Stardew Valley is one of the best games around for when you want to relax and escape to an idyllic version of rural life, but what if you want to do that with friends? For a long time after its release, Stardew Valley didn’t offer any such option, but now multiplayer is available on most platforms. Stardew Valley players on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC versions of the game all have access to multiplayer options, meaning that only players on iOS and Android are left out. For everyone else, setting up multiplayer is simple, but there are a few important things to remember to make sure it goes off without a hitch.
Hosting a multiplayer farm in Stardew Valley
There are two ways to start a multiplayer game of Stardew Valley, depending on whether you’re starting fresh with a new farm or converting an existing singleplayer save to multiplayer. Either way, whoever starts the multiplayer farm will act as the game’s host, and that farm will only be available when they’re online.
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If you’re starting fresh, you just have to select Co-op from the Stardew Valley main menu, then select Host to become the owner of the multiplayer farm. The host will have a few options to choose from when they start a farm, such as how many cabins to build and whether all players will share money. If you want to jump in with your friends immediately, you’ll need to add a cabin for each one, but you can also build additional cabins after creating the world.
Converting an existing singleplayer Stardew Valley save to multiplayer mode can take a little more work, but it’s still simple. Each of your friends will still need a cabin to live in, so if you want to open your farm up to other players, you’ll need to build a cabin for each one. You can buy cabins from Robin at her shop for a cost of 100 gold and some simple-to-find materials that will determine what kind of cabin it is. Once you have as many cabins as you need, just save the game, select Co-op from the main menu, and select your farm from the Host tab.
The last step to starting a multiplayer farm is to open your game up to other players. Just go to the Settings tab in the in-game menu, and you’ll have the option to allow other players to join and serve as the host.
Joining a multiplayer farm in Stardew Valley
Joining another player’s farm is even easier. Whichever platform you’re playing Stardew Valley on, you’ll first want to add the person whose farm you’re joining to your friends list. At that point, you should see their open farms in the Join tab of the Co-op menu. For PS4, Xbox One, and Switch players, you’ll need a paid online account to join other farms online.
Switch players also have the option of playing through local communications mode with nearby Switches, which doesn’t require a paid account. For PC Stardew Valley players, starting an online game will also generate an invite code that other players can enter to join the farm, and there’s an additional LAN option to connect directly to a friend’s farm via IP address.
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