How to play RimWorld Multiplayer

Okay, so you’ve wrangled your friends, installed the mod, and somehow didn’t break your game in the process. Now it’s time to actually start the multiplayer game. It is the part where you all learn just how differently you define “teamwork.”

1. Click that multiplayer button
   It’s right there in the menu. Go ahead and feel smug—you’ve earned it.

2. Pick your colony setup
   Start fresh or load a saved game. Either works, but if it’s your old solo colony, just know your friends will judge your base layout. (And they should.)

3. Choose your map and scenario wisely
   Go too big, and the lag will haunt you. Go too wild, and no one makes it past day five. Balance is your friend here.

4. Hop into the lobby
   This is where the magic happens. Create a session or join one. If something doesn’t work, it’s probably a sync issue or someone forgot to enable a mod.

5. Assign roles
   No one wants four cooks and zero farmers. Give people jobs, leader, builder, resource goblin, whatever fits. Clarity now saves pain later.

6. Talk before the madness begins
   Set some goals and talk strategy. Do you want to build a peaceful trading town or survive the inevitable man-eating squirrel swarm? Either way, get on the same page.

7. Check connections
   Make sure everyone’s loaded in and ready. That one friend with satellite internet? Yeah, make sure they’re not still syncing.

8. Use voice or in-game chat
   RimWorld is chaotic enough without silent confusion. Talk it out. Warn your team before you tame a grizzly. Or, you know, start a fire.

9. Watch for bugs
   Multiplayer is awesome, but not perfect. If stuff breaks, report it to the mod devs. They’re real people trying to keep your colony alive.

10. Play consistently
    Like any good soap opera, RimWorld multiplayer works best when everyone shows up. Schedule regular sessions so you don’t lose momentum or forget why you were hoarding human leather.

Hosting and inviting friends

Hosting a RimWorld session sounds fun until you're the one juggling tech support, group therapist duties, and the unofficial role of colony mayor, all at once.

With a little prep, you can keep things running smoothly without needing a degree in conflict resolution and network engineering.

Here’s how to host like a pro without losing your mind:

1. Start with solid internet
   If your connection hiccups every five minutes, your game’s gonna feel like a slideshow. If you're playing on hotel Wi-Fi, maybe just don't.

2. Create your lobby
   Go public if you’re feeling brave, or private if it’s just you and your chaos-loving friends. Either way, make it clear who’s welcome. This is your colony, not a community server for griefers.

3. Send the invite
   Share the lobby code or link. Bonus points for including a "don’t touch the food stockpile" warning in the message.

4. Set a player cap
   Be realistic. RimWorld wasn’t built for a 10-person LAN party. More players = more chaos = more lag. If your PC is already wheezing, maybe stick to 3 or 4.

5. Tweak the connection settings
   Lower tick rates, increase sync intervals—whatever helps your game run smoother. You don’t have to be a network engineer; just play around until it feels right.

6. Monitor connections like a hawk
   Someone stuck on “loading defs” for five minutes? Might need a gentle nudge (or a mod reinstall). Be ready to help, but also remind people to read the mod list before joining.

7. Assign roles
   Builders build. Growers grow. One person manages the animals. Give everyone something to own. It keeps the game moving and the arguments down.

8. Manage permissions
   Use the in-game tools to stop your friend from selling all the medicine for one alpaca. Permissions exist for a reason, and your colony's survival might depend on them.

9. Set expectations
   Lay down the vibe. Is this a casual potato-farming sim or a min-maxed survival run? Either way, make sure everyone knows the goals and basic rules.

10. Appoint a backup host
    Your power will go out the moment a mech cluster drops. Set a second host in advance so the whole thing doesn’t crash if your PC rage-quits.

Engaging in cooperative gameplay

Suddenly, you’re a functioning colony instead of a bunch of solo players hoarding potatoes in separate corners of the map.

Here’s how to keep the vibe collaborative and the colony (mostly) alive:

1. Set shared goals early
   Talk it out. Are you building a peaceful utopia or surviving Randy Random’s nightmare fuel? Pick a direction so no one’s shocked when the cannibal kitchen goes live.

2. Coordinate the basics
   Assign tasks like building, hauling, and defending so you're not all fixing the same wall while your crops die. A little planning goes a long way.

3. Split up colonists by strengths
   Give each player pawns that match their interests or playstyle. Got a friend who loves farming? Let them live their best rice-growing life.

4. Share the loot
   Hoarding is a fast track to passive-aggressive storage wars. Keep resources open and accessible so everyone can do their thing.

5. Talk about threats
   Don’t wait for the psychic ship to land before deciding who has EMP grenades. Chat strategy often. It’s less about micromanaging and more about staying alive.

6. Make it a conversation
   Encourage ideas, even the weird ones. Sometimes the “let’s tame 12 boomrats” plan doesn’t burn the base down. Sometimes.

7. Switch it up
   Rotate roles every so often. Let the builder try hunting or the strategist manage the base. It keeps things fresh and helps everyone appreciate how hard managing six colonists actually is.

