Stonewards Troubleshooting

Stonewards is patching quickly during Early Access, which makes version mismatch the most common reason a friend can't join your game. This page lists what is officially confirmed, what players report, and what is still demo-era advice.

Can't join a friend's game

1. Check that everyone runs the exact same version. Official demo-era patch notes required all lobby members to be on identical versions, and version mismatches remain the first thing to rule out after every hotfix.
2. Restart Steam so a pending update actually applies — otherwise the old build keeps running.
3. Verify game files through Steam's installed-files check to rule out a corrupted download.
4. Re-invite from the host. If the invite flow itself fails, have the host restart the lobby.

These steps reflect the official version requirement plus widely reported player fixes; results on the current Early Access build are still being collected.

Crashes and freezes

• During the demo, the official Steam configuration shipped two launch options: DX11 (recommended) and DX12 ("use only if game crashes"). Whether the Early Access build keeps both options is not yet verified — check your Steam launch settings.
• Verify game files after every hotfix; rapid patching has produced download-corruption reports.
• The developer has shipped multiplayer and stability fixes in successive hotfixes (through 0.1.6, August 18, 2026) — if you crashed on an older build, update first before deeper debugging.

Already fixed by patches

Recent official hotfixes addressed multiplayer join stability, revive and dead-player handling, and a range of balance and system fixes. If your problem started before August 18, 2026, update to the latest build and re-test before assuming it still exists.

Reporting a new issue

Bring reproducible reports (game version, steps, error text) to the official Stonewards Discord or the Steam community hub — those channels reach the developers directly.