How to Join a StarRupture Server and Play With Friends

October 2026: there are two ways to play together, and one is clearly easier

StarRupture has two multiplayer routes. The first is a co-op session hosted from inside the game after the host loads a save; this is a listen server, meaning the host’s own game simulates the world and shares it with everyone else. The second is a dedicated server, released as an experimental feature at the Early Access launch on 6 January 2026. Creepy Jar ended active support for dedicated servers on 20 October 2026 to focus on single-player and co-op, and after Update 3 releases, dedicated play stays on version 0.3.5 on a separate Steam branch. If your group wants the supported route, the easiest way to join a StarRupture server with friends is co-op; pick dedicated only if you specifically want a world that can stay online without the host and you are content to remain on 0.3.5. Multiplayer still requires an internet connection, and the cap is up to 4 players including the host.

Use this comparison to decide before you start clicking through menus.

How to host a co-op session from inside the game

This is the route that usually gets 2-4 people playing fastest because it avoids separate server tools, branch management, and manual IP joins. The key detail is that the multiplayer session is attached to a loaded save, not just to the main menu. Until the save is open and the host has put it online, friends have nothing joinable to connect to.

1. Start StarRupture and load the save you want to use.
2. Press Esc to open the pause menu.
3. Open the Multiplayer panel.
4. Set Online Visibility to Friends Only or Invite Only.
5. Select Go Online.
6. Use the empty player slots to send Steam invites if needed.

Why visibility matters: Friends Only publishes the session so Steam friends can see it in the game’s Join Game list. Invite Only keeps it off that discovery path and expects the host to send invites directly. The trade-off is simple: Friends Only is quicker for a regular group, but broader among your Steam friends; Invite Only gives tighter control, but nobody gets in unless the host actively invites them.

Why “Go Online” matters: in a listen session, the host’s client is doing both jobs at once: running the world locally and exposing it to other players. That uses the host machine’s main-thread CPU for world simulation and the host connection’s upload for everyone else’s state updates. If the host is busy loading, paused offline, or never actually switched the save online, there is no session data to advertise.

Update 2 added the Continue button, and hotfix 0.3.2 fixed a bug where loading with Continue after quitting to the main menu could leave the session with incorrect visibility, preventing others from joining. That bug is fixed, but if friends still cannot see your session, treat visibility as the first check anyway: after loading, open the Multiplayer panel again and confirm the save is still set to Friends Only or Invite Only, then use Go Online if needed. If that helped, the session should either appear in Join Game or your invite should start working straight away.

How friends join the host’s co-op world

For the joining players, there are two normal entry points.

• Main menu > Join Game, then select the host’s session if the host set the save to Friends Only.
• Steam invite, which is the expected route if the host used Invite Only.

The hard limit is 4 players including the host. If four names are already in the session, nobody else is getting in until someone leaves. Also remember that a co-op session is not a separate world service in the background: the host is the world. When the host leaves, the whole session ends, because the simulation and save live on that host machine. Progress is stored in the host’s save, not in each guest’s game.

If the session does not show in Join Game, ask the host three things in this order: did they load the correct save, did they set the save to Friends Only or Invite Only, and did they press Go Online after loading? This order matters because it checks for the actual session state before you start blaming Steam or networking. If the host used Invite Only, the absence of a listed session is normal; the fix is not a port change or restart, just a fresh invite from the host.

Creepy Jar’s patch notes have repeatedly fixed co-op problems for players who rejoin a session and for guests working far away from the host, because the host’s machine simulates the whole world and streams it to everyone else. If a guest has odd behaviour after rejoining, make sure everyone is on the latest build first. If a rejoin works after the host re-checks visibility or re-sends an invite, that points to session state rather than a broken save.

How to join a dedicated server by IP

If your group is staying on the dedicated route, joining is direct and manual. There is no server browser listing for StarRupture dedicated servers because the dedicated server uses Epic Online Services, so players connect by address instead.

1. Open Join Game.
2. Open the Dedicated Server tab.
3. Enter the server’s public IP:port.
4. Enter the Player/Join password if one is set.
5. Confirm or connect.

123.45.67.89:7777

Use the public IP, not a LAN address. A LAN address only identifies the machine inside the host’s own local network; friends outside that network cannot route to it across the internet. The default game port is 7777 UDP, and that is the only gameplay port players need for normal joining.

Dedicated changes who carries the workload. Instead of the host’s active game client handling world simulation and player traffic, the separate server process does it. That usually makes group play simpler administratively once it is set up, because the world can stay online even when the friend who owns it is not in-game. The trade-off is more setup: branch matching, manual address entry, and basic server config all matter more than they do in co-op.

The two passwords: management versus join

If a password is refused on a dedicated server, the first thing to check is which password you are using. StarRupture keeps the admin side and the player side separate.

The management password is not the same as the join password, and swapping them is the most obvious reason an otherwise correct IP join gets rejected. The files are stored next to the server executable as Password.json for admin access and PlayerPassword.json for player access. That separation is good practice: players can be let in without being handed the credential that can control or alter the server.

Do not share the management password with normal players, and do not treat the admin interface as a public-facing feature. The player-facing side is the game port over UDP; the management side is for trusted administration only. If the right join password works and players can connect without accessing Manage Server, the setup is behaving properly.

If you run the dedicated server, make sure it is loading a real world

A dedicated server process can be online but still not be joinable in the way players expect. The common reason is simple: the server executable is running, but no actual game world has been created or loaded yet. From the player side that looks like a dead or broken server, when the real issue is world state.

First launch: create the first world

1. Start the dedicated server tool.
2. Open StarRupture and choose Manage Server.
3. Enter the server IP:port.
4. Set a Server Management password.
5. Optionally set a Player/Join password.
6. Select New Game.
7. Select Start Game.

