Understanding the GameCatalyst Dashboard
The Dashboard is your control center for GameCatalyst. It’s a Unity Editor window that lets you manage servers, configure settings, and monitor status.
How to open the Dashboard:
Go to Tools → Vexstorm Studios → GameCatalyst → Dashboard in Unity’s menu bar.
Dashboard layout:
The Dashboard has six main tabs across the top:
- Welcome — Product overview, feature highlights, and quick start steps
- Software Info — Version information, platform details, and update checks
- Controls — Install/Uninstall, Start/Stop servers, connection status, activity log
- Status — Real-time health monitoring for all components
- Settings — Configuration options (five sub-tabs: General, Communication, AI, Tool Permissions, Advanced)
- Support — Vexstorm account linking, support ticket submission, contact information
The Progress Bar:
At the very top of the Dashboard, you’ll see a progress bar with five stages:
- Uninstalled — Package is imported but central installation hasn’t run yet
- Installed — Central installation is complete
- Discovery — Discovery Server is running
- Unity Instance — Unity Instance Server is connected
- AI Client — An AI client is connected and working
Each stage lights up green when active. This gives you an at-a-glance view of system status.
The Triangle Trifecta:
In the Controls tab, you’ll see three colored dots arranged in a triangle:
- UIS (Unity Instance Server) — External Python process
- UIC (Unity Instance Client) — C# component inside Unity
- UAB (Unity API Bridge) — Command executor inside Unity
Green = healthy, Yellow = starting, Red = offline. All three should be green when GameCatalyst is running.
The Settings tab in detail:
The Settings tab has five sub-tabs accessed through a sidebar: General (operation mode), Communication (server host and port settings), AI (workspace intelligence and autonomy controls), Tool Permissions (per-command enable/disable toggles), and Advanced (debug logging, database management, config access, and roundtrip timing diagnostics). Most users only need Tool Permissions regularly — the other settings have sensible defaults.
The Support tab:
The Support tab lets you link your Vexstorm account for enhanced features. Once linked, you can submit support tickets directly from Unity with auto-populated account information. You receive confirmation emails for every ticket submitted. Account linking is optional — GameCatalyst works fully without it.
Learning the Dashboard:
You do not need to learn every tab immediately. Start with Controls (Install and Start), then check Status to verify your servers are healthy. Explore Settings when you want to customize permissions or behavior. The Dashboard is designed to be intuitive — each tab focuses on one responsibility, and the Progress Bar at the top always tells you the overall system state at a glance.
