2. Installation and your first project

In short: Install the plugin (from Fab or by hand), enable it, and either open the Starter project or run Set up the project in RPG Saga Studio. In about 45 minutes you will have a playable slice, a character of your own and a battle you made yourself. This chapter walks through every step and tells you where each window is.

2.1 Basics

2.1.1 What you need

• Unreal Engine 5.8 on Windows (Win64).
• A project. A new blank project is fine (Blueprint or C++, any template). You do not need to write code.
• About 1 GB of free disk space for the plugin and the content it creates.

The plugin turns on the engine plugins it needs by itself (see Introduction).

2.1.2 Step 1: install the plugin

From Fab (recommended).

1. In the Epic Games Launcher, open your Fab Library, find RPG Saga Engine and choose Install to Engine, then pick 5.8.
2. The launcher copies the compiled plugin into the engine's plugin folder (Engine/Plugins/Marketplace). It is then available to every 5.8 project on the computer.

By hand (a zip or a source copy). Copy the RPGSagaEngine folder into your project's Plugins folder (create the folder next to the .uproject if it does not exist). A copy without a Binaries folder must be compiled: the project has to be a C++ project and you need Visual Studio 2022 with the Game development with C++ workload. When the editor offers to rebuild the missing modules, answer Yes.

Install the plugin once: either in the engine (Fab) or in the project's Plugins folder, not both.

2.1.3 Step 2: enable it

1. Open your project.
2. Edit → Plugins, type RPG Saga in the search box, tick RPG Saga Engine.
3. Press Restart Now.

After the restart you should see:

• an RPG Saga Engine menu in the main menu bar, just before Help;
• a Studio button on the level editor toolbar;
• the RPG Saga Studio window, which opens by itself and comes to the front.

The RPG Saga Engine menu is short on purpose:

2.1.4 Step 3: the fast way, the Starter project

If you downloaded the Starter project from the product page, unzip it, install the plugin (Step 1), open the project and press Play. It is a blank Blueprint-only project with a tiny playable game already made by the plugin's own tools: a village with people living their daily routines, a trader, a save point, an elder who gives a quest, a house you can enter, and one battle of every mode (grid Tactics, free-movement Tactics, active-time, turn-based at a gate, and a real-time Action arena).

The zip contains neither the plugin (it comes from Fab) nor the engine's mannequin (it comes from your own engine; the first item of the First steps list installs it).

The first time you open the project, RPG Saga Studio opens by itself with a First steps list at the top of its start page:

Hide this list removes it from the start page, and Show the first steps brings it back. Nothing in it is required.

Making a Starter project yourself. Any project with the plugin can generate the same slice with the New RPG Project commandlet:

UnrealEditor-Cmd.exe <Project>.uproject -run=RSENewProject -Root=/Game/Starter -Genre=Hybrid -Slice=Starter
    [-Foundation=Tactics] [-UIStyle=<style id>] [-NoKit]

-Foundation applies a foundation preset (its UI style becomes the default), -UIStyle picks the default UI style by its id, and -NoKit leaves the mannequin out. -DryRun prints the plan without writing anything. The people, shop, house and battle sites of the slice are listed in Project Settings → RPG Saga Engine → Starter Project, so you can change what it contains.

2.1.5 Step 4: see what the framework does (optional)

Before you build anything, play the plugin's own example:

1. RPG Saga Engine → Advanced tools → Open Example Map (or the Learn panel on the right of the Studio). The map is /RPGSagaEngine/Examples/Maps/L_RSE_StarterExample.
2. Press Play. Walk with WASD or the left stick, interact with E or the bottom face button.

The map is the first zone of the starter set: a guide explains the map, a quartermaster recruits the other starter heroes, a trader sells gear, the tall grass starts random classic battles, a patrol roams the field, a Tactics battlefield hosts the zone's key battle, and a boss waits at the far end. Characters are placeholder shapes until you install a body (next step). That is expected.

To browse the plugin's own assets, turn on Content Browser → Settings → Show Plugin Content. They are under RPG Saga Engine Content. They are templates: the Studio never changes them and offers Create a copy in the project instead.

2.1.6 Step 5: tour of RPG Saga Studio

Open RPG Saga Engine → Studio (or the Studio toolbar button).

The start page shows your game in four layers (see Introduction). Each card opens a short wizard or tool inside the Studio, and Back to the Studio (bottom left) returns to the start page.

On the right of the page:

• Continue where you left off lists the assets you created or edited lately, with thumbnails.
• Learn has short guides and the example map.
• Show advanced tools everywhere puts the Advanced tools menu sections directly into the main menu.

In a new project with no foundation applied, a blue banner says New project? Start with the foundation. You can ignore it; the starter set works as it is.

Explanations. The Explanations switch in the Studio's top right corner has three levels: Beginner (the default: a "Why it matters" panel on every page, tooltips and ? buttons), Normal (tooltips and ? buttons) and Expert (the bare fields). A ? button opens the documentation page for its field. The texts live in the data table DT_RSE_StudioHelp (Project Settings → RPG Saga Engine → Studio → Help Table), so they are translated with the rest of the plugin.

2.1.7 Step 6: set up your project

1. In the Studio, 1. Game foundation → Set up the project. (The same wizard is at RPG Saga Engine → Advanced tools → New RPG Project....)
2. Choose:
   • the content root, the folder for everything the wizard creates, for example /Game/MyRPG;
   • the genre preset: JRPG (ATB), Turn-based (rounds), Turn-based (CTB), Tactics only or Hybrid (Tactics + classic). It sets the default rules and the kinds of battle your first map gets;
   • the theme, the visual style, the languages, and whether the new maps become the project's startup maps;
   • Start From Example Map (optional): your first map becomes a copy of the example zone;
   • Copy Starter Content (optional): your own editable copy of the starter set;
   • Install Mannequin Kit: leave it ticked. It copies the UE5 mannequin from your engine's templates and gives the starter characters real bodies and animations. (Later: Advanced tools → Install UE Mannequin Kit.)
3. Read the plan on the right: every asset it will create and every setting it will change. Nothing is written yet.
4. Press Apply, then Open start map.

