Stardew Valley Multiplayer Not Connecting – Issue with Netgear Nighthawk RS700S?

Hi everyone,

I’m running into an issue while trying to play Stardew Valley multiplayer on PC. The game either fails to connect with friends or stays stuck on the “Connecting...” screen indefinitely.

I'm using a Netgear Nighthawk WiFi 7 Router RS700S (19Gbps), and I suspect there might be some configuration causing the issue — maybe NAT type or port restrictions.

Here’s what I’ve already tried:

Restarted the router and PC

Turned off Windows Firewall temporarily

Enabled UPnP in the RS700S settings

Manually forwarded ports 24642 and 26120, which some Stardew guides recommend

Despite all this, the game still can’t connect in multiplayer mode.

Has anyone else experienced similar issues with the RS700S router? Are there any additional ports or settings I should be looking into to make Stardew Valley multiplayer work properly?

Would really appreciate any advice!

Thanks!