[FIXED] i can host but not join games. nothing happens when i accept an invite

[Izzy]

(the solution is by the end, so you can skip to it)

First of all, this is a problem i'm having for a few months if not a year already.
I've tried all "solutions" from the faq and none of them worked. i've tried OTHER solutions found in other sites, and none of them solved the problem. I've already sent a ticket to steam, and their reply was way less than pleasant to hear.

so here is the issue....

I can host steam remote play together games, but i cannot join session of ANY friend on ANY games, including games i can host.

they invite me, i click to join, my steam status say i'm playing the game (name change to green), for less than 1 second, and NOTHING happens.

I've tried EVERY solution on the internet, but they address different problems:
- they address problems with "remote play" (that i found out is a TOTALLY DIFFERENT THING than "remote play together".)
- they address problems with connection. i'm not having those. my problem is the game won't launch.
- before the last update, when remote play opened a voice call with it, i only had the option to "watch stream" while everyone else invited could play. But i can host the same games just fine and invite everyone else.

i don't know how to make the problem clearer, i'll try again:
- friend host a game
- friend invite me
- i accept the invite
- my status change from blue (online) to green (playing *invited game name*) for less than 1 second.
- nothing else happens. no error message, no crash sound, no black screen, no connection failure. simply, nothing happens, and my name goes back to blue (online).
- this issue happens on EVERYTHING that have remote play together.

things i've tried so far:
- enabling/disabling beta version of steam;
- enabling/disabling hardware encoding, on both client and host, on both mine and friend configs;
- enabling/disabling ipv6;
- loggin in with a different user, both on pc and on steam;
- reinstalling steam, as much as i've avoided this solution as it's a giant hassle to reinstall all the games again;

nothing changed. i can host, but not join others.
and i probably already tried other solutions that i don't remember.

steam support can't do anything about it, by stating: "Due to the number of unique machine configurations, network setups, firewall settings, and various software configurations, we don't provide in-depth technical support for Remote Play Together."

-- as a side note, i can play with these same friends, using a third party program called Parsec. So the reply i got from support is just them being lazy to find a real solution. if it was a problem with config/network setup/firewall, Parsec would be having the same issues.

I need help to at least know WHY my steam remote play (client side) doesn't work.
PS.: i've once played games via remote play with others, but i'm not sure if it was on this or my older pc.

=====================
What worked for me:
*** WARNING: EDIT REGISTRY CAN MESS UP YOUR COMPUTER. DON'T DO IT IF YOU ARE NOT SURE. DO IT AT YOUR OWN RISK ***
- when i fixed the problem, i had another problem with starbound not launching, with an error about SDL2 and dsound.
- I went to registry and DELETED any SDL_AUDIODRIVER entries (there were 2 of them in totally different places)
- note that i had to DELETE them. It didn't worked for me to change the value from dsound to directsound / pulse/ 0 / leaving it blank.

Deleting these entries fixed many things for me.
I was ble to launch starbound, i was able to use some emulators, and it somehow fixed remote play together.

*** WARNING: EDIT REGISTRY CAN MESS UP YOUR COMPUTER. DON'T DO IT IF YOU ARE NOT SURE. DO IT AT YOUR OWN RISK ***

(let me mention that the computer i had the problem was stolen from me last year and i cannot reproduce it or take screenshots.)

[76561199047058571]

okay

[Izzy]

bumping this because steam support expect the community to solve their problems and i expect to be able to use remote play together.

[Jamal, O]

My friend has the same issue, exactly the way you described here. We also tried everything that you said.

[OMilas]

A friend of mine is having same problem. Tried everything.

[CORITIBA FC]

i'm having this problem to

[master chang]

- my status change from blue (online) to green (playing *invited game name*) for less than 1 second.

same here. remote play was working fine just the other week

[Marronii]

I have the exact opposite as problem.
I can join any friend, but every friend who tries to join me is stuck in the loading screen.

[Lesandwish]

Same here, tried all you said + to change the version of Windows, not better. I changed the computer, it worked...

Any better solution ? For now I'm suspecting a BIOS parameter or something at that level

Sorry for the up after 1 year, I can't find anything and it's the first time I see someone describing my problem

[Izzy]

Escrito originalmente por Lesandwish:

Same here, tried all you said + to change the version of Windows, not better. I changed the computer, it worked...

Any better solution ? For now I'm suspecting a BIOS parameter or something at that level

Sorry for the up after 1 year, I can't find anything and it's the first time I see someone describing my problem

No problem for the bump, its actually good you did, i actually found a solution that i do not recommend, but still, i had to fix something with REGEDIT, it's a problem related to audio iirc. i had the whole process written down last year, but 1 week after i fixed it (before june btw) my house was raided and my computer stollen, so yeah, i'm not really sure how to fix. i've posted it as reply into someone's else post. in some game, i think it was in starbound, but i am not sure really. now i have a different computer and it works, so eh...

i guess the "change computer" is the to go solution unless i remember it. because valve is not helping you out with this.

[Mr Baro]

In steam setting -> remote play, on the top it say "stream gameplay between this computer and other devices. To connect, simply log into this same steam account on another computer, or choose "Other computer" on your steam link". I have try this and it work for me. I log my account to my friend 's PC, and go to steam setting -> remote play to it recognize that pc, then i log out my account on my friend 's PC. After that your friend should log in his account, and you can invite him to remote play. Hope this will help.

[Dragonbeast X]

is there any solution that fixed this? I'm having this issue and very few other people seem to be having this problem. all I know is it has something to do with windows and not the account or computer because I have two copies of windows 10 that work in my other computer, one of them works and the other has this issue

[Lesandwish]

For me it worked using the "big picture mode"...

[Dragonbeast X]

didn't seem to work, and at first was having another issue where big picture would show nothing at all, just had to push f11, hopefully it gets fixed soon but considering in seeing the original post is from 2021, I'd say it's very unlikely

[alegiro]

Same here, issues started in february (2023). Before that, everything was so good. Nothing changed EXCEPT Steam updates.
Help/assistance just linked to "FAQs or search for community help". Not help at all.
Me and my friend are trying every try/settings since months..... But we are 100% that Steam update is/was the problem.

If we play/invite each other from the same game, ingame setting "invite a friend", the game runs smooth @60FPS. If we play the same game but inviting each other via Steam Together, red connection, 1FPS (or i would say 1 frame per minute....), freezes, or even crashes.

[Izzy]

Escrito originalmente por Dragonbeast X:

didn't seem to work, and at first was having another issue where big picture would show nothing at all, just had to push f11, hopefully it gets fixed soon but considering in seeing the original post is from 2021, I'd say it's very unlikely

I HAD fixed it back in early 2022, but as i stated in a previous reply, i forgot how, as my computer was stolen shortly after.

I do remember that i could also not play Starbound due to a SDL error, and went into regedit to try and fix it. Searching for info online they all told to change the stuff into the registry entry to something else (it didn't work) and i fixed it by instead deleting those entries. Sadly i don't have acess to wich ones they were, and even if the problem is the same, as the one alegiro posted after you seems a little bit different. if you have starbound, you could try and start it up, if it gives you an error, i can try helping you to fix it. if you don't have this game, it also showed up in another free program.

Feel free to add me if you want to test something. maybe we can figure it out again.