Until that first world is started, players cannot join an “online” server because there is no active save attached to the running process. Think of it as two layers: the server service can be alive on the network, but the game session itself still needs to exist.

start .\StarRuptureServerEOS.exe -Log -port=7777

After the first world: stop it creating a fresh save on restart

Once the world exists, edit DSSettings.txt next to StarRuptureServerEOS.exe so the server loads that same save after a restart. If this file is wrong, the usual symptom is a fresh world or the wrong world appearing after a restart.

{
  "SessionName": "MyServer",
  "SaveGameInterval": "300",
  "StartNewGame": "false",
  "LoadSavedGame": "true",
  "SaveGameName": "AutoSave0.sav"
}

The file is written as JSON, so keep the quotes and commas exactly as shown. SaveGameInterval is in seconds, so 300 means an autosave every five minutes. For the very first boot of a brand-new world you can flip it the other way (StartNewGame true, LoadSavedGame false), but switch it back once the world exists, and never set both to true.

Why these settings matter: StartNewGame=false and LoadSavedGame=true tell the server to bind itself to an existing save instead of generating a new one. Keep SessionName the same as the session that created the save, and make SaveGameName match the actual file in the save folder. If the server comes back with an empty or unexpected world, that is your sign the save was not loaded.

SaveGameInterval is a disk-write trade-off. A shorter interval means more frequent writes to storage, which reduces how much progress could be lost after a crash but increases disk activity. A longer interval is lighter on storage activity but risks more rollback if the machine stops unexpectedly.

On the network side, forward only 7777 UDP. Do not expose the TCP management interface to the internet. Players do not need it to join, and opening it publicly only expands the part of the server outsiders can probe or abuse.

After updates: match versions first, then decide which route you are keeping

When a join suddenly fails right after a patch, the usual suspect is not a bad password or a broken port. It is a build mismatch. Client and server must be on the same build. This matters even more for dedicated servers now because, once Update 3 releases, dedicated play remains on 0.3.5 as a separate Steam branch and does not receive further updates. Version 0.3.5 arrived as a hotfix on 5 October 2026. Update 3 has been on the Public Test Branch as 0.4.0 since 29 October 2026 and has no release date yet, and there is no dedicated server available for the PTB.

Check the version split here before you start changing anything else.

1. Open your Steam Library.
2. Right-click StarRupture.
3. Open Properties.
4. Open Game Versions & Betas.
5. Pick the branch you need, or choose Default Public Version to go back.

Back up saves before switching branches. PTB saves will not be compatible with the default branch once Update 3 launches, and branch changes are exactly the sort of point where save format differences become painful.

Steam\userdata\<SteamID>\1631270\remote\Saved\SaveGames
C:/Users/<you>/AppData/Local/StarRupture/Saved/SaveGames

How to choose now: if your friends want Update 3 features and the latest co-op changes, have one player host a co-op session. If your group wants a persistent world that can stay online and you are happy to remain on 0.3.5, keep the dedicated route and make sure every player switches to that branch. If you are comparing plan types, save access, and what makes sense for a 24/7 world, our StarRupture server hosting comparison is the place to start.

Troubleshooting: fix the join path in the right order

Do the checks below in order. It saves time because most StarRupture join failures are not deep networking faults; they are route confusion, visibility state, wrong password type, or version mismatch. Start with the symptom table, then follow the flow underneath.

Use this flow when the symptom is unclear.

Quick diagnosis order

1. Confirm the route. Are you joining a host’s co-op save, or a dedicated server by IP? Use the right menu first.
2. Confirm the branch. If anyone recently updated or switched to PTB, check that every client and the server are on the same build.
3. For co-op, confirm visibility. The host loads the save, checks Friends Only or Invite Only, and goes online again.
4. For dedicated, confirm address and password type. Use the public IP:port and the Player/Join password.
5. If the dedicated server restarts into the wrong world, inspect DSSettings.txt. That is a save-loading problem, not a join problem.

You can tell this order is working because each step isolates one layer: discovery, build compatibility, access control, or save loading. If a check changes the symptom from “not visible” to “password refused”, that is progress; you have already moved past discovery and onto credentials.

StarRupture multiplayer FAQ

How many players can join a StarRupture game?

StarRupture supports up to 4 players online, and that count includes the host. In practice that means one host plus three friends in a co-op session, or the same overall cap when using the dedicated route.

Why can’t my friend see my StarRupture session?

The usual reason is that the host has not fully put the loaded save online, or the visibility mode is not what the group expects. The host should load the save, open Multiplayer, confirm Friends Only or Invite Only, and use Go Online again. If Invite Only is selected, the session not appearing in Join Game is normal and the host needs to send an invite.

How do I join a StarRupture dedicated server by IP?

Open Join Game, switch to the Dedicated Server tab, and enter the server’s public IP:port, such as 123.45.67.89:7777. If the server owner set a player password, use that join password when prompted. Dedicated servers run through Epic Online Services and do not appear in a server browser, so you always type the address.

Are StarRupture dedicated servers still supported?

They are still usable, but active support ended on 20 October 2026. After Update 3 releases, dedicated play remains available on version 0.3.5 through a separate Steam branch and will not receive further updates, so treat it as a frozen path rather than the game’s forward multiplayer route.

Does the host need to stay online for friends to keep playing?

In a co-op session, yes: when the host leaves, the session ends because the host’s game is the world. On a dedicated server, no: the world can remain online as long as the server process and machine stay running. That difference is the main reason to choose dedicated despite the extra setup and the 0.3.5 branch lock.

More StarRupture server help

Compare StarRupture hosts if your group wants a world that stays online on 0.3.5.