< Sorry for the silence latelyLAN multiplayer: getting there! >
LAN multiplayer: in the works
Sep 8th 2023, by Arisotura
First of all, thank you all for the kind comments to the last post, it means a lot!

Anyway, I've been throwing together a basic interface for LAN multiplayer. It's far from complete, but it's already showing promising results so far.

The issue is that it requires a low enough latency to work well. When connecting my two computers over a crosswired cable, yielding a latency of ~1ms, I had decent success connecting the two sides together. However, when using the regular network (my laptop connects over wifi, while the other computer uses a PLC adapter), latency was all over the place and it was impossible to get a local multiplayer connection going.

This isn't too different from the old socket-based network interface, really. Except that interface performed even worse, because it was really just tossing packets over the network with zero care.

This new LAN mode will function more like typical LAN games: you get a host starting a LAN game, then everyone else connects to the host using their local IP (or their computer's host name). Then you would launch your game and connect to other players like you would on an actual DS.

There's still some more work to be done before this can be called finished, mostly UI work but also other tidbits. I'll keep you informed.
16 comments have been posted.
< Sorry for the silence latelyLAN multiplayer: getting there! >
Master says:
Sep 8th 2023
What I ask myself all the time: how do the newer emulators do it?
Citra or Yuzu have their own rooms where you can easily connect with your friends via the internet. and it runs without any problems.
Can't you do the same thing with a DS emulator?
Arisotura says:
Sep 8th 2023
it's not that easy due to the way the DS local multiplayer protocol works, we have to work with tight timing requirements
Trunks/ says:
Sep 8th 2023
Thanks for the update hope you are doing well!
Lemon says:
Sep 9th 2023
melonds take another step forward.... keep it going and wish you the best!
JIIN says:
Sep 9th 2023
Oh my gosh, thank you so much for the tremendous progress that has been made. I feel infinite joy that the day when I can enjoy DS games even with friends far away will soon become a reality. thank you so much
^.^ says:
Sep 11th 2023
Hi Ari, sending some positive vibes your way.

So I get this system is sensible to jitter other than latency obviously...
If this ever ends up working on Android, lag should be more stable by setting up a local hotspot in theory, so that might be useful for testing.
AsPika says:
Sep 12th 2023
Waiting for connecting 2 or more PC with LAN for playing multiplayer games, trading something etc on this emulator ☺️
jooffry says:
Sep 15th 2023
Hi I have a question about the emulator, is it possible to shiny hunt with pokemon Black 2? like with soft resets and stuff, also for online play is it able to allow battle and trades with friends?
lnee says:
Sep 19th 2023
with the tight time for the ds wifi protocol im wondering if you could just fake hart beet packets untill the batch of data comes
Havyeit says:
Sep 19th 2023
In the Future how possible would it be to run DS wireless multiplayer over something like a Bluetooth connection? This would be reminiscent to the Nintendo DS's capability of local multiplayer, without a wifi network. I just wanted to add that I love the amount of attention and care goes into this amazing emulator, from you and the other amazing developers of the melonDS emulator.
Red126 says:
Sep 22nd 2023
Question: Does it work on Transformers DS games too? For Multiplayer?
Charles le Bon says:
Sep 24th 2023
Hi
IDon'tHaveAKname says:
Sep 28th 2023
This is awesome
skippy says:
Oct 1st 2023
cant wait until this comes out🙏🙏
Merchant0282 says:
Nov 29th 2023
Is there already a local multiplayer in working order for same pc with 2 instances running?
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