When implementing Epic Online Services (EOS) in your Unreal Engine game, you might want to consider using a third party plugin like EIK (EOS Integration Kit). Because this third party integrations make the process of implementing EOS SDK much easier, reducing the amount of code you have to do, and helping you implement EOS from blueprints.
Why EOS Integration Kit?
After I tried many plugins that simplify the process of implementing EOS, I have to say that this one is the best one so far. Not only is the community active, but the developers are constantly updating the plugin to keep with engine and SDK updates, new features, and solving bugs. The plugin is also in progress to have console support allowing you to use EOS features in Xbox, PlayStation, and Nintendo.
Installing EIK
To install EIK you have 2 options, you can either use the marketplace (Fab.com) or get the GitHub version! In case you need to get the GitHub Version, I recommend you to follow the Docs Tutorial, but I will do my best to guide you!
Installing from the marketplace
To get EIK on the marketplace you can visit the EIK posting on Fab.com, here you will be able to acquire the plugin! I will recommend you to support the devs of this plugin so they can continue working on it!
After you have acquired the Plugin in Fab.com you can now proceed to install it on your Unreal Engine version from the Epic Games Launcher!
Installing from GitHub
First you will have to download the GitHub version, you can do this by going to the git repo and choosing your engine version from the release section or by downloading the source code and compiling the plugin. We are going to download the latest version for UE 5.5.1 this means we will have to compile the plugin.
To do so, we have to download the Plugin files, you can use this command if you have Git installed.
git clone https://github.com/betidestudio/EOSIntegrationKit.git
Or you can use any other option from the GitHub Repo using the Code <> drop down
I used the git clone command
Now that we have the plugin we have to download the latest EOS SDK version from the Epic Developer Portal. Remember to download the versions of the SDK for the platform you are going to develop for!
Windows : C SDK
Mac : C SDK
Linux : C SDK
Android : Android SDK
iOS : iOS SDK
In my case, I will download the C SDK only
Now we need to copy the SDK files to the plugin folder. The SDK files are located in the SDK folder of the downloaded ZIP archive. The SDK files are different for each platform.
Android SDK and iOS SDK
If you want to develop for these two platforms, here are the respective links to the documentation so you can install the EOS SDK in EIK: iOS SDK, Android SDK.
To install the C SDK, extract the downloaded ZIP archive and then copy the elements of the SDK folder to the ThirdParty/EIKSDK folder of the plugin.
[...PluginPath]\Source\ThirdParty\EIKSDK
Now lets build the plugin, to do so the easiest way is to move the plugin into your projects Plugins folder,
Now right-click on the .uproject file of your project and select Generate Visual Studio project files.
Now open the generated .sln file, this will open Visual Studio, Here you have to right-click on your project name, then click on rebuild.
Now your plugin is ready to go!
In case it fails 😨
In case this fails, or you dont want to use this method, here is a tutorial on how tobuild plugins from the Epic Dev Community.
Configure EIK
Once you install EIK on Unreal Engine/Your Project, you can the project, then go to Plugins and look for EOS Integration Kit and enable it. Then proceed to restart the engine.
Now we have to configure EIK, to do so its really simple, first we have to go to the project settings, you can do this by going to Edit > Project Settings, here we are going to go Game > EOS Integration Kit
Now you will see some options, the first option will be the automatic set up, so check that option, when you check it will prompt you to restart the engine again to apply the changes to the Engine.ini file.
Now we have some extra configurations you can check out, we are going to focus on the main config to set up the connection with EOS, and do the login, but I recommend you to check the plugin documentation to learn how to use all the other cool features EIK has!
Connect EOS
We have to go back to the Epic Developer Portal and Create a product (in case you have an existing product you want to use, feel free to use it and skip this steps!) by clicking on the Create Product button on the dashboard.
Add a name and click on create, wait for EOS to create your project and then click on it and go to the Product Setting
Now we have to create a Client, an Application, and a Client Policy! So lets start!
Client Policy
For this example, I am going to create a Peer-2-Peer Policy. So lets go to Clients, then look for the Add new client policy button.
Now we have to name our policy, and select the type, as I said before I am choosing the Peer-2-Peer policy. After you configure it, you can click on add new client policy
Client
For creating our client we have to click on the Add new client Button, Here we have to name the client, then select the policy and click on Add new client
Application (Only if you are planing on using the Epic Account Services)
Now we have to go to the Epic Account Services section to create a new Application, here you have to click on Create Application, Then follow the steps to get your app approved, you can test things without adding your website and privacy policy but if you want to use Epic Account Services you need to do all the verification process.
You will be required to add some data about your Company/Brand, your Privacy Policy (As an example of a Privacy Policy you can visit Party Madness Privacy Policy, It is a game I did that uses EOS Services), and some Information about your game project. You dont need to put all the actual info for the draft and testing, but if you want to test with other people that are not part of your company, you will have to submit your brand for review.
Likewise, you will also be asked to choose the Permissions this will allow you to get things like user location, friends list, and Online Presence.
The last thing we have to do so we can start testing is to link our client, this can be done on the last tab.
We are now done in this section! When you go back to the Epic Account Services tab, you should see something like this with your own data!
Connecting with EIK
Lets set up the connection between EOS and Unreal Engine (EIK/EOS SDK), first we have to go to Product Settings, here you should see the something like this (I obscure part of the IDs because this is information you should keep private)
Now in we have to go back to our EIK plugin configuration (in the Unreal Engine Project Settings), and start configuring our first artifact.
For this tutorial, I will use DefaultArtifact as the name for the Artifact, but you can use any name that is meaningful to you. So create an Artifact by clicking the plus button, and add put the name, The name you use should match the Default Artifact Name option, so the plugin knows what to use.
Now lets start adding the IDs and Secrets from the Epic Online Services to the fields, just ensure the field name matches what you are adding. (That means Client ID with Client ID, Client Secrete with Client Secrete and so on) At the end it should look something like this (IDs and Secretes have been obscured to protect privacy)
Just like that, you have set up EOS Integration Kit on your game, Now its your responsibility to start coding the behaviours of your game, if you need some guides on what to do next here is a list of things you might want to do!
Set up Login: https://eik.betide.studio/Authentication/basics
Set up EOS Dev Tool: https://eik.betide.studio/Authentication/autologin
Matchmaking: https://eik.betide.studio/multiplayer/matchmaking/lobbies
Create Achievements: https://eik.betide.studio/playerinformation/progression/achievements
Set up Voice Chat: https://eik.betide.studio/multiplayer/voicechat/basics
Important Resources
Unreal Engine Multiplayer Docs: https://dev.epicgames.com/documentation/en-us/unreal-engine/networking-and-multiplayer-in-unreal-engine
EOS Docs: https://dev.epicgames.com/docs/epic-online-services
EOS Dev Portal: https://dev.epicgames.com/portal
Multiplayer Tutorial EIK: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLx9KZWpnHHA2mhvlMFeyIuPFJncz4dWKz
EIK Docs: https://eik.betide.studio
EIK Store Page: https://www.fab.com/listings/70689002-04d3-4098-ad9e-62792fe0b669
EIK GitHub: https://github.com/betidestudio/EOSIntegrationKit
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