Fans of the simulatorRPGgameStardew Valleyhave long awaited themultiplayer modeto be made available. The beta is now live, so if you’ve ever wanted to put your friends to work on your farm, or even marry one in-game instead of an NPC it’s now an option. But before you install that beta, have a read of what to expect below.
Stardew Valley Multiplayer Mode in Public Beta
The developer Eric Barone or better known as ConcernedApe as he is known by most of the Stardew Valley community, has been working alone onStardew Valleyfor quite some years now, but with this update he has teamed up withChucklefishpublisher Tom Coxon to make this dream a reality. Up until the launch of the beta, Stardew Valley has been a solo game, but bringing in multiplayer has now opened a whole range of co-op possibilities. There is also some new single player content but details of this will be shared later, we’ll keep you posted.
How to Enable Multiplayer Mode
If you would like to try out the multiplayer mode you can via Steam, all you need to do is to right click the game in your Steam library and select properties. Here you’ll find the “betas” tab, use the password “jumpingjunimos” and then press the “check code” button. If all is well you’ll be able to see the “beta” option from the drop down menu. Then you just have to wait for Steam to download v1.3 for your multiplayer adventure to begin.
Save Your Files
As with any game that goes through beta bugs may still exist, so you should save your current game files as a precaution. TheStardew Valley blogrecommends backing up all saved files before installing the beta, files that you save in v1.3 can’t be loaded in v1.2 or earlier. Specially those who use mods, your game may not be recoverable in v1.3 so verify you back it up.
Host Your Farm
How multiplayer works is by using one player to host a farm, in order for your friends to join, but there are two ways you’re able to do this:
Hosting a Current Game
You will need to provide your trusty friendly farmers with their own home, so get building. Each home is not expensive and will cost you just 100g and 10 stones. You can have up to three homes on your farm as of v1.3. Once you build a cabin for your friends to stay, you will need to save and return to the title screen. Open the co-op menu, your file will be in the host tab.
Starting From Scratch
Another option is to start a new farm entirely with cabins already built, simply start a new game and open the co-op menu, select the “Host” tab and “Host New Farm”.
Friends Only
Not only can you invite friends into your game, you can also choose who can join. The “Server Mode” allows players to decide the who can see their server, whether it’s anyone on their friends list with “Friends-Only”, by sending an invite with “invite-only”. You can also shut down the server completely by choosing “Offline”, meaning all players currently connected to that game (not including you of course) will be disconnected.
If you have friends who are on the same LAN connection, you can choose “Accept IP Connections” meaning regardless of whether they have a Steam/GOG accounts they can still join co-op mode.
Sharing is Caring
You may have super trust-worthy friends, but just in case they are mischievous in nature it’s probably good to know what can be shared and what is separate in co-op mode:
So this means items in your own backpack will be only accessible by you, chests however will be open to all players on the farm.
As well as resources that you share in the game, players in co-op mode will share the same time period as you, Usually opening the menu in single player mode will pause the game, however in co-op mode life goes on. If the host wants to pause the game this is possible with the chat command “/pause”.
The days will end just as they would in single player mode but all players must be in bed in order for the next day to commence and answer “yes” to the dialogue box. This is quite similar to festivals, all players must enter the festival for it to begin.
The multiplayer mode for Stardew Valley is only available on Steam for PC/Mac/Linux. GOG users will also be getting beta option, announcement of GOG beta is yet to be shared. PS4. Xbox One and Nintendo Switch players will need to wait for multiplayer support asConcerned Ape shared on Twitterthat this will come at a later stage.
If you liked this post then be sure to read aboutChucklefish’s Upcoming RPG Eastward, similar RPGs in the works such asKynseed Close BetaandTop RPGs News.
