GameEx NetPlay - Client/Server MAME/Mess

[Tom Speirs]

yeah but it never worked for me to use dyn dns or similar ,so i use no-ip instead ,i already got my domain on no ip

so i just need to know if in mame.ini it is possible to use a url instead of an ip adress if so in wich form http://domain.org or simply domain.org

thanks

ChrisQC

Your external IP address should not matter as GameEx will send whatever it is at the time to my server when you request (host) a game. So basically GameEx takes care of that part.

[Tom Speirs]

In order for port forwarding or port triggering to work, the PC must have a static IP to assign the port behind the NAT. URL will not work as the application is designed currently.

Hi sorry, but that is not quite correct. You do not need a static IP. The easiest thing to do to get things working is turn on uPNp on your router then that should automatically create the NAT mapping, also if you run GameEx as admin it should also create the windows firewall rules.

GameEx will send your current IP whether dynamic or static to gameex.com for others to connect to. The port mapping just maps your external ip whether dynamic or static to the IP of your machine in local area network. Again does not matter what the external IP is. If you turn on uPnP on your router it will work with LAN dynamic IPs.

[Tom Speirs]

Just wanted to say if you do get it running, please post any findings that you think will be useful to the author of Client/Server MAME. I think the main issue (once folks get it going) is the lag for the folks that are not hosting the session. Ive mentioned this to the author and he said any detail you can provide on how the lag actually is and what it does would be useful. Also at this point for testing its worth setting MAME to run windowed so you can see what is in the console window and report accodingly.

[Krakerman]

One ? I have is how does one go about hosting a game. What do you have to do as I am not sure how that step works?

Update: Nevermind! figured it out as always

[Draco1962]

Sorry for dropping out of the games whoever was playing. Some things I noticed:

Huge lag making shmups very hard to play

Very long blank screens making one wonder if anything is happening

If you don't have C.S. mame file IN the mame DIR your hotrod won't work

Would be nice if there was some sound indicating someone wants to join your game. I have my machine in the hall and I don't really want to just stand there hoping someone will eventually join - some sort of sound chime would be great

Great feature though!

/2¢

If/When Tom adds an audible alert feature for netplay, I am ready with my Alert (Those of you whom may have seen the movie War Games may appreciate this most).

playagame_wg.wav

[Tom Speirs]

Thanks. Done! I actually used that file since I had nothing else better.

[Tom Speirs]

So does this mean that it's not possible to have multiple cabinets with this feature enabled? I have a racing cab in addition to my primary cab. I would LOVE to get some Offroad, Championship Sprint, Danny Sullivan, etc races going at some point, but that means I can't have access to the main library, correct?

Of course, I still have to get things put back together for any of that to matter anyway.

Right now yes, but I think we can quite easily make the feature use LAN IPs instead of internet with a simple switch.

[Draco1962]

Thanks. Done! I actually used that file since I had nothing else better.

Awesome! I take it you are testing a soon-to-be new release?

[Tom Speirs]

Awesome! I take it you are testing a soon-to-be new release?

Its released!

[Draco1962]

I received a play request and heard the audible prompt, but as the game began to load I encountered a video error. Here is a copy of my Log...

Also - a screen capture from MAME

[chrisqc]

If/When Tom adds an audible alert feature for netplay, I am ready with my Alert (Those of you whom may have seen the movie War Games may appreciate this most).

lol i like that creepy sam voice "shall we play a game ? " the sound alert for incoming request should overlap the screen saver mode and ingame dunno if that sound possible but could be a great addon

[Draco1962]

I received a play request and heard the audible prompt, but as the game began to load I encountered a video error. Here is a copy of my Log...

Also - a screen capture from MAME

I changed the Advanced Mame from Yes to No. This allowed me to play the game solo. Next, Chrisqc and I attempted to play Giga Wing. I received the SAM prompt and the game began to load (saw the CP), then screen went black for a few minutes and then back to GameEx NetPlay menu... sigh.

[chrisqc]

i dunno if you see the game loaded but for me i accept the request and the game goes ingame ,i chose 1st player start and then goes ingame...but nobody start player 2 ... i think that if you host a game you must be player 1 ...and the one who JOIN the game shall be player 2 ...something like that ...annyway i will host gigawing for annybody who want to test,yesterday i did where able to play with someone but he reported that there where lot of lag ...for me as the host there wasn't any lag at all

[bobross]

Hey Tom,

Hope you don't mind a couple more observations/requests

I remember from back in the Kaillera days you could sort by ping, semi-guaranteeing a decent experience. Could GameEx auto sort from lowest to highest ping?

