Install guide: Timber Together

Before you start

Timberborn 1.1.2.4, the same version on every computer (tested on Windows, Steam version).
The Harmony and Mod Settings mods: Harmony from the Steam Workshop, Mod Settings from the Steam Workshop or mod.io.
For Steam invites: everyone online in Steam, owning Timberborn there.

Same zip for everyone

A join is refused if the game or the mod's files differ in any way. Install the exact same zip on every computer.

Install the mod

Download the zip

From the newest release, download TimberTogether-1.4.0-rc31.zip under Assets, not "Source code". Got a zip from your host? Use that one.
Close Timberborn

The game must not be running while you change its mods.
Keep only one multiplayer mod

In Documents\Timberborn\Mods, delete any other multiplayer mod's folder: the Stability Fork (BeaverBuddies-Stability-Fork or BeaverBuddies-StabilityPreview) or an older copy of this mod. Unsubscribe from the Workshop BeaverBuddies. Only one can run; the main menu names any other that is enabled. Your saves aren't in this folder.
Extract and copy

Extract the zip and copy the TimberTogether folder into:

Documents\Timberborn\Mods

You should end up with Mods\TimberTogether\version-1.1\manifest.json.
Enable the mods

Start Timberborn and enable Harmony, Mod Settings and Timber Together in the mod manager. Restart if asked.

To check the download, run this in PowerShell where you saved it, and compare with the SHA-256 on the release page:

Get-FileHash .\TimberTogether-1.4.0-rc31.zip -Algorithm SHA256

Compare with your host

Before anyone hosts, check these three together. All must match.

What	Should read	Where to look
The mod	1.4.0-rc31	The mod list shows Timber Together with its version.
The game	1.1.2.4	The same Timberborn version for everyone.
The download	The same zip	The same file, not only the same number: compare the SHA-256 if in doubt.

If anything differs, the join is refused with Multiplayer build mismatch, naming what differs. Everyone installs the same zip and restarts the game.

Check it loaded

The mod list shows Timber Together with version 1.4.0-rc31.
The main menu has a Join co-op game button.
Your game log, %USERPROFILE%\AppData\LocalLow\Mechanistry\Timberborn\Player.log, contains the line Timber Together v1.4.0-rc31 is loaded!

If it isn't there, see The mod doesn't load.

Host a game

Every co-op game starts in a Co-op Game room: friends join it and press Ready, and your Start game loads the game for everyone at once, paused. Nobody can join after Start. Separate colonies or one shared colony? See Choose your start.

A new game

New Game → faction → map → difficulty. Set Separate colonies and the boxes under it (see Settings), then choose Host co-op game beside Start and name your settlement.
Invite your friends (below). They appear in the room and press Ready; you can remove anyone.
Press Start game. Everyone loads together, paused; unpause once the connection panel shows nobody (loading).

A save

Choose Load game (main menu, or Esc in a game), pick a save, and press Host co-op game, right of Load. A gold line under the save's picture says whether it has separate colonies or one shared colony. Each player gets the colony the save remembers for them.

For a shared save, the room shows Separate colonies: tick it and the game becomes separate colonies at Start, for good. Your colony keeps everything built so far; each friend founds their own. Keep a copy of the save first.

The game you're in

Playing alone, choose Esc → Host co-op game: the game is saved and its room opens over it. In a co-op game the button reads Save and rehost: the game is saved and everyone meets in its room again, guests included, by themselves. A guest who missed it chooses Rejoin.

If a warning says your mods and a friend's differ, fix that before you start: see Troubleshooting.

Invite: Steam (easiest)

Choose Invite friends and pick your friend in Steam's overlay. No port forwarding needed. The button lights up a moment after you start hosting, once the Steam lobby is ready.

Invite: direct IP

Give your friend your IP address, with port 25565 forwarded to your computer. It's open whenever you host, and anyone who can reach it can join unverified: forward it only while you play by IP with people you trust (see the FAQ).

Invite: Hamachi or another virtual network

A virtual LAN such as Hamachi avoids port forwarding, and works. Give your friend the address it assigns you; they join by IP.

Join a game

From the menu

Choose Join co-op game, in the main menu or, while you play alone, the game menu (Esc). It lists your Steam friends' co-op games: pick your host's and press Join, or type the host's IP address under the list. The host's room opens: press Ready.

Joined from inside a game, the room opens over it and your game waits, paused. Leave takes you back to it; at Start game it is saved as at Exit to menu, and the host's game loads.

With a Steam invite

Accept it from Steam's notification or overlay, from the main menu or while you play alone. If Timberborn is closed, Steam starts it. In a co-op game, leave it first, then accept the invite again. With Allow friends to join directly via Steam on (the default), Join Game on the host's entry in your Steam friends list works too.

