How to Connect to Your Windrose Server
Where to find your Windrose server address and invite code, which of the two your server is using, and what to do when a player cannot get in.
Finding your server details
On the Dashboard, click "Manage" on your Windrose server card. The Overview tab has a Connection Info panel with the Game Port on one line and the Server Address on the next — the host’s public IP and your allocated port together, for example 203.0.113.50:28100. Copy it from there.
Your invite code is on the Settings tab, under Basic, as "Invite Code". Every server is given its own random 8-character code when it is built; you can replace it with your own as long as it is at least 6 characters of 0-9, a-z and A-Z, and it is case-sensitive.
If you have set a server password on the Settings tab, players need it as well. Set the password and turn "Is Password Protected" on together — one without the other is the usual reason a password appears to do nothing.
Which method your server is using
Windrose offers two ways in and they are mutually exclusive. Which one applies is decided by "Use Direct Connection" on the Settings tab, under Network.
With Use Direct Connection ON, players join with your server’s address and port, and invite codes are switched off. This is the lower-latency option and the one to prefer on a dedicated server, because the connection goes straight to the host instead of through the game’s relay.
With it OFF, players join with the invite code, and the connection is brokered by the game’s own Connection Service. The address will not get them in.
Changing that setting needs a server restart, like almost every Windrose setting. Decide which one you want before you hand anything out, and tell your players which of the two you gave them.
Joining with the address
Give players the whole Server Address from the Overview tab, host and port together. In Windrose, they use the multiplayer menu’s join-by-address option and paste it in; if the server has a password they are asked for it.
Have them paste rather than retype. The port is allocated by the platform out of the 28000-39000 range and is not any Windrose default, so a player who assumes a familiar number will not connect.
Joining with the invite code
Give players the Invite Code from the Settings tab. In Windrose, they use the multiplayer menu’s join-by-code option.
Invite codes go through the game’s Connection Service, so everyone involved has to be able to reach the same region — see below. They are the more convenient option for a private group and the slower one for a busy server.
The code only works while "Use Direct Connection" is off.
Connection Service regions
The "User Selected Region" setting on the Settings tab picks which of the game’s Connection Service regions your server registers with. The choices are SEA, CIS and EU — EU covers both Europe and North America — and leaving it empty lets the server pick the region with the best latency for itself.
That setting only matters for invite-code connections. A direct connection goes to your server’s address and ignores the Connection Service entirely.
If invite codes are failing for some of your players and not others, region mismatch is the first thing to check.
Common connection problems
"Connection timed out" or the server simply does not answer: check the badge in the status bar reads "Online", then check the address is exactly what Connection Info shows, then check whether you are on direct connection or invite codes at all.
A version mismatch: your players’ clients have updated and your server has not. Restarting the server does NOT fetch a new build — updating is on the Admin tab, under Game Updates, with the "Update now" button. See Updating Your Windrose Server.
"Password required": you have a password set on the Settings tab. Read it there, or clear it and turn "Is Password Protected" off.
An invite code that used to work: check it has not been changed on the Settings tab, and check that "Use Direct Connection" has not been turned on since — that disables codes.
If the address is right, the server is Online and it still will not accept anyone, open a support ticket with your Service ID from the bottom of the Connection Info panel, the address, the exact error your players see, and a WinMTR report from one of them.