You now have a main menu map and a first map with a Player Start, a save point, an NPC who talks and battle sites for your genre, plus a starting party. Everything is in your own folders and in your Config/Default*.ini. Nothing is written into the plugin, and the new content validates clean.

Press Play. The first time a system appears (the first battle, the time gauges, the rows), a short tutorial card explains it and pauses the game until you page through it. Each card shows once per save, and they can be turned off in the game's Options.

2.1.8 Step 7: pick a foundation preset

The foundation is the rule book of your game. You can keep the starter rules, or start from another genre:

1. 1. Game foundation → Configure the foundation.
2. Choose a starting preset (see Game foundation and archetypes).
3. Press Next through the pages. Each has a live preview on the right and Use recommended values.
4. On Summary and Apply, press Check my project (changes nothing), then Apply.

Nothing is written before Apply. You can come back and change the preset at any time with Change the preset.

2.1.9 Step 8: make your first character

1. 3. Content → New character. A live 3D preview turns on at the right.
2. Who is it? Type a name, choose Hero.
3. Start from: pick a hero class archetype, for example Paladin.
4. How does it look? Keep the look, or pick one you imported.
5. Which class? Confirm the class and the starting level.
6. What can it do? The abilities by level; leave them as they are.
7. Where does it appear? Choose In the starting party.
8. Summary and Create, then Open the character sheet. The sheet shows everything about the character on one page, with Test in battle: a few quick simulated battles that tell you the win rate without opening a level.

Characters and party explains what you just made.

2.1.10 Step 9: make your first battle and play it

1. Open the first map. In the viewport, look at an open, flat piece of ground near the Player Start: the battle is placed in front of the camera.
2. 4. World → New battle. Choose the battle mode (for example Tactics), add one or two enemies, read the estimated difficulty (aim for Fair), set rewards, and under Where it happens choose A Tactics zone.
3. Create, then Test now for a quick simulated check. Undo (Ctrl+Z) removes what was placed.
4. Save the level (Ctrl+S) and press Play. Walk into the battle site. The world turns into a grid on the ground. Place your units on the blue tiles and start. Moving and acting both cost Action Points, in any order.

You have made a playable RPG battle without code.

2.1.11 Step 10: check your work

RPG Saga Engine → Validate All Data checks every setting, rules profile and data asset. The results open in the Message Log under RPG Saga Engine Validation. Run it before you package and whenever something behaves strangely.

2.2 How it works

• The plugin loads its modules at editor start: the runtime modules (RSECore, RSE, RSENet, RSEOnline and the optional bridges) and the editor modules (RSEEditor and friends).
• Plugin defaults (Config/Defaults/Game.ini inside the plugin) are applied under your project's config: a key is used only when your Config/DefaultGame.ini does not set it. This is how a plugin-only project already has the starter content registered with the Asset Manager.
• The wizards write only to your project: assets into the content root you chose, settings into your Config/Default*.ini. They show a plan first and write nothing until you press Apply.
• The Studio is a front end. Every card ends up creating ordinary data assets and settings. Anything you can do in the Studio, you can also do in the Content Browser, the Configurator or Project Settings.

2.3 Key classes and assets

2.4 Settings

The full lists are in Appendix B.

2.5 Blueprint usage

The setup tools are editor tools and need no graph. In your own game graphs, two nodes are useful on day one:

• Is Feature Enabled (category RPG Saga → Features) tells your own UI whether a system is switched on.
• Get Party Subsystem (category RPG Saga → Party) returns the object that holds your party.

Example: show a Quests button only when quests are on.

1. In your widget, Event Construct.
2. Is Feature Enabled with Feature = Quests.
3. Set Visibility of the button from the result (Visible or Collapsed).

See Appendix A for every node.

2.6 C++ usage

A C++ project that uses plugin classes adds the modules to its Build.cs:

PublicDependencyModuleNames.AddRange(new string[] { "RSECore", "RSE" });
// Add "RSEGAS", "RSEStateTree" or "RSECommonUI" only if you use those optional bridges.

Then include headers by their domain folder, for example Characters/RSEPartySubsystem.h. Never add RSEEditor to a game module that ships in a packaged build.

2.7 Advanced

• Command-line setup. -run=RSENewProject accepts -Root, -Genre, -Theme, -MenuMapName, -FirstMapName, -Enemies, -NoMenuMap, -NoFirstMap, -NoParty, -NoKit, -NoSettings (create assets and maps only), -DryRun, -Slice=Starter, -Foundation=<preset> and -UIStyle=<style id>. Use it on a build machine to produce the same starting point every time.
• Unattended runs. The Studio never opens by itself when the editor runs unattended, in automation, in commandlets or with -NoRSEStudio.
• Using only part of the plugin. Systems can be switched off in Project Settings → RPG Saga Engine → Features, and our state can live inside your own SaveGame. See Core concepts and docs/product/modularity.md.
• Packaging. The plugin ships compiled for Win64. A Blueprint-only project never shows a compile prompt.

2.8 Troubleshooting

2.9 See also

• Core concepts
• Game foundation and archetypes
• Characters and party
• Editor tools
• Product pages: docs/product/getting-started.md, docs/product/studio.md, docs/product/starter-content.md, docs/product/editors-and-wizards.md.