Your copy of the host's save is kept with your saves, named Online Games.

Found your colony

As soon as you're in, even while the game is paused, you're offered a district center to place (Place district center, or Ctrl+K later). Put it anywhere its roads won't join another colony's: it's free and already built, with starting beavers, food and water. On a multi-start map you get the next start instead. The save remembers your colony by your Steam ID, whoever hosts.

While you play

The connection panel shows who is connected and their colony, ping, sync and tick rate, with chat. Click its title to collapse it. The speaker on a player's row mutes the sounds of their actions on your computer.
Pausing pauses the game for everyone, and the connection panel shows who paused it. Menus and dialogs don't pause a co-op game.
Your roads must not join another colony's: keep them a cell apart. Ctrl+L shows every colony's roads. Where you want to trade, place a Trading Post between the two roads. Y lists your posts and every colony, with its goods in stock. The full rules are in TWO-COLONIES.md.
Stepping away? Y → Let … look after it lets a friend run your colony until you're back.
Your friends' cursors and selections show on your screen. Restyle them in Options (Esc) → Player cursors.
To ping a spot for everyone, bind Ping location in the game's key bindings. Set your Ping display name and Ping color in Timber Together's settings.

If a desync happens

A desync means the players' games have drifted apart. The game tells you. Then, in any order:

The host chooses Save and rehost.
Guests choose Reconnect (wait for rehost). Each waits in their game and joins the host's room as soon as it opens.
Everyone presses Ready, and the host presses Start game.

If the game says multiplayer has stopped because an action couldn't be completed, reload a known-good save instead, and don't overwrite it with that session. Please send every player's logs: how.

Settings and keys

On the New Game page (the host's choice)

On the New Game difficulty page, under the game's Tutorial checkbox. The page remembers your choice, and a game keeps it for good. A shared save's room shows the first two as well.

Checkbox	Default	What it does
Separate colonies	Ticked	A colony each. Unticked: one shared colony, as in ordinary BeaverBuddies (a player other than the host can split off later with Esc → Found your own colony).
Separate science and unlocks (under it, while it's ticked)	Ticked	Each colony earns its own science and unlocks its own buildings. Unticked: one shared pool.
Mixed factions (under it, while it's ticked)	Unticked	Each player picks Folktails or Iron Teeth in the room. Greyed, with the reason, unless every faction is unlocked on the host's computer and no other faction mod is installed. Not played yet.

In Timber Together's settings (the host's)

Open the Mods list (main menu, or Esc in a game) and press the settings button beside Timber Together.

Setting	Default	What it does
Ease off when a guest drops below this frame rate	Off	Slows the game a little while a guest's frame rate is below this, then speeds back up. Also in the connection panel.
Remove the large colony speed limit	Off	Runs at the chosen speed however big the colony (the game halves speed 7 in a big one). The host's choice applies to everyone.
Hand over a colony after its player is away (days)	0 (never)	How many in-game days of co-op play a player may miss before their colony goes to another player (in a mixed game, only to one of its own faction). At 0 it's kept for them. Can be changed during a game.

Connecting

Setting	Default	What it does
Enable Steam networking	On	Lets friends join through Steam. Joining by IP works either way.
Allow friends to join directly via Steam	On	Friends can join from Steam's friends list without an invite.
Port	25565	The port for hosting and joining by IP. The host forwards it.

Your own preferences

Setting	Default	What it does
Player activity indicators	On	Shares your cursor, selection and recent edits, and shows others'.
Ping display name	Player	The name others see next to your pings, cursor and edits.
Ping color	Yellow	Your pings, cursor and chat name on everyone's screen. Left on yellow, you get a color by player number.
Connection panel	Expanded	Expanded, Collapsed or Hidden.
Connection panel position	Top left	Top left, top right, bottom left or bottom right.
Always use detailed logging	Off	Extra detail for diagnosing desyncs. Costly: leave it off unless asked.

Keys

Key	What it does
`Ctrl`+`K`	Found your colony, if you have none.
`Ctrl`+`L`	Show every colony's roads in its color.
`Y`	Your Trading Posts and every colony.
`Enter`	Type in the chat.
`Home`	Back to your colony. Click a name in the connection panel to go to that player.
`Ctrl`+`Shift`+`J`	Write a diagnostics report.

Change them under Options → Bindings → Timber Together. Ping location and Toggle connection panel have no key until you set one.

Update or remove

Update: download the new zip, close the game, and replace the TimberTogether folder. Everyone updates together, because different builds won't join each other.
Remove: disable the mod in the mod manager, or delete the TimberTogether folder from Mods.

Install guide