: Make sure VCPKG_ROOT is set appropriately.

From the Unreal Engine source folder, run the following.

Engine\Build\BatchFiles\Build.bat <project> Win64 Development -Project="<project_folder>\<project>.uproject"
Engine\Build\BatchFiles\Build.bat <project>Editor Win64 Development -Project="<project_folder>\<project>.uproject"

Note: These commands will not work in PowerShell. Please make sure to use a command prompt shell to execute these commands.

From time to time if you need to update your version of GBSNats, change to that directory and run the following

cd <project_folder>\Plugins\GBSNats
git pull --recurse-submodules

To clean your project, delete the Binaries and Intermediate folders, as well as the Plugins\GBSNats\ThirdParty\nats\Binaries and Plugins\GBSNats\ThirdParty\nats\Intermediate folders.