How to play privately while using SOS?

[Phyore]

Let's say I want to play with just another person and then fill the other 2 player slots with npcs, but as soon as I fire the SOS, floods of players try to join and of course the password gets disabled by the SOS, so I can only check the option to make every external player to wait for my approval before joining. But doing this, I get a nonstop log of notifications of new players trying to join mid hunt and it's pretty distracting. The private lobby doesn't seem to work that way, is there any setting to do this?

[Roland]

If you're just trying to get 1 random player via SOS you can't.

If the second player is not random and is a friend of yours, stop using SOS.

The only way you could SOS and only get 1 other person is if you stick to quests that only allow for 2 players.

[Phyore]

Originally posted by Roland:

If you're just trying to get 1 random player via SOS you can't.

If the second player is not random and is a friend of yours, stop using SOS.

The only way you could SOS and only get 1 other person is if you stick to quests that only allow for 2 players.

well of course I can stop using the SOS, but I want to call the npcs. The second player is not a random, but I just can't set a room to have only that person+2 npcs, if I make it "2 hunters only" there can't be npcs, right?

[TTV/imperfect_rain]

quest counter -> post/join -> settings -> set max members to 2

Unsure if that allows more than 1 NPC to join, might just be you and the sos responder, but will limit the amount of real people in your quest so might be more fun.

[SapphireSage]

When in the quest menu with Alma, there's an option at the top labeled "Settings". You should be able to set the SOS flares to "Support Hunters Only" from there.

[Roland]

Originally posted by Phyore:

Originally posted by Roland:

If you're just trying to get 1 random player via SOS you can't.

If the second player is not random and is a friend of yours, stop using SOS.

The only way you could SOS and only get 1 other person is if you stick to quests that only allow for 2 players.

well of course I can stop using the SOS, but I want to call the npcs. The second player is not a random, but I just can't set a room to have only that person+2 npcs, if I make it "2 hunters only" there can't be npcs, right?

The SOS is literally only there to open the room to the public and initiate matchmaking.
It could just as easily be called "matchmaking flare"

I've never played with the NPCs outside of specific side quests, so I can't tell you how they work, but I can tell you that the SOS flare's whole purpose is to begin a matchmaking process.

[TTV/imperfect_rain]

Originally posted by Roland:

Originally posted by Phyore:

well of course I can stop using the SOS, but I want to call the npcs. The second player is not a random, but I just can't set a room to have only that person+2 npcs, if I make it "2 hunters only" there can't be npcs, right?

The SOS is literally only there to open the room to the public and initiate matchmaking.
It could just as easily be called "matchmaking flare"

I've never played with the NPCs outside of specific side quests, so I can't tell you how they work, but I can tell you that the SOS flare's whole purpose is to begin a matchmaking process.

u can set the SOS to be NPCs only if u really want. I have it set to that rn so I have more control over hunts, but it still is there if I don't feel like I can solo. I open my lobbies up when I have a really good investigation or if I want the full multiplayer chaos

[Sunrie]

You have to play offline. You'll have to disable your network connection through Steam

[Phyore]

none of this helps, I want to play with another human player, not a random, I can't go offline, I can't put it in npcs only and I can't put the players to a maximum of 2 players ( just tested that). I suppose it's just not possible.

[Sunrie]

Originally posted by Phyore:

none of this helps, I want to play with another human player, not a random, I can't go offline, I can't put it in npcs only and I can't put the players to a maximum of 2 players ( just tested that). I suppose it's just not possible.

I'm sorry. I misunderstood what you want. No, for SOS you cannot limit who joins. SOS means "everyone come running".

You can protect the hunt you're on from people just session joining, but SOS is an "all deals are off" thing.

[Fluffy Monster Thing]

Originally posted by Sunrie:

Originally posted by Phyore:

none of this helps, I want to play with another human player, not a random, I can't go offline, I can't put it in npcs only and I can't put the players to a maximum of 2 players ( just tested that). I suppose it's just not possible.

