Invite code and direct connection

Two ways to join

• Invite code: the main way. Players find your server by its code through Windrose's own connection service, and need no address and no port.
• Direct connection: players join with your server's address and port directly. While it's on, the invite code doesn't work.

The invite code

The server generates the code at its first start. You'll find it hidden on the invite code card on the Overview page and in the Connect tab. Copy it with the copy button beside it, then inside Windrose:

1. Press Play
2. Choose Connect to Server
3. Paste the code and press Connect

• The code is 6 to 32 English letters and digits, and capital and small letters in it are different.
• To change it to a code of your own, type it in the Invite code field of the Settings tab, then restart your server.

Generate a new code

Press Regenerate code in the Connect tab, and we generate the new code. If your server is stopped, it takes effect at once. If it's running, it takes effect at the next start: the card tells you the change applies after a restart, and the old code keeps working until then, so restart your server, then send the new code to your friends.

The password

The password is optional, and you set it in the Password field of the Settings tab. If you set one, Windrose asks every player for it when they join. It works with the invite code and with direct connection.

The region

The connection service runs in three regions: EU, which covers Europe and North America, SEA and CIS. There's no Middle East region, so EU is usually the closest for players in the Gulf.

Every player has to pick the same region in the game as your server uses, or they won't find it by its code. If you leave the Region field on automatic, the server picks the fastest region from where it is, not from where your friends are. So pick the region yourself, the one closest to most of your friends, and tell them to pick it in the game.

Direct connection

With direct connection, players connect to your server straight, with no connection service and no region in between. It's worth turning on when:

• Your friends can't find your server by its code, even after checking the region and the version.
• A player's internet provider blocks Windrose's connection service.

Turn it on with the Direct connection field in the Connect tab and save. Your server gets a port of its own (TCP and UDP), and if it's running we restart it right away to open the port.

Your server has no direct address right now. The address appears here and on the Access page once Direct connection is on.

When your friends can't find your server

1. Check that the server is running and that the invite code shows on the Overview page.
2. Check that the code was pasted exactly as it is, with the same capital and small letters.
3. Check that each player's connection region in the game is your server's region.
4. Check that their game is on the same version as the server. The steps are in the updates guide.
5. Try the Force Relay Connection option in the game. It routes the connection through Windrose's relay servers, can raise the ping, and doesn't work with direct connection.
6. If none of that works, turn on direct connection.