If you’ve ever spent an hour drifting through empty space chasing a rare exotic ship, or dug through 10 layers of cave rock to find a single activated indium deposit alone, you know No Man’s Sky can feel a little lonely at times. The massive procedural universe is designed to feel endless, but everything from exploration to base building gets way more fun when you bring other people along. This guide breaks down exactly how to play with friends in No Man’s Sky, with simple setup steps, fun activity ideas, and fixes for the most common connection headaches that pop up.
First: Confirm Your Multiplayer Settings Are Correct
Before you try to invite anyone or join a session, take two minutes to check your in-game settings to avoid unnecessary issues. Open the main menu, navigate to the Network tab, and make sure the “Network Play” toggle is switched on. Turn off "Network Play" only if you want a fully solo session with no chance of other players joining randomly.
If you’re playing with people on different platforms, double check that the crossplay toggle is enabled too. Always enable crossplay if you’re playing with friends on different systems, even if you think it’s already on – some platform updates will reset this setting without warning. Console players also need to make sure they have an active online subscription for their platform (PS Plus, Xbox Game Pass Core, or Nintendo Switch Online) to access multiplayer features.
You don’t need to be in the same star system as your friends to start a session, either. Once they join your lobby, they can warp directly to your location for free, no fuel or navigation data required. That means you can start a session even if one of you is 100 star systems away working on a separate project.
How to Play with Friends in No Man’s Sky: 3 Simple Lobby Methods
There are three easy ways to connect with friends, depending on whether you’re already in a game, if you’re platform friends, and if you’re playing cross-platform. All methods work for every supported system, and you can switch between them whenever you want.
- Direct in-game invite: Send an invite to someone already on your platform or in-game friend list while you’re loaded into a session. They’ll get a pop-up notification, and can accept to join right away without exiting their current game.
- Main menu join: Search for your friend’s active session directly from the No Man’s Sky main menu, no in-game load required first. Filter the join list to “Friends Only” to see only sessions from people on your friend list, and select the one you want to join.
- Shared invite code: Generate a unique 8-digit code from your multiplayer menu to send to anyone, even if you’re not friends on Steam, Xbox, or PlayStation. This is the best option if you’re playing with people you met in No Man’s Sky community groups, or if you don’t want to add someone to your permanent platform friend list.
Invite codes are the most reliable option for cross-platform groups, since they bypass platform friend list glitches that sometimes stop cross-platform invites from showing up. You can set your lobby to friends only, invite only, or public if you want random players to be able to join too. You can have up to 32 players in a single lobby at once, but only 4 can interact closely in the same area for base building or missions. Any extra players will show up as floating orbs, and can still explore the same system and chat with the group.
Fun Co-op Activities to Try With Your Group
Once you’re all in the same session, the whole galaxy is open for you to explore together, and there are dozens of activities that are way more fun with a group. You can tackle story missions together, though it’s worth noting that only players who are at the same quest step as the host will get story progress for completing the mission. If you’re at different points in the main story, stick to side content first until you catch up.
Shared base builds count for all players who contribute, so you can split resource gathering duties to build faster. My friends and I once built a full floating space outpost on a frozen ocean planet in one weekend, splitting tasks so one person mined rare resources, one designed the layout, and one set up power systems and automated farms. It would have taken me three weeks to build it alone.
Other great group activities include running derelict freighter missions, where you explore abandoned cargo ships for rare upgrades and story logs. Derelict freighter rewards are given to every player in the group, so you don't have to fight over loot. You can also team up to take down sentinel pillars for high-tier upgrade modules, run frigate expeditions together for extra rewards, or just race exocrafts across weird alien planets for fun.
Just remember to set clear boundaries for base builds if you’re sharing a location. I learned this the hard way when a friend decided to build a giant, noisy mineral extractor right next to the quiet garden area I’d spent three days decorating. We laughed it off, but it’s easier to agree on build zones before you start placing parts.
Fixes for Common Multiplayer Connection Issues
Even if you follow all the setup steps correctly, you might run into small glitches now and then, especially if you’re playing cross-platform. Most issues have super simple fixes, so you don’t have to spend an hour troubleshooting to get your session running.
Most connection errors happen because one player hasn’t updated their game to the latest version, so always check for patches before joining a group. No Man’s Sky gets regular small updates, and even a tiny hotfix will make it impossible for players on different versions to connect to each other. If you can’t see a friend’s session in the join list, ask them to check for updates first.
If you can join a session but can’t interact with your friend’s base or build parts, that’s almost always a permission issue. Ask the base owner to interact with the base computer, go to the Permissions tab, and toggle on “Allow friends to edit and build” to give the group access. You can also set individual permissions for specific friends if you don’t want everyone to be able to modify your build.
If you keep getting disconnected mid-session, try restarting your router and lowering your graphics settings a little. Multiplayer uses more processing power than solo play, and older PCs or consoles can struggle to render multiple player builds at once, leading to crashes. If you’re on PC, also check that your firewall isn’t blocking No Man’s Sky’s network access, as that’s another common cause of sudden disconnections.
Once you figure out how to play with friends in No Man’s Sky, the whole universe opens up in ways you can’t get from solo play. You can split resource grinding duties to build massive bases faster, team up to take down dangerous sentinel pillars for rare rewards, or just mess around and race exocrafts across desert planets for no reason at all. Don’t get frustrated if your first few multiplayer attempts have small hiccups – most issues take 30 seconds or less to fix, and the payoff of exploring the galaxy with people you like is well worth the tiny bit of extra setup. I still have screenshots of the tiny, messy base my friends and I built on a radioactive moon during our first co-op session, years later. It’s not the biggest or most impressive build I’ve ever made, but it’s definitely the one I care about the most.