What is causing the Fallout 76 Friends List Not Working Glitch?
Bethesda had to deal with a lot of game-breaking glitches in the first month following the launch, so you can imagine why this one wasn’t actually a priority. We investigated this particular issue by looking at various user reports and the repair strategies that they used to get the issue resolved. As it turns out, there are multiple common scenarios that might trigger this particular problem (some of them are issues that are well within your control): If you are prevented from playing Fallout 76 with your friends, this article will provide you with some methods that will help you get around this major inconvenience. Down below, you’ll discover several workarounds that other users in a similar situation have used to get the issue resolved. For the best results, follow the methods below in the order that they are presented as we ordered them by efficiency and severity. You should eventually encounter a fix that resolves the problem in your particular scenario.
Method 1: Joining/Inviting from the main menu
If you’re looking for a quick fix that will allow you to jump into your friend’s games, one solution would be to try and join the session from the Social tab in the Main menu of the game. This approach has been effective for a lot of PC users that have been unable to join any sessions from the In-game menu. So, to utilize this fix, simply exit your game session and return to the Main Menu. Once you get there, go to the Social tab, then move over to the Friend list (right corner) and join the existing session. Use the Friends or Team tab to find the session that you’re trying to join, then double-click on the session to join. If this method isn’t applicable to your particular scenario, move over to the next method below.
Method 2: The random guy method
One awkward but effective fixed that has been used successfully by a lot of users is to convince a third party player to add you and your friend to their friend list and then add the both of you to a group. After that, you will be able to add your friend to your friend list. This might sound a little complicated, but it’s really simple if you can get past the awkwardness. Here’s what you need to do: Note: This method is also effective in those cases where you accidentally blocked your friend or he ended up blocking you. If you’re still having problems with your Friend’s List in Fallout 76, move down to the next method below.
Method 3: Power cycling your console (PlayStation 4 & Xbox One)
Several affected users have reported that the issue was resolved after they power cycled their consoles. This step is a little different depending on your console of choice, but we created two separate guides. Follow the guidelines applicable to that console on which you’re encountering the issue on:
Power Cycling on Xbox One
Power Cycling on PlayStation
If you’re still encountering an issue with your Friend’s List, move over to the next method below.
Method 4: Adding your friend to Favorites or Custom List (Playstation & Xbox One Only)
Another fairly popular fix for console players is to add their friends to a Custom List (PS4) or to Favorites (Xbox One). Naturally, this workaround is only applicable to console players and the steps will be different depending on the platform on which you’re encountering the issue on. With this in mind, follow the guidelines applicable to your console:
Adding your friend’s Gamertag to the Favorites List (Xbox One)
Adding your friend to a Custom List (PlayStation 4)
Method 5: Ensuring that NAT is opened
Most network connectivity issues are somehow related to your Network Address Translation (NAT). This is essentially a metric that will determine how easy it is for you to connect with other players. As you can imagine, the status of your NAT can also affect the ability to join and invite friends in Fallout 76. There are a lot of ways to ensure that that the NAT is opened on your PC/console. But most of these require some manual work. Because of this, we are going to focus on a universal fix that will ensure that your NAT is open regardless of your platform or ISP – enabling Universal Plug and Play (UPnP). When you enable UPnP, you’re essentially allowing your applications and games to forward ports automatically, so you don’t have to create them manually. Even better, UPnP is enabled at the router level, so the instructions below can be followed regardless of the platform that you’re encountering the issue on: Note: Keep in mind that both you and the friends that you’re trying to play with need to ensure that they have UPnP enabled. If the same problem is still occurring or UPnP is not supported by your router, move over to the next method below.
Method 6: Forwarding the required ports manually
If you’re working with an old router/modem that doesn’t know how to do UPnP, you’ll need to open some ports manually. Keep in mind that this method should only be followed if Method 2 was not applicable. It will end up accomplishing the same thing (opening NAT) but the steps will be done manually. Here’s what you need to do: If the issue is still occurring, move down to the next method below.
Method 7: Unblocking your friend from your List (PC only)
We’ve noticed quite a few of occurrences where the reason why a player would not appear in another Friend List is that one of them was actually blocked by the other. This might have happened by accident or the result of a bug (yes, there was a bug that will end up blocking some of your friends in Fallout 76) However, there is a Reddit thread full of people that have successfully managed to get around this issue by installing a different Game on Steam and removed your friend from the Block list. Most affected users have done this with Legends – a small game that will install in a matter of minutes. Here’s what you need to do:
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