Getting a group going
You cannot join your friend
Almost always one of six things, and the first two account for most of it.
Start here: have the host open the in-game menu, go to Session Details, and read out the join code that is on screen right now. That single step clears the two most common causes at once: a stale code, and a friends list that was never going to work. Big Walk (House House) (primary source, opens in a new tab)
Then work down this list
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Is the host actually in the game?
Big Walk has no persistent server. The host has to start playing first, and everyone else connects to their session, so if they are sitting in a menu there is nothing to join yet. If the host quits, everyone else is dropped too.
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Is the code from tonight?
A new join code is generated every single time the host starts a session. Yesterday's code, or the one still sitting in your group chat from the last evening, will not work. Have the host read out a fresh one.
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Is anyone on the Mac App Store version?
That build has no Game Center support, so it cannot use friends-list joining at all. Anyone on it needs the join code every time, in both directions. This one is a single parenthesis in the official FAQ and it catches people out.
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Are you actually friends on the same platform?
The automatic list only shows games hosted by people on your friends list on the platform you are playing on. Being friends on Steam does not put you on somebody's PlayStation list. Crossplay lets you play together; it does not merge the friends lists.
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Did the host change the password?
The host can change the session password while the game is running, from Session Details in the in-game menu. If someone did that mid-evening, everyone still outside is now using the wrong one.
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Is it the host's connection rather than yours?
Everything runs through the host. If joining is failing or the session is unstable for several people at once, the host is the common factor. Try a different person hosting, which also moves the save.
How joining is supposed to work
There are exactly two routes in, and knowing which one you are using tells you which things can break.
Friends list. If you are on each other's friends list on the same platform, the host's game appears automatically in a menu of active friend games. Otherwise anyone can join with a Join Code. Big Walk (House House) (primary source, opens in a new tab)
Join code. The host's join code is shown in the corner of the host menu before the game starts, and afterwards under "Session Details" in the in-game menu — where the password can also be changed mid-session. Big Walk (House House) (primary source, opens in a new tab)
There is no third route. Big Walk has no matchmaking and no public games list, so if neither of those is working you cannot fall back on browsing for a session. Big Walk (House House) (primary source, opens in a new tab)
The host is the whole infrastructure
The host has to start playing first. Once a host starts a session, the other players can connect to it — and when the host stops the session, the other players are disconnected. Big Walk (House House) (primary source, opens in a new tab)
This is why so many joining problems are not really joining problems. There is no server sitting there waiting for you. There is a person, and their machine.
It also has a consequence for performance that is easy to blame on the wrong thing: If the group is stuttering, check the host rather than yourself. The FAQ advises making sure the hosting player is running the game at a reasonable framerate, and suggests asking them to lower their quality settings or handing hosting to somebody else. Big Walk (House House) (primary source, opens in a new tab)
And because the save lives with the host, switching hosts to fix a connection problem means switching whose save you are playing. Worth knowing before you do it mid-evening. Big Walk (House House) (primary source, opens in a new tab)
If it is timing out rather than refusing
Players have reported connection timeouts on the Steam discussion boards, so if that is you, you are not alone and it is not necessarily something you have configured wrong. Steam Community (secondary source, opens in a new tab)
The official troubleshooting for network trouble is aimed at the connection rather than the game: quit other network-heavy programs, shut down devices saturating your connection, move closer to the router, and go wired over ethernet if you can. Apply that to the host first, since everything routes through them. Big Walk (House House) (primary source, opens in a new tab)
We have deliberately not repeated the specific fixes circulating on aggregator sites: things like claimed success rates for regenerating a code, or rules about which characters appear in one. We could not trace any of them to the developers or to a storefront, and a confident-sounding fix that nobody can source is worse than no fix.
Common questions
Why can I not join my friend's Big Walk game?
The usual causes are that the host has not started a session yet, that the join code is from a previous session, or that you are not on each other's friends list on the same platform. Join codes are regenerated every time the host starts a session.
Where does the host find the Big Walk join code?
In the corner of the host menu before starting, and afterwards under Session Details in the in-game menu. The password can also be changed from that same screen.
Why does my friend's Big Walk game not show up in my list?
The automatic list only shows hosts who are on your friends list on the platform you are playing on. If you are on different platforms, or not friends there, use a join code instead. The Mac App Store version has no Game Center support and always needs a code.
Does Big Walk have dedicated servers?
No. One player hosts and everyone connects to them. The host holds the save, has to start first, and when they stop the session everyone else is disconnected.
Still stuck
The developers take support mail at help@bigwalk.game. If everyone can hear each other but the session itself is unstable, the voice and network troubleshooter covers the rest. Big Walk (House House) (primary source, opens in a new tab)