This patch includes full crossplay support, which means that you will be able to play with any other Valheim player, no matter where they’re playing from. If your friends get the game through a different platform, you’ll be able to join their game and show them the ropes. Or why not invite them over to your world and show them all your cool buildings?
Our friends at Piktiv have worked hard to make sure the game looks and feels the same regardless of what platform you’re using, but the patch does entail a minor change to the GUI in the starting menu in order to make other people’s worlds as smooth as possible. If you’re playing as a Steam player with other Steam players, it will work just the same as before (with the addition of now being able to mark a server as favourite). If one or more players are playing from a different platform, there will instead be a join code that you can use in order to enter the game.
Dedicated server hosts will need to enable crossplay if they want non-Steam players to be able to join, and the dedicated servers will then be joinable both with the regular IP address, and with the new join codes.
As always, make sure your game has the same patch version as your friends’, or else connecting to each other might not work. You’ll find the version number in the bottom right corner of your main menu screen.
Detailed patch notes:
* Crossplay support added
* ‘Manage saves’ GUI added so that it’s easier for players to restore/remove saves & backups
* Minor network optimization for in-game hosting (Less demanding for the host when other players are in the game at the same time)
* ‘Join Game’ tab has been updated. Players can now add favourite servers, and see if a server is running, and if they support crossplay or not.**
* Players can now use the parameter ‘-crossplay’ while running Dedicated servers to support crossplay. When using this parameter, the backend will be running Playfab instead of Steamworks. (A ‘Join code’ will appear when you join a Dedicated server supporting crossplay. Players can use this code to join the server. This Join code is regenerated whenever the server is restarted.)
* A new branch, "default_old", has been added, where you can play on the previous Steam version of the game in case your server hasn't been updated yet (Steam might need a restart for the branch to show up)
**A question mark indicates that a server status is uncertain, while a red X indicates that the server is down. If there is a “shuffle” icon next to the server status, that means the server supports crossplay.
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