Terminal Grounds

A grounded, session-based salvage/extraction FPS built in Unreal Engine 5.6. Tight gunfeel, faction-driven conflict, and a salvage economy where Human → Hybrid → Alien tech escalates both power and risk.

“Logistics is drama. Alien tech is dangerous. Extract, or it never happened.”

Status

Active development on Windows. Self-hosting and packaging supported. See docs for canon and design.

Quick start (Windows + VS Code tasks)

Prereqs

• Unreal Engine 5.6 installed locally
• Visual Studio 2022 with C++ workload
• Git LFS enabled for large assets

One-time setup

1. In VS Code Settings, set "ue.engineRoot" to your UE path (e.g., C:\\Program Files\\Epic Games\\UE_5.6).
2. Clone with LFS and open the folder in VS Code.

Build and run

• UE5.6: Generate Project Files (VSCode)
• UE5.6: Build Editor (Dev Win64)
• UE5.6: Launch Editor

Optional checks/tools

• UE5.6: Sanity Pass (Headless Python)
• UE: Validate Required Plugins
• Docs: Run Docs Gate

Dedicated server

Windows (PowerShell)

Server\run_server.ps1

Linux/macOS

bash Server/run_server.sh

Package a dev build

Use the task: UE5.6: Package Game (Win64 Dev)

Artifacts are written to .packages/Win64/Development.

Canon and design docs

• Lore Bible (single source of truth): docs/Lore/LORE_BIBLE.md
• Machine-readable lore index: docs/Lore/lorebook.yml
• World scale & expansion: docs/Design/World_Scale_And_Expansion.md
• Faction art guides: docs/Art/Factions/

Contributing

Read CONTRIBUTING.md and CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md.

• Keep lore canonical: link to the Lore Bible; don’t duplicate canon in feature docs
• Use stable IDs from lorebook.yml (REG_, EVT_, FCT_, POI_) in assets and docs
• Run the Docs Gate before PRs (task: "Docs: Run Docs Gate")
• Follow UE asset paths/naming (e.g., Content/TG/...)

Repo map (short)

• Config/ — Engine/project settings
• Content/ — UE assets (Maps, Materials, VFX, UI, etc.)
• Data/ — Source tables for DataTables
• docs/ — Canon, art guides, concepts, tech notes
• Plugins/ — Project plugins (TGAttachments, TGModKit)
• Server/ + Docker/ — Dedicated server + containerization
• Source/ — C++ modules (TGCore, TGNet, TGCombat, …)

Troubleshooting

• Tasks can't find the engine? Verify the VS Code setting: "ue.engineRoot".
• Missing images in docs? Run ArtGen/UE import pipelines under Tools/.
• Build failures? Re-run Generate Project Files and ensure VS 2022 C++ components are installed.
• Wishlist: (link soon) • Discord: (invite soon)
• See Docs/Phase4_Implementation_Log.md for what landed each week.

Terminal Grounds — Logistics is drama. Alien tech is dangerous. Every screenshot should look like a news photo with one impossible detail.

Notes on the image paths

• If you haven't run the generators yet, the image tags will 404 on GitHub—that's fine. After you run the ArtGen + Unreal Python tools, the paths above will exist and render.
• If your repo uses different import paths, update the src= values accordingly.

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Quickstart (UE5)

• Open TerminalGrounds.uproject in UE 5.4+
• Build targets: Game, Editor, and TerminalGroundsServer
• Startup Map: Set in Config/DefaultGame.ini
• Tools: See Tools/Unreal/python/ and Tools/ArtGen/ for generators and importers

Repository map

• Config/ — Engine, Game, and project DeveloperSettings
• Content/ — UE assets (Maps, Materials, VFX, UI, ConceptArt, etc.)
• Data/ — Source-of-truth CSVs for datatables (mirrors subset under Content/DataTables)
• Docs/ — Bibles and guides (Art, VFX, Audio, Lore, Concepts)
• Plugins/ — Project plugins (TGAttachments, TGModKit)
• Source/ — C++ modules (TGCore, TGNet, TGCombat, …)
• Server/ + Docker/ — Dedicated server packaging and container runtime

UE asset path index

• Maps
  • Content/TG/Maps/IEZ/ — District lookdev and gameplay maps
  • Content/TG/Maps/TechWastes/ — Wasteland bands and POIs
  • Content/TG/LookDev/ — Auto-generated lookdev grid
• DataTables
  • Content/DataTables/*.csv — In-project datatables (built from Data/Tables)
• Materials
  • Content/TG/Materials/
• VFX
  • Content/TG/VFX/
• Audio
  • Content/TG/Audio/
• UI
  • Content/TG/UI/
• Concept Art (references)
  • Content/TG/ConceptArt/