Stardew Valley Multiplayer Beta Now Available For PC

Some people might wonder what multiplayer features could work in a game like Stardew Valley, but...come on. Who wouldn't want to give farming with friends a try? And now, you can.

The multiplayer beta for the hit indie game is now available on PC, as announced on Steam. It's a public beta, so you don't have to worry about waiting on an invite (though you do need to own the game); and you can see what the mode will offer before it goes live into the full game somewhere down the road.

There's no word yet if multiplayer will be coming to the console versions of the game, but we don't see why not. For now, the beta is exclusive to the PC version.

Here's some Q & A taken straight from the Steam announcement, so you know how to get in on the action:

"How do I opt into the beta?

To enable the beta , right click the game in your library and select properties. On the window that pops up there will be a 'betas' tab. In the text box, type the password for the branch: jumpingjunimos. Then click the 'Check Code' button.

If you've done that correctly, you will now be able to select the 'beta' option from the drop down box.

Once you've done that, Steam will start downloading the update.

What precautions should I take?

The v1.3 update is still a beta at this point, which means there will be bugs! At the very least, it's recommended that you:

Backup your save files before playing the update.

Your save files are located in

%APPDATA%\StardewValley\Saves on Windows,

or

~/.config/StardewValley/Saves on Mac and Linux.

Remove any mods you've installed that haven't been updated for v1.3. You can see a list of compatible mods here[stardewvalleywiki.com].

Can I use my existing save files?

Yes, your old save files can be used in v1.3, and they can even be used to host multiplayer games! However, note that:

You should back save files up before installing the beta.

Files that you save in v1.3 can't be loaded in v1.2 or earlier.

If your game was modded, it may or may not be recoverable in v1.3.

If you have a vanilla v1.2 save file that can't be loaded in v1.3, it's a bug! Report it to us, and we will fix the issue."

You can find additional answers over on the Steam page.

Stardew Valley is available now for PC, as well as Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch.