Multiplayer not working

[gadzoo]

I've searched high and low and can't find an answer. Can't get my friend to join me. Can't see any option for entering any lobby. I do see my friend in my Steam friends list and have added him as a friend in game but he only shows up in my Steam list. I do get an option to invite him to game by hitting the "E" key, but nothing happens.
I also don't see any "direct connect" option.
Any help is appreciated.

[Dirak2012]

Are you selecting the Multiplayer option at the start?

[electricphoenix]

also check through your network options - make sure multiplayer is enabled, friends can join, etc

[electricphoenix]

also your friend should check their network options too

[Cailet Noire]

My husband and I go through this quite often. all I can do is tell you how we do it.
Go to Options and click on network
right hand side: View No Mans Sky Friends List
Hover over the name and hit E
(Then steam dialogue box pops up with an invite button, push)
RIGHT AFTER have your friend hit shift+tab to accept

Hope this helps

[gadzoo]

I've done everything except having my friend hit shift/tab to accept. I'll try that tonight and report back.
Thanks for the replies.

[gadzoo]

Not working. HELP. This is really ridiculous

[gadzoo]

Bump....Anyone??

[Aleema143]

I've heard this is broken/bugged since saturday.

[tkwoods]

Originally posted by Aleema143:

I've heard this is broken/bugged since saturday.

Servers appear to be bogged down. Until they free up I doubt there is any way around the issue.

[gadzoo]

I did load an old save and went to the Nexus and did see people there, so it does seem to be something else. But there is nothing showing to join anywhere in the game options.

[SaD-82]

This can and will happen when there is no connection to the online discovery server. Atm those servers aren't responding. No community mission at the Nexus, no daily base quest by the overseer/farmer/scientist and, I am pretty sure, no recognizing of the discoveries aswell, as it happened in the past.

In fact, those things happen after each big update when there is a spike of new players clogging up the servers. Give it some days/weeks and it should work fine again.

[Mandrake]

Usually it will free up on Monday after the clamour calms down. Also, the just patched a ton of stuff which I think they honestly take the discovery server offline for 48 hours to let everything catch back up. It seems pretty consistent that it happens that way.
Go to your 'Discoveries' menu, at the bottom it will day Discovery Services Online/Offline with a Green or not indicator.
If it's online, you can make sure your Network is set to Multiplayer, and you should be good to go.

[Griz]

I have this issue as well, and ONLY when trying to play with my wife (and I've tried everything listed above in this thread). This problem seems to be a persistent issue with this game dating back to 2018. I find it ridiculous that they have seen this issue repeat over the years yet they seem to have taken no steps towards fixing or even ameliorating the issue.

My wife and I JUST bought this game with the most recent Steam Sale as a game we could play together, yet it seems she is the ONLY person on my friends list I cannot see.

Wanna talk frustrating?

[Kazuma]

Discovery Services don't have anything to do with joining multiplayer game.

Matchmaking services do.

Today still the former is down while the latter was up all along.

How to play NMS multiplayer using Steam (the most straightforward steps)

1. The host launches their game
   
2. The host chooses Multiplayer to the right.
   
3. The host chooses 'Host a new session' and either loads their previous save or creates a new game, if both parties want to play together fromm the beginning
   
4. Upon loading the game, the host opens Settings, goes to Network, then Show No Man's Sky Friend list
   
5. The host finds their friend on the list and taps 'E' key. A Steam Friends popup appears with an Invite button, which then the host presses.
   
6. At this point the joining client can start their game without even reacting to the Steam info about being invited to the game, choose Multiplayer to the right and they should see the session of their inviting host, which they can join.
   
7. Upon joining, two things can happen - if the client already has a save of the same mode the host started, they are presented with a choice to select this save or create a new one. If there's no save, client will not even see that window, game will default to starting a new game in given mode.

If you see nothing after tapping 'E', then you must have Steam Overlay disabled for this game. You can't invite a Steam friend without Steam Overlay.

I tried it now just to confirm I could while DS is still down and I succeeded. Wish you luck.

[Liralen]

Pretty much what Kazuma said. However, I can join my husband's game even if he's playing a single player game now, after going through the hoops.

I do have to select the multiplayer option to be able to do so, then choose a save file to join him.

However, as a practical matter, there usually isn't much point. There is nothing in NMS that can't be soloed, although we do it every now and then just for fun. He's more of an explorer, combat type while I'm more of a builder type, so we kind of fit the gender stereotypes.

He helped me out when I needed whispering eggs, which requires some tactical expertise to do so safely, which when you learn how to do, can also be soloed. I help him out by giving him stasis devices and fusion igniters (which I learned the hard way, before you could buy the plans to make them), which sell for a lot of money.

But yeah, when playing new toons (aka "saves" in NMS parlance") it can be helpful if both of you specialize in different things, at first. By the end game, you will have learned everything, so after that, co-op is just for fun.