GBATemp.net WIFI Nite GGPO Online Guide by Uzumakijl

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Introduction:
This guide will cover basic GGPO usage. This guide was made using “ggpo-beta-rc3” and “Adobe Air 2.0.2.12610” It was tested on Windows XP SP3 and Windows XP SP2 as Operative System, There may be bugs for Vista and Windows 7 make sure you check The official GGPO "Troubleshooting and Bug Reports" sub-forum for further help since some people give support on them and most times your question will be already answered in one of the previous topics.
Be sure to read the small FAQ&Tips section in this guide to solve some common issues and to know some extra information which may come handy for you in some moment.
The author takes no responsibility for any serious issues this guide causes for user or their computer equipment.
Directory:
ggpo-beta-rc3.msi > GGPO Installer of the version used in this guide.
AdobeAIRInstaller.exe > Adobe Air Installer which is essential for using GGPO.
GGPO_GBATemp_WIFI_Nite_Online_Guide.html > This guide.
GGPO:
http://ggpo.net
GGPO is an application that allows games to be played over the internet. It uses the emulator called FinalBurn Alpha In it’s version v0.2.96.74 (At the time of writing, July 2010) Which runs a large variety of Arcade games in near perfect emulation (Which it’s exceptions) though you should notice that you will only be able to play online a limited variety of games on GGPO, however you will be able to play in offline mode all the games supported by FinalBurn Alpha, I should point that the emulator FinalBurn Alpha has an option to play via Kaillera as well but i’ll only cover GGPO usage in this guide.
Even if these games were never designed to be played this way. GGPO runs them smoothly in most computers and most times it provides you a lag-free gaming experience.

Installation:
Installing Adobe Air: (You can skip this steps if you’re familiar with installating programs in your PC).
This should be quick and easy just double click “AdobeAIRInstaller.exe”, when the installator shows up click on “Accept” then it’ll show you another window saying “Installing”, just wait until the installation finishes when it’s done another window should show up telling you it was installed correctly.
Installing GGPO: (You can skip this steps if you’re familiar with installating programs in your PC)
When you double click the “ggpo-beta-rc3.msi” it’ll show you this window (see below) click on “Next”.
Now it’ll ask you to choose the where you want it to be installed, the default directory is “C:\Program Files\GGPO\” click on “Next” when you’re done choosing.
It’ll ask you to confirm if what you chose is ok or not click on “Install” to begin the installation.
The installation will begin and you will see a window like this
Once it’s finished it’ll ask you to click the “Finish” do it and you’ve successfully installed GGPO in your computer now there’s only one step left!.
Port Forwarding:
GGPO requires port forwarding it may sound hard to do but it actually isn’t. Just remember that this is the most important step and if you can’t skip it otherwise you wouldn’t be able to play online.
Since there’s a big variety of routers i can’t add enough information in this part by my own. However there’s a site which contains detailed information about port forwarding for almost every router, The site is http://www.portforward.com/english/routers/port_forwarding/routerindex.htm
just pick your router from the list and then use the “Default guide” to do the port forwarding.
The ports which you need to configure are: UDP ports 6000-6009 (inbound/outbound)
And
TCP port 7000 (outbound).

Setting up:
So now the installation is finished you have installed everything and you did the port forwarding all left is to set up GGPO which is quite easy.
First of all go to the GGPO folder you created earlier, Now you’ll see various files here but the important ones are “ggpo.exe” and “ggpofba.exe”
You use “ggpo.exe” to play online and “ggpofba.exe” to play offline, Note that moving or copying this files to other place will make them to stop working, So if you want a GGPO icon on your desktop make a direct access by right clicking one of the icons and drag and drop it to your desktop then select “Create direct access” from the list and an icon for “ggpo.exe” or “ggpofba.exe” should be created, now you can rename or place the icons anywhere you want.
You will need to make a “roms” folder inside the GGPO folder and place your ROMs there, otherwise the application won’t find the ROMs while playing online.
Now open GGPO in it’s offline mode (“ggpofba.exe”) a window saying “Scanning ROMs…” should appear
Now you should see the main FinalBurn Alpha window here you will be able to change most of the options, click on “Game” to bring a list of some options, then choose “Load game” (The hotkey is F6 for faster access)
Now it’ll show another window saying “Edit ROM paths” click the “Browse” button and select your “roms” folder and add it to the list, FinalBurn Alpha can look for ROMs in up to 4 folders, but only the “roms” directory will work for online gaming. If you need to change these folders you can reconfigure the paths by clicking on “ROMs Dirs…” option which appears on the window which pops up after you clicked on “Load game” (See below)
Now your ROMs should appear there, Select one by clicking on it’s name then clicking on the “Play” button
When the game has loaded go to ”Game” Then click on “Map game inputs…” or press “F5” on your keyboard.
A small window saying “Map game inputs…” inside the FinalBurn Alpha emulator should open it shows the current configuration for the first and second player, You can change it by double clicking each one of the options and setting them as you wish. Once you are done click “OK” and you’ll be back in the game.
Important: Please note that you will have to map the inputs for each game individually since this configuration its not global.

