# Overview

The party system in Kronos allows players to form groups and join games together.

## Using Parties

Parties can be hosted directly in the main menu. The player who creates the party will become the party host. Other players will be able to connect to the party by accepting a party invite, or by finding the party through other means (e.g. searching for non private parties) and joining it directly. When the party host is joining a session, party clients will automatically follow the host into the session.

## Party Classes

Parties are implemented using [**Online Beacons**](https://dev.epicgames.com/documentation/en-us/unreal-engine/using-online-beacons-in-unreal-engine). Here is an overview of all the different party classes.

<table><thead><tr><th width="282">Class</th><th>Description</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td><code>KronosPartyListener</code></td><td>Beacon listening for client connections. This is essentially the server that other players connect to. Only exists on the server.</td></tr><tr><td><code>KronosPartyHost</code></td><td>Beacon that handles party client connections. Similar to the <code>GameMode</code> in the Unreal game framework. Only exists on the server.</td></tr><tr><td><code>KronosPartyClient</code></td><td>Beacon that connects to the remote host. It represents a player in a party. Similar to the <code>PlayerController</code> in the Unreal game framework. Exists on both the server and the client.</td></tr><tr><td><code>KronosPartyState</code></td><td>Shared state of the party. Similar to the <code>GameState</code> in the Unreal game framework. Exists on both the server and the client.</td></tr><tr><td><code>KronosPartyPlayerState</code></td><td>Lightweight representation of a player while connected to a party. Similar to the <code>PlayerState</code> in the Unreal game framework. Exists on both the server and the client.</td></tr><tr><td><code>KronosPartyPlayerActor</code></td><td>An actor that visually represents a party member in the game world. Not replicated as they are always created locally by the server and clients.</td></tr></tbody></table>

## Limitations

Parties are created on the hosting player's machine locally. They do not exist on a backend service. Due to this and due to the nature of `OnlineBeacons`:

{% hint style="danger" %}
Parties are disbanded when initiating a map change.
{% endhint %}

As of version 1.9.0, party reconnection is supported by the plugin! Although parties are still going to be disbanded, it is now possible to recreate and reconnect parties after returning to the main menu. For more information please visit the [**Reconnect Parties**](/kronos-matchmaking/advanced/reconnect-parties.md) page of the documentation.


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