Is it true the two players need the exact same version of MAME? Could that be displayed? I remember this was important for Kaillera.

Is it possible to move Mame net Play to be the second item on the menu list not the first? This might confuse guests.

When joining a game I'm still getting this "freeze" where I seem to lose control and even ESC key does nothing for about a minute.

cheers,

BR

[chrisqc]

do we need to change the value in the mame.ini file

server 0

client 1

everytime i want to switch from host to client ? or GameEx does it auto

[Tom Speirs]

do we need to change the value in the mame.ini file

server 0

client 1

everytime i want to switch from host to client ? or GameEx does it auto

GameEx should do it automatically but Ive not messed with those values in the ini. Its probably best to not have them there.

[Tom Speirs]

Hey Tom,

Hope you don't mind a couple more observations/requests

I remember from back in the Kaillera days you could sort by ping, semi-guaranteeing a decent experience. Could GameEx auto sort from lowest to highest ping?

Is it true the two players need the exact same version of MAME? Could that be displayed? I remember this was important for Kaillera.

Is it possible to move Mame net Play to be the second item on the menu list not the first? This might confuse guests.

When joining a game I'm still getting this "freeze" where I seem to lose control and even ESC key does nothing for about a minute.

cheers,

BR

Good points and in the regard to the wait its just waiting for the host to accept the request and then wait for it to launch CS MAME. It will time out after about a minute.

[chrisqc]

an addon sugestion : auto refresh of the "net play" page in GameEx

[chrisqc]

i done a test with someone,as a host the game came ingame here and i waited for someone to imput credit or start a game but it did nothing

[Tom Speirs]

Just got this from the author of Client/Server MAME:

I found a bug which introduced a lot of lag for games with anonymous timers. I fixed this as well as finished with my UI changes.

You can read about it more on my blog here: http://10ghost.blogspot.com/2010/09/clientservermame-and-clientservermess.html

[Tom Speirs]

PS:

I asked him to clarify what "old" or "many" games is as I want to be sure thats the issue with lag.

[Draco1962]

PS:

I asked him to clarify what "old" or "many" games is as I want to be sure thats the issue with lag.

What is your interpretation of "NOTE: Currently the 32-bit and 64-bit versions are not compatible with each other." Is he referring to the 32 servermame and 64 bit MAME versions?

[Tom Speirs]

I think what it means is a 32 bit version of Client/Server MAME cannot connect to a 64 bit version of Client/Server MAME even if the same release version. I didnt see a windows 64 bit version on the site (unless im missing something) so I dont think its relevant to us right now and I think its only talking about the networking aspects of CS MAME.

[Draco1962]

I think what it means is a 32 bit version of Client/Server MAME cannot connect to a 64 bit version of Client/Server MAME even if the same release version. I didnt see a windows 64 bit version on the site (unless im missing something) so I dont think its relevant to us right now and I think its only talking about the networking aspects of CS MAME.

I looked through the blog at the 0.2 release in August. He notes that "Cross platform and architecture support: I was able to play a game between a 32 bit windows machine and a 64 bit linux machine with no problems." So not so sure he is referring to networking. No, only 32bit Windows. I reverted to MAMUI32 from 64 just in case. Still pretty much the same results. Have mapped port forwarding for 5805 to my PC and entered appropriate rules in software firewall. Tried playing Gigawing with Chrisqc again... no video issues this time. appeard about to connect and game loaded, but it was just me playing. Throwing in the towel for the day on this issue..

[headkaze]

I looked through the blog at the 0.2 release in August. He notes that "Cross platform and architecture support: I was able to play a game between a 32 bit windows machine and a 64 bit linux machine with no problems." So not so sure he is referring to networking. No, only 32bit Windows. I reverted to MAMUI32 from 64 just in case. Still pretty much the same results. Have mapped port forwarding for 5805 to my PC and entered appropriate rules in software firewall. Tried playing Gigawing with Chrisqc again... no video issues this time. appeard about to connect and game loaded, but it was just me playing. Throwing in the towel for the day on this issue..

I think you may be a bit confused here. CS-Mame is a separate executable that you need to download from here (Latest version is ClientServerMAME_v0_6_Win32.zip). Then you need to enable it and setup the correct path in the Setup Wizard.

EDIT: I've updated the first post with more info and screenshots.