8. Use voice or chat often
   Real-time plans beat awkward silences and surprise surgeries. Whether it’s in-game or on Discord, talk it out.

9. Celebrate the wins (and the weird losses)
   Finished a spaceship? Amazing. Accidentally harvested an organ during a social fight? Also valid. Laugh together and learn as you go.

10. Keep it fun, not formal
    Be flexible. Some days, your friend’s gonna forget to feed the animals. It happens. The goal is survival, not perfection.

Managing colonists and resources together

Managing colonists and resources in RimWorld multiplayer is like a group project. Except here, your teammates can catch the plague or accidentally set things on fire.

But with a bit of planning and teamwork, you can turn the chaos into something that actually works. Here’s how to do it right, step by step.

1. Assign colonists with a purpose
   Don’t just give everyone random pawns and hope for the best. Take a few minutes to divvy up colonists based on skills and playstyle. Your friend who loves min-maxing? Let them handle the builder with 14 in Construction and a bad back.

2. Coordinate tasks like grown-ups (or close enough)
   Talk about who’s doing what. If three players all queue up mining orders, no one’s going to cook. You don’t need a spreadsheet, just agree on the basics.

3. Make a shared resource plan
   Decide early who’s gathering what, how you’ll store it, and when it’s time to pause and restock. This keeps things moving and prevents that classic “we have 600 steel but no food” problem.

4. Build a shared storage zone
   Centralize your inventory so everyone can access what they need. It also makes it easier to see when you're out of meds before someone loses a leg to infection.

5. Keep everyone fed (yes, even Greg’s colonists)
   Plan food production and distribution together. Nobody wants to be the reason your colony went full cannibal by day 12.

6. Talk expansion before someone builds a barn in the kitchen
   When the colony’s growing, discuss where and how. Coordinate new buildings and resource needs so you don’t end up with 12 bedrooms and no power.

7. Support each other during disasters
   Raids, fires, infestations—stuff will go sideways. Have each other’s backs. That means sending help instead of just watching your teammate scream while a mechanoid trashes their bedroom.

8. Monitor moods like a drama radar
   Pawns get grumpy. Real fast. Keep an eye on needs, and take breaks to boost morale. Sometimes a game of horseshoes saves lives.

9. Let everyone manage their own stuff, too
   Give each player room to focus on their colonists and personal projects. It’s a team effort, but it’s more fun when everyone feels like they’re building something.

Effective communication strategies

Communication helps you avoid RimWorld mistakes that can quickly make your gaming experience overwhelming. By learning from the experiences of others, you can get out of trouble faster without struggling to figure everything out on your own.

Here’s how to make sure your team doesn’t fall apart mid-mech raid:

1. Set up a communication system
   Use voice chat (Discord, Steam, whatever works) for real-time coordination. For quick notes or when someone’s off-mic, use the in-game chat. A simple “food’s low” beats a 20-minute scavenger hunt. If your squad plays on speakers, upgrading to the best desktop speakers for PC can clean up callouts and keep everyone on the same page.

2. Agree on emergency signals
   Create clear, shared phrases like “Red Alert” for raids or “Code Brown” for when things go wrong.

3. Keep communication open and clear
   Say what you mean. “Build here” is better than a ramble. Encourage everyone to speak up, even the quiet one who always has the best strategy but never unmutes.

4. Hold quick check-ins
   Pause now and then to make sure everyone’s aligned. Are we expanding? Surviving? Accidentally selling all the medicine? A two-minute sync keeps things running smoothly.

5. Assign a comms lead (lightly)
   Having one person relay critical info keeps the chatter useful and prevents five people yelling different plans during a raid. Think air traffic control, not colony dictator.

6. Use visuals when it helps
   When planning a killbox or complex layout, drop a map, ping a tile, or screen share. A picture is often faster than saying, “Two tiles left of the solar panel, no, the other one.”

7. Handle conflict before it boils over
   Tensions rise. Someone forgets the rice harvest. Talk it out before it turns into a passive-aggressive construction war. A little humor and honesty go a long way.

Ensuring mod compatibility

Sync errors, crashes, weird bugs, most of it comes down to mod drama. Ensuring mod compatibility is the behind-the-scenes hero of smooth multiplayer sessions. Here’s how to do it:

1. Match mod versions across the board
   Everyone needs the exact same version of each mod. No exceptions. "Close enough" doesn’t cut it here.

2. Double-check for mod conflicts
   Some mods don’t play nice together. If you’re running a combat overhaul and a peaceful animal mod, expect fireworks and not the fun kind. Do a quick test run to spot any obvious clashes.

3. Update regularly (and read the notes)
   Always have the latest versions and skim the changelogs so you’re not blindsided by a new mechanic or a removed feature.

4. Test it solo before going multiplayer
   Run a quick single-player session with your mod list. If it crashes your game before you place your first stockpile, you’ll want to know that before your friends join.

5. Back up your saves
   Trust me on this. One bad update and your colony turn into an error log. Keep backups so you can roll back if needed.

6. Use a mod manager
   Tools like RimPy or the built-in mod manager can help you organize, enable, and troubleshoot with less pain. You’ll spend less time digging through load orders and more time building cool stuff.

