How to Fish: Join friends and fix co-op connections

Updated How to Fish lobbies support up to eight players. For a session with friends, use a private lobby and send invites. If joining fails, first bring everyone onto the current update and check the Steam relay status in the main menu.

Start a private session

1. Have the host and guests finish pending Steam updates before opening the game. The developers recommend restarting Steam to receive their patches.
2. The host should choose a private lobby when hosting, then invite the intended players. Private lobbies are joinable by invitation.
3. If the host changes session type through the in-game server settings, restart the session after the change.
4. Keep the group within eight total players, including the host.

Private lobbies arrived on August 22. The eight-player update arrived one day earlier. Older store copy and launch guides can still show the previous four-player limit.

A guest cannot join, or disconnects immediately

Check whether every guest fails or just one. Then note whether the failure happens before the lobby loads, during loading, or after the character appears. Those details help distinguish a hosting problem from one guest's installation or connection.

The main menu includes a Steam connection diagnostic. If its Steam relay text is red, the developer's instructions direct you to the #common-bugs channel in the official Discord. Follow the current guidance there instead of guessing port-forwarding rules or deleting saves.

For immediate disconnections, check that you have the August 27 update or newer. That patch increased the time allowed to connect. It may address a timeout, but it does not establish the cause of every disconnect.

If only one installation fails, the file-verification steps in crashes, FPS and audio troubleshooting are a reasonable next check. File verification does not restore a lost world or inventory.

A black screen appears when joining

The August 21 patch attempted to fix joining black screens. The developers qualified that fix as hopeful, so updating is the first step rather than a guaranteed cure.

If the screen stays black on the current version, report whether the host sees the guest connect and whether the guest ever hears game audio. Include the game version and the stage where loading stops. If the same machine also fails when starting a solo session, use the launch troubleshooting guide.

Voice chat or FPS changes after joining

The September 4 update upgraded the voice-chat component to address bugs and fixed the network code overriding the FPS limit when joining a lobby.

After updating, check your microphone and playback-device selection if voice still fails. Record whether the problem affects one person or everyone, and whether sound works outside the game. These are diagnostic checks, not proof of a particular game bug.

Where to report a persistent problem

Dazed Games asks for bug reports in its official Discord. Include the version, host or guest role, number of players, relay status, exact error and steps that reproduce it. Mention mods if the session uses them.

For progress that disappears after reconnecting or changing computers, read saves, Steam Cloud and missing items before replacing any save data.