Prefix
16th November 2003, 12:20 PM
As most of you may know, there are alternate ways to battle Pokemon online; there have been for quite some time now. They are not at all like the battle simulators that the community has gotten used to. I haven't gotten to experience any of them, for that I need an opponent, yet I have learned enough to introduce them to you.
I have always envied Japanese players for having gotten to battle each other via the Mobile Adapter, and even to later view the battle on Stadium 2. After some research, I discovered that there are two methods which emulate this closely:
1. Link-Compatible Gameboy Emulator- An emulator with linking support enables two players to connect to each other and play as they normally would with two Gameboys and a Link Cable. There are two such emulators: TGBDual and KiGB. TGBDual is a Japanese emulator which was partially translated to English; it does not emulate "true" linking, but instead it emulates two CPUs, one of which shows the screen and the other is used to communicate with the remote player. The emulator connects both players through the Internet and exchanges their joypad movements. KiGB, on the other hand, is an English emulator which emulates the Link Cable as it is. It uses the tcp sockets feature which enables two players to play games on a tcp-enabled network. A lot of network traffic is generated during gameplay, making the game somewhat slow, even extremely. With Pokemon Gold/Silver/Crystal, the gameplay is only a bit slow. Both emulators only provide connection to two players with the same ROMs, making it impossible to battle with different cartridges. As such, it is recommended to use Crystal only, for unison purposes.
2. Kaillera-Supporting Nintendo64 Emulator- Kaillera is used for machines that support multiple players, such as Nintendo64. It works similiarly to TGBDual; that is, it makes one's computer think that there is another person that is playing with one locally. There are two Nintendo64 emulators which support Kaillera: Nemu64 and Project64k. Unlike Nemu64, Project64k has a special plug-in which allows it to read data from a save Gameboy file, emulating the Transfer Pak. In this way, any cartridge can be played through Stadium 2. This obviously makes Project64k preferable over Nemu64, at least for our purposes.
I chose to try the second method, if only for the fact that Stadium battles are more appealing than normal ones. I downloaded Project64k, which already has the Kaillera package in it, and the Stadium 2 ROM via Kazaa Lite (merely 44 megabytes). Finally, I downloaded the latest N-Rage plugin, which emulates the Transfer Pack (using the Gameboy ROM and save files). The picture and sound are quite fine, besides the Pokemon's picture near its HP Bar, being blurry (as well as the one in the selection mode)- but that is rather insignificant and may only be a problem on my computer. I was prepared and ready, only to find that there were no Project64k servers; I could only find one, but its name indicated that it was purposed for Super Smash Bros. I have tried more than once, of course, but to no avail.
Where am I getting, you ask? Well, all that I wish is to experience this method several times and render whether it is usable or not. Currently, it seems to be a smart option: actual graphics, animations and sounds- surely that is an advantage. As for the battle's specifics, Stadium 2 offers a variety of Cups; it also enables one to create one's own, based on Pokemon, Level and Items (Enable/Disable, Clause/No Clause). Above all, the Event Battle Mode seems very fit for online battling, as if it were actually intended for it. I genuinely believe that if this works out properly, more thought will be put into players' teams (granted, using Gameshark to modify one's team, even if only to duplicate one's real cartridge into the ROM, is not a whole lot different than editing it on a simulator; but as I see it, this will follow an entire change in one's approach towards battling) and battles will be less frequent (no more instant wins or losses, battles will take more time).
For this to happen- I do need players to battle against, and so I am asking you to volunteer. There isn't a lot to download, except for the ROM- but it shouldn't take too long, either.
If you would too like to give this a try, I suggest you download Project64k (http://pj64k.emulation64.com/), KiGB (http://kigb.emuunlim.com/) (you need an emulator in order to arrange your team; you can use the Gameshark option to even duplicate the one on your Gameboy, or any other), N-Rage's Plugin (http://members.chello.at/n-rage/dinput8/downloads.html) and Kazaa Lite (http://www.kazaalite.tk/) (via which you can download the ROMS; for N64- make sure it ends with (U)_[!]). Once in the Emulator, choose Options - Settings - Input Plugin - N-Rage's Direct-Input8 V2 1.82, and then Options - Configure Controller Plugin - Controller 1 - Controller Pak; checking the RawData box and selecting Transfer Pak, then selecting the ROM and save files. Once that is done, choose File - Start Netplay, there you should find a list of online servers. If one of the servers used Project64k as an emulator, as well as hosted one of the Stadium games- it would enable two players to battle each other, using the appropriate modes in the actual game.
It should be noted that the game, Gameboy ROM, is to be saved in the regular way rather than the emulator-specific one. Stadium simply does not identify the latter.
If a sufficient number of people join this, and sufficient could turn out to be as little as one other than me, I will create a new Kaillera server- as it is simply impossible to battle on any existent server, it seems. Its name and IP address will be posted in this thread, of course.
If this, for some reason or another, fails to work- we can use KiGB's Netplay option instead (or TGBDual's (http://www.emulator-zone.com/doc.php/gameboy/tgbdual.html) which is inconvenient to use, I suggest we keep it as a last resort). Keep a close eye of how this progresses. This is all provided that any of you have the time and will to test this; hopefully you do.
