Install the Unreal Engine SDK

Last updated on March 15, 2024

Overview​

You can use the AccelByte Gaming Services (AGS) Game Software Development Kit (SDK) for Unreal Engine to implement AGS in your game. The SDK acts as a bridge between your game and AGS.

Unreal Engine SDK on GitHub

Prerequisites​

  • Unreal Engine 4 versions 4.26 or 4.27, or Unreal Engine 5 version 5.0 or 5.1
  • Create a Game Namespace
  • Create an IAM Client
  • Get the Client ID
AGS Starter

If you are using the AGS Starter tier, make sure you use the following format for the BaseUrl, otherwise your API calls may return an error due to a domain mismatch:

https://<Game TitleID>.<environment name>.gamingservices.accelbyte.io
  • Use the dev value when you're working on a development environment. For example: https://spaceshooter.dev.gamingservices.accelbyte.io
  • Use the prod value when you're ready to launch to a live environment. For example: https://spaceshooter.prod.gamingservices.accelbyte.io

Tutorial​

Follow this tutorial to learn how to set up our Unreal Engine SDK.

AGS Starter

In Starter tier, you can download the configuration file for Unreal Engine and save the file for this installation.

You can download the configuration files in the Starter tier dashboard during setup. Later, you can also download them from the OAuth Clients page in the AccelByte Admin Portal.

AGS Premium does not yet have the configuration file download option.

Download and install the Unreal SDK Plugin​

  1. Open your project with the Unreal Editor.

  2. Copy the plugin folder Plugins/AccelByteUe4Sdk from the downloaded SDK and paste it into your game's plugins folder. If your game doesn't have this folder yet, you can create a folder named Plugins in your game project's root directory.

  3. Add this plugin to your [MyAwesomeGame].uproject file.

    "Plugins": [
    ...
    {
        "Name": "AccelByteUe4Sdk",
        "Enabled": true
    },
    ]
    ...

  4. Add this plugin to your /Source/[MyAwesomeGame].Target.cs file.

    ExtraModuleNames.AddRange(new string[]
    {
        ...
        "AccelByteUe4Sdk",
        ...
    }

  5. Add this plugin to your /Source/[MyAwesomeGame]Editor.Target.cs file.

    ExtraModuleNames.AddRange(new string[]
    {
        ...
        "AccelByteUe4Sdk",
        ...
    }

  6. Add this plugin to your /Source/MyAwesomeGame/[MyAwesomeGame].Build.cs file.

    PublicDependencyModuleNames.AddRange(
    new string[] {
        ...
        "AccelByteUe4Sdk",
        ...
    }

Configure the Game SDK​

Before using the SDK, configure the AGS SDK in the Unreal Editor or input the JSON content into DefaultEngine.ini.

Input your configuration in Unreal Editor​

  1. Open your project with the Unreal Editor.

  2. Ensure you configured the plugin in your project.

  3. In the top menu bar, go to Edit > Project Settings.

  4. In Project Settings, scroll down to the Plugins section and select AccelByte Unreal Engine 4 Client SDK.

    Project settings

    note

    Leave the Publisher namespace parameter empty.

  5. Fill in Client ID, Client Secret, Namespace, Redirect Uri and Base Url. Leave the remaining input fields empty.

    Note

    Contact support or your Account Manager if you don't know your API URLs. If you're using AGS Starter, the URL format is https://<Game TitleID>.<environment name>.gamingservices.accelbyte.io.

    • Use the dev value when you're working on a development environment. For example: https://spaceshooter.dev.gamingservices.accelbyte.io
    • Use the prod value when you're ready to launch to a live environment. For example: https://spaceshooter.prod.gamingservices.accelbyte.io

    Unreal editor config

  6. Click Set as Default to save your configuration. This should populate the DefaultEngine.ini file in the /Config folder automatically.

Input JSON content into DefaultEngine.ini​

  1. In the /Config folder, open DefaultEngine.ini.

  2. Input your information using the following format:

    note

    Leave the Publisher namespace empty.

    [/Script/AccelByteUe4Sdk.AccelByteSettings] 
    ClientId=<client_id> 
    ClientSecret=<client_secret> 
    Namespace=<namespace> 
    PublisherNamespace=<> 
    RedirectURI="http://127.0.0.1" 
    BaseUrl=<base_url> 
    AppId=<app_id>
    info

    Ensure you enter the ClientId, ClientSecret (if applicable), Namespace, AppId (for Steam Games), BaseURL, and RedirectUri. Find your ClientId, ClientSecret, and Namespace settings in the AGS Admin Portal, or refer to the Access documentation.

    Contact support or your Account Manager if you don't know your API URLs. If you're using AGS Starter, the URL format is https://<Game TitleID>.<environment name>.gamingservices.accelbyte.io.

    • Use the dev value when you're working on a development environment. For example: https://spaceshooter.dev.gamingservices.accelbyte.io
    • Use the prod value when you're ready to launch to a live environment. For example: https://spaceshooter.prod.gamingservices.accelbyte.io

  3. If you are implementing our Multiplayer services using a Dedicated Server, then you need to input the Server Settings too. The format is as follows:

[/Script/AccelByteUe4Sdk.AccelByteServerSettings] 
ClientId=<client_id> 
ClientSecret=<client_secret> 
Namespace=<namespace> 
PublisherNamespace=<publisher_namespace> 
RedirectURI="http://127.0.0.1"
BaseUrl=<base_url>
Warning

It is highly recommended to remove the Server Settings when building a Game Client as a Shipping build. In order to do this, the following command in the PreBuildSteps in the AccelByteUe4Sdk.uplugin file needs to be set to True.

"PreBuildSteps": {
        "Win64": [
            "call \"$(PluginDir)\\PreBuildProcessor.bat\" \"$(EngineDir)\" \"$(ProjectDir)\" $(TargetConfiguration) $(TargetType) True"
        ]
    }

The PostBuildSteps in the same file will revert back your DefaultEngine.ini file back to its original state after the build process.

Additional features​

AGS now supports additional features that you can enable in [/Script/AccelByteUe4Sdk.AccelByteSettings].

  • Client-Side Data Caching (In-Memory): You can now cache static data/files in memory to reduce HTTP calls. To activate this feature, ensure that the service sending the response can provide HTTP Cache Control headers.

    [/Script/AccelByteUe4Sdk.AccelByteSettings] 
    ... 
    bEnableHttpCache=true

  • Quality of Service (QoS) Scheduled Latencies Updater: we created a scheduler that updates the latencies on all specified areas. This feature helps game developers implement matchmaking in multiple regions.

    You can specify the time interval for the scheduler. The system initiates polling at the authentication level because it must update latencies to eliminate bottlenecks before matchmaking. Players may also want to know their region latencies (ping) before they begin matchmaking.

    [/Script/AccelByteUe4Sdk.AccelByteSettings]
    ...
    QosLatencyPollIntervalSecs=0 
    QosServerLatencyPollIntervalSecs=0

  • The default value for both parameters is 0.

  • To enable the scheduler, set QosLatencyPollIntervalSecs to a value greater than 0. When active, the minimum polling interval is 10 minutes.

  • To enable the scheduler for other regions, set QosServerLatencyPollIntervalSecs to a value greater than 0.

Congratulations! You successfully configured the AGS SDK for Unreal Engine.

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