# \[Tutorial\] - Connecting to a Third Party Socket Server **URL:** \ **Category:** Community & Industry Discussion\ **Tags:** unreal-engine\ **Created:** [May 24, 2014, 5:51pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/tutorial-connecting-to-a-third-party-socket-server/4951 "2014-05-24T17:51:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![HailstoneRyan](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@HailstoneRyan](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/HailstoneRyan)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2014, 5:51pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/tutorial-connecting-to-a-third-party-socket-server/4951/1 "2014-05-24T17:51:15Z")
Finally got around to writing down how I was able to accomplish this. Hopefully it helps someone else and I hope people don’t mind a link to the wiki. Wasn’t sure how to get it added to the list of tutorials on the wiki unfortunately. > **[A new, community-hosted Unreal Engine Wiki](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/a-new-community-hosted-unreal-engine-wiki/141494)** > > After over a year in maintenance mode, the official Unreal Engine Wiki is now permanently offline. These resources now live on a new community-run Unreal Engine Community Wiki — ue4community.wiki! You will be able to find content from the official... ---
**Author:** ![Dakkafex](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@Dakkafex](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/Dakkafex)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2014, 1:42am UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/tutorial-connecting-to-a-third-party-socket-server/4951/2 "2014-05-25T01:42:26Z")
Maybe elaborate a little on what exactly this means and why should i use it. ---
**Author:** ![Drexciya](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@Drexciya](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/Drexciya)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2014, 11:28am UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/tutorial-connecting-to-a-third-party-socket-server/4951/3 "2014-05-25T11:28:26Z")
Use it to access external databases for persistent game worlds? ---
**Author:** ![Dakkafex](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@Dakkafex](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/Dakkafex)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2014, 1:59pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/tutorial-connecting-to-a-third-party-socket-server/4951/4 "2014-05-25T13:59:03Z")
yea but think of a new person, if you put things in context a little its always easier to understand. ---
**Author:** ![HailstoneRyan](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@HailstoneRyan](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/HailstoneRyan)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2014, 1:55pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/tutorial-connecting-to-a-third-party-socket-server/4951/5 "2014-05-26T13:55:04Z")
Thanks for the feedback guys. I’ve added our specific use case to the page. We’re building a lobby/chat system that we felt using the built in dedicated server would have been overkill for. ---
**Author:** ![anonymous\_user\_0074ae5e1](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@anonymous\_user\_0074ae5e1](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/anonymous_user_0074ae5e1)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2014, 2:42pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/tutorial-connecting-to-a-third-party-socket-server/4951/6 "2014-05-28T14:42:35Z")
Great tutorial. I’d move the dependency thing to the beginning though, since you should really do that first, right? ---
**Author:** ![Rama](https://d1ap1mz92jnks1.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/forums.unrealengine.com/rama/32/882413_2.png) [@Rama](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/Rama)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2014, 5:07pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/tutorial-connecting-to-a-third-party-socket-server/4951/7 "2014-05-28T17:07:00Z")
Thanks for your awesome tutorial overlawled! I’ve been wondering how this gets done, you did all the research for me! I made your wiki tutorial publicly visible in both **Tutorials** and the **Code** section Now people can easily find it when just browsing the Wiki! > **[A new, community-hosted Unreal Engine Wiki](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/a-new-community-hosted-unreal-engine-wiki/141494)** > > After over a year in maintenance mode, the official Unreal Engine Wiki is now permanently offline. These resources now live on a new community-run Unreal Engine Community Wiki — ue4community.wiki! You will be able to find content from the official... Thanks for sharing! Rama ---
**Author:** ![Moynzy](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@Moynzy](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/Moynzy)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2015, 10:03am UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/tutorial-connecting-to-a-third-party-socket-server/4951/8 "2015-11-05T10:03:03Z")
Hi, I’ve been following this code, and I have found that when my c# server reads information from the client, it crashes. When the server sends information to the client; > [@](#): > > ``` > GEngine->AddOnScreenDebugMessage(-1, 5.f, FColor::Yellow, FString::FromInt(byteCount)); > > ``` The message is -1.# Any ideas why :d/ ---
**Author:** ![Moynzy](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@Moynzy](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/Moynzy)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2016, 1:53pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/tutorial-connecting-to-a-third-party-socket-server/4951/9 "2016-03-22T13:53:07Z")
Hi, I can sent a message to my C# server. After using the send() method, I sit there and wait for a reply back. When the C# server gets a message, it will then send one back. My client misses the first packet received. > [@](#): > > ``` > TArray<uint8> ReceivedData; > > uint32 Size; > while (mySocket->HasPendingData(Size)) > { > ReceivedData.SetNumUninitialized(FMath::Min(Size, 65507u)); > > int32 Read = 0; > mySocket->Recv(ReceivedData.GetData(), ReceivedData.Num(), Read); > > //GEngine->AddOnScreenDebugMessage(-1, 5.f, FColor::Red, FString::Printf(TEXT("Data Read! %d"), ReceivedData.Num())); > } > // ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > > if (ReceivedData.Num() <= 0) > { > FString temp = TEXT("Error|Could not recieve from server."); > > > } > > ``` Do you know I get a -1 the first time? For e.g. I send the correct user credentials to my server, the server checks DB and sends true to UE4 client, UE4 client receives -1, despite the server saying “You can log in”? Any clues, Thank you. ---
**Author:** ![Natsuki\_Chan](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@Natsuki\_Chan](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/Natsuki_Chan)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2019, 4:16pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/tutorial-connecting-to-a-third-party-socket-server/4951/10 "2019-11-09T16:16:57Z")
Well I plan to upgrade my game but i want to connect the ue4 to my extrenal server that work on Microsoft Sql Server that why the way you say on page 1 can help with that? ---
**Author:** ![SkyeEden](https://d1ap1mz92jnks1.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/forums.unrealengine.com/skyeeden/32/1116094_2.png) [@SkyeEden](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/SkyeEden)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2022, 12:34pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/tutorial-connecting-to-a-third-party-socket-server/4951/11 "2022-03-16T12:34:22Z")