Please post when you are prepared, so we can set a few matches. Also, report any problems that you encounter- I may be able to help.
Here is for a hopefully successful attempt,
Prefix
I have always envied Japanese players for having gotten to battle each other via the Mobile Adapter, and even to later view the battle on Stadium 2. After some research, I discovered that there are two methods which emulate this closely:
1. Link-Compatible Gameboy Emulator- An emulator with linking support enables two players to connect to each other and play as they normally would with two Gameboys and a Link Cable. There are two such emulators: TGBDual and KiGB. TGBDual is a Japanese emulator which was partially translated to English; it does not emulate "true" linking, but instead it emulates two CPUs, one of which shows the screen and the other is used to communicate with the remote player. The emulator connects both players through the Internet and exchanges their joypad movements. KiGB, on the other hand, is an English emulator which emulates the Link Cable as it is. It uses the tcp sockets feature which enables two players to play games on a tcp-enabled network. A lot of network traffic is generated during gameplay, making the game somewhat slow, even extremely. With Pokemon Gold/Silver/Crystal, the gameplay is only a bit slow. Both emulators only provide connection to two players with the same ROMs, making it impossible to battle with different cartridges. As such, it is recommended to use Crystal only, for unison purposes.
2. Kaillera-Supporting Nintendo64 Emulator- Kaillera is used for machines that support multiple players, such as Nintendo64. It works similiarly to TGBDual; that is, it makes one's computer think that there is another person that is playing with one locally. There are two Nintendo64 emulators which support Kaillera: Nemu64 and Project64k. Unlike Nemu64, Project64k has a special plug-in which allows it to read data from a save Gameboy file, emulating the Transfer Pak. In this way, any cartridge can be played through Stadium 2. This obviously makes Project64k preferable over Nemu64, at least for our purposes.
I chose to try the second method, if only for the fact that Stadium battles are more appealing than normal ones. I downloaded Project64k, which already has the Kaillera package in it, and the Stadium 2 ROM via Kazaa Lite (merely 44 megabytes). Finally, I downloaded the latest N-Rage plugin, which emulates the Transfer Pack (using the Gameboy ROM and save files). The picture and sound are quite fine, besides the Pokemon's picture near its HP Bar, being blurry (as well as the one in the selection mode)- but that is rather insignificant and may only be a problem on my computer. I was prepared and ready, only to find that there were no Project64k servers; I could only find one, but its name indicated that it was purposed for Super Smash Bros. I have tried more than once, of course, but to no avail.
Where am I getting, you ask? Well, all that I wish is to experience this method several times and render whether it is usable or not. Currently, it seems to be a smart option: actual graphics, animations and sounds- surely that is an advantage. As for the battle's specifics, Stadium 2 offers a variety of Cups; it also enables one to create one's own, based on Pokemon, Level and Items (Enable/Disable, Clause/No Clause). Above all, the Event Battle Mode seems very fit for online battling, as if it were actually intended for it. I genuinely believe that if this works out properly, more thought will be put into players' teams (granted, using Gameshark to modify one's team, even if only to duplicate one's real cartridge into the ROM, is not a whole lot different than editing it on a simulator; but as I see it, this will follow an entire change in one's approach towards battling) and battles will be less frequent (no more instant wins or losses, battles will take more time).
For this to happen- I do need players to battle against, and so I am asking you to volunteer. There isn't a lot to download, except for the ROM- but it shouldn't take too long, either.
If you would too like to give this a try, I suggest you download Project64k (http://pj64k.emulation64.com/), KiGB (http://kigb.emuunlim.com/) (you need an emulator in order to arrange your team; you can use the Gameshark option to even duplicate the one on your Gameboy, or any other), N-Rage's Plugin (http://members.chello.at/n-rage/dinput8/downloads.html) and Kazaa Lite (http://www.kazaalite.tk/) (via which you can download the ROMS; for N64- make sure it ends with (U)_[!]). Once in the Emulator, choose Options - Settings - Input Plugin - N-Rage's Direct-Input8 V2 1.82, and then Options - Configure Controller Plugin - Controller 1 - Controller Pak; checking the RawData box and selecting Transfer Pak, then selecting the ROM and save files. Once that is done, choose File - Start Netplay, there you should find a list of online servers. If one of the servers used Project64k as an emulator, as well as hosted one of the Stadium games- it would enable two players to battle each other, using the appropriate modes in the actual game.
It should be noted that the game, Gameboy ROM, is to be saved in the regular way rather than the emulator-specific one. Stadium simply does not identify the latter.
If a sufficient number of people join this, and sufficient could turn out to be as little as one other than me, I will create a new Kaillera server- as it is simply impossible to battle on any existent server, it seems. Its name and IP address will be posted in this thread, of course.
If this, for some reason or another, fails to work- we can use KiGB's Netplay option instead (or TGBDual's (http://www.emulator-zone.com/doc.php/gameboy/tgbdual.html) which is inconvenient to use, I suggest we keep it as a last resort). Keep a close eye of how this progresses. This is all provided that any of you have the time and will to test this; hopefully you do.
Please post when you are prepared, so we can set a few matches. Also, report any problems that you encounter- I may be able to help.
Here is for a hopefully successful attempt,
Prefix