APB Reloaded — UE 5.8 Recreation + Asset Studio

A from-scratch recreation of APB: All Points Bulletin (Reloaded) built on Unreal Engine 5.8, with a web-based asset studio that browses, previews, and animates every mesh extracted from the retail build.

APBReloaded/
|- Source/APBReloaded/
|  |- Domain/                 # engine-free authoritative gameplay/backend rules
|  `- Systems/                # UE bridge, replication, frontend, district, server, economy
|- Content/
|  |- Data/                   # apbdb/reference-derived JSON catalogs
|  |- Imported/               # UE assets tracked by the import ledger
|  `- Extracted/              # reference output (local only, never packaged)
|- Config/                    # maps, GameModes, networking, ports
|- tests/                     # standalone C++17 domain test suites
|- tools/content-studio/      # web asset viewer (React + FastAPI + three.js)
`- work/                      # plans, evidence, debug notes

What works today

• Content Studio (tools/content-studio) — browse every extracted asset in the browser: weapons, vehicles (with family wheel assembly), characters, clothing, prop animations, textures, materials, districts, and audio.
  • three.js preview with auto-rotate, drag orbit/pan/zoom, animation playback
  • glTF export pipeline (PSK → skinned GLB) with animation rebase and frame-0-exact skinning
  • UV decal placement workflow for clothing, texture zoom/pan inspection
  • 20+ Playwright e2e tests, 190+ backend pytest suites
• Frontend flow — 2011-fidelity main menu: login, character create/select, district select, settings overlay, replay videos, credits, register.
• Multiplayer foundation — lobby, district tickets, replicated player state (faction, threat, currency), freeroam admission, chat relay.
• Domain layer — pure C++17 apb::WorldService with standalone MSVC test harness for characters, districts, economy, missions, and combat resolve.

Try the asset viewer

# server (Python 3.11+, reads Content/Extracted)
cd tools/content-studio/server
python -m venv .venv && .venv/Scripts/pip install -r requirements.txt
.venv/Scripts/python -m uvicorn main:app --port 8777

# web (Node 18+)
cd ../web
npm install
npm run dev        # http://localhost:5173

The viewer requires a local Content/Extracted tree (produced by the extraction tooling from a retail APB install — not distributed here).

Tests

cd tools/content-studio/server && .venv/Scripts/python -m pytest -q
cd tools/content-studio/web   && npx playwright test

Build the game (UE 5.8)

# Domain tests (no engine needed)
powershell -File D:\APBReloaded\tests\build_and_run.ps1

# Editor + game targets
D:\UE58\UE_5.8\Engine\Build\BatchFiles\Build.bat APBReloadedEditor Win64 Development -Project=D:\APBReloaded\APBReloaded.uproject -WaitMutex
D:\UE58\UE_5.8\Engine\Build\BatchFiles\Build.bat APBReloaded Win64 Development -Project=D:\APBReloaded\APBReloaded.uproject -WaitMutex

# Play (windowed)
D:\UE58\UE_5.8\Engine\Binaries\Win64\UnrealEditor.exe D:\APBReloaded\APBReloaded.uproject -game -windowed -log

Launch helpers: Launch_APB.bat, Create_Desktop_Shortcut.bat, HOW_TO_PLAY.md.

Contribution

• Issues — bug reports, asset gaps, and feature requests are welcome. Attach screenshots; for viewer bugs include the browser console output.
• PRs — keep one concern per PR. C++ lives in Source/APBReloaded/Domain and Systems; catalogs in Content/Data (apbdb-seeded, no guessed values); viewer logic in tools/content-studio.
• Run the relevant test suite before opening a PR (see above).

Legal

This is a fan recreation for research and preservation. It contains no retail game binaries and no extracted retail assets are distributed — Content/Extracted and the reference installs are local-only. All trademarks belong to their respective owners.