How to Fish More Players Mod: MorePlayers & BiggerLobbies

Updated 2026-09-02 · Steam How to Fish

The How to Fish more players mod you want is Kalamies/MorePlayers v0.1.0, which lets you "fish with up to 32 players instead of 8" through a single config value. The store page still advertises How to Fish as a 1-4 player game, but patch 1.0.4 on 21 August 2026 added support for up to 8 player lobbies, so 8 is the number mods are now raising. The alternative is ADHDCory/BiggerLobbies v1.0.3, which exposes the same idea as an editable lobby size setting. Both are BepInEx plugins installed like any other Thunderstore package.

Neither README states whether every player has to install it, so treat that as unconfirmed and read the section below before you invite ten people.

What the vanilla player cap actually is

Two different numbers are in circulation, and both are correct depending on the date. The Steam store page still calls How to Fish "a 1-4 player physics based fishing simulator" as of 2 September 2026, but patch 1.0.4 on 21 August 2026 listed "Added support for up to 8 player lobbies" under Changes. The live cap is 8; the store blurb was never rewritten. That is why MorePlayers says 32 "instead of 8" and why BiggerLobbies defaults to 8 rather than 4. Full history is on patch notes.

Other developer changes that matter if you are pushing lobby sizes:

Patch	Date	Co-op change
1.0.4	2026-08-21	Up to 8 player lobbies; fixes for a permanent boss timer stuck on screen and for permanent revive text when a held dead player self-revives
1.0.5	2026-08-22	Option to host a private, invite-only lobby; session type changeable in server settings in-game (needs a restart); griefers can no longer instantly end the game on join
1.0.10	2026-08-27	Increased the time allowed to connect, lowering the risk of instant disconnects; fix for items falling through the level when joining a lobby
1.0.11	2026-09-01	Fix for the inventory bug on join that made players invisible; nametag toggle; you now die to your own explosives even with friendly fire off

MorePlayers and BiggerLobbies compared

Figures below are from the Thunderstore API as fetched on 2 September 2026.

	Kalamies/MorePlayers	ADHDCory/BiggerLobbies
Version	0.1.0	1.0.3
Downloads	20,575	5,112
Created / updated	2026-08-21 / 2026-08-21	2026-08-24 / 2026-08-24
Categories	Mods	Mods, Tools, Misc
Dependency string	`BepInEx-BepInExPack-5.4.2305`	`BepInEx-BepInExPack-5.4.2100`
Config file	`BepInEx/config/kalamies.MorePlayers.cfg`	`BepInEx/config/com.adhdcory.biggerlobbies.cfg`
Config key	`MaxPlayers`, default `32`	`LobbySize`, default `8`
Deprecated	No	No

Two things stand out. MorePlayers counts you inside its number, so MaxPlayers of 32 means you plus 31 others; BiggerLobbies ships at the vanilla 8, so installing it changes nothing until you edit the file. And the dependency strings differ: MorePlayers pins BepInEx-BepInExPack-5.4.2305, the pack almost every current How to Fish mod uses, while BiggerLobbies pins the older BepInEx-BepInExPack-5.4.2100. See mods not working if a version mismatch broke your profile.

The BiggerLobbies README is unusually candid: its author writes that they do not know whether it works, but that it should. That is the developer's own wording, not a tested outcome.

Install

Both mods install the same way as everything else covered in the mods hub.

Install a Thunderstore-compatible mod manager (Gale or Thunderstore Mod Manager). Search for MorePlayers or BiggerLobbies, install, and BepInEx comes along as a dependency.
Launch the game once through the mod manager so BepInEx generates its folders and the mod writes its config file.
Quit, open the config file listed in the table above, and set MaxPlayers or LobbySize.
Relaunch through the mod manager, not through Steam directly.

Manual installation is the BepInExPack route: extract the pack contents into the folder holding How to Fish.exe, run the game once so the console appears, then drop the plugin DLL into BepInEx/plugins/.

Does everyone in the lobby need the mod?

Neither README says. That is the honest answer, and this page will not guess at an undocumented networking model. What the wider ecosystem shows is that How to Fish mods fall into clear camps, and the READMEs that bother to say so are explicit:

Requirement	Example mod	What its README says
Host only	KeepInventory v1.0.0	The host needs it installed or the server still drops items; other players should install it too so knockouts look right on their screen
Everyone, same version	zPaulin's Weapon Arsenal v1.0.1	"Everyone in the lobby needs the mod, at the same version." There is no host-only install, because a networked weapon is identified by its position in a list
Everyone, host included	NoSharedMoney v1.4.0	"All players must have NoSharedMoney installed, including the host." Balances are pushed to each client individually
Client-side only	FishHealthBars v1.1.1, DynamicCrosshair v1.0.0	Reads state the game already synchronizes; other players need nothing

A lobby-size change is a host-side server setting by nature, so the host is certainly the machine that must run it. Whether joiners also need it is not confirmed yet. The safe play, and what players report doing in oversized lobbies, is to have everyone install the same mod at the same version.

