
****************************************************

Table ot Contents:

1) Basic information

2) System requirements

3) Plugin Setup

4) Suggestions

5) Known bugs and problems

6) License

7) Contacts

****************************************************

1) Basic information

Blade_Arma_NET_Plugin – netplay plugin for Sega Dreamcast emulator called Demul.

Introduction:
One day completely accidentally Wind and i started to talk about netplay and 
it's absence in Demul. In short time we discussed it's interface, and shortly 
after that plugin was ready. In my opinion, plugin is quite nice. I even wrote 
a winapi based GUI for it for those, who crying and complaining about my 
beloved GTK. :)

I often hear complains about kaillera - "constant desyncs", "impossible to 
play" etc, but i can assure you, in 90% of cases all troubles come from bad 
connection or silliness of complainer. Kaillera allows to play for prolonged 
periods of time in very long games (RPGs). Even if desync happens once per 2 
hours, i don't think that it's too hard for one player to save, transfer memory 
card to other player and continue to play from saved point.

But, there are remaining 10%. Those are games in which desync happens almost 
instantly. Personally, i don't know much about Sega Dreamcast and Demul. Wind 
doesn't want to look for desync's origin either, so for now all that you can do 
is to play in some other games for now.

Installation:

Unpack netBlade.7z in Demul's catalog.
Select plugin in emulator's config dialog:
Config->Plugins->Net Play plugin->netBlade, OK.
By default netplay is disabled, to turn it on choose:
Config->NetPlay->Enable netplay, OK.

Netplay:

Start Demul and go to plugin's setup dialog: Config->NetPlay. Check "Enable 
netplay" checkbox, press OK.
Start emulation of desired system, for example, File->RunDC. Kaillera client 
setup dialog should appear. If it doesn't appears, please check if netBlade.dll 
is present in Demul\plugins directory and kailleraclient.dll is present in 
Demul directory. When Kaillera client dialog pops up enter your nickname in 
"Username" field and press "Enter IP" button. There enter server's IP (your own 
if your PC will be a server) and press "Connect" button. Create a new game 
(Create->Name of the game) and wait for other players to connect. Up to four 
players are supported in Dreamcast's games. When other players connect press 
"Start". If you have any troubles setting up game in Kaillera, please consult 
it's manual.

****************************************************

2) System requirements

Software:

– Windows 2000 or newer.
– kailleraclient.dll.

Hardware:

– network connection.

****************************************************

3) Plugin setup

«SETTINGS» tab

«Enable netplay»
Enable netplay feature.

«Enable desync detecting»
Enable game desynchronization detection. If enabled, in case of desync plugin 
shows a corresponding message, shutdowns netplay and continues the game in 
standard mode.

«MISC» tab

Hot keys:

«Swap controllers (forward)»
Setup a button for switching controllers forward.

«Swap controllers (backward)»
Setup a button for switching controllers backwards.

«Drop netplay»
Setup a button for exiting from netplay.

Other:

«Enable logging»
Enable logging of debug information in netBlade.log file.

«Save dialog parameters»
Enable/disable saving of dialog window size and position at exit. If disabled, 
dialog will be shows at the center of the screen with default size.

****************************************************

4) Suggestions

There are two factors which affect a stability of network game most:
 - Good connection between the server and players.
 - Synchronization of emulator's settings between all players.
The very best case is when all players use the same version of the emulator and 
same plugins with same settings. You can copy .ini files and registry settings 
to do so. Of course you can change controls setup, screen resolution and video 
filters settings, but no more then that.

Most preferable netplay mode is p2p, because you don't rely on some far away 
server and you'll have minimal latency. Of course it will be good, if you'll 
setup some voice chat to be able to coordinate your actions and to taunt each 
other during the game. ;)

Select mode which gives you minimum lag. Sometimes direct p2p connection gives 
bigger lag the connection trough some kaillera server. Choose a server which is 
closer to all players. Ping should be less then 60ms to play in some action 
packed games. Of course it depends on the game. With 120ms ping you can freely 
play in a match of chess. :)

If possible stop your downloads/torrents and other network applications, 
because they can affect your ping and decrease netplay stability.

****************************************************

5) Known bugs and problems

Kailleraclient.dll library should be placed in emulator's catalog and not in 
./plugins or some other directory!

There are no save state support in netplay mode.

There is no chat support. You can't communicate in full screen mode.

Some antivirus and firewalls can close needed ports. That's why you have to 
setup your antivirus/firewall software to enable connetion to/from your 
kaillera client/server. Or just turn them off during netplay. ;)

****************************************************

6) License

This program is freeware and cannot be sold. Also this program cannot be 
distributed without written permission. This program cannot be used for any 
commercial purposes. You may not reverse engineer, decompile, or disassemble 
the enclosed software. Authors are not responsible for any damages that this 
program may cause, and are also not responsible for anything this plugin will 
be used for.

****************************************************

7) Contacts

http://forum.emu-russia.net
irc://irc.newnet.net:6667/emu-russia
mailto:edgbla@yandex.ru

****************************************************
