# Join Session does not work (Steam, Advanced sessions plugin) **URL:** \ **Category:** Programming & Scripting\ **Tags:** unreal-engine, question\ **Created:** [May 26, 2024, 2:33pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/join-session-does-not-work-steam-advanced-sessions-plugin/1873895 "2024-05-26T14:33:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 8
**Author:** ![Nightwolf](https://d1ap1mz92jnks1.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/forums.unrealengine.com/nightwolf/32/917179_2.png) [@Nightwolf](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/Nightwolf)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2024, 7:29am UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/join-session-does-not-work-steam-advanced-sessions-plugin/1873895/8 "2024-06-01T07:29:30Z")
My findings thus far a lot of the example project they provide hasn’t been updated since 1996-2004 or 2010 in some cases > **Welp I've now read every line of space wars** > > low and behold I’ve determined the same thing that the documentation were not allowed to talk about says that SpaceWarServer is where the connection happens > SpaceWarServer.cpp/h – Server code for the example game. > And the Client.cpp/h naturally looks like it does what you’d expect it too as well > > You should have to login to look at this page and be a steam dev sorry > [Documentation - Steamworks partners only](https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/features/multiplayer/matchmaking) for Multiplayer > [API documentation - Steamworks partners only](https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/api) > > As someone who doesn’t fully understand c++ but is able to skim the likes of c++ or java and understand what is generally happening Most of this seems c++ specific nonsense, interestingly though it says some stuff about Authenticating after joining > which is also mentioned on line 270 of SpaceWarServer.cpp > > Bunch of pointers all over the place most of them game related, i think advanced sessions already handles the authentication part but im gonna try and read the documentation on that now and see where that gets me/us as that’s the only idea the steamworks documentation game me When using the adv session **BP nodes** “create adv session” and “Join session” it does in fact say you’ve joined success if you attach a print string to the on success execution pin and will even do a little loading screen if your using the Async loading screen plugin but that’s really all i got out of what i was able to read > **Advanced sessions** > > [Advanced sessions and documentation links herein](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/advanced-sessions-plugin/30020) > Prepare to get flash banged if your used to dark mode clicking any further links > > figuring out how to use [ServerTravel](https://www.vreue4.com/GeneratedDocs/AdvancedSessions/AdvancedSessionsLibrary/nodes/ServerTravel.html) may be helpful to us but i think that’s for changing maps after you’ve already connected to the first lobby/map > > Then of course there’s the nodes we’ve been trying to use [Create Advanced Session](https://www.vreue4.com/GeneratedDocs/AdvancedSessions/CreateSessionCallbackProxyAdvanced/nodes/UK2Node_AsyncAction.html) and [Join Session](https://docs.unrealengine.com/4.26/en-US/BlueprintAPI/Online/Session/JoinSession/) > > Figuring out [Update Session](https://www.vreue4.com/GeneratedDocs/AdvancedSessions/UpdateSessionCallbackProxyAdvanced/nodes/UK2Node_AsyncAction.html) may be of some use as well Reading through years worth of comments 3321 to be exact here is what i found of interest some potential solutions as well that i plan to try Don’t worry its like 30links at most > **Summary** > > > **Summary of 2015** > > > > [Make sure defaultengine.ini is in the right order](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/advanced-sessions-plugin/30020/84) > > [Looks like everyone does it about the same as You/I/We all have tried](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/advanced-sessions-plugin/30020/85) > > [I did this, im sure you did it aswell if you use the plugin with BPs](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/advanced-sessions-plugin/30020/90) > > [Adv sessions plugin author talks about join session and destroy session](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/advanced-sessions-plugin/30020/122) > > [Feature Notes/Changes](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/advanced-sessions-plugin/30020/129) > > [Setting up the Advanced Game Instance and Player Controller Interfaces](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/advanced-sessions-plugin/30020/149) > > > > [Worth trying](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/advanced-sessions-plugin/30020/168) ( try not using presence ) > > > > [Cleanly closing a session](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/advanced-sessions-plugin/30020/201) > > [Run in standalone not editor](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/advanced-sessions-plugin/30020/265) > > > **Summary of 2016** > > > > [Confirmed my theory earlier that you need separate computers](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/advanced-sessions-plugin/30020/353) > > [Mentions creating joining sessions and a tutorial](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/advanced-sessions-plugin/30020/487) > > [Information about region lock](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/advanced-sessions-plugin/30020/585) > > [Do it from game instance](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/advanced-sessions-plugin/30020/606) > > [Useful but not related to what we’re trying to figure here](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/advanced-sessions-plugin/30020/675) > > I’ll have to do some testing on this one > > [Could be answer?](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/advanced-sessions-plugin/30020/839) > > > > > [@Advanced Sessions Plugin](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/advanced-sessions-plugin/30020/860): > > > > > > Dev builds don’t use the appid.txt, shipping builds do, dev builds go off of the app id in the config file. > > > > [blah blah blah, there’s logs made by adv sessions check those](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/advanced-sessions-plugin/30020/890) > > [Ping Issues](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/advanced-sessions-plugin/30020/930) > > > **Summary of 2017** > > > > [Something about plugins that ill have to also go testing](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/advanced-sessions-plugin/30020/1018) > > [Testing which subsystem is being used](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/advanced-sessions-plugin/30020/1027) > > [More stuff about destroying sessions](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/advanced-sessions-plugin/30020/1039) > > Yay we’re a third of the way through the 3000 comments > > [Steam part of adv sessions contains steam only nodes makes sense](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/advanced-sessions-plugin/30020/1132) > > [More DefaultEngine.ini Stuff](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/advanced-sessions-plugin/30020/1187) > > [More mentions to how doesn’t work with dedicated