Well folks after a little playing around with Mednafen we have a working emulator with netplay available. Using client versions 0.8.9 and server version 0.3.0 along with hamachi we're able to play multiplayer pc-engine/TG-16 games over the internet. To do so first go here to get the client
http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=150840 . The server is available but you have to compile it, but a version compiled by Zeon is already available here
http://www.mediafire.com/?i0mn1nxvm9z .
Hamachi can be downloaded here:
www.hamachi.cc For those who haven't heard of hamachi it sets up a VPN which is a virtual private network that lets computers across the web connect as if you're really on the same network. It gives you a virtual IP and everything.
Ok to get netplay started first we need to configure Hamachi.
1. Startup hamachi and press the power on button in the lower lefthand corner.
2. To the right of that is a button that lets you create or join network. You can create your own network with a pass or you can join this one setup by wind
Network Name: pcengine
Network Password: pico
Everyone who wants to play in the same game needs to join the same network so decide and join up.
3. Alright you now that the network is setup you need to click on the button to the right of the create/join network button. Once that pops up goto preferences. You should be at the status screen, but if you're not click on status on the left side area. Then on the right panel there should be a button that says detailed configuration
click it.
4. In the window that pops up under "Connect via Proxy" click disable. Under "Connecting through NAT" check both UDP and TCP and type in 4046 in both boxes. Click OK and then OK again. Ok now hamachi is set up.
*NOTE: you may need to forward port 4046 on both UDP and TCP on your router. This is especially true if you're running the server. *
Alright we're ready to get netplay going now:
1. First the person with the best connection should start the server (if you're using the pre-compiled version from zeon just run the .bat file)
2. Now you need to get a rom to play and load it into Mednafen by drag and drop onto the .exe or through the command line or however else it says you can do it in the readme. It might be best if everybody uses the same rom but we've seen that this is not always the case but just to be on the safe side you might all want to use the same rom.
3. Ok the person who wants to be player 1 (i.e. the person that Mednafen lets control the game setup or master player) needs to connect to the server first. This could be the person running the server but that doesn't have to be the case. Yes even the person running the server has to run the client in addition to the server and connect to their own server.
4. To connect to the server once the client and rom are loaded up press T. Then type in the following
/server [Server IP Address] 4046
[Server IP Address] is the address of, you guessed it, the person running the server. Now since we're using the hamachi address you need to open up the hamachi window and see the address next to the name of the person who loaded up the server. Type that address in.
Again this needs to be done in order of who wants to be what player (Player 1 connects first, 2 connects, 3 connects, etc.)
5. Once everyone is connected player 1 needs to startup the multiplayer game and it should automatically lead everybody to the screen player 1 is viewing.
Now you can play to your heart's content.
A few things:
1. You can change your controls by pressing ALT+SHIFT+1
You can use Joy2key if you want to use a a gamepad. Joy2key maps keyboard buttons to joystick/pad buttons and can be downloaded here:
http://www.electracode.com/4/joy2key/JoyToKey%20English%20Version.htm2. You can assign your client's nickname by typing in the following
/nick [Desired Nickname]
3. F1 in Mednafen brings up a help menu.
4. You can have multiple servers on the same network.
5. Mednafen supports PC Engine, SuperGrafx, PC Engine CD, PC-FX, TG-16, TG-CD games. I'm not sure about this but it seems that the PC-FX emulation is still under development.
Take note that Mednafen is not the best emulator and honestly I want to destroy the person who wrote it........but I'll not do it cause he did give us netplay and deserves mad props for that. Also a big thanks to Zeon for starting the whole netplay endeavor and Windancer for being a test subject. Also if anyone has any questions you can PM Zeon or I or you can refer to the readme included with the Mednafen install.
Also the use of hamachi may not be needed but that's the only way we got it to work and the way we know works so if anyone gets it to work without hamachi let us know. We think it may just be bad interaction between our ISPs when we tried to connect without hamachi, but hamachi solved that.
Oh Mednafen works under Linux and Windows, not sure about Mac OS.
Mednafen documentation can be found here:
http://mednafen.sourceforge.net/documentation/So anyone wanna play or have a suggestion on what we should play?
Topic: PC Engine Netplay (Read 388 times)
