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Introduction

The CB Servers Launcher has a built-in Friends page. Link your Discord account once and the launcher shows which of your Discord friends are playing, what they’re playing, and gives you a Join or Invite button next to them. No IPs, no console commands, no Radmin. This is the easiest way to play together. If your client isn’t in the supported list below, use the private match guide instead.

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Supported clients

Every client shows up on the Friends page and on your Discord profile, so friends can always see what you’re playing. The Join and Invite buttons only work on the five clients above, because those are the ones CB Servers maintains. For the rest, see the private match guide.

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Prerequisites

  • The CB Servers Launcher, installed and running (not in offline mode)
  • A Discord account (13+)
  • Both players linked and with the launcher open
  • You and your friend must already be Discord friends
  • Discord’s Activity Status (share your detected activities) enabled on both sides
1

Open the Friends page

Click Friends in the launcher sidebar.
2

Start the link

Click Link launcher to Discord account. A Discord authorization page opens in your browser.
3

Approve access

Approve the request. The launcher shows Connecting to Discord… and then your friends list appears.
You can check the link status any time under Settings → Discord account, which also has the Unlink button.
While linked, your Discord profile shows Playing CB Launcher with the game’s artwork, name, mode, map and player count, for example Black Ops III - Zombies on Der Eisendrache. Your regular Discord friends see this card whether or not they use CB Launcher.

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Joining a Friend

Open the Friends page. Each friend row shows what they’re playing, and a button appears when you can get in:
1

Click Join or Ask to Join

If the game isn’t already running, the launcher asks to launch it first. Confirm and it starts the right game in the right mode for you.
2

Wait for the connection

If the game was already open, you connect immediately. On a cold launch, wait at the main menu, press Play, and the launcher connects you as soon as the game is ready.
3

Ask to Join only: wait for approval

Your friend gets a prompt in their launcher. When they approve, their match opens to friends and you connect automatically.
Already in a different game or a different mode? The launcher handles it. It closes what’s running and relaunches the correct game and mode before connecting, so an Advanced Warfare Survival invite works even if you’re sitting in Multiplayer.

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Inviting a Friend

An Invite button appears next to your online friends whenever your own match can be joined.
1

Get into a joinable match

Join any public/dedicated server, or host a private match and open it (see below).
2

Send the invite

Go to Friends and click Invite next to the friend you want. You’ll see an Invite sent toast.
3

Your friend accepts

They get a popup in their launcher with Join and Decline. Accepting connects them, launching their game first if it isn’t running.
Inviting from a closed private match opens your match to friends automatically. You don’t have to open it first, and it stays open afterwards.

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Hosting a private match

To be joinable while hosting your own match rather than playing on a dedicated server:
1

Start the private match

Launch the game through the launcher and start a private match as usual.
2

Open it to friends

Open the pause menu and click Open to Friends.
On BOIII, some custom maps and mods replace the pause menu. Open the console (~) and run nat_host instead, which does the same thing.
Once open, friends see Join instead of Ask to Join, and their join requests are approved silently. You can close the match again with Close to Friends (or nat_host a second time).

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Receiving Invites and Requests

The launcher will get your attention even when it’s in the background:
  • A popup in the launcher with Join / Decline (or Approve / Decline for a join request)
  • A Windows notification and a taskbar flash
  • On BOIII, a passive in-game toast telling you who invited you. Accept it from the launcher or Discord; the toast is informational only.
Approving a join request while your private match is still closed will open your match to friends. The prompt says so explicitly.

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Joining from Discord

You don’t have to use the launcher UI at all. Because the launcher publishes real Discord rich presence, your friends can click Join or Ask to Join straight from your Discord profile card, or accept an invite in a DM. Their launcher picks it up, launches the right game, and connects them the same way. Both people still need the launcher installed, linked and running.

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In-Game Friends List (Black Ops 3)

BOIII goes one step further: your CB Launcher friends appear in the game’s native Social → Friends menu, with live presence such as Playing Team Deathmatch on Nuk3town, and the in-game JOIN GAME and INVITE GAME buttons work on them. The list refreshes while it’s open, and the invite button only appears when an invite would actually go through.

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Troubleshooting

They have Discord’s Activity Status (share your detected activities) turned off, or their launcher isn’t running. With activity sharing off you can still invite them, but you can never see or join their match. Ask them to enable it in Discord → Settings → Activity Privacy.
Check, in order: their client is one of the five supported ones, they’re actually in a match (not the menu), their match has a free slot, they haven’t closed it to friends, and both launchers are open and linked.
The Invite button only appears when you are joinable. Join a dedicated server, or host a private match. The friend also has to be online or idle on Discord.
Discord limits how fast invites and join requests can be sent. Wait the number of seconds shown and try again.
Make sure the launcher isn’t in offline mode, which disables Discord entirely. If the notice says the friends service is unreachable, the list falls back to showing only friends currently in the launcher. It recovers on its own.
Joining a friend’s private match uses NAT hole punching, which works on normal home connections but can be blocked by mobile hotspots, hotel and public Wi-Fi, or a strict firewall. Allow the client through Windows Firewall, and if it still fails, fall back to Radmin VPN or port forwarding.

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Need Help?

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