Guide coverage: patches through 1.0.12

How to Fish: Black Screen & Boat Stuck Fixes

Start with the symptom list below. Confirm everyone is on Patch 1.0.12 before applying older join or save advice. The game now prints its version number in player.log, which helps when a lobby refuses mixed patches.

Quick answers

Black screen when joining a friend?

Use the same game version, then have the host create a new Invite-only multiplayer lobby. A version mismatch shows “Disconnected: Version mismatch”.

Grey screen or blank frame on launch?

This is not the co-op join black screen. Confirm 1.0.12, restart Steam, and try windowed mode.

Boat stuck or missing?

Sit with E, push it off rocks, or reload the save from before an explosion. The game does not spawn a replacement boat.

Cannot join / black screen

Confirm that every player is using the same game version. A mismatch disconnects with the in-game message “Disconnected: Version mismatch”.
The host should create an Invite-only multiplayer lobby instead of reusing a lobby created in Single-player mode.
Restart Steam and create a new lobby. If joining still fails, let another player host. Patch 1.0.4 included a fix for join-related black screens, and 1.0.10 increased the time allowed to connect, which should lower the chance of being disconnected instantly. Players still report remaining join failures.

Lost items / bad save

Since version 1.0.6, the game saves when you select Save, return to the menu, or quit, and it also autosaves once per minute. The 1.0.9 notes still direct players with corrupted saves to the official Discord for cleanup instructions. Do not continue using a corrupted save. Deleting the wrong files may erase valid progress, so this guide does not provide unverified file-deletion steps; follow the official Discord instructions instead.

Patch 1.0.10 now saves items dropped on the ground between sessions, up to 64 objects. Weapons, tools, quest items, and creatures are saved first if the cap is reached. That rule covers loose ground objects; it does not reconstruct a missing inventory slot, guarantee every object on a boat, or spawn a missing boat. Explosion velocity was also capped so dynamite is less likely to throw loot out of reach. The notes list two attempted fixes: items appearing far away when equipped from inventory, and items falling through the world when loading a save or joining a lobby.

Cooked a weapon or fishing rod

Dip the cooked weapon or tool in shallow water, pull it back out, and inspect it. Patch 1.0.10 added this cleaning action. It does not restore a burnt creature’s sale value. Money & grill

Radar X disappeared

Patch 1.0.10 removed the X marker on the radar. It marked your last death location and was removed because it was confusing. The green marker is still the direction of the next island after the current quest is turned in. If the Radar itself is missing from both inventory and the boat, return to the Lighthouse shop and check whether you can buy another one. Stuck? radar checks

Cannot respawn after Tuna / Albatross

Patch 1.0.10 fixed a lock where dying to the Tuna, then spawning the Albatross, could leave you unable to respawn. Update, then retry the Rocks Island sequence with a spare Tuna if the first one is gone. Albatross guide

Roulette ticking or broken next session

Patch 1.0.10 fixed infinite ticking at high roulette values, and a bug that broke roulette for the next session if you left while a spin was in progress. The ball clipping through the wheel is listed as an attempted fix. These notes apply to the color-bet table, not the Reel of Fortune. Casino & gambling

Grey screen

A grey or blank frame on launch is not the same as the black screen that appears after you accept a Steam invite. Patch 1.0.4 included a grey-screen fix. If it still happens: confirm 1.0.12, restart Steam, try windowed mode, then verify game files in Steam. If the screen only goes black after joining a lobby, use the black-screen steps above.

Boat stuck

A boat wedged on terrain, flipped by dynamite, or missing after a load is a physics or save problem, not a missing island unlock. Sit with E, push it off rocks, or reload the save from before the explosion. Patch 1.0.10 does not spawn a replacement boat. If the radar itself has no next-island marker, use the stuck checklist instead. Stuck? next island and radar · Make the boat fly

Performance

Patch 1.0.5 lowered the minimum frame-rate cap setting from 50 to 30. Players still report GPU usage reaching 100% and crashes on RX 580 graphics cards. Patch 1.0.10 does not list a general performance fix.