No Railings

Setup guide

Getting everyone into a game

Up to six people, on any mix of networks — same room, same wifi, or opposite ends of the country. It takes about two minutes to set up once, and then joining is pasting one line of text.

Why it works this way

Normally you would invite people from your Steam friends list. That path is built and works, but Steam needs a registered App ID before it can launch the game for a friend who clicks "Join" — and that means a Steamworks account and Valve's review. Until that happens, the game joins by address instead. It is one extra copy-paste and it works everywhere.

What each person needs

WhoDownloadsAlso needs
You (the host) The game Tailscale, if anyone is off your wifi
Anyone on your wifi The game Nothing
Anyone elsewhere The game Tailscale (free, ~2 min)

Tailscale is a free tool that puts everyone's machines on one private network, as if you were all in the same building. It replaces port forwarding entirely — no router settings, no firewall rules, nothing permanent. Uninstalling it undoes everything.

The steps

  1. Everyone downloads the game

    Send them the download page, or the file directly. Both builds are free and need no account.

    Windows · 38 MB macOS · 59 MB

    Windows: unzip the whole folder and run NoRailings.exe — the two .dll files have to stay next to it. SmartScreen will warn that it is unsigned: More info → Run anyway.

    macOS: unzip, then right-click → Open the first time. Double-clicking an unsigned app makes Gatekeeper refuse it.

  2. Anyone not on your wifi installs Tailscale

    Grab it from tailscale.com/download and sign in. You then invite them to your network from the Tailscale admin console — there is a "Share" / invite link you send once.

    Your brother sitting on the same wifi as you can skip this entirely.

  3. You host

    Launch the game and click START A CREW. You land in the lobby and stay there while everyone connects.

    Stay in the lobby. Your machine is the server. If you back out to the main menu or close the game, everyone drops.

  4. Read the address off the lobby screen

    Under the crew list it says OR CONNECT DIRECTLY TO followed by an address. If Tailscale is running it shows your Tailscale address (starts with 100.) — that is the one your remote friends can reach. Otherwise it shows your wifi address (starts with 192.168.).

  5. Send that one line to everybody

    Paste it into your group chat. That is the entire thing they need — no port, no code, no login.

  6. They join

    Each of them launches the game, types the address into the box on the main menu, and clicks JOIN BY CODE. That box takes either a Steam join code or an address — it works out which is which.

  7. Start the shift

    When every name is showing in the crew list, hit START THE SHIFT. A contract is five shifts of about four minutes. Nobody needs to be ready; anyone arriving late can join between shifts.

If something goes wrong

What you seeWhyFix
"Could not join that crew" Wrong address, or the host isn't in the lobby Host must be sitting in the lobby, not the main menu. Re-check the address.
Works on wifi, not remotely You sent the 192.168.x.x address Send the Tailscale 100.x.y.z one instead.
Remote friend still can't connect Tailscale isn't running on one end Run tailscale status on both machines; both must be logged in.
Everyone connects, then all drop at once The host closed the game or the machine slept Expected — there's no host migration. Host again and reconnect.
Nobody can hear anybody Microphone permission, or you're too far apart Allow mic access when asked. Beyond ~25 m you drop to the radio channel on purpose.
Windows build won't launch at all Possibly a real bug — see below Tell us. This is the single most useful thing you can report.

One thing worth knowing before you start

The Windows build was compiled and verified on a Mac, and there was no Windows machine available to run it on. It has never been launched by anyone. Everything checkable without running it checks out — but if it falls over on startup, that is a genuine unknown becoming known, and it is worth reporting immediately rather than assuming you did something wrong.

Rather not install Tailscale?

Port forwarding works instead: forward UDP port 27015 to the host machine on your router, then send friends your public IP address. It is more fiddly, it is a permanent change to your router, and it exposes a port — which is why the guide above does not lead with it.

You can also append a port if you have changed it: 100.64.1.2:27015.

Get the game Read the FAQ