Hi, I tested my multiplayer game in editor for creating and joining sessions which works perfectly fine but fails in the packaged game. I was initially able to create sessions but couldnt join session in the packaged game, but upon trying to fix the join session issue by adding:
in the defaultengine.ixi as well as enabled Online Subsystem Steam & Steam Sockets, caused my packaged game to no longer be able to create sessions; creating session would briefly open the level and suddenly bring me back to the main menu level. trying to create session afterwards no longer works and requires the game to be closed first.
HI @G4C4,
First of all, testing the system with people from another country can cause connection issues or prevent sessions from being found,also, make sure the executable is not being blocked by the antivirus or firewall, as that can interfere with networking and Steam connectivity.
Then, it’s important to make sure the "DefaultEngine.ini " file is correctly configured with the following content:
[OnlineSubsystem]
DefaultPlatformService=Steam
[OnlineSubsystemSteam]
bEnabled=true
SteamDevAppId=480
; If using Sessions
; bInitServerOnClient=true
[/Script/OnlineSubsystemSteam.SteamNetDriver]
NetConnectionClassName="OnlineSubsystemSteam.SteamNetConnection"
The official documentation explains what each line means and how the system works:
And here’s a video that shows the step-by-step process to properly integrate the Advanced Sessions plugin. Although the video is old, it can still be used without problems up to Unreal Engine 5.5:
Hi, the issue that you can no longer create a session is likely due to enabling the steam sockets plugin. If you disable it, it should work again. For joining a session in a packaged game, in ue5.4 I could not get it to work using FindSession, but it did work using invite and the steam overlay. This was the tutorial I used for joining via the overlay: How to join friends via Steam overlays using Advanced Sessions | Community tutorial
Actually, from the looks of your images you already used this Something else to note, is that if you package the game and try to join, then you need two pcs running each running with a different steam account open in the background.
And this is the config I’m using, don’t know how much of it is necessary, just tried until I got some combination that worked:
Hi! Really appreciate both of your help with solving this issue.
I tried @BRGEzedeRocco’s suggestion which somehow still wouldnt let me create session.
I then tried using @chrudimer’s suggestion, removing steamsocket plugin and using your config modifications, helped fix my create session issue. However, I can’t seem to join my friend through invite nor through find and join session.
I am using unreal engine 5.6, could that be the problem? this is the (important parts of the) log I got upon attempting to join through steam (note that we are both in the same steam download region)
LogSockets: Warning: GetAddressInfo failed to resolve host with error SE_HOST_NOT_FOUND [11001]
LogNet: UNetConnection::Close: [UNetConnection] RemoteAddr: , Name: IpConnection_[censoring the numbers], Driver: Name:PendingNetDriver Def:GameNetDriver IpNetDriver_[censoring the numbers], IsServer: NO, PC: NULL, Owner: NULL, UniqueId: INVALID, Channels: 3, Time: 2025.07.15-23.12.42
LogNet: Error: UEngine::BroadcastNetworkFailure: FailureType = PendingConnectionFailure, ErrorString = Your connection to the host has been lost., Driver = Name:PendingNetDriver Def:GameNetDriver IpNetDriver_[censoring the numbers]
LogNet: Warning: Network Failure: PendingNetDriver[PendingConnectionFailure]: Your connection to the host has been lost.
Something else to note, is that if you package the game and try to join, then you need two pcs running each running with a different steam account open in the background.