Playing online on GGPO:
To play online just open “ggpo.exe” and it show you a window like this:
You must login to play online, If you don’t have a GGPO account click on “Create Account…” and your browser should take you to the GGPO registration site after your account has been created and activated you should be able to login, your nickname and password are case sensitive so be cautious.
Once you have logged you’ll start on the lobby you will have to click on one of the rooms for each game located on the left.
1.When you are on a room simply challenge somebody by clicking on his/her name and then clicking on “Challenge” if the person accepts a small window will show that the game is loading and once both windows (Yours and your opponent) load you will be playing online on GGPO!.
Press “T” for in-game chat, Happy playing!
2.In case the he/she doesn’t accepts either nothing will happen or you’ll see a note above the player list saying “Challenge declined!”
3.Also at the left of each person nickname there is a flag from their country, this is good because when you are having lag on random matches you can play with people from your country which will reduce the lag considerably
4.You also have 2 icons on the bottom right, one of them is “Online” and the other is “AFK” while you have the “Online” status you can challenge and be challenged by anyone and when you are as “AFK” you can’t be challenged but you are able to challenge other people.
5.GGPO has plenty of configuration options, but this is all you need to know to play online so i won't get any further.

FAQ&Tips:
What does GGPO stand for?
It means Good Game Peace Out.
What's a good ping to play smoothly?
Actually i don’t experience any lag while playing with people with pings of less than 250 ms so you will most likely be able to play with people from almost everywhere in the world without any lag in the majority of games * so i would say anything below 250 ms is ok.
*"Street Fighter III: Third Strike” being an exception because if you play with somebody who has a ping of 100 ms or more you will experience lag
My controller doesn’t works!
You must plug your controller before starting a match otherwise it won’t be recognized by GGPO, also you must map your controller for each game you play individually.
I can watch matches but i can’t play!
Check if you did the port forwarding properly cause that could be the main reason of your problem.
If the port forwarding is ok you can try the “Double challenge” Which consists on clicking the “Challenge” button once, Then clicking “Cancel” and then clicking “Challenge” again with this done 2 windows will be opened and one of them should load properly, If not the server may be overloaded just wait some time and try again.
The game goes really fast at times and i can’t see what’s happening on the screen / The frame rate is inconsistent
This is good in some way, It means GGPO is trying to balance the lag by giving you less frames however it may be annoying and not really necessary in some cases, To solve this simply click on “Video” (On the emulator window or in-game) and then uncheck “Auto Frameskip”
I don’t see a in-game chat freature
Go to “Video” then “Select blitter” if it’s on “Experimental” Change it, this filter doesn’t supports chatting.
I have a lot of lag!
It's either:
Try playing somebody with a lower ping.
Stop your downloads before playing.
When you are in GGPO (Online) Try going to “Options” and on the “Preferences” Window on the “Gameplay” tab, use the bar to set a bigger number in “Smoothing”, If you set it on a bigger number your inputs will be recognized slower, but the game will be smoother.
During the matches i have some lag spikes how i can fix this?
There may be an spectator joining your match, that lag should be temporal, but if it's too many spectators try to join and make the game unplayable just close the main GGPO window and tell your opponent to do the same, this way nobody will be able to spectate your game.
I can play offline lag less but online lags a lot with anyone!
Your computer may not be powerful enough. GGPO consumes more resources when it’s on online mode.
When i click the “Login” button nothing happens
Your nickname and password are case sensitive check if you typed them properly if that doesn’t works close and open again the program.
Why i get a “Lost connection to GGPO” sign when i try to login?
The server may be full, Just keep trying or wait a while.
When i challenge somebody i get an error saying "This user is not registered with GGPO."
That is a common bug, Just tell the other person to log again, Or challenge somebody else.

Afterword:
This concludes my GGPO Guide, Thank you for reading, Have fun playing!.

03_GGPO_GBATemp_WIFI_Nite
Written by: Uzumakijl
Last Updated: 7/10/2010, July 10 2010.
This guide is copyrighted to Uzumakijl. This guide can not be used or altered without permission from the copyright holder.
WIFI Nite logo copyright to KRT Productions