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Project M 3.6 Online via Dolphin Netplay Setup + Optimization Guide

gunterrsmash01

Smash Champion
Joined
Mar 25, 2007
Messages
2,533
I got it all working with a different ISO, checksum is still different though...oh well.Waiting on my GC adapter now.

EDIT: I am getting a little bit of input lag, about 0.5 seconds..anyone know how to fix? Im using the mayflash adapter.
 
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Shane Moffatt

Smash Rookie
Joined
Sep 11, 2014
Messages
4
Hoping i could get some help here :S
Basically i run the game fine, my computer is a monster and it's steady at 60fps easily.
Now i am trying to play with two friends but they get only 50fps.
When we 3 play together the fps is around 25-35...

Is it possible for us to be able to play together with 50 fps or more? We followed all your settings and for some reason out fps drops on netplay, even on the menu. Second we all go into solo it's back to normal (60 for me, 50 for them).
 

Y-L

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Messages
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Hoping i could get some help here :S
Basically i run the game fine, my computer is a monster and it's steady at 60fps easily.
Now i am trying to play with two friends but they get only 50fps.
When we 3 play together the fps is around 25-35...

Is it possible for us to be able to play together with 50 fps or more? We followed all your settings and for some reason out fps drops on netplay, even on the menu. Second we all go into solo it's back to normal (60 for me, 50 for them).
Do your friends get 60 fps normally? If one of them has bad hardware it will effect you too. If you play will 3 people you will need to turn up the buffer, the buffer stacks. Probably your buffer is too low.
 

Shane Moffatt

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Joined
Sep 11, 2014
Messages
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Do your friends get 60 fps normally? If one of them has bad hardware it will effect you too. If you play will 3 people you will need to turn up the buffer, the buffer stacks. Probably your buffer is too low.
Okay, thank you for the quick reply, they normally get about 50fps when playing alone.. Meaning sadly that it is their PC's :(

Kinda sucks because i LOVE playing project M, problem is it it's much more fun with friends than it is with CPU's :/
 
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Shane Moffatt

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Joined
Sep 11, 2014
Messages
4
Okay so fps is fixed... When dual core is on we both have a good 60.
Problem is, with dual core we desync like instantly, know what we can do about desync?
 

Y-L

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Okay so fps is fixed... When dual core is on we both have a good 60.
Problem is, with dual core we desync like instantly, know what we can do about desync?
If you're using the correct version of Dolphin in this guide (4.0-652) then you will not desync with dual core enabled. If you are indeed using the right version:

  • Check if one of you has wiimotes enabled in config->wiimote settings. They should all be off.
  • Check the md5 hashes of your PM iso's using winmd5 and verify they are all the same
 
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Shane Moffatt

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Joined
Sep 11, 2014
Messages
4
If you're using the correct version of Dolphin in this guide (4.0-652) then you will not desync with dual core enabled. If you are indeed using the right version:

  • Check if one of you has wiimotes enabled in config->wiimote settings. They should all be off.
  • Check the md5 hashes of your PM iso's using winmd5 and verify they are all the same
It's all good, thanks for the tip.
One of the friends was using 32 bit windows so we went down a version an grabbed a version of dolphin you can use on 32bit for him. His computer couldn't handle the game though so went back up to latest version and now we can play!

Sadly my other friend still makes the game go down to about 45-50 fps but it's playable and fun! :)

Thank you for the help!
 

Y-L

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It's all good, thanks for the tip.
One of the friends was using 32 bit windows so we went down a version an grabbed a version of dolphin you can use on 32bit for him. His computer couldn't handle the game though so went back up to latest version and now we can play!

Sadly my other friend still makes the game go down to about 45-50 fps but it's playable and fun! :)

Thank you for the help!
Tell your friend to update to 64 bit. It's free to upgrade to 64 bit from 32 bit and that will provide some performance increase.
 

Toony

Smash Journeyman
Joined
May 13, 2009
Messages
241
Very quick question about Project M...

I'm running HD textures so it looks absolutely amazing right now, but if I want to use NetPlay with other people, the quality of the textures drops to like what it looks like on the Wii.

Is it possible to have both netplay and HD textures?

Also when I was following this guide I ran the winmd5 file, and the checksum was NOT correct. Does that mean I have a fauly ISO? I loaded the game after and it ran fine. I'll include the step in quotes at the bottom!

Really appreciate any help on this matter!

"Run winmd5 and verify the md5 checksum. If it is correct (6c00d1da03cd256eb77066e628aad92d), set up Dolphin and you are all set!"
 

Y-L

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Joined
Jan 16, 2014
Messages
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Very quick question about Project M...

I'm running HD textures so it looks absolutely amazing right now, but if I want to use NetPlay with other people, the quality of the textures drops to like what it looks like on the Wii.

Is it possible to have both netplay and HD textures?

Also when I was following this guide I ran the winmd5 file, and the checksum was NOT correct. Does that mean I have a fauly ISO? I loaded the game after and it ran fine. I'll include the step in quotes at the bottom!