server](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/advanced-sessions-plugin/30020/1380) > > [Advanced Friends](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/advanced-sessions-plugin/30020/1411) > > [stuff regarding game instance](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/advanced-sessions-plugin/30020/1418) > > > > > [@Advanced Sessions Plugin](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/advanced-sessions-plugin/30020/1548): > > > > > > Generally you want to run in standalone to test for steam stuff. > > > > i think you all are aware of this but included non the less > > also _we’re half way there_ living on a prayer that we get answers lol > > Largely the same thing or something i already linked happened in this gap of years > > > **Summary of 2022** > > > > [No you don’t need to port forward if your router supports nat punchthrough](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/advanced-sessions-plugin/30020/3280) > > > **Summary of 2023** > > > > [Likely another solution/reason](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/advanced-sessions-plugin/30020/3365) > > > **Summary of 2024 up to 5/31/24** > > > > [Subsystem activation](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/advanced-sessions-plugin/30020/3439) > > [SteamSockets may have issues](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/advanced-sessions-plugin/30020/3445) > > [Also likey the solution or part of it solution](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/advanced-sessions-plugin/30020/3459) > **Hooray we made it to the end... what did i learn** > > - Most of the 3321 comments are people not using ctt+F to find their exact problem already answered with usually the same words they used > - Most of the problems are not related to the Adv sessions plugin it just exposes things to BP > - In 9 years it never occurred to epic that this may be worth adding to engine or plugin store and hasn’t had more than a small patch since 2017 or 4.17 maybe 4.22 i forgot honestly one of the links above says it > - The automatically generated documentation is practically useless if you already know how to use the unreal editor to find nodes and understand that if you hover it’ll tell you the same things as the documentation > - Everything that i just spent a few hours going through is pretty much summed up same as here in the [First comment/post](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/advanced-sessions-plugin/30020) > - Theres more systems involved in using AdvSessions or Sessions in general, likely our issue > - mordentral the author of AdvSessions is really helpful > - DefaultEngine.ini requires a specific order > - You need seperate computers or have to apply some workaround > - I’ve certainly wasted my time going through some 10,000 videos and posts and the 3,000 comments but certainly learned some stuff along the way so only half regert > - Only spacewars appid 420 should in theroy be region locked but worth setting to same download server for piece of mind when testing > > > [@Advanced Sessions Plugin](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/advanced-sessions-plugin/30020/839): > > > > If you have a server and a client behind the same router, the client cannot connect to the server through the server browser. In fact the server may not be visible in the server browser of the client. > > The client must connect to the server using the server’s internal IP address. > > - Advanced session makes logs somewhere that i’ll also have to dig through our answer is definitly there if we can find and read it and understand it > - No you don’t need to port forward if your router supports nat punchthrough > - If your ping is 9999 it’s this: > > > [@Advanced Sessions Plugin](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/advanced-sessions-plugin/30020/3365): > > > > Over steam you won’t get a valid ping unless you enable Steam Authentication > > > [@Advanced Sessions Plugin](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/advanced-sessions-plugin/30020/3445): > > > > Epics implementation of steam sockets appears to have issues > > > [@Advanced Sessions Plugin](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/advanced-sessions-plugin/30020/3459): > > > > Make sure you aren’t using steam sockets, its not required and its broken in engine currently > **So what now?** > > - i’m gonna tear through the example project with all this in mind and compare my DefaultEngine.ini with the example project > - I’m gonna get my other computer running again and use it through a different external router > - and also try passing in an IP address instead > - gonna do a deep dive on steamsockets,steam onlinesubsystem > - gonna stick to ctrl+f searching through big posts like this as as expected most of it was irrelevant Posting this summary of a summary of basically another summery to basically say - I’ve certainly tried and done a load of research to discover you need to know c++ and networking essentially to have this be an easy thing to use out of the gate - I have a few more things to try before putting multiplayer on pause and just worrying about singleplayer ( esentially temporarily giving up, going against my own advice of Never give up ) - solid tutorials are hard to find and “Explanations” of how it all works are not very deep on this And i plan to make one once i understand what’s going on well enough Thanks for reading any of that as I’m essentially an idiot summarizing and trying to understand networks I’ll make another comment here when I’ve done more of my proposed digging/reasearch/find the solution > **Requested help from creator** > > @mordentral Pardon the summons, i’d add this to your pile of 3000 comments on your adv sessions but i don’t believe its an issue with your code as many times you pointed out you’ve just exposed more of the code provided by epic > > But I’ve been struggling with this for quite a while as more than port forwarding and dmz networking stuff i have literally no experience pretty much then we’re mixing that with programming and steam and game development > > So my question is, is this obvious to you, essentially ops question my setup at least the parts here are identical > > ![Screenshot 2024-06-01 145411](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/8/2886a9cd70cdfea0acd743d3d9c7610cf8573328.png) > Notably at least in my case i have these installed plugins > I’ve seen at several points in the past you say not to use sockets > Is installing the API this way still not advisable, should i be going through the effort of installing the API manually? > I plan to try it with one the other or both uninstalled > > Admittedly i also haven’t gotten around to looking at the demo project just yet, i’ll have to solve this eventually i would like to have multiplayer and that said decent multiplayer made possible by your plugin so thank you > > haven’t gotten my 2nd computer fixed yet to test it with a different router i have to get a HDD or go to the effort of clearing out one that i have stuff on in my main workstation > > Thanks for any help or deep tutorials your able to send our way in advance --- _[View the full topic](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/join-session-does-not-work-steam-advanced-sessions-plugin/1873895)._