[AC] GGXX: Accent Core on PC - now (actually) playable online

[Teyah]

WARNING: Any discussion relating to where to obtain rom files and other copyrighted goodness is not allowed on Dustloop and will result in immediate deletion

With that out of the way. It's finally here! AC and pretty much the rest of the series is now playable online via emulation. Thanks to reaVer for coding a plugin that allows for NullDC to run AC online in a far, far better state than the previous Demul version (Desync Core) we had all given up on. The spec requirements to run NullDC are also much lower than Demul, so this improved AC online should be accessible to more people as well.

This thread will be dedicated to discussing ways to set up AC online for new users, and identify and fix bugs and problems with the early build of reaVer's NullDC plugin. For faster technical support and matchmaking, we are still at #reloadonline on irc.chatspike.net.

First of all, some basic comparisons to those who have played #Reload online and are wondering how AC stacks up:

#Reload

* Is playable at a selectable delay setting (this is super important)

* Has very few desyncs

* Runs at full 60 FPS speed all the time, so long as your computer is like at least 1 GHz with 128 MB of RAM. Graphics card optional!

* Can run on laptops at fullspeed fairly effortlessly

* Can play stable, 60 FPS, consistent games over long distances (eg. NW Canada to SE USA, or EC USA to Europe)

AC- via Demul

* Has variable delay (although it tells you how many frames it is delayed beforehand)

* Desyncs extremely often, usually during every other game

* Suffers from random slowdowns online, runs at an average of 50 FPS even if you can play @ 60 FPS offline. Requires at least a dual 3 GHz processor for fullspeed, with a decent graphics card (256 MB+) and a good chunk of RAM (2 GB+), and even then you aren't guaranteed stability.

* Most likely isn't functionally playable on laptops at all

AC- via NullDC

* Is playable at a selectable delay setting (this is super important)

* Has very few desyncs

* Runs at full 60 FPS speed quite easily. NullDC is the most optimized Naomi emulator by a good margin, so with a half decent computer you should be just fine. No need for anything crazy as with Demul.

* Should be playable on laptops

* ...but currently lacks keyboard support (gamepad or stick only). Keyboard support hopefully coming soon!

* Lacks a GUI, so you have to edit a text file with the other player's IP at the moment. If anyone would be willing to help code a simple GUI for us, please drop by #reloadonline on irc.chatspike.net and send a PM to reaVer.

So, let's use this thread to discuss any problems with the current NullDC plugin. Keep it clean, everyone!

Edited January 18, 2011 by Teyah

[Teyah]

Reserving for more info later.

Also, the desyncing may be solvable via using Kaillera servers (oh god). If we could eliminate the giant threat of desync, then all that would be left is high CPU specs which can always be solved with $$. More research to come on this.

[qwerty]

the only computer i have right now is my laptop, which has a 2.2ghz core 2 duo and a 512mb (well, 256+256 of system memory) nvidia quadro.

demul itself runs the game decently. there's occasional framerate drops (seemingly random, as it'll sometimes happen even when nobody is doing anything). makaron is still a far superior emulator in regards to optimization and accuracy, but demul is where the netplay is at.

i haven't been able to test netplay yet, but i only figured as much. fucking kaillera has always been terrible, lol.

[Bonzai]

Are there going to be instructions on how to do this that doesn't include the piracy part? I'm so Hell bent on playing this.

[Heidern98]

Oh man this is almost just a tease Still progress is progress and I can see this becoming playable and even competitive. Hope I can get it to run decent on my LT even though it seams unlikely for the moment.

Wondering if integrating AC through GGPO would work even though that seams far off into the future. Kailera was never GREAT but hell it could work imo with some fine tuning.

So my LT has a 1 Gig Nvidia 9800, with 4 gigs of ram and dual 2.3 processor. Is it really still impossible to play the game even with these specs? Since I don't really have any info on where to get the latest version of Kailera to try, I was just wondering. It runs Blazblue and SF4 perfect, even at just about highest settings. Still, I guess that is not netplay. Ah man... come one AC, get online going... I miss you so.

Again, still good news, even if it is a bit premature to say this is something that will help revive the GG competitive scene.

[qwerty]

Wondering if integrating AC through GGPO would work even though that seams far off into the future. Kailera was never GREAT but hell it could work imo with some fine tuning.

don't count on it

that would mean supporting an emulator other than finalburn alpha, and that would (presumably) require a hell of a lot of effort. unless there's enough demand for online marvel/cvs/gg, i would honestly rule it out entirely.

[RaptorIIC]

@Teyah

In the interest of promoting GGAC online, if you need a high end PC to test it on, let me know. My rig is a i7 920 (4 cores @ 2.6ghz), 2x crossfired 4890s, 6gb of DDR3 (PC3-12800). Fortunately, I'm also a CS graduate now (yay) / IT professional, so I also have some tools for monitoring network usage, packet dropping and other useless things.

It's a lot better than you driving 7h to Calgary to kick my ass anyway.

[qwerty]

forget everything i said demul; if you use the opengl plugin it runs flawlessly.

now to optimize this god awful kaillera garbage/get fios.

[LaPengo]

Online is fine (for the basic parts) although anyone a fair distance away could/may experience large amounts of delay frames, and their variable delay frames.

Best bet is still someone within 30ms of you, which gives you both 2 or 3 Delay Frames.