7. Tap into the community
   If you hit a weird bug, check the forums or Reddit. Odds are someone else has faced the same thing and already posted a workaround.

8. Reach out if needed
   Mod devs are usually pretty helpful, especially if you’ve done your homework. Be polite, provide details, and you might get an answer (or even a fix).

Participating in community discussions

Whether you're a total newbie or the kind of person who dreams in work schedules and killbox layouts, there’s a lot to gain from hanging out with other players.

Here’s how to make the most of the RimWorld community:

1. Join the conversation
   Dive into forums, subreddits, and Discord servers. Players share wild stories, useful mod combos, and things like “how not to die from a squirrel swarm.”. PaperNodes Discord server has 200+ players with exciting stories to tell and expert tips to share.

2. Ask for help
   Don’t be shy. Veteran players love sharing what they’ve learned, especially if it saves someone else from accidentally freezing the colony by misplacing a solar panel.

3. Report mod bugs
   Report when you find a glitch. Mod developers rely on feedback to fix issues. A quick bug report could save someone else hours of frustration.

4. Join events and challenges
   Community-run challenges or themed playthroughs (like “ice sheet pacifist run” or “melee-only tribal madness”) are a great way to stretch your skills and try something new.

5. Share your feedback
   Like a mod? Say so. Have a suggestion? Share it. Modders and devs appreciate thoughtful feedback; it keeps the whole system evolving.

6. Stay in the loop
   Keep an eye out for mod updates, community news, and game announcements. A single patch can change your entire playstyle.

7. Respect others and keep it kind
   Every colony runs a little differently. Whether someone loves min-maxing or prefers decorating bedrooms, it’s all valid. Be helpful, not judgmental.

8. Help new players
   You remember how confusing everything was at first, right? A quick answer or helpful link can make someone’s whole week.

9. Collaborate and experiment
   Got a weird gameplay idea or a modded scenario to test? Invite others to join. Shared experiments often lead to hilarious outcomes and better strategies.

Regularly updating the mod

Nothing ruins the fun faster than someone yelling, “Why is my screen pink?” because their mod is three updates behind.

If you want your colony to run smoothly (and avoid hour-long troubleshooting breaks), here’s how to stay on top of mod updates without losing your mind:

1. Check for updates regularly
   Some mods update like they’re on a caffeine drip. Keep an eye out—or better yet, enable auto-updates if the mod supports it.

2. Back up your game data
   Before updating anything, make a quick backup of your saves and mod list. It takes 30 seconds and can save you hours of pain if things go sideways.

3. Read the release notes
   No one wants to read patch notes, but they often explain major changes, removed features, or surprise reworks. Better to skim now than panic later.

4. Test the mod in single-player first
   Launch a solo session to make sure everything works. It’s like doing a vibe check before dragging your friends into potential bug purgatory.

5. Coordinate with your crew
   Everyone needs to update at the same time. If one person lags, the game throws a tantrum, and nobody gets to play.

6. Report issues early
   Found a bug after the update? Report it. Mod devs rely on user feedback, and your message might be the one that helps patch the next release.

7. Revert if needed
   Not every update is smooth. If things break, don’t be afraid to roll back to a previous version.

8. Stay looped in with the community
   Follow update announcements in mod forums or Discord. You’ll often get early heads-ups on big changes or quick fixes for common issues.

Playing RimWorld Multiplayer without hiccups

With the right mod configuration, clear communication, and a bit of planning, your colony can survive raiders, food shortages, and even that one friend who keeps accidentally starting fires.

But the technical setup can be frustrating and discouraging. If you’d rather skip the headaches and jump straight into building your space colony, PaperNodes RimWorld Together Server has your back.

Here’s what you get with the most affordable RimWorld server hosting out there:

• Blazing-fast hardware with AMD Ryzen 9 9950x/7950x and NVMe on RAID 1
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• Real-time support via our active Discord chat

FAQs

1. How do I set up RimWorld for multiplayer?

To set up RimWorld for multiplayer, you need to install a mod called ‘Zetrith’s Multiplayer’ or a similar one. After installing, follow the game’s instructions to connect with your friends.

2. What do I need to connect with friends in RimWorld multiplayer?

You need a stable internet connection, the same version of RimWorld, and a multiplayer mod. Ensure everyone has these before starting the game.

3. Can different operating systems play RimWorld together?

Yes, players on Windows, Mac, and Linux can usually play RimWorld together in multiplayer mode, as long as they use compatible mods.

4. Is there a limit to how many players can join in RimWorld multiplayer?

There’s no strict limit, but performance might suffer with many players. Typically, it’s best to keep groups small for a smooth experience.

For more players, use the RimWorld Together mod instead, as it's more optimized, although it's different, like you won’t share pawns, but it will still be as fun. We also offer RimWorld Together Server Hosting.

5. Do I need to disable other mods for RimWorld multiplayer?

It’s a good idea to start with only the multiplayer mod active. Once you’re sure it’s working, you can try enabling other mods, but make sure everyone uses the same set.