Guide: Play Starbound coop in local network with one license

 

There are some instructions all around the internet on how to play Starbound co-op multiplayer with your friends, but most of them are needlessly convoluted. Many of them ask you to run a Starbound server. But you don't actually need to run anything else than the game itself.

This guide applies to two people, but others can join as well. The players should all be connected to the same home network via wifi or an ethernet cable.

I got my version of Starbound from the gog.com store. But this guide should work with all versions of the game on Windows 10.

Find the local IP address of the player who hosts the game

Let's say the 1st player is the one who is hosting the game. They need to check their local IPv4 IP address. That is where the game is running. 

You can find out your local IP by pressing the windows key, typing "cmd" in the search, and then by typing "ipconfig". From there, find you IPv4 address. The printout will look something like this:

Wireless LAN adapter WiFi:

   Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . : home
   IPv6 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : xxxx:xxxx:xxxx:xxxx:xxxx:xxxx
   Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : xxxx:xxxx:xxxx:xxxx:xxxx:xxxx
   IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.201
   Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
   Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1

Usually, the local area network IP starts with either "192.168.1." or "192.168.0." 

Type this address down somewhere. The other players will need it to join.

Make a hole for Starbound in the Windows firewall

This needs to be done only on the 1st player's computer, the one that hosts the game.

When first starting the game, Windows will ask to confirm some firewall rules for it. The tricky part is that these usually fall below the game window, making it difficult to even see the dialog. You should press the windows key or alt-tab to see the prompt and accept the rules for both private and public networks. 

If you didn't do this or are unsure if you did it, you can edit the firewall settings manually later. Here's how:

Press the windows key on your keyboard so the start menu springs up.

Type: "advanced security"

Select "Windows Defender Firewall with Advanced Security"

Select "Inbound rules"

Find "Starbound", right-click and select "Properties"

In the "General" tab, select Allow the connection



Start Starbound

Now all players can start Starbound. The first player simply starts a new or existing game. If it's a new game, you should make a character and skip the tutorial - you cannot play the tutorial together. 

All other players should select Join game in the menu. 

When the 1st player is in their ship, others can start joining. The others should enter the 1st player's local IP address in the dialog. Leave the port setting as it is.

1st player invites others

The first player should now click the + button on the left top corner, select "Invite player", and type the name of a player they want to invite. Then, the other player should accept the invitation. After that, the other player can teleport to the 1st player's ship.

Repeat for all other players and you can start StarBounding together!

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