OK - starting with the Little Fighter 2 multiplayer initiative which proved to bear little feasibility due to the games horrible, horrible networking code (basically the game decreases the frame-rate to match the lag - *dur dur dur*) even though I managed to play some matches with Doomshine and Mint I started delving into further retro-themed online gaming opportunities.
That's when I recalled that it would be awesome if Snes9X's (it's a Super Nintendo Entertainment System emulator =) netplay features were better than LF2's - I never checked them out before. Some clicks and Hamachi-setups later we were playing Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles in Time with Mint and later with Kaz with only Unity having problems to join the fun.
Enter Lim-Dul's tutorial for playing literally hundreds of STILL awesome multiplayer SNES games over the internet! I hope more people will be joining the gaming sessions. :-D
1. What you needed
1.1. Mumble
Seriously - if we are to emulate the awesomeness of playing on a home console with your friends (ah, good old times when gaming didn't lead to twisted internet-only friendships :-P) we NEED to speak to each other.
Since the configuration involves basically running the audio wizard and connecting to specialattack.net using your forum login details I won't be explaining much - just download it.
1.2. Hamachi
Yes, you can open hundreds of ports on your router and whatnot instead but why not opt for the easy solution? This immensely easy to use program allows you to tunnel through even the most devious network configurations.
1.3. Snes9X
The most obvious thing you need but also the one I'll be presenting in a more detailed manner since I've been emulating SNES games (among others ^^) ever since I sold my console in 1998. =)
I recommend getting the slightly fixed version 1.51 (fan-made ^^) improvement 5.2 from here:
2.1. Mumble
Run the audio wizard (should be ran automatically after the initial installation), click on Server -> Connect and fill out the details:
Seriously, if you had any trouble so far stop reading the guide since more complicated things will abound. =)
2.2. Hamachi
This little application features a very nice tutorial as well but I consider it absolutely fool-proof without it as well. What you basically need to do is simply join the awesome people network once you passed the initial setup.
Push the "Create or join networks" button -> Join an existing network... and type in the following info:
That's it for now - we'll do some troubleshooting later.
2.3. Snes9X
I will focus ONLY on connecting to another player or acting as a server yourself in this section - tweaks will be presented later and trust me - you need to go through some configuration to get the most out of this wonderful application.
- If you want to act as a server simply start Snes9X, choose Netplay and check "Act as a server". You should get a confirmation window after that. You might also want to check the "Send ROM Image to Clients" and "Sync Using Reset Game" options. The first one will make sure that you are able to play with people who don't have the game in question BUT this is only a per-session solution as we found out with Mint - the ROM won't be stored on the client's computer.
- If you want to connect to a host you have to go back to Hamachi (I assume you have it running and are logged in) and right-click on his/her nickname, then choose "Copy address" (note that Hamachi uses completely arbitrary addresses).
Then, in Snes9X you choose Netplay ans select, big surprise, Connect to Server...
Paste in the address you copied over from Hamachi (in this case Mint's virtual address) and you're ready to rumble.
A useful command in advance - saving and loading game states apparently works in multiplayer as well and can be crucial to success if your games get out of sync. Shift+Fx (e.g. F1 =) to save a game state in the given slot and Fx (e.g. F1) to load it.
3. Troubleshooting and tweaks
3.1. Mumble
No. :-P
3.2. Hamachi
There are several options you should check by default and some you COULD check if you're having trouble connecting to anybody. Just click on the config button and choose Preferences...
The former category of options (some should be covered during the initial setup):
- System. You might uncheck "Start Hamachi when I log into Windows" since I don't think you would want to have it work that way. Also UNCHECK Do not use Universal Plug and Play - I don't know why this is enabled by default - most modern routers support UPnP and this will allow you to skip any kind of port forwarding configuration. Yes, there are security risks BUT then you simply disable UPnP on the target device - there's no reason to disable it here...
Automatically update Hamachi can be left checked.
- Security. Check "Block vulnerable Microsoft Windows services". Really - Hamachi is meant for gaming - I wouldn't recommend e.g. making your public shares (I know that most people have very lax and misconfigured access rights on shared folders) accessible to semi-random people. If you're really into VPNs then there are better and more secure apps out there. =)
The latter category of options (if you run into problems):
- Status -> Detailed Configuration...
Here you can configure any potential proxies (ask your ISP etc. about that) and most important of all set up TCP/UDP ports Hamachi will use for tunneling MANUALLY. Type in anything you want - you'll have to forward the ports on your router/firewall/whatever - consult the given device's manual for that info (Unity? :-D).
Hamachi sets up a virtual connection (virtual private network, doh? :-P) on your computer and some programs or the OS itself might not receive that very well and attempt to use the Hamachi network for things they shouldn't. Mint reported this kind of problem and I can confirm that it messes up primitive programs like Little Fighter 2. In that case you need to not only turn off Hamachi completely but DISABLE the Hamachi network in your system's network control panel. Again, you should know how to disconnect from networks if you're not a complete Windows n00b so no screenshots here. ;-)
3.3. Snes9X
This is where it gets interesting. I strongly advise using settings similar to mine if you have a fast enough computer (read: ANYTHING released since ~2000 ;-). Remember that emulators are real CPU hogs even for older systems and when using 2D graphics (PCs don't handle these very well anyway) but then again we are mostly a TF2 community so you should be absolutely fine.
3.3.1. Options -> Display Configuration
Output Method: Direct3D highly recommended, especially for Vista. It will screw up displaying menus in full-screen mode but then on Vista this is screwed up in DirectDraw as well so there's no risk in using that. ^^
General:
Full Screen: Generally recommended (especially with good pixel filters) though windowed mode is nice too and avoids any aspect ratio issues.
