SurrounDead Online - Public Technical Alpha v0.7.1 (Local Saves + Disconnect Cleanup)

IMPORTANT: Extract the COMPLETE ZIP before running the launcher. Do not run the EXE from inside the ZIP and do not send only the EXE. The Payload and StarterSave folders are required.

1. Own and install SurrounDead through Steam.
2. Extract SurrounDeadOnline-Technical-Alpha.zip to a normal folder.
3. Run SurrounDeadOnlineLauncher.exe.
4. Choose a display name and click PLAY ONLINE.
5. Accept the administrator prompt the first time the mod installs.
6. Save and exit through SurrounDead normally.
7. The next time you click PLAY ONLINE, the launcher leaves that local save untouched and automatically loads it into the online session.

LOCAL SAVE MODE IN v0.7.1:
- There is no VPS character-profile download or upload.
- A valid local SurrounDead character is never replaced during launch, repair, or update.
- The starter profile is installed only when the PC has no usable SurrounDead .sav file.
- Position, inventory, equipment, and progression persist only when SurrounDead writes them to its normal local save.
- The local save folder is: %LOCALAPPDATA%\SurrounDead\Saved\SaveGames
- Progress follows the same Windows account/PC unless Steam Cloud successfully transfers the save.

DEFENDER-FRIENDLY PLAYER PACKAGE:
- DLLs and mod files are transparent files, not hidden inside a self-extracting launcher.
- Every release file is checked against release-manifest.sha256 before installation.
- The relay bridge is a normal managed EXE compiled from Source\Bridge.cs.
- No PowerShell, BAT, CMD, VBS, or JS script is shipped to players.

Player movement/appearance are synchronized; world zombies, loot, combat and deaths are not yet fully server-authoritative.

Launcher logs and configuration:
  %LOCALAPPDATA%\SurrounDeadOnline

No unsigned UE4SS-based mod can be guaranteed to avoid every antivirus false positive. Authenticode-signing the launcher and submitting the exact release to Microsoft Defender are the final public-release steps.
