The local multiplayer saga, ep 10
This tenth episode is going to close the first season of this saga. At this point, local multiplayer has been tested and found to be smooth in most cases, so we are mostly done with the actual wifi work.

We have also been porting our semaphore code so that our shared-memory based communication layer could work under Linux and macOS. This has shown to be a bit challenging, and I've been making several attempts to try and determine what was the best method for fast and reliable IPC.

What is left is mostly UI-related work. Handling several situations that can be problematic during multiplayer: supporting multiple controllers, maybe also things like multiple firmware settings, making sure the multiple running games don't write to the same save file, firmware file, and so on. I have a few ideas for that.

That will help turn local multiplayer support into a more finished product and less of a clunky experimental thing.

But for now, I'm going to take a break. I've been pouring a lot of my free time into this, and I think I need to relax for a lil' while.

I'm also going to debate the direction to take now with the rest of the melonDS team. There will be a second season to this saga, and it will be about implementing netplay. The results of all this wifi work are well beyond my original expectations, and now we have big ideas and hopes for this. But first, I want to take a collective decision about whether to make a release before season 2, whether to go straight for melonDS 1.0, these things. Stable local multiplayer was one of the must-haves for melonDS 1.0, but that's not all there is.

I'm also collecting ideas for netplay, so if you know more about this than I do (which is, relatively little), feel free to reach out to me!
Shinji says:
Sep 8th 2022
Thank you for all your effort. Take a break, you deserve it <3
somelinuxer says:
Sep 8th 2022
You deserve a break!
I posted my own netplay idea but it's really far fetched and it's just a brainstorm
Jay says:
Sep 8th 2022
Thanks again for all your amazing work, now it's time to enjoy your deserved brake.
Axle blaze says:
Sep 8th 2022
Nice work fella take a breat my dude, i'm very hyped for the local multiplayer, love you (sorry for bad english)
Zyute says:
Sep 8th 2022
Your one of the most dedicated developers I've seen in the emulation community Arisotura. It's always the smartest move to take time for yourself so you don't get burned out. Rest and we will be here when you get back. Have a good one and stay safe😎.
Trunks says:
Sep 9th 2022
You have made some serious progress with the wifi implementation! I'm glad you are giving yourself a break. Also on another note, didn't Dolphin set the framework for wifi connection to a DS when they implemented the GBA integration?
^.^ says:
Sep 10th 2022
The only netplay I know is that of Dolphin, but maybe there's some more modern way to implement it around today? (Parsec?) IDK 😅

One thing that needs to be done before 1.0 is a series of public betas/release candidates to let everyone try various games from the DS library while knowing those aren't stable releases.

8 players MKDS was always my dream... thank you so much Arisotura!


ps: for the versions after 1.0, have you thought about a room system like Citra to make it easier to find players?
ProfessionalGopnik says:
Sep 10th 2022
Can't wait for the netplay arc, we gotta wait for the manga to catch up though. Jokes aside the fact that you guys did it seriously fast is incredible. As soon as Netplay hits, this is going to explode in popularity, i can guarantee that
poudink says:
Sep 11th 2022
About the GUI implementation, I don't know whether you've thought of that already but it would be nice if you allowed selecting which speaker each emulated DS uses. This is something a lot of emu devs don't think of doing (for example Dolphin doesn't let you select a speaker for wiimote audio), but it can be pretty convenient with certain setups.
HeroMayCry says:
Sep 13th 2022
An idea for netplay:
letting people use VPN services to connect to eachother would be a big bonus. RADMIN VPN or Hamachi would really just help people not use programs such as parsec.
Guest says:
Sep 13th 2022
@HeroMayCry That is certainly quite an idea, although I would rather see something similar to what Citra has. Also, being able to connect to something locally, preferably something that can be installed on OpenWrt (Linux distro that is mainly used on routers), would absolutely be awesome, especially as it can be scaled in such a way that will allow additional features when using enterprise equipment in a homelab.
Ant M says:
Sep 16th 2022
if yall get local multiplayer working on DQ9 ill personally donate 500$
Anonymous says:
Sep 16th 2022
Amen to that! I am dying to play DQ9 multiplayer!
HeroMayCry says:
Sep 17th 2022
I'll sell an organ to pay for DQ9 multiplayer. PLEASE MAKE THE DREAM REAL!
Davman says:
Sep 17th 2022
3rded. DQ9 Was my childhood. would love to play it with friends online.
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