Stuck in LAN/Local Only

[tobbiegurl385]

My friend got me this game to celebrate getting my first PC but we haven't been able to play it together yet. Every time I try to select Friends Only in the social settings I get a network error message "This feature requires all active players to be connected to Gearbox Software SHiFT" and the game stays in LAN Play. The only thing I can switch to is Local.

I haven't been able to find a solution anywhere. My internet connection is solid, the game is allowed through my firewall, and I do have the game connected to my SHiFT account (I had one from when I played BL2 on my old Mac).

So far I have tried:

    
• Restarting the game, steam, and my PC
      
• Resetting my internet
      
• Starting the game solo and playing through chapter 3 (idk, sometimes games don't let you play with others until you get to a certain point in the game alone but no luck so far. Knew it was a long shot but I'll try anything I can think of at this point.)
  
• Connecting my SHiFT account to my Epic Account

I've seen several others who seem to be having the same issue but none that have had a solution for it yet, with posts as recent as early 2023. Just curious if anyone has figured this out or has any suggestions for it.

(Having the same problem with Tiny Tina's Wonderlands so I'm hoping it's a me problem because then I can actually do something about it.)

Thanks in advance!

[vee-kay]

Are you and friends playing via Steam?
Did you guys link your Steam account to Gearbox Shift account (create it if not done so already)?
If you did these actions, then the game ought to allow online play as Friends.

[tobbiegurl385]

Yes, I go to the Gearbox SHiFT website and it says Steam is linked.

[vee-kay]

Originally posted by tobbiegurl385:

Yes, I go to the Gearbox SHiFT website and it says Steam is linked.

What about your friends? Do they have their Steam account linked to their Gearbox SHIFT account?

What happens if only 2 or 3 of your gang try to play this game together? Problem might with the game setup or account for one or more of your friends. All of you need to check these basic dependencies.

[tobbiegurl385]

They are also connected but that doesn't seem to be the issue because I can't even connect to Public or to Invite Only.

[tobbiegurl385]

I know I'm connected to SHiFT because I just used my SHiFT account to redeem 3 golden keys and I was able to get them in my mailbox. So I'm not sure what the issue is.

[vee-kay]

Hope this helps..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qne-6BKebgo

[tobbiegurl385]

I guess I can wait a bit and see if that's the issue but I have had steam connected to my shift account for years so I don't know why that would be the issue. I will update after 24 hours and see if anything changes.

[vee-kay]

It is not a Gearbox/Shift issue. Did you do all the steps listed in that video I linked?
Are you able to play online via matchmaking?

[tobbiegurl385]

I followed the instructions in the video. It did not work (right away, maybe this is what fixed it but it took a bit? Idk.) I decided to redownload Borderlands 2 so we could at least play that again. It finished but my friend wasn't ready yet so I decided to play some Borderlands 3 solo for a bit. For the heck of it I tried turning it to Friends Only one last time. It worked. I can now get online.

[vee-kay]

Glad to know it works for you and friends now. Happy shlooting!

[nelkon]

so i tried linking to my epic games account but it isn't linking. do I just have to wait?

[tobbiegurl385]

I believe so. That's what ended up working for me.

[nelkon]

ok

[nelkon]

sry to bother but about how long did you wait

[Junipercat]

Originally posted by nelkon:

so i tried linking to my epic games account but it isn't linking. do I just have to wait?

Just remember Steam and Epic are not the same account. Link to the version you have.