Can't join / invite a private online game

[Dwhyte]

I've bought one copy of the game for my son, and have tried out the solo free play on my own. If I could try out the private online play I'd probably buy a second copy so that we could play after the free weekend, but I can't get the "invite" or "join" options to work. I've read through some threads here and tried the "-internalid XXXX" command-line option, and having one of the two players start the game through Steam's "Join Game" option. I also checked the game manual but it's useless for details on getting it set up. Is there a step-by-step guide for setting up and connecting to a private online game?

[IceBlade]

It's a bug that has persisted over to the release due to a new Steam build. A workaround to try is to join via the Steam profile Page.

[GreenSwede]

Have you portforwarded the Steam ports on both computers? Doing so is probably recommended.

https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=8571-GLVN-8711

If that wont help, be sure that your windows firewall is not blocking the game. I have been able to join private matches just fine, I can also invite others.

[RykerrK]

And keep in mind the join isn't instantaneous; I had a friend I was inviting to my game and she didn't actually join after the invite for about sixty seconds.

[Dwhyte]

Originally posted by IceBlade:

It's a bug that has persisted over to the release due to a new Steam build. A workaround to try is to join via the Steam profile Page.

This worked. I'd tried joining from the Steam Friends list, and while that put me in the game it didn't get me into the lobby. Before Joining from the Profile page, I also removed the "-internalid XXXX" start option that I'd put in from another thread, so that may have helped too -- I'll try the Join from Friends list again and see if the command option had been causing the problem.

Either way, I could never get it to work when just starting the game on both PCs, so thanks a lot for this.

[Dwhyte]

Originally posted by Green Giant:

Have you portforwarded the Steam ports on both computers? Doing so is probably recommended.

https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=8571-GLVN-8711

If that wont help, be sure that your windows firewall is not blocking the game. I have been able to join private matches just fine, I can also invite others.

Ports and firewall were set up okay (by coincidence; I didn't do anything specific); both PCs could see other players in the Matchmaker option, they just couldn't see each other. Thanks for taking the time for the suggestion, though.

[LionOfJudah]

Originally posted by Dwhyte:

Originally posted by IceBlade:

It's a bug that has persisted over to the release due to a new Steam build. A workaround to try is to join via the Steam profile Page.

This worked. I'd tried joining from the Steam Friends list, and while that put me in the game it didn't get me into the lobby. Before Joining from the Profile page, I also removed the "-internalid XXXX" start option that I'd put in from another thread, so that may have helped too -- I'll try the Join from Friends list again and see if the command option had been causing the problem.

Either way, I could never get it to work when just starting the game on both PCs, so thanks a lot for this.

This might sound really stupid but can you please explain how to do this workaround joining from friends list? Does the friend have to host the game or me? Please give detailed instructions for both of us the hoster and the joiner, thanks.

[IceBlade]

Hoster: Create online custom game, wait in lobby
Joiner: Open Friends overlay ingame (shift+tab), right click on hoster, click View Profile, and then in the resulting browser window, click the Join Game button.

[Top Guy]

how did sega ♥♥♥♥ this up?