RBI Online Play 101

[Turd]

Whether you're a noob to online play, or you used to play on Kaillera or FCE Ultra servers, this intro should get you started in your quest to play NES games online.  First step is find one of the veterans in the RPC and have them host a game for you to connect to...after that, read on, and find out all the gritty details about hosting your own game, etc...

Servers? We don't need no stinking servers! That's right...in the past few years, A P2P version of Kaillera was released that made playing NES games online as close to console quality play as we've come.  Gone are laggy servers, replaced by directly connecting to your opponent for more enjoyable gameplay. The Tecmo community has been using this for a whole gaggle of leagues and it's been working great! Getting setup to play using this new (old) technology ranges from the super simple to the utterly impossible, based on several factors including your internet connection, your computer, and a few other variables. I'll outline them briefly here.

What should I expect?
Gameplay at or almost at console quality speeds.  Depending on your connection, you might notice a hiccup every now and then where the game skips or slows down for a brief moment. I've see this happen with crappy wireless cards, running bandwidth sucking apps like bit-torrent or downloading large files while playing, or just crappy connections in general.  I'd say the majority of the people I play against we don't notice any hiccups at all.  Just be aware that each person's connection is different.

What do I need?
*Nestopia 1.39 w/ Kaillera P2P client
*there is a 1.40 version, but 1.39 is used as a standard for its ability to record videos of your games for league play and whatnot

How does it work?
Each computer connected to the Internet has what is known as an IP address, which is a number that looks something like 99.123.456.78 (you can see yours by going to www.whatismyip.com).  Instead of both parties connecting to a server somewhere in the middle to play, one person decides to be the server (commonly called a host) and the other person connects to the host via their IP address.

That would be all you need, but there are a few problems that arise.  Mainly, most people today on high-speed Internet connections are behind a router. It could be your wireless router, or the device that came with your service might be a router as well. If you're behind one of those router/firewall devices, you need to tell your router that incoming connections from NES opponents are allowed (something called port forwarding).  This is the major sticking point in getting setup to play online.  That's where I come in...more information on hooking up with me to get you setup can be found below.

Your other option if you don't want to or simply can't get your router/firewall to forward is to use Hamachi.  Hamachi allows you both to connect to your own little network that basically bypasses your router providing the illusion that you're directly connected to each other.  If all else fails, I can help you set this up as well.  Ideally, we want to avoid this if possible, as it's a little less convenient.

Ok, so what do I do first?
I'm offering myself up as a helper to make the process as painless as possible. I have gotten tons of people online, with the occasional stumper that I just can't help. I'll do my best.  If I'm not readily available and you can't wait, make a post over at the Tecmo forums, as our Tecmo community is filled with people who are willing and able to help you get online.

Here is some helpful information to gather before we start:

Just so the person helping you knows how to tailor his assistance, rate your computer knowledge on the following scale:

1 has trouble doing anything cmputer related
2 can surf and send email, IM efficiently
3 knows how to work with files, unzipping, copying
4 familiar with basic networking, knows what an IP address is
5 can do most mid to advanced computer stuff

More helpful stuff you should provide/exhibit if you can:
-The ability to follow instructions
-Patience (most people take a half hour to get setup, others simply fail after hours of trying)
-It's helpful if you have your router username and password (not your WEP security key) and  your router model number as well. We're gonna need that to update your port forwarding
-Knowledge of whether you run a software firewall in addition to your router or cable modem your computer (norton, mcaffee, zone-alarm, etc) as they can prevent you from playing unless we disable or configure them correctly.

You might be one of those rare situations where you aren't behind a firewall.  To test this in windows XP/Vista/Win7, go to start, and then run. In the box that pops up, type cmd and hit enter.  A black prompt comes up. Type ipconfig and press enter. If the value under "IP address" matches what you saw on www.whatismyip.com, then you are probably already setup).

Sound intimidating? It sounds worse than it is. You can find me on AIM at "tecmoturd"

[Turd]

Gantry and I have discussed doing a subforumectomy on the online forum, but instead we agreed that it might be best to just merge those forums and have the RBI forum encompass any online stuff as well, at least until a need for a sub-forum is shown.  This should get some exposure into the online stuff as well.  So, I wanted to make a sticky thread for anyone new and old interested in getting going online...I'll try to keep this updated and current as much as possible.

[Gantry]

This has been stickied - I know I made a puhl awhile back but if you have a serious objection to merging the RBI & Online RBI boards speak now.  This IS NOT AN APRIL FOOLS JOKE!   ONLINE RBI WILL GO AWAY!   PREPARE ACCORDINGLY OR SPEAK UP!

[Darky]

 ONLINE RBI WILL GO AWAY!   PREPARE ACCORDINGLY OR SPEAK UP!

So the Hopi prophecy is true. Purification is happening, and it has started in this realm.

[Gantry]

Had to start somewhere...

[TβG]

i think online RBI should still be separate.  I don't want to come in here just to see some random post that somebody wants to play an online game.

[Darky]

i think online RBI should still be separate.  I don't want to come in here just to see some random post that somebody wants to play an online game.

I agree...or they can get their own website. Dah Nah...

[Gantry]

We can have a separate thread for people looking for games, problem solved

[Turd]

Thers not a lot of action on the RBI board anyways, so I doubt it'll get in anyones way. If it does, we could expand back.

Honestly, my hope is that online players start using the RPC to look for games. That eliminates the need to make a post anyways.

[Turd]

To anyone who IM'd me over the weekend asking for help, please hit me up tomorrow night (Tuesday) as I'll be available...I obviously had a busy weekend with the holiday and whatnot.

Same goes to anyone who wants to play a round or two of RBI.

[BeefMaster]

Question for you, Turd - I was thinking of attempting to get a friend of mine set up for online play when I visit him next week, but he has a Mac, and I'm certainly he doesn't have any sort of dual boot setup with Windows.  Is there a mac build of NEStopia 1.39, or are we out of luck?  A Google search turned up a forum post that basically answered "out of luck", but I figured I'd check and see if you knew any different.

[Turd]

As far as MACs go, there is a Nestopia build available, but none that work with Kaillera P2P, and none that would be able to connect to an opponent using Windows.

Your only real option is to get a dual boot setup, which I know some MAC guys don't like...sorry brother...

[Brookensrules!]

As far as MACs go, there is a Nestopia build available, but none that work with Kaillera P2P, and none that would be able to connect to an opponent using Windows.

Your only real option is to get a dual boot setup, which I know some MAC guys don't like...sorry brother...

That's too bad, I would have enjoyed playing. 

[RBIKING]

Hello gentlemen. 

I'd be interested in playing online and if there's room playing in a league.  My AIM contact is ginolarkin@aol.com.    I just need some help setting things up.

[Reds]

Fuck you

[Attezz]

Fuck you

This.

[Turd]

RBIKing, pay no attention to these chaps.  They like to roll out the welcome mat in a weird way.  Hit me up and I'll try and get you setup...

[damasogarcia]

Turd,

I appreciate your willingly to help a computer novice like myself. I downloaded nestopia and I can open up the 28 team RBI, but I can not get my keyboard to work. I can hit enter to go to the screen where all the teams are listed and I can use a cursor to move around the the teams, but enter does not work anymore???

I am only interested in playing the computer for now...Any feedback would be appreciated. Thanks

[Turd]

You probably just need to map your keyboard/controller. Go into the options and select input and there you can setup your keys.

[damasogarcia]

sorry I am still confused...when I go to input...I do not see "keyboard" listed under type...does this mean I need to buy a joystick???

I did "set" buttons under mapping but nothing seems to work...thanks again