Requirements

Unreal Engine

Unreal Engine 5.8. That is the only version the plugin is built and tested against, and it is a decision rather than a floor: every further version is a permanent install, a build matrix row and a set of engine-version branches in the code that never go away, so a second one is added deliberately or not at all.

Installing

Download the release zip for your engine version from the plugin’s GitHub Releases page and unzip it into your project’s Plugins/ folder, so that Plugins/TaleShard/TaleShard.uplugin exists. The zip carries the plugin already compiled for that engine version, and the sync tool, so the editor loads it without a compiler.

The plugin is off by default. Open the project, then Edit > Plugins, find TaleShard, tick it and restart the editor.

Cloning the repository instead gives you the source without compiled files. The editor then compiles the plugin when the project opens, which needs Visual Studio 2022 with the C++ game development workload.

When you need a compiler

• Working in the editor: never, with the release zip. Syncing, playing in the editor and building Blueprints need no compiler.
• Generated C++: only in a project that has C++ of its own. Generation is Automatic by default: on when the project has a C++ module, off when it does not. The first sync in a C++ project adds the plugin’s modules to your module’s Build.cs and says so in the sync window.
• Packaging a game: Visual Studio is needed, as it is for any plugin with code in a Blueprint project. You do not need to add a C++ class: because the plugin is off by default and your project switches it on, Unreal builds a game executable that includes the plugin.

The sync tool

The release zip carries the sync tool, TaleShardSync.exe, inside the plugin. The plugin looks for it in three places, in order:

1. the Sync Tool Path in the plugin’s settings, when set;
2. Tools/TaleShard/ under your project, which is where a team keeps a copy that everyone shares;
3. Binaries/ThirdParty/TaleShardSync/<Platform>/ under the plugin itself, where the release zip puts it.

When none of them holds it, the sync window says which file to download from which release and which folder to put it in. The tool and the plugin carry a version each, and a sync refuses to start when their major versions differ.

The API key

Each teammate enters their own project API key in the sync window. It is stored in the editor’s per-user, per-project settings file under Saved/Config, which is never checked into source control — so it is never in a project setting, a data asset or anything under Content/. Every place it is displayed shows it masked.

Platforms

The plugin is built and tested on Windows. Nothing in its design is Windows-specific, and nothing here verifies another platform either; do not read this page as a claim about consoles or mobile.