Known issues and limits

Boss health scales up in co-op. Players report it directly: one Steam achievement guide's duo route places 25 dynamite on the ground for the Albatross and puts that down to higher co-op boss scaling. How the game behaves above 8 players is not confirmed yet.
Money is one shared pot by default. That is the vanilla behaviour NoSharedMoney exists to change, described below.
Join-time bugs get worse with numbers. Items falling through the level on join (fixed in 1.0.10) and the invisible-player inventory bug (fixed in 1.0.11) both happen at load, so update the game before blaming the mod.
Steam relay problems are not a mod problem. Patch 1.0.9 added a connection debug readout in the main menu; red relay text is a connection issue, not BepInEx.
BiggerLobbies has not been updated since 24 August 2026, predating patches 1.0.9, 1.0.10 and 1.0.11.

Related multiplayer mods

NoSharedMoney v1.4.0 (hiccup)

The most useful companion for a big lobby. 12,824 downloads, updated 30 August 2026, dependency BepInEx-BepInExPack-5.4.2305. Every player gets a wallet keyed by Steam ID, saved between sessions: selling credits whoever put the item in the sell box, buying charges whoever used the shop, and the server still checks each purchase against the buyer's real balance. All players need it, host included — a player without it gets a stale money display and cannot buy anything, and the host is warned in console and chat. Loading an existing save splits the old shared balance evenly between the players recorded in it.

Config key	Default	Meaning
`StartingMoney`	`0`	Balance for a player new to this save
`WarnInChat`	`true`	Host only: announce when a connected player is missing the mod
`UnclaimedSalesGoToHost`	`true`	Credit the host for sales no player ever held
`ShareBossMoney`	`true`	Split boss and mini-boss drop money evenly across the session
`DuplicateBossMoney`	`false`	Pay every player the full price instead of a share
`SplitBoatCosts`	`false`	Divide the boat motor and radar cost between everyone
`ShowBalancesOnNameplates`	`true`	Show balances under player names (local setting only)
`EnablePayCommand`	`true`	Allow the pay command in chat

Config lives at BepInEx/config/dazed.howtofish.nosharedmoney.cfg. Balances are plain JSON keyed by Steam ID under the game's LocalLow folder, in a NoSharedMoney subfolder named after the save. The vanilla save keeps a correct combined total, so removing the mod leaves a sensible shared balance rather than a broken file.

EnhancedRespawn v1.0.0 (kr_zhou)

3,678 downloads, released 26 August 2026, dependency BepInEx-BepInExPack-5.4.2305. The whole feature: you can self-respawn during a boss fight as long as your teammates are not all down. In a large lobby, where someone is usually alive, that removes most of the downtime. The README does not state whether joiners need it.

Other co-op utilities

Mod	Version	Downloads	What it does
WhitetailStudios/KeepInventory	1.0.0	38,958	Keep your items on death or knockout; the host must have it
Ice_Box_Studio_HTF/HostControl	1.0.0	538	Simple in-game host control panel for managing players; also needs `Ice_Box_Studio_HTF-HowtoFishLocalizationAPI-1.0.0`
bwby/bwbyKickMod	1.1.0	311	Player list GUI, kick, and a persistent ban list for hosts
Azumatt/ChumBucket	1.1.0	8,939	Portable bucket to sell a whole catch at once; invisible to players without it

For picks organised by purpose rather than by lobby size, see best mods; for the complete Thunderstore catalogue, see all mods list. Vanilla co-op behaviour — hosting, friendly fire, shared money, item saving — is covered on co-op. Aimbot, cheat menu and god mode mods also exist on Thunderstore; this wiki does not cover or link them.

Sources and last check

Checked 2 September 2026. Player caps, lobby options and co-op bug fixes come from the official Dazed Games patch notes on Steam: 1.0.4 (21 August 2026) for 8 player lobby support, 1.0.5 (22 August) for private invite-only lobbies, 1.0.9 (24 August) for the Steam connection debug, 1.0.10 (27 August) for the connect-timeout and join fixes, and 1.0.11 (1 September) for the invisible-player fix and the friendly fire change. The "1-4 player" wording is from the official Steam store page.

Mod versions, download counts, update dates, dependency strings, config paths and config keys were read from each package's Thunderstore listing and README on 2 September 2026: Kalamies/MorePlayers, ADHDCory/BiggerLobbies, hiccup/NoSharedMoney, kr_zhou/EnhancedRespawn, WhitetailStudios/KeepInventory, Ice_Box_Studio_HTF/HostControl, bwby/bwbyKickMod and Azumatt/ChumBucket. What each mod does and who must install it are the authors' own claims, not independently verified here.

Player-reported: the co-op boss health scaling and the 25-dynamite Albatross figure come from a player-written Steam Community achievement and speedrun guide, not from the developers. The advice that everyone install the same lobby-size mod at the same version is community practice, not a documented requirement — neither MorePlayers nor BiggerLobbies states its networking requirement, so that is not confirmed yet.