It can be incredibly frustrating to get all your friends ready to start a farm together only to have to troubleshoot while everyone waits! The “Connection Failed” error on a Stardew Valley multiplayer server is a relatively common issue that players have. Mostly, this problem is caused by interference with either antivirus or firewall applications; but it can also be from a corrupt or missing Visual C++ installation. Do not worry because overall it is relatively easy to fix.
Follow this step-by-step guide your buddies and you will be fishing and chopping trees together in no time!
First Steps to Fix a connection failed error
These solutions are the easiest, simplest, and fastest ways you can (hopefully) solve your “Connection Failed” error with Stardew Valley. The first thing you should try is to reboot your game/client. Completely close out of your Stardew game. If you are running it through Steam, make sure to quit Steam completely as well. After it has been closed, you can start Stardew again and see if the error has been fixed.
If your problem persists, try and restart both your device you are playing on and your networking equipment. Rebooting your system is a great way to fix temporary problems in the software. It is always recommended before moving onto other, more complicated fixes.
Next Steps
If the classic “turning it off and back on again” has not helped fix your “Connection Failed” problems, do not lose hope. There are still a couple more quick fixes before you will have to try more complicated techniques.
Steam
If you are using Steam to run Stardew Valley, then there are even more quick fixes. Your problems could simple stem from either your game or the Steam client itself not being updated to its most current version.
To double-check that Steam is up to date open the client, click “Steam” in the top left corner, and then click “Check for Steam Client Updates”. To check your Stardew Valley game is updated, navigate to your collection, then make sure that “Stardew Valley” on the left-hand side is greyed out and not blue. If it is blue you need to update the game.
One other thing to try with Steam is to join the multiplayer world directly through the Steam client. This is helpful because it bypasses as a known bug associated with Stardew Valley. This bug prevents users from being able to join Stardew Valley through the game’s interface.
To fix this, make sure you close out of Stardew Valley completely, then navigate to your Steam client friends list. Click on your friend who is hosting the Stardew Valley multiplayer world, and then click “Join Game” from the drop-down menu. This should start Stardew Valley and allow you to join their game, bypassing the bug.
Wired Connection
One common cause for the “Connection Failed” error is either a lack of signal strength from the user’s Wi-Fi or a communication issue between the user’s device and the router. Both of these issues can be solved by using a wired connection instead of Wi-Fi.
If you have an ethernet cable at hand, this solution is very easy. All you need to do is exit your game and client, and disconnect your device from Wi-Fi. After you plug in your ethernet cable, make sure your device is accessing the internet through the wired connection and not Wi-Fi. Then, you can relaunch Stardew Valley and see if the error has been fixed.
Complicated Fixes
The following solutions are more complicated, and are only for after you have tried all the previous solutions and they have not worked. This is not only because they take longer, but because they can leave your device and data at risk.
VPN
VPNs, or virtual private networks, are incredibly common now. Unfortunately, multiplayer Stardew Valley is known to have issues if one plays while using a VPN. In this case, disabling your VPN should solve your “Connection Failed” error. Before disabling your VPN, make sure you completely exit your game and client and do not forget to re-enable your VPN after you are done with your farming session.
Antivirus and Firewall Applications
Though Antivirus and Firewall Applications are very helpful in protecting your device and data from threats like viruses and trojans, sometimes they might accidentally block something as harmless as files from Stardew Valley. If this is the case you can either temporarily disable the applications or add exceptions for the game files that are getting caught by your Antivirus software or Firewall.
Please keep in mind that you are proceeding at your own risk by disabling your Antivirus and/or Firewall applications.
Before disabling, make sure that you completely close your game and client. Then you can both disable your Antivirus and Firewall applications as well as check your quarantine files for any Stardew Valley files and restore any you find. Also, make sure to check to make sure your router for enabled Firewall too.
Click here for in-depth guides on how to disable your Antivirus and Firewall applications.
Visual C++
If none of the previous solutions worked, one final thing that could be causing your “Connection Failed” error is an incomplete or improperly installed version of Visual C++ 2013. This program is essential for Stardew Valley to operate properly. If this is the case, then uninstalling and reinstalling Visual C++ should solve your problem.
To do this, first make sure to close your Stardew game and client. Then, navigate to your control panel, then programs, then click uninstall a program. After you uninstall Visual C++ 2013, you need to restart your device before downloading and reinstalling Visual C++ Redistributable Packages for Visual Studio 2013. After reinstallation, you can start Stardew again and hopefully the error has been fixed.
Hopefully this guide has helped you and your “Connection Failed” error is now a thing of the past. If you are still having some issues setting up Stardew Valley Multiplayer, check out our guide on how to set up a multiplayer world.
