Frequently asked questions

A co-op mod for Timberborn where each player runs their own colony on one shared map: their own districts, beavers, stock, working hours and science. The colonies' roads meet only at Trading Posts, where they barter. It's built on BeaverBuddies by thomaswp and contributors, through the BeaverBuddies Stability Fork, and still plays ordinary shared-colony co-op too. It's in beta.

• A colony each, next door on the same map, trading at Trading Posts. Ordinary BeaverBuddies puts everyone in one colony.
• A Co-op Game room: everyone joins and readies up, then the game loads for all at once.
• Steam friend invites with no port forwarding.
• A connection panel with players, ping, sync, chat and a speed boost, and your friends' cursors on your screen.
• Fixes for desyncs and crashes, and clear messages when a join or an action fails.

Yes. Untick Separate colonies on the New Game page and everyone builds one colony together; a shared save (including a Stability Fork save) stays shared. None of the colony rules apply then. Every player still needs Timber Together: it can't join Stability Fork games, or the other way round.

Yes, two ways. Neither can be undone, so keep a copy of the save first. Either way the shared colony stays whole as the host's, and each friend starts fresh with a new district center, starting beavers, food and water.

• When you host it: Load game → pick the save → Host co-op game, and tick Separate colonies in its room. With Separate science and unlocks also ticked, each colony earns its own science from then on.
• Later, in the game: a friend (not the host) chooses Esc → Found your own colony and places their district center. Every colony keeps the unlocks made so far, and each earns its own science from then on.

Yes: free and open source under the GNU General Public License v3.0, like the original.

From GitHub Releases. It isn't on the Steam Workshop or mod.io yet; the BeaverBuddies pages there are the original mod's.

Timberborn 1.1.2.4, the same version for every player. If a Timberborn update changes something the mod corrects for co-op, co-op stops at load with a message (single player carries on) until Timber Together is updated.

It's tested on Windows with the Steam version. Steam invites need the Steam version. Other stores, macOS and Linux haven't been tested.

Up to four colonies; a fifth player or more helps run the host's colony. Most real play so far has been with two.

Yes: their own copy of the game and the same mod download. Only the host needs the save; guests get a copy when they join, kept with their saves as Online Games.

Not with a Steam invite. For a direct IP connection, forward port 25565 to the host, or use a virtual LAN such as Hamachi.

No: the room closes at Start game. To let someone in, the host chooses Esc → Save and rehost; everyone, newcomer included, meets in the room again, and Start game carries on.

It's kept for you. To keep it running, press Y → Let … look after it: your friend presses Run this colony to play it, and Back to your colony when done. Take it back any time.

A colony changes hands only if it has no beavers or bots left for a whole day, if the host hands it over, or if the host has set Hand over a colony after its player is away (days) (0, never, by default). Its player can then found a new colony with Ctrl+K. Not played yet.

No. Each player has their own camera and interface, showing their own colony's goods, population and science. You see each other's cursors anywhere on the map, and can ping it.

The game tells you. The host chooses Save and rehost and guests choose Reconnect (wait for rehost); everyone meets in the room and carries on. In a separate-colonies game the colonies are checked against the host's as you play, so a difference stops the game the moment it happens. Keep backups, and see Troubleshooting.

No. Every player needs the same build of Timber Together. And only one multiplayer mod can be enabled at a time: if another is, the main menu names it.

Yes, though it hasn't been played yet. The host ticks Mixed factions on the New Game page (every faction must be unlocked on their computer), and each player picks a faction in the room. Each colony gets its faction's buildings, beavers and bots; between factions, Trading Posts carry the goods both use, and science, but not beavers. A mixed save needs Timber Together to load both factions. More in TWO-COLONIES.md.

Yes, if every player has the same mods at the same versions, with the same settings. You get a warning when the lists differ. Interface-only mods are usually harmless; a mod that changes the simulation will make the games drift apart. A guest missing a mod the host uses (MixedStorage, for example) leaves the game with a message naming it. See Troubleshooting.

Yes, both. Links are in the install guide.

The game must play out identically on every computer, and even a rebuilt copy of the same version can differ. So a join compares the game version and the mod's files, and refuses any difference. Compare with your host first.

Keep only Timber Together. Unsubscribe from the Workshop BeaverBuddies, and delete any other multiplayer mod's folder from Documents\Timberborn\Mods (the Stability Fork, or an older copy of this mod).

No. Steam connects players directly when it can, and relays through its network otherwise; either way Valve keeps IP addresses hidden. With a direct IP connection, the players you give it to know the host's address.

Not over Steam: the host's lobby is friends-only, and each Steam guest is identified by Steam.

Direct IP is different. Whenever you host, the direct IP port (25565) is open until the game starts, even if you only invite over Steam. Anyone who can reach it can join, unverified, and could claim another player's colony. Forward that port, or let it through your firewall, only while you play by IP with people you trust.

Other players receive your game actions and, if Player activity indicators is on, your cursor, selection, recent edits, and the name and color you chose. Nothing is uploaded anywhere: diagnostics and logs stay on your computer until you send them.

Everyone starts from the same save, and every action goes through the host, which decides the tick it happens on and sends it to everyone. The game is deterministic, so the same save and the same actions on the same ticks play out the same everywhere. The original project's wiki goes deeper.

How many simulation ticks per second the game runs, averaged over a few seconds: about 1.7 at normal speed, about 11.7 at the fastest button, 0 when paused.

To go faster, use the speed boost at the top of the chat: + adds to the speed everyone picked (the fastest button with +0.5 runs at 7.5x, up to 30x). The slowest computer still sets the real pace.

Barely, in normal play. More colonies mean more to simulate, so prefer a smaller map; the host can ease off for a slow guest from the connection panel. Leave Always use detailed logging off unless you're hunting a desync: it's costly.

A short one. Your action goes to the host, which schedules it and sends it back, so it appears a moment after you click. While it travels, the tiles you placed or marked are tinted.

Download the new zip, close the game, and replace the TimberTogether folder. Everyone updates together.

Open an issue with every player's Player.log and newest report from TimberTogether-Reports. Collecting logs shows where they are.

• Everyone needs the exact same build; other mods and their settings should match too.
• Nobody can join after Start game; the host uses Save and rehost.
• Desyncs can still happen; in a separate-colonies game they're caught the moment they do.
• Up to four colonies. Tested on Windows with the Steam version only.
• Much of the text this mod adds is English only.
• The game ends only when every beaver on the map is gone.
• The full list is in TWO-COLONIES.md.

Timber Together is a modified version of BeaverBuddies, created by Thomas Price (thomaswp) with contributions from Robin, Slide, Phil Lehmkuhl, SamuZad, Joe Stead, Zibo Ye, Dasker and Tarensaror. The multiplayer design and most of the code are theirs: keeping every player's game in step, the Steam and direct connections, the chat, cursors and pings. The Stability Fork and Timber Together's colonies and Trading Posts are maintained by Timbermods; CREDITS.md has the details. It's an unofficial community mod for Timberborn, not affiliated with or endorsed by Mechanistry.