Played with a few people a long way off too, it was manageable but 1 player having 7DF vs someone with 4df is a pretty big Frame Advantage! Spectators may or may not add even more lag.

Overall, its the best we got right now, so I'll learn to deal with it.

Plus beating Teyah is fun in Mirrors :D !!

Although people are prone to randomly Desync and the game won't tell you, which requires a full restart (lol) of the Emulation to get back in, but with IRC honestly, its fine.

[alucard19]

Why isn't ac on ggpo?

meh

Well, aleast this is a start in the right direction.

[Bonzai]

forget everything i said demul; if you use the opengl plugin it runs flawlessly.

now to optimize this god awful kaillera garbage/get fios.

Did you extract the plugin and toss all the files into the plugins folder?

[qwerty]

Why isn't ac on ggpo?

like i said, the only emulator supported by ggpo right now is finalburnalpha, which is designed to emulate those ancient arcade boards that can't do 3D (not to mention cpu's that are nothing like the naomi's SH4).

ggpo will, at best, happen in several years when naomi emulators become more optimized. even then, i wouldn't count on it.

Did you extract the plugin and toss all the files into the plugins folder?

it was there by default for me, but yeah, it's in the plugins folder.

[Teyah]

I was able to play ~15 games without desync, from WC to Chicago, at a consistent delay 5 @ 60 fps. So there's definitely the possibility to run smooth games of AC, you just need to find the right people (ie. people who are close enough, have a good internet path to you, and who have the specs to run the game well).

Unfortunately it seems like you have to play on Kaillera servers to avoid desyncs, and you have to choose 'Excellent: 30 keyframes/sec' which means that only 30 inputs will be recorded per second as opposed to 60. This makes a pretty big difference in things requiring precise and quick inputs like IADs, IB, and especially wakeup backdash (compared to #R online, this is pretty damn risky to try). I drop over half of my IAD unblockable puddles because either the jump or one of the dash inputs gets dropped. FRCs are okay for the most part since they have multi-frame windows that won't be missed if the input carries over to the next frame.

@Teyah

In the interest of promoting GGAC online, if you need a high end PC to test it on, let me know. My rig is a i7 920 (4 cores @ 2.6ghz), 2x crossfired 4890s, 6gb of DDR3 (PC3-12800). Fortunately, I'm also a CS graduate now (yay) / IT professional, so I also have some tools for monitoring network usage, packet dropping and other useless things.

It's a lot better than you driving 7h to Calgary to kick my ass anyway.

That sounds pretty damn solid. My specs are pretty much half of that (Dual core @ 3 GHz, single 4890, 4 GB DDR3) but I can run a solid 60 on pretty much every stage online... except Eddie's.

But yeah, come idle in #reloadonline on irc.chatspike.net, I'm usually around to play some games! Also, I'll be in Calgary at the end of this month on business, but I'll have nights free to hang out if you're up for it.

[06falcon]

I'm having no issues as of yet using a quad core 2.6GHz 4gb DDR3 and a lone GeForce GTS 250 1GB

[dehumanizer]

No issues here either, I played with someone that lives in NY with little to no lag, while I'm in Chicago, Il. Specs are 3.2 GHz quad qore, 12gb DDR3, 2 280 GTX's 1GB in Sli Yea, thing is a bit overkill for gaming.

[Killerwatt]

No issues here either, I played with someone that lives in NY with little to no lag, while I'm in Chicago, Il. Specs are 3.2 GHz quad qore, 12gb DDR3, 2 280 GTX's 1GB in Sli Yea, thing is a bit overkill for gaming.

I'll second this, since I'm that someone that he played! From Brooklyn NY, I played quite a few games with dehumanizer; little to no lag (I was actually hoping for some lag so I could get out of Eddie 1f unblockables lol). I'm running Windows XP DualCore 2.33 Ghz 2GB RAM GeForece 9400GT Gfx card.

[DubiousCurvLoop]

Wow, glad to hear that this has jumped off. I wish my computer wasn't so primitive.

[06falcon]

Chicago?! what part of chicago?

[RaptorIIC]

That sounds pretty damn solid. My specs are pretty much half of that (Dual core @ 3 GHz, single 4890, 4 GB DDR3) but I can run a solid 60 on pretty much every stage online... except Eddie's.

But yeah, come idle in #reloadonline on irc.chatspike.net, I'm usually around to play some games! Also, I'll be in Calgary at the end of this month on business, but I'll have nights free to hang out if you're up for it.

I'll start coming and hanging out on IRC, get in some games of #R or Accent Lag online.

We're totally hyped for you coming out to Calgary. We'll actually have a place for you to crash this time, so we're 100% up for some games / hanging out / drinks / whatever.

Will have recording equipment ready too!

[dehumanizer]

Chicago?! what part of chicago?

South Side in Cook County. Bonzai, lives real close to me too, hit us up online or maybe irl, if u're close.

[Xithmos]

Accent core players... in Chicago? Especially Cook County? :3

[dehumanizer]

Dying breed out here, have to go all the way out to the burbs to find ppl to play wit other than ourselves.

[Flonominal]

Im also in the cook county area

[Hellmonkey]

had this up and running decently at 2 delay with someone in norcal @ 60fps

eddie and robo-ky both caused frequent desync

some other chars had some issues

[the potemkin]

hit me up anytime!! i'm ready for my first AC match!!