Guides / Co-op
How to Play Windrose Co-op With Friends (Invite Codes)
Windrose is best with a crew. This guide explains how Windrose co-op multiplayer works, how invite codes connect your friends to your world, and why a dedicated server makes playing together far smoother. Windrose supports up to 8 players in co-op.
How Windrose multiplayer works
Windrose multiplayer is invite-code based. Whoever runs the world, whether a player hosting from their own game or a dedicated server, generates an invite code. Friends enter that code to join. There is no need to add each other on a friends list first, and on a properly hosted server there is no manual port forwarding for the people joining.
Joining a Windrose server, step by step
- Get the invite code from the host or, on a dedicated server, from the hosting dashboard.
- Open Windrose and choose to join a game / multiplayer.
- Enter the invite code (or the server IP and port if provided).
- Drop into the world and start sailing with your crew.
Why use a dedicated server for co-op?
If you host from your own game, the world closes when you leave and everyone's progress pauses. A dedicated server keeps the world online 24/7, so friends in other time zones can log in whenever they want and the world is always exactly as you left it. It also gives the host admin tools such as the live map, rate multipliers and backups, for a smoother group experience. You can spin one up in about 30 seconds; see the setup guide.
When somebody cannot get in
Almost every failed join is one of four things, and they are worth checking in this order because each rules out the ones after it:
- The code. Invite codes are easy to mistype and easy to send stale. Paste rather than read it aloud, and regenerate it if you are unsure.
- The world is still loading. A server that has just started is not ready the moment the process is up. Joins attempted while a large world is still loading fail without a helpful message, so give it a minute before assuming anything is wrong.
- Version mismatch. Steam updates clients automatically and servers do not update themselves. A crew that sailed last night can be locked out this morning purely because a patch landed. If it broke overnight and nothing changed, this is why.
- The host closed the game. On an in-game hosted world there is nothing to connect to once the host quits. This one produces the most confused messages, because from the outside it looks identical to a broken server.
Notice that only the last two are fixable by the host, and that both disappear on a dedicated server that updates itself and does not depend on anyone being awake.
Playing across time zones
This is the point at which most crews stop improvising. A shared world where progress only happens when one specific person is online works fine for two friends in the same country and falls apart the moment somebody is six hours ahead. The world stops being a place people visit and becomes an appointment.
A dedicated server changes the shape of the game rather than just its uptime. People sail when they have an hour, leave a ship somewhere useful, and the next person picks it up. Long voyages happen in stages across several sessions and several people. That is what Windrose co-op looks like when nobody has to be the host, and it is a genuinely different experience from taking turns.
Sharing the world without losing it
Two practical habits are worth setting up early, because both are cheap now and expensive later.
Keep backups on a schedule. A persistent world accumulates months of building, and the failure people actually experience is not a lost server but a bad session: something built over an island that should not have been, a ship scuttled by accident, a mistake nobody wants to redo. A restore point from yesterday turns that into an inconvenience.
And agree what the crew can change. Rate multipliers and world settings are shared, so one person adjusting gathering rates changes the game for everybody. The server settings guide covers what each one does; the part worth deciding as a group is who is allowed to touch them.
Co-op FAQ
How do I invite friends to my Windrose server?
Share your server's invite code. Friends open Windrose, choose to join, and enter the code.
Why can't my friends connect?
Usually an incorrect invite code, the server still booting, or a version mismatch. Confirm the code, wait for the server to report online, and make sure everyone is on the latest Windrose build.
How many friends can join?
Up to 8 players total in co-op, with around 4 recommended by the developers for the best late-game performance. A full crew is reachable; it simply asks more of the world than half of one does.
What is the difference between hosting in game and a dedicated server?
An in-game host makes the world dependent on one person being online, so when they leave it closes and everyone else stops. A dedicated server holds the world independently, so anyone can sail whenever they like.
Can we keep playing if the host is offline?
Only on a dedicated server. That is the single practical reason most crews move across, and it stops being optional as soon as people are in different time zones.
Does everyone need the same Windrose version?
Yes. Clients update automatically through Steam and servers do not, so a server left on the previous build will refuse a crew that could play the night before. Update the server as soon as a patch lands.
Deploy a Windrose dedicated server on Flux →