Stretch Image: Does what it says - the image will be distorted a bit since the SNES had an exotic resolution of 512x448 but you can ignore that (especially wit the next option)
Maintain Aspect Ratio: If you don't mind black borders around the image BUT want to have proper scaling this is the setting for you.
Bi-linear Filtering: Just check it. :-P
SNES Image:
Check everything - Snes9X "Improvement v5.2" can handle these smoothly and modern CPUs shouldn't have problems with them.
Output Image Processing:
Now - this is very interesting since it basically depends on your preferences. I use pixel filters for all 2D emus and settled for hq3x for SNES games as the option that makes the image cartoonish and smooth enough without blurring the fine pixel-details too much (filters are good but it all depends on the given title and the effect you want to achieve). For GBA games I use lq2xS but that's a completely different story. :-P
If the image is too soft for ya try e.g. hq2x or even turn of pixel filtering altogether...
Show Frame Rate:
Good for finding out if the game runs smoothly.
Frame Skipping:
Ideally you don't want any frame skip at all. It's only meant for under-performing machines so leave it at automatic and 1 max - a different setting is used for online games anyway. (There, it could prevent games running out of sync because of lag - same thing that LF2 does but here it is actually controlled and only on one side =).
Fullscreen Display Settings:
Check your monitor's native resolution and refresh rate (if you run the emu in full-screen mode) - don't forget to turn on triple buffering, especially if you have vsync enabled (and you should =).
3.3.2. Options -> Settings...
Since I have a huge ROM collection for multiple systems (legally dumped off cartridges I own, of course *cough cough*) I'm a control freak and keep my directories very tidy - I also recommend keeping your ROM directory separate from e.g. the save dir etc.
The auto-save S-RAM and frame-skip options can be left as they are unless you want some pretty freaky fast forward mode.
The only other setting of interest is, in my opinion, "Pause When Inactive" - by default the game will pause when you switch to other windows or alter settings and that could annoy they guy you're playing with BUT can also help to keep the game in sync since pausing presents an opportunity for the lagging side to catch up (hence you should remember the "Pause/Break" key if you toggle this option =).
3.3.2. Options -> SPC7110 Cache Settings
Just forget them - they are useful only in specific cases.
3.3.3. Options -> GFX Pack Configuration
Important for certain games that are basically not emulated very well (because of some strange sprite texture algorithms - perhaps early anti-piracy measures?)
Read more about them here (some info is redundant): http://www.everything2.net/e2node/graphics%2520pack
3.3.4. Input -> Input Configuration
Needless to say the whole input section is quite self explanatory and needs to be set up on a per-user basis. Can't help ya. =)
One word in advance about the whole sound section - it is very "configuration sensitive" and most settings should be tweaked on a trial-and-error basis (like in Mumble ^^) - if you fail to configure the Sound System properly you could suffer from major performance issues and other problems though...
3.3.5. Sound -> Playback Rate
Leave at 44KHz - it's more than the SNES itself could handle and a higher quality might lead to glitches.
3.3.6. Sound -> Buffer Length
Try to keep it as low as possible without any crackling noises etc.
3.3.7. Sound -> Channels
Enable them all. Useful only if you want to record something etc. =)
3.3.8. Sound -> Check boxes =)
Turn all on except for the Reversed Stereo channels (unless you're wearing your headset the wrong way round - well, actually it happens that people have speakers set up in reverse because of cable-length issues =).
3.3.9. Sound -> Settings...
Just make sure they look like this. ^^
Really, most are relevant only if you get performance issues in certain games and are workarounds and stuff.
I think that's all since the other stuff is mostly self-explanatory or found in other places and the cheat system works similarly to some SNES cheat-addons if you're familiar with them.
Last but not least
I wouldn't post any illegal links on a public forum - especially so as not to get the SpA community into trouble BUT SNES roms are REALLY easy to come by these days and I can PM you some links that will satisfy all your ROM needs. ^^
If you wonder what games are worth checking out (and trust me - there are titles that haven't aged A BIT! - good gameplay remains good gameplay and 2D ages better than 3D anyway) look at this video:
(Don't download huge rom collections since they are usually meant for collectors and it's not as if the SNES didn't have some real stinkers as well)
Also, ScrewAttack's TOP 20 SNES games might be a good place to start too:
& i already got an emulator at mah pc cuz i rly love the old games or gba-emulator-games...especially rpg's like secret of mana, legend of zelda, e.g. ...
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Yeah Mint was telling me about this last but I straight up couldn't be arsed to give it a go.
I might give it a go tonight when I get home though. I just can't think of any games off the top of my head that I would even want to play in multiplayer mode. All my favourite SNES games are really only single player. Well... except Streetfighter 2 of course.
Suppose I'll break out the old 360 wired controller and get stuck in good n' proper.
Except - ZSNES never got Netplay to work. ^^
It's true that ZSNES used to be better emulation-wise (I still keep it around) but nowadays all the Emus "steal" code from each other and basically amount to the same thing. I mean - even the filters used in Snes9X were initially developed for ZSNES that used to be ahead on a technological level.
_________________ War does not determine who is right - only who is left. - Bertrand Russell
I might give it a go tonight when I get home though. I just can't think of any games off the top of my head that I would even want to play in multiplayer mode. All my favourite SNES games are really only single player. Well... except Streetfighter 2 of course.
Oh, c'mon!
Mario Kart? Mystical Ninja (we had endless fun playing this absurd game)? Super Punch-Out!? Contra III? Killer Instinct? Turtles in Time? Super Soccer? And these are only games I came up with during the last 10 seconds. :-D
_________________ War does not determine who is right - only who is left. - Bertrand Russell
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