How to Fish Game Black Screen Joining Friends

Exit the failed join without compounding it

1. Ask the host whether your player appears in the lobby or world, and note the answer.
2. If a normal menu responds, leave the session and quit through the game. Avoid repeated blind clicks on a black screen.
3. If the process is unresponsive, close it once, then wait for Steam to show it has stopped before relaunching.
4. Have the host close the old lobby instead of sending another invite to the same stalled session.
5. Record the current version, host, player count, privacy mode, and whether the screen had audio or input.

Rebuild a clean two-player test

Changing host is a diagnostic comparison, not a guaranteed cure. If the same PC fails as both host and guest, focus on that installation and environment. If every guest fails only with one host, preserve that session evidence for support.

1. Restart Steam on both host and guest PCs.
2. Finish all How to Fish updates and confirm the same version on both systems.
3. Run Verify integrity on the affected guest PC through Steam Properties.
4. Have the host create a new lobby. Patch 1.0.5 supports private invite-only lobby and session settings, so state the chosen privacy mode.
5. Send one fresh invite to one guest and wait for that join to finish before adding anyone else.
6. If it remains black, swap host and guest roles for one comparison session.

Keep the player-count test controlled

Patch 1.0.4 added lobbies for up to eight players, despite the Steam store page retaining older one-to-four-player text. Large-lobby support does not mean eight variables should be tested at once. Establish a successful host-plus-one session, then add one person at a time and record which join introduces the black screen.

When a specific guest fails, let a different guest try the same lobby before rebuilding it. When a specific join order fails, repeat only once after a clean restart. Endless rapid retries can obscure which lobby instance and invitation produced the result.

Read Steam Relay debug as evidence

If Steam Relay debugging turns red, consult the current common-bugs guidance in the official Discord identified by the developer. Record whether red appears before the invite, during transition, or after the host sees the guest connect. That timing is useful when reporting the issue.

Do not translate a red indicator into a guessed list of ports. The official sources cited here do not publish a How to Fish port-forwarding procedure. Avoid permanently disabling security controls. Steam restart, matched versions, verified files, a fresh lobby, and official current guidance are the supported evidence path.

Preserve saves before repeated joins

Close How to Fish and copy the whole directory at C:\Users\<name>\AppData\LocalLow\Dazed Games\How to Fish\Saves to a dated backup. Do this separately on each PC whose progress matters. Never copy one player's save into another player's folder as a networking test.

Patch 1.0.6 says a crash no longer immediately saves. Normal writes are manual Save, Main Menu, Quit, and autosave about once per minute. A forced close during the transition can therefore leave recent activity unwritten. Save deliberately before joining tests whenever the current session is responsive.

Build a useful black-screen report

Send that compact record through the official Steam discussion or developer Discord path. Link the report to the attempted 1.0.4 fix without claiming it is the same underlying bug. That distinction helps the developer compare a current reproduction with prior work.

• Exact game version on host and guest.
• Public or private invite-only session setting.
• Host and guest roles, total players, and join order.
• Whether the host sees the affected player connect.
• Whether the black screen has audio, a movable cursor, or responsive menus.
• Steam Relay debug color and when it changes.
• Result after swapping hosts and after verifying the affected installation.

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