Upload your game package

A game package holds your own Unreal content: maps, meshes, materials, textures, animations and sounds. It belongs to one project. Only servers linked to that project load it, and only their players get it. It never appears on the marketplace and nobody can download it in the portal.

This page takes a package from your Unreal project to players. How to build the plugin and prepare a map is on Bring your own map.

Closed test

This is the second stage of private game packages. During the closed test, game servers run only on GAMPEON’s internal test machines, the creator kit comes from the GAMPEON team, and the launcher is not available for download yet. The upload does not check Blueprint logic yet, and packages are not encrypted yet.

How it works

1. You cook your content plugin with the GAMPEON cook command. Cooking turns your assets into the format the game loads, for exactly one GAMPEON version.
2. You upload the cooked package in the portal, in your project’s Game packages tab. You confirm that your license allows this content in your game.
3. Your server loads the same package and tells GAMPEON which package and version it runs.
4. A player presses Play in the launcher. The launcher downloads the package once, checks every file and starts the game with it. Next time only a new version downloads.

1. Cook the package

The cook command is CookPackage.ps1 in the creator kit: a copy of the GAMPEON Unreal project for one GAMPEON version, together with that version’s release data. Cook against the same version your server and the players run; the game refuses a package cooked for another version.

.\Scripts\CookPackage.ps1 -Engine C:\UnrealEngine\UE_5.8 `
  -Plugin C:\MyGame\Plugins\GamCity\GamCity.uplugin `
  -BasedOn C:\GAMPEON\releases\0.1.0-125aa18 `
  -Version 1.0.0 -Out C:\MyGame\Packages

Option	Meaning
-Plugin	Your content plugin’s .uplugin. It stays where it is; the kit only links it while cooking.
-BasedOn	The GAMPEON release folder from the kit. Only what GAMPEON does not have already goes into your package.
-Version	Your package version, such as 1.0.0. Every upload needs a new version.
-Out	Where the cooked package goes.

Before cooking, the command checks the name, that the plugin has no C++ modules, and the file types in Nui. The result is a folder Packages\GamCity with:

• GamCity.uplugin
• Content\Paks\WindowsClient\… for players
• Content\Paks\WindowsServer\… for your server; this part is not uploaded
• Nui\…, the images and fonts for your web interfaces
• gampeon-package.json: name, version, GAMPEON version and every file for players with its size and SHA-256

2. Upload it

1. Open your project in the portal, then Manage → Game packages.
2. Choose the package folder, for example Packages\GamCity. The portal reads gampeon-package.json and shows the name, version and size.
3. Read the license statement and confirm it.
4. Select Upload. Large files go up in pieces. If the upload stops, choose the same folder again: it continues where it stopped.

When the upload is done, the version is ready. GAMPEON checks every file against its SHA-256 and checks that the .uplugin has no code modules. Only cooked paks and the allowed Nui file types are accepted.

Limit	Value
Size per version	4 GB
Storage per project	12 GB (files shared by several versions count once)
Ready versions kept	the newest 3 per package; uploading a new one deletes older ones

Deleting a version in the same tab removes it. Servers that still run it can no longer be joined until they load another ready version.

3. Run your server with it

1. Start the server with the cooked folder, the same version you uploaded:

   GampeonProtoServer -port=7777 -gppackage="C:/MyGame/Packages/GamCity/GamCity.uplugin"

2. Choose the map in server.cfg, see Bring your own map.
3. Register the server in the portal and put its ID and key into server.cfg, then link the server to your project under Manage → Servers and content.

The server reports its package name and version with every heartbeat. In the log you see Game package GamCity 1.0.0 mounted … (cooked).

4. Players press Play

Players see your game and its servers in the launcher. When they press Play, GAMPEON looks up the packages the server runs and gives the launcher a download permission for 60 minutes. The launcher downloads the files into its own folder, continues interrupted downloads, checks every file and starts the game with your package. A player who joins again with the same version downloads nothing.

If the server runs a version that is not uploaded or not ready yet, Play shows: This server needs the game package GamCity 1.0.0, which is not available on GAMPEON. Upload and finish that version, or start the server with a ready one.

When GAMPEON updates

Cooked content fits only the GAMPEON version it was cooked for. After an update of GAMPEON, cook your package again with the new creator kit, give it a new version and upload it, then restart your server with it.

Not there yet

• The check for Blueprint logic in packages. Game rules belong in Lua; keep Blueprints to visuals.
• Encryption of packages on the players’ computers.
• Your server downloading its package from GAMPEON by itself.
• Your own models for CreateObject from a package (<package>/<name>).
• The creator kit as a download in the portal.