Net Gaming with Winvice (c64)

hamster

Hi I was playing a 2 player strategy game this morning by emailing the snapshot after my turn. He would then email the turn back after his move. I only noticed the netplay experimental option under the snapshot menu.
I had a look at the options here and played around with them

1st window
Session A. Menu Snapshot -> netplay -> Hit Start server button (this one will host). nothing else!

2nd window
Session B. Menu Snapshot -> netplay -> Hit Connect to button (127.0.0.1 my internal ip). For a real game - we need to test with some ips.

I then typed It works in one of the screen. Now keys are shared and I assume so would 2 player games. Woohoo! Must try this out! Easy enough.



Then I tried sharing a game of Paradroid - it works! Sound, keys and all! A very slight delay - but works!

It's very handy for strategy games though. This may look ugly but its a hellva game on the c64. Lords of Conquest.




Another option is Kaillera client. But I am unfamiliar with this. It has references to mame but I see on some forums it works with Winuae (and even cc64s). But no real steps. Anyone familar with Kaillera.

Anyone want to try Winvice over the net? I'm on ICQ if your interested.

It takes me 1 or 2 coordinated attempts to successfully get connected. ie, the client pc fails to detect the server and times out - but on retry it works. So it does connect. Going to the winvice menu can put each other out of sync / freezes but comes right again after a few seconds.

Neither can pause during connection. Loading a new snapshot disconnects the client (out of sync message). After trying with Dropzone - they is a noticable delay of about a second and the control is not fine enough for shoot em up play.

Jerichoholic

It sounds a little overly complicated to be honest, I've played online with N64 and Megadrive/Genesis using the Kaillera client and it was ok but not perfect. I'm not sure if the c64 has enough 2 player goodness to even attempt it.

hamster

Jerichoholic wrote:

It sounds a little overly complicated to be honest, I've played online with N64 and Megadrive/Genesis using the Kaillera client and it was ok but not perfect. I'm not sure if the c64 has enough 2 player goodness to even attempt it.

How does the Kaillera client work - ie is there much in setting it up? It sounds interesting. I hear it supports winuae too.

There are some really nice games that could be networked, eg Pitstop II or any of the strategy games that SSI had. I did some timing and it's not bad at all locally. I'm going to try and see if someone is will try it over the net and see what's it like first.

Jerichoholic

It's really easy if you are using Gens, just start up the emulator and click netplay, it takes you to a list of IRC rooms/servers best to choose the uk room and just wait for someone to play.

hamster

Jerichoholic wrote:

It's really easy if you are using Gens, just start up the emulator and click netplay, it takes you to a list of IRC rooms/servers best to choose the uk room and just wait for someone to play.

Sounds good. Did you try Gens with a shoot'em up? I'd say that would be awesome if it were smooth as a local game.

Jerichoholic

I tried Streetfighter2 and Sensible Soccer, really only those two. Obviously both players will need the same rom, and they seem really tough to come by, especially Amiga roms.

hamster

Jerichoholic wrote:

I tried Streetfighter2 and Sensible Soccer, really only those two. Obviously both players will need the same rom, and they seem really tough to come by, especially Amiga roms.

was it playable? ie, did any lag make real time action hard to co-ordinate accurate kicks for example?

LoGiE

hamster wrote:

was it playable? ie, did any lag make real time action hard to co-ordinate accurate kicks for example?

A few of us in the forum used to play sf2 through Kaillera all the time and there wasn't any problems with Lag provided everyone has a broadband connection.

hamster

That's excellent Logic. What do I need to get? Just the Kaillera client and an emulator that supports it? I imagine you need to open a particular port for the game.

Jerichoholic

There is a tiny loss of frame rate that you would notice at first, but you get used to it. It's not perfect at all though, a few games have the connection severed but the game goes on somehow, and you just don't know if the other player is there or not as both of you will claim the victory! I f you see what I mean. The N64 netplay is great for MarioKart!

Jerichoholic

hamster wrote:

That's excellent Logic. What do I need to get? Just the Kaillera client and an emulator that supports it? I imagine you need to open a particular port for the game.

You need PJ64k for the netplay N64, the ordinary PJ64 doesnt have it. I think the GENS has the kaillera as a standard feature.

There is an Irish gaming server but I've never seen anyone on it.