I'm sorry. I misunderstood what you want. No, for SOS you cannot limit who joins. SOS means "everyone come running".

You can protect the hunt you're on from people just session joining, but SOS is an "all deals are off" thing.

You can limit it to Support Hunters Only in the sos flare settings menu.

[SapphireSage]

If you want to play quests with your friends, you'll want to make a Link Party, which allows them to join quests from a separate menu. Link party members are automatically given quest invites when one is started. You can then add in an Environment Link if you want to roam around the Wilds together. With those you'll be able to have your friend join your quests first, and then you can fire the SOS flare after for the support hunters if your settings were set as described earlier.

[Phyore]

Originally posted by SapphireSage:

If you want to play quests with your friends, you'll want to make a Link Party, which allows them to join quests from a separate menu. Link party members are automatically given quest invites when one is started. You can then add in an Environment Link if you want to roam around the Wilds together. With those you'll be able to have your friend join your quests first, and then you can fire the SOS flare after for the support hunters if your settings were set as described earlier.

and with this, people outside of the link party won't be able to join? I doubt that.

[Sunrie]

Got this from the AI:

Change SOS Settings
To change SOS settings in Monster Hunter Wilds, you can customize the SOS Flare settings by talking to Alma at your base camp. You can set a password, limit the number of participants, and choose whether to allow only players or include support hunters (AI companions) in your SOS Flare request.

To specifically change the settings to allow only real players or to include support hunters, follow these steps:

Go to the "Post/Join Quest" page either at Alma or your tent.
Select the "Settings" option at the top.
Change the Multiplayer Settings to "Only Players" if you want to play with real people, or keep it as "Support Hunters" if you want to include AI companions.
Additionally, you can configure the SOS Flare settings to automatically send a flare when a hunt starts by talking to Alma and bringing up the quest menu, where there's a toggle to enable automatic SOS flares.

If you want to use the SOS Flare during a hunt, you can press L1/LB on your controller and tilt the right joystick down to activate it. You can also customize the appearance of the radial menu and the position of the SOS Flare option according to your preference.

Remember, players on PS5 and Xbox consoles need an online subscription to invite random players upon sending an SOS Flare.

[Jovial]

If you want to play with one other friend and have the other two slots be npcs, then you'll need to be in a private lobby and then be in a link party with your friend. Your friend (once they're in your link party) can join you through Alma by going to post/join quest -> link party quests. Once they join, you can fire your sos flare for the npcs, but you need to have your sos settings set to "support hunters only" as other posts have described. With this setup, randoms can't join you (since you're in a private lobby) and you can still have npcs along with your friend.

One important thing to note is that if you are in an "environment link" with your friend, you will no longer be able to post quests with each other. If you don't intend to farm monsters on the map, it's better to only be in the link party and nothing more.

[Roland]

Originally posted by TTV/imperfect_rain:

Originally posted by Roland:

The SOS is literally only there to open the room to the public and initiate matchmaking.
It could just as easily be called "matchmaking flare"

I've never played with the NPCs outside of specific side quests, so I can't tell you how they work, but I can tell you that the SOS flare's whole purpose is to begin a matchmaking process.

u can set the SOS to be NPCs only if u really want. I have it set to that rn so I have more control over hunts, but it still is there if I don't feel like I can solo. I open my lobbies up when I have a really good investigation or if I want the full multiplayer chaos

Ah, well that's new.
I guess it's nice to see the flare become more than just a "matchmaking button" like it's been up until now.

I've been soloing with IG all game and only just dipped my toes in multiplayer yesterday when a friend wanted to join me and kept using flares.
I'm finding I kinda prefer solo as an IG user because the new focus move IG has that breaks wounds (idk the name of it) gives all 3 extracts immediately. So if my extracts are about to run out I just gotta leave a wound ready to be stabbed when they end; this is much harder to do in multiplayer because nobody leaves any wounds for more than a few seconds.