Banished never had multiplayer, so my buddy Claude and I made a mod for it. You can play two ways:

• Separate towns: everybody builds their own town on the same map. You can trade goods (once or every season/year), let each other use your storage barns, and lend workplaces. Each player can pick where their town starts.
• Share one town: everybody runs the same town together.

You can also see each other: the other players’ mouse cursors show on the map, and Alt + click pings a spot for everybody (with an arrow at the screen edge if it’s off screen).

How it works: every player’s game runs the whole simulation in sync, and only your actions travel over the network. If the games ever drift apart, the host’s game is reloaded on everyone’s PC automatically. People can join a game that’s already running, and game speed and pause are shared.

Connecting: Steam invites, a relay server (one person in your group runs the included BanishedRelay.exe and the others enter a room code), or a direct IP connection.

Requirements: Banished 1.0.7, Steam or GOG version (Steam and GOG players can play together), Windows 10/11. Everybody needs the same version of the mod.

About the install: Banished’s mod kit can’t add new code, so the multiplayer part is a DLL (dinput8.dll) that the game loads at start-up. Antivirus programs sometimes flag DLLs like that, so the full source code is on GitHub (MIT license). There’s also a normal mod file for the windows and buttons. Install.bat sets up both, and Uninstall.bat removes them.

Download / source: https://github.com/BarryBareth/banished-multiplayer

Also on the Steam Workshop (the mod file only, you still need the DLL from GitHub), Nexus(whenever they lift the quarantine) and banishedinfo.

I’ve played it a lot with a couple of friends, but more players will find things we didn’t. There’s a bug-report button in the game, or open an issue on GitHub. Feedback welcome!

Hi everyone,

I'm playing Vanilla Banished on Hard difficulty (vanilla, no mods) and I'm looking for advice on early-game priorities.

My main issue is that I start with no seeds or animals, so farming isn't available at the beginning. Resources are tight, labor is scarce, and every worker assignment feels like a major decision.

Any advice?

What does your typical build order look like, and what are the biggest mistakes that lead to early collapse on Hard?