Hey Rafters!
Since we released Raft on Xbox Series X/S and Playstation 5 last year there has been a Beta Branch here on Steam that enables cross-play, letting Rafters who chose to opt in play with their friends who might play on Xbox or Playstation. See, when we built the support for cross play into the PC version, quite a bit of code and systems had to be overhauled and rewritten, and we knew there could be a few issues that arose once we launched. This is why we let it sit on its own branch on Steam, so that players who wanted to try cross-play could choose to do so, knowing there might be a bug here and there. During the time since it landed on the beta branch, and thanks to everyone who has played and supplied us with logs and bug reports, we have updated the cross-play version to where it is now in a state where we feel comfortable moving it over to the default branch. So now, everyone on the default branch will have access to not only cross-play, but also full controller support, in-game voice chat, bug fixes, optimized performance in many areas of the game and a whole bunch of quality of life changes.
However, seeing as there are going to be a lot more players sailing the cross-play waters now that it is out on the default branch, we want to cover all angles and provide a backup solution for those who might encounter a stray bug. To this end, if you for some reason want to go back to the previous version of Raft, you can do so by simply switching over to the "1.09_precrossplayupdate" branch. This will NOT cause worlds that are saved in the new version to be unplayable. More instructions below.
As always, if you encounter any issue, please head over to our Discord and let us know!
We hope you have a great time sailing the seas, maybe even with some new cross platform friends?
How to switch to the "1.09_precrossplayupdate" branch:
1. Go to your Steam Library, right click Raft and choose Properties.
2. In the new window, navigate to Game Versions & Betas on the left hand panel.
3. Choose '1.09_precrossplayupdate'.
4. Restart Steam to make sure the game updates.