Co-op "connection timeout" everytime my friend tries to join

[Oskies]

Hi,
I've been looking for a solution to my problem but impossible to find one.

I started a co-op game with a friend and he was able to join the first time. The next time we tried to continue our game and he tried to join, he got the "connection timeout" everytime he tried.
We found out that deleting his player in the multiplayer folder and starting with a new character, then he is able to join the server. But this is pointless as, obviously, all the character's experience on previous games is deleted aswell.

We tried once being he the one who create the server, but he got connection timeout as soon as he starts a new co-op game. Which is much weirder.

Anyone has solved this problem?

[Beard]

Do you have any mods enabled on the server? They can sometimes cause similar issues with the characters.

[Oskies]

Thanks for your reply.

No mods at all. Everything is vanilla for both of us.

[Beard]

Are either of you forcefully closing the game or the server? That means either using Alt+F4 to close the game or just closing the window instead of going to the ESC menu and clicking Quit

[Oskies]

None of us has forced the game to close one single time. In fact I always wait him to leave the coop server before I do, just in case a file could get corrupted or something.

[Beard]

Originally posted by Oskies:

None of us has forced the game to close one single time. In fact I always wait him to leave the coop server before I do, just in case a file could get corrupted or something.

Hmm, have you tried connecting multiple times to the server? Without creating a new character, it might just be blocking the first connection for some reason.

Also, do either of you have any antivirus software? They might be blocking the connection as well.

[Oskies]

Yes, obviously he tried to connect several times, also creating new games with different options. None worked and we tried until we found the "solution" deleting the character.
The antivirus is not blocking any connection, as if it was the case, deleting the character wouldn't solve the problem.

[Beard]

Originally posted by Oskies:

Yes, obviously he tried to connect several times, also creating new games with different options. None worked and we tried until we found the "solution" deleting the character.
The antivirus is not blocking any connection, as if it was the case, deleting the character wouldn't solve the problem.

In that case, can both of you go to "C:\Users\YourUserName\Zomboid" and share the logs.zip file found there? You can then upload and share it to a file sharing website of your choice and then share it here. This way we can check the game logs to see if there is anything wrong there.

[Oskies]

Alright, there you go both log.zip files.

We just tried again with the same error. (The latest server we tried is called TESTBERLO).
Let me know as soon as you got the link so I'll delete it later.
Thanks for your help, mate.

[Beard]

I got the logs, thanks.
I didnt find anything wrong on your side, but in your friends log he seems to get a TON of errors when he joins your server, which isnt good and can definitely corrupt a save, which again could make the connection blocked like this.

I would recommend that both of you verify your game files just to be safe.
Steam Library > Right click Project Zomboid > Properties > Local Files > Verify Local Files

After that try joining the server again, and if there are any issues again have you friend share the console log right away, since the logs get reset each time the game is launched, there were mostly singleplayer playthroughs in the logs so I couldnt find much info on the server logs.

Go to C:\Users\YourUserName\Zomboid
Open the console.txt
Copy everything from there to https://controlc.com/
Click “Submit”
Share the given link to the ControlC paste here.

This way I can check whether the same errors happen if he fails to connect or if they keep happening even after verifying your files.

[Oskies]

Do you want the Console.txt or you mean the Coop-Console.txt ?

I'll ask him tomorrow to do that. But I just copied mine (coop-console.txt) where you can see already the connection lost error.

https://controlc.com/2bc2a0be

[Beard]

Originally posted by Oskies:

Do you want the Console.txt or you mean the Coop-Console.txt ?

I'll ask him tomorrow to do that. But I just copied mine (coop-console.txt) where you can see already the connection lost error.

https://controlc.com/2bc2a0be

I would need the console.txt from him. The coop console is only used when you are the host. And that connection lost error is just a standard error so it doesn't tell me much unfortunately.

[Oskies]

Alright, so we just tried again joining on the game after veryfing the local files. Same error.

I send you then HIS Coop-Console.txt, because as I told you, we tried once to make him host the server and we were able to play for one session. After that, he wasn't unable to host the game anymore (not even creating a new fresh game being a host).
Just in case it could help to find the error.

https://controlc.com/35aa83df

And this is his Console.txt that he copied right after getting the error and closing the game.

https://controlc.com/49e795c3

Thanks again for your patience, mate.

[Oskies]

Just to let you know, we have been trying to play several times after my last message. He tried being the host again. Not one single time worked, this time didn't work not even deleting the multiplayer files. :/

Everytime after he creates the character (being me or being he the host) he gets the "connection timeout" or "waiting the server to respond".

I don't know if the message in the picture below is normal, but he gets this message after accepting my invites on steam.
https://gyazo.com/4553758964baf94db673c279d37ac97c
Translation: "PZ is trying to initiate with the following optional parameters"

[Beard]

Hmm, can I ask whether this was after making a new character or if you still used the old character that wasnt allowed to join?
My theory was that whatever error happens it corrupts the actual character which then doesnt allow you to join. So unfortunately nothing shows up on this character, I hoped there would be some error when joining but there wasnt anything. Could you try joining the game with a new character and then share the log? And did the file verification show up any missing files?

[Oskies]

No missing files for any of us.

We have tried everything, with a new fresh game and new characters, old game without deleting the multiplayer folder's files, being me the host, being him and so on. He even tried joining random multiplayer servers and he got the "server didn't respond" error.

I've never been able to join to his server today, as he got the timeout after creating the character on his own server.

The console log I sent you was after joining an old game with a new character.