How the Max Player Count Upgrade Repo Actually Works

You've probably been there. You are trying to host a game of Lethal Company or Content Warning with the whole squad, but the game slams the door in your face because you have five people and the limit is four. It’s annoying. Honestly, it's one of the most frustrating artificial caps in modern indie gaming. That’s where the max player count upgrade repo comes into play, specifically within the community of modders on GitHub and Thunderstore who refuse to accept those tiny lobby limits.

But look, there is a lot of confusion about what "the repo" actually is. Some people think it's a single magic file. It isn't. Usually, when players talk about this, they are referring to specific repositories (repos) on GitHub where developers like notatallshady, bizzlemip, or the BepInEx team house the code that hooks into a game's engine to rewrite how it handles networking.

Why Do Games Have These Limits Anyway?

It’s rarely about being mean. Developers at studios like Zeekerss (the creator of Lethal Company) often set a four-player limit because the game’s internal economy, map size, and enemy AI are balanced for that specific number. When you use a max player count upgrade repo to jump from 4 to 40 players, the game balance doesn't just break—it evaporates.

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Think about the networking side. Most indie titles use Unity's Netcode for GameObjects or similar high-level libraries. These systems keep track of where every player is, what they are holding, and what the monsters are doing. Every additional player adds an exponential amount of data that needs to be synced across the host and the clients. If the developer didn't optimize for 20 people, the "repo" has to do a lot of heavy lifting to prevent the whole thing from crashing into a stuttering mess of lag.

Finding the Right Repo: Not All Mod Packs Are Equal

If you go digging on GitHub for a max player count upgrade repo, you’ll likely stumble across the "MoreCompany" or "BiggerLobby" sources. These are the gold standards.

The MoreCompany repository by notatallshady is a masterclass in clean C# patching. It doesn't just change a "4" to a "32." It actually patches the UI elements so the character selection screen doesn't break and the end-of-round stats don't overlap until they are unreadable. It’s impressive stuff. Then you have the BiggerLobby repo, which took a slightly different approach to how the steam sockets are handled.

The BepInEx Requirement

You can’t just download a repo and expect it to work. Almost every max player count upgrade repo relies on BepInEx. This is a Unity plugin framework that "injects" code into the game while it’s running.

1. You install BepInEx first.
2. It creates a "plugins" folder.
3. You drop the compiled .dll from the repo into that folder.
4. The mod hooks into the GetMaxPlayers function (or similar) and tells the game: "Hey, we actually have room for 50 people."

It sounds simple. It’s actually kind of a nightmare to maintain because every time the game updates, the "offset" or the specific memory address the mod looks for might change. This is why you see these repos getting updated dozens of times in a single month.

The Technical Reality of Scaling Lobbies

Let's talk about the "Ship" problem in games like Lethal Company. In the original code, the ship has four designated slots for players to stand. When you use a max player count upgrade repo, the game doesn't magically grow a bigger ship. Players end up clipping through each other.

Experienced modders who contribute to these repos have to write "compatibility layers." This involves:

• UI Rescaling: Making the player list scrollable because 20 names won't fit on a static HUD.
• Object Syncing: Ensuring that if Player 18 picks up a shovel, Player 1 doesn't see that shovel teleporting across the map.
• Voice Chat (VOIP) Handling: This is the big one. Spatial audio in Unity gets very heavy on the CPU when you have 20 people talking at once. Repos like LC_API have had to specifically optimize how audio data is routed to avoid "robot voice" or total audio failure.

Risks and Common Pitfalls

People often forget that the max player count upgrade repo is community-driven. It's not official.

One major issue is "Version Mismatch." If the host is using version 2.1.0 of the repo and a guest is using 2.0.9, the game might let them join, but the guest will be invisible or unable to interact with items. It’s a mess. Honestly, if you're going to use these, everyone in the group needs to use a mod manager like r2modman or Thunderstore to stay synced.

Also, there's the "Public Lobby" etiquette. Using a max player count upgrade to host a 100-person lobby is fun for a meme, but it often ruins the server browser experience for people looking for a vanilla game. Some repos have actually added "tags" to the server name automatically to help distinguish modded lobbies from standard ones.

How to Effectively Implement the Upgrade

If you're looking to actually use or contribute to a max player count upgrade repo, don't just grab the first ZIP file you see on a random forum.

First, check the "Releases" tab on the GitHub repository. This is where the stable, compiled versions live. If you're a developer, look at the PlayerControllerB patches. That’s usually where the magic happens. You’ll see code that overrides the JoinServer logic and the ConnectClient handshakes.

For the average player, the most "human-proof" way to do this is to find a "Mod Profile Code." Most people using these repos share a string of letters and numbers that automatically downloads the exact same versions of the max player mod, the API, and the dependencies for everyone. It saves hours of troubleshooting.

The Future of Multiplayer Expansion Mods

As we move through 2026, we're seeing more developers build "extensible" lobbies from the start. They see how popular the max player count upgrade repo concept is and they're trying to accommodate it. However, for the titles that stay strictly 4-player, the modding community is the only lifeline for larger friend groups.

The next frontier for these repos isn't just "more players." It's "better stability." We are seeing integrations with Discord's networking API and even independent server hosting solutions that bypass the game's original peer-to-peer (P2P) limitations entirely. This allows for 100+ player "Battle Royale" style modes in games that were never meant to handle more than four people.

Actionable Steps for Stability

• Always use a dedicated Mod Manager: Avoid manual installation to prevent "ghost files" from previous versions.
• Limit your count to 8 or 12: Even if the repo says it supports 40, most indie game engines struggle past 12 players without significant lag.
• Check the "Issues" tab on GitHub: Before you blame your PC, see if others are reporting the same "desync" or "infinite loading screen" bugs on the repo’s issue tracker.
• Match your BepInEx version: Ensure your framework is updated, as a max player count upgrade repo built for a newer version of BepInEx will simply fail to load on an older one.

Understanding the max player count upgrade repo isn't just about clicking a download button. It’s about understanding that you are essentially "hacking" the game’s social DNA to fit more people into a space that wasn't built for them. It’s chaotic, it’s buggy, but when it works, it makes for some of the best gaming moments you can have.

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Key Takeaway: The "Max Player Count Upgrade Repo" is usually a GitHub-hosted collection of C# scripts that patch Unity games via BepInEx. To use it successfully, ensure every player is on the exact same version and keep your player counts within a reasonable range (8-16) to maintain performance. For those looking to dive deeper, exploring the "MoreCompany" or "BiggerLobby" source code provides the best insight into how modern game networking is being pushed to its limits by the community.