Question about local co-op mode

[wuw134.credit]

Hello,
My son and I are huge fans of beat'em up games, having spent many delightful hours together on games like Castle Crashers. My son is also a big fan of Minecraft and had a blast playing Minecraft Dungeons at Dave & Buster's. Inspired by this, I figured Minecraft Dungeons would be an ideal choice for our next co-op adventure, so I went ahead and purchased the game on Steam.

Unfortunately, we've hit a snag with setting up the offline co-op game mode. We have four joysticks at home (two Xbox, one MSI, and one Logitech) that work flawlessly for single-player mode in Minecraft Dungeons as well as other co-op games on Steam. However, despite my best efforts, I can't seem to figure out how to get the game to recognize the additional joysticks to add a second local player. The LS and all of the other buttons on the second joystick did not work on the main menu (campfire or camp in the game). I even attempted to use a tool called KeyboardSplitterXbox from GitHub, hoping it would allow us to play co-op using a combination of keyboard/mouse and a joystick. Sadly, that didn't work either.

From what I've gathered, this might be a bug within the game, but after several hours of searching, I haven't been able to find a viable solution. It's becoming quite frustrating. Would anyone be kind enough to offer some advice or guidance on how to resolve this issue? Any help or direction would be greatly appreciated. Thank you so much in advance for your time and assistance!

[IrishSpock2230]

It should work without an issue. Especially with 2 Xbox controllers. Start the game with your main controller, when you're at camp (or the first level before the camp if you haven't played the game yet), press the 'view button' on the main Xbox controller and the press in the left stick on the second one to join in. As I have never tried to play co-op before I had a camp, I don't know if it maybe just doesn't work in the tutorial level (Squid Coast).
I have 365 hrs in the game on Xbox and know it better than I know myself.
So if there's a question feel free to ask.

[IrishSpock2230]

Maybe I should have read it more properly before responding.
It is incredibly weird that pressing in LS doesn't work.

[IrishSpock2230]

I'll check now if I can do co-op locally. Maybe if we both have the same issue, it's a problem with the port. I can ask some of my Minecraft friends if they have experienced the same thing before.
I have my own issues with the game right now. I was looking forward to finishing 100% of the achievements here on Steam as well but the second I opened the game, it just loaded up my save from the MS PC version and I unlocked all of the 104 achievements from my Xbox account in 5 minutes. Which is apparently a bug too from what I've just read, that comes up when you have your Xbox profile linked with Steam.
Maybe this version is just full of bugs? With the state of PC games these days, that wouldn't be surprising.

[wuw134.credit]

Hi IrishSpock2230,

Thank you so much for your support; it truly means a lot to me and my son. We're in a bit of a peculiar situation here. I've tried virtually every solution out there and even went as far as purchasing a new Xbox controller yesterday. Interestingly, all of my Xbox controllers work perfectly fine in single-player mode. The issue arises when attempting to add a second player – it's as if once the game recognizes the first joystick, it sort of locks in and fails to detect any additional joysticks.

Your assistance has been invaluable, and I can't thank you enough. My son is eager to join in on the fun, and this bug is turning out to be quite a nuisance. If you have any more advice or if anyone else has encountered and overcome this issue, I'd greatly appreciate hearing from you.

Thanks again for everything!

[IrishSpock2230]

Of course, you're very welcome.

I tried local co-op earlier, it worked with two Xbox controllers (one Elite and a normal one).
This is a very freaky bug from what I've heard.
None of the friends that messaged me back have ever experienced it, not on Xbox/PC via MS or Steam.
Have you tried uninstalling the game? Or maybe launching it in a different mode via Steam or your PC?

So, you are past the Squid Coast and set up camp? I've only ever started co-op from the camp, so maybe that could be it?

I can imagine, I've played the game with my nephews before and it's one of the only games my husband enjoys; it's a ton of fun.
I hope you two can experience it together soon.

[IrishSpock2230]

Are your controllers plugged in or are you using them without cables? I always plug them in on PC. Maybe that has something to do with it?

Edit:
I also just found out (although I can't 100% confirm as only one person told me) that if your Xbox/MS account is linked with Steam, it causes all kinds of issues because of cross-play and MCD is a cross-play enabled game.
If your accounts are linked, maybe that's it. For me it just unlocked all of the 104 achievements I had earned on Xbox and for you it causes an issue with co-op?
I have Steam games show up in my Xbox' recently played or achievement lists all the time and can't delete them like with MS PC games or Xbox games, so the two platforms certainly seem to effect each other.

[wuw134.credit]

Hi IrishSpock2230,

Thanks a ton for your help earlier! I wanted to share a quick update on our situation. After spending several hours in a frustrating cycle of trial and error, I finally figured out what "press the LS button" means on my Xbox joysticks. It turns out you actually have to press or click the left stick itself, rather than just pushing it in a direction like moving a character down in the game. I never realized the Left Stick could be used as a clickable button; I always thought it was just for directional input!

Once I got that figured out, my son and I were able to dive into our Minecraft Dungeons adventure and play local-op together. It's been fantastic, although we've hit a new snag – the game crashes quite frequently. But other than that, everything is great.

Thanks again for all your support. It's really made a difference, and I truly appreciate it. I hope your Minecraft Dungeons issues have been resolved as well. Here's to many more gaming adventures!

Best regards.
WUW

[IrishSpock2230]

Hi WUW,

maybe I should have mentioned what pressing in the Left Stick means. :D

I am glad you two are finally able to enjoy the game together and are having fun!

What kind of crashes? When you're in the midst of combat and there's a lot on the screen, for instance? MCD might not look it at first glance but it can be quite a bane on your system. I started playing on my old PC in 2020 and the Xbox One, where it would frequently crash and look like you opened your eyes underwater sometimes. I never had any issues on Series X or my new PC.
What are your specs?
Maybe go into settings and play around with the Resolution and Graphics settings until it stops crashing. Setting your FPS limit to 30 and Particles/Shadows low should also help. You can also turn on an FPS Counter in-game, it can tell you a lot about the performance as well. After you turned the counter on, go to the practice dummy at Camp, hit it a bunch of times and observe what the FPS counter does, it's a good test. Of course loading in a level with a lot of mobs is an even better one but it's easier to observe without distractions.

If your PC can usually handle games like this, the crashes would really be weird, as I don't know anyone who's ever had frequent crashes on PC.

I'm happy to help!

Unfortunately, my issue is unsolvable. Once the linked account has done it's deed, you can delete everything in game but the achievements remain. I asked, you can only 'give back' achievements if you were hacked. Apparently this is a 'feature' of cross-play. Very annoying but I've been able to enjoy the game with my family again and we started a new save file. Just a shame about the achievements, as I enjoy achievement hunting in my favourite games a lot.

To many more gaming adventures indeed!

I've been falling down the Elder Scrolls rabbit hole again recently, as I'm on sabbatical but no one else has time off work right now, that's all I've been doing.
I've loved this series since the late 90s and it's never let me go.

Kind regards,
Lara