Baldur’s Gate 3 Joining Failed Error [FIXED]

People have stormed around Bladur’s Gate 3, and rightfully so. The game looks and feels like an absolute joy to play, but every good game always comes with problems. One such problem is the Baldur’s Gate 3 Joining Failed error that has plagued a lot of players‘ multiplayer experience. Even though the error is a constant pain, we have compiled the most effective solutions.

What Is Baldur’s Gate 3 Joining Failed Error?

This error in Baldur’s Gate 3 can happen due to many reasons, most of which are not directly a fault on your end. One of the more prevalent fixes comes from support itself, making it more of a problem with the game itself. The error reads, ‘Joining Failed: You’re already connected.’

With that said, your network configuration might be at fault as well. So it’s more of a mixed bag on what exactly causes the issue. However, there is no reason to worry: We have compiled all the possible fixes for the issue that will get you back on track to load in your friends’ worlds.

The Two-Instance Fix

This fix comes directly from Larian Support itself. It’s more of a workaround than a patch or a bug fix. It involves running two instances of the game and creating a lobby that you self-join. A bit janky, but if it works toward fixing Baldur’s Gate 3 Joining Failed error, who’s to complain? 

To do this workaround, follow the following steps:

First Instance

1. Launch Baldur’s Gate 3 normally.
2. Now, press Alt+Enter to switch to Windowed Mode.
3. From the Main Menu, select Multiplayer.

   

4. Once in, click on the LAN tab and create a lobby.

   

5. Be sure that LAN Connections are enabled in the lobby settings.

   

Second Instance

1. When you are done creating a lobby in the first instance, go to the Game Directory.
2. Once in, Launch the game again through either of the executables. (bg3.exe or bg3_dx11.exe)
3. When launched, switch to the LAN tab.
4. Now, try Joining the multiplayer session you just created.
5. If successful, you can Close the previous instance.

Note that you can use similar steps for Direct Connection. If you have any problems launching the second instance, please scroll down to apply the How to Disable the Launcher fix. 

Disable Cloud Sync

Doing this fix has worked for quite a few people. For some reason, the game keeps trying to sync up your settings and profile data with the one on Steam Cloud. This shouldn’t be a problem, but it has been causing issues with the multiplayer aspect of Baldur’s Gate 3. So, disabling it would be a good idea in general.

To do so, go through the following steps:

1. Once in Steam, right-click on Baldur’s Gate 3 in your library and click on Properties.

   

2. In the General tab, turn the toggle for Steam Cloud to off.

   

Clear Local Data For Baldur’s Gate 3

Some players have reportedly fixed the issue by removing the entirety of Baldur’s Gate 3 local data. Doing this makes the game think that it’s a completely fresh install. This way, the game would rebuild all the new paths and configuration files from scratch. This is because your local save file could have gone bad.

Follow these steps to clear the data in its entirety:

1. Press Win+R on your keyboard and type “%localappdata%” in the Run window.

   

2. Once the folder is opened, look for a folder named Larian Studios.

   

3. When found, delete the folder to clear the cache completely.

Disable Launcher For Baldur’s Gate 3 

While the Larian Launcher doesn’t do much for the game in terms of features, it does count multiple instances. This can be a problem for multiplayer because Baldur’s Gate 3 allows only one instance at a time. Some players have reportedly fixed the issue by disabling the launcher, and it’s really easy to do so in the first place.

To disable the launcher, go through the following steps:

1. When in Steam, right-click on the game and click on Properties.

   

2. In the General tab, scroll down to find the Launch Options field.
3. Write the “–skip-launcher” command into the field and close the window.

   

Now, just launch the game as usual.

Reset Network Settings

If nothing above works out for you, the problem could be with your network. In this case, resetting your network settings could potentially end up doing the job. Do note that you will lose any saved networks or saved Wi-Fi access points by doing this.

To reset your network, follow these steps:

1. Search for Network Reset in Start Menu and open it.

   

2. Once opened, click on Reset Now.

   

Once done, your computer will automatically restart. I also recommend that you restart your modem as well, just to be on the safe side.

Parting Words

We hope that by following this guide, you were able to fix your Joining Failed issue with the game. While it’s understandably annoying to face an issue that deprives you of something basic like online play. It is important to understand that such bugs easily make it past small-scale testing of any game’s pre-release. If you weren’t able to fix it, the best thing would be to contact Larian Support to get your issue sorted.  

More error guides on Baldur’s Gate 3:

• FIXED: Baldur’s Gate 3 Data Mismatch Error
• 8 Ways To Fix Baldur’s Gate 3 Crashing
• Baldur’s Gate 3 Error Code 119120612 [FIXED]