Really appreciate any help on this matter!

"Run winmd5 and verify the md5 checksum. If it is correct (6c00d1da03cd256eb77066e628aad92d), set up Dolphin and you are all set!"
Are you using custom textures via Dolphin (Dolphin Emulator/Load/Textures/RSBEPM/) or via Project M (Custom skins ect). If you're doing the latter, you'll get a different md5 and you'll desync. You can't play online with custom textures unless your opponent has the same ones. Dolphin textures are safe to use but I believe those are only for CSPs/menus ect.
 

Zaude93

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Joined
May 22, 2014
Messages
4
I have an issue. when i play my fps never drops under 60 or 100%, but i sometimes get a weird "slowdown". basically feels like its going in lower fps but im actually not. do you know how to fix this by any chance?
 

Y-L

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I have an issue. when i play my fps never drops under 60 or 100%, but i sometimes get a weird "slowdown". basically feels like its going in lower fps but im actually not. do you know how to fix this by any chance?
Where do you feel like it slows down? Specs?
 

Zaude93

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May 22, 2014
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Where do you feel like it slows down? Specs?
2500k i5 and a 770GTX 2gb, 8gb ram. Well I can assure you it actually slows down, and its randomly. But it doesnt show lower numbers in the VPS FPS or percentage counter on dolphin, I asked in SSBPM on reddit and one guy said thats just how dolphin works and he had a pretty good rig. is there any specific settings when you right click on the ISO and properties that should be set? MMU/VBeam etc etc?
 
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Y-L

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2500k i5 and a 770GTX 2gb, 8gb ram. Well I can assure you it actually slows down, and its randomly. But it doesnt show lower numbers in the VPS FPS or percentage counter on dolphin, I asked in SSBPM on reddit and one guy said thats just how dolphin works and he had a pretty good rig. is there any specific settings when you right click on the ISO and properties that should be set? MMU/VBeam etc etc?
Yeah your build is above average for Dolphin and Brawl (PM) is a lightweight game. Small lag spikes at the beginning of matches and between menus is to be expected due to Dolphin generating the shaders. In the next Dolphin netplay build under development this will be fixed by having all shaders not generated on the first frame.
 

NQuad1Zero

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Sep 3, 2014
Messages
44
I'm not sure if this has been answered yet but I haven't gone through the 17 pages of the thread, but I have this problem in netplay on versions 648 and 652 that whether I host for someone else or I join, it takes about 30 seconds, and then says "Disconnected" with no other reason at all. However, when using Version 430, where you insert an IP Address and Port, it allowed my opponent and I to connect. The Md5 value is corrrect and everything and Im pretty sure all the settings are the same as the other guy's, whos Netplay usually works with 648 and 652. According to some other non Smashboard forum, this problem hasn't actually been resolved, anyone know a solution here?
 

Zaude93

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Yeah your build is above average for Dolphin and Brawl (PM) is a lightweight game. Small lag spikes at the beginning of matches and between menus is to be expected due to Dolphin generating the shaders. In the next Dolphin netplay build under development this will be fixed by having all shaders not generated on the first frame.
Yes in menus and stuff when i just start the game it sometimes spikes. but im talking about playing here, the game goes more slow than it usually does even with no performance hit
 

Y-L

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I'm not sure if this has been answered yet but I haven't gone through the 17 pages of the thread, but I have this problem in netplay on versions 648 and 652 that whether I host for someone else or I join, it takes about 30 seconds, and then says "Disconnected" with no other reason at all. However, when using Version 430, where you insert an IP Address and Port, it allowed my opponent and I to connect. The Md5 value is corrrect and everything and Im pretty sure all the settings are the same as the other guy's, whos Netplay usually works with 648 and 652. According to some other non Smashboard forum, this problem hasn't actually been resolved, anyone know a solution here?
It has to do with your router. Some routers don't like dolphin opening a port for you via upnp. You can actually use direct ip connecting in 648/652. Instead of using the 8 digit id you drop down to local host in the host window them give them your IP and forwarded tcp port. First try allowing dolphin through your firewall though.

Yes in menus and stuff when i just start the game it sometimes spikes. but im talking about playing here, the game goes more slow than it usually does even with no performance hit
If the lag is only very minor then I don't know what to say. The new dolphin build will be faster when it is released. Make sure you're using the x64 version of dolphin.
 

Naraku

Smash Cadet
Joined
Jul 14, 2007
Messages
57
Sometimes the netplay will connect other times it wont. Any idea on what might be happening?
 
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NQuad1Zero

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Messages
44
It has to do with your router. Some routers don't like dolphin opening a port for you via upnp. You can actually use direct ip connecting in 648/652. Instead of using the 8 digit id you drop down to local host in the host window them give them your IP and forwarded tcp port. First try allowing dolphin through your firewall though.
.
Ive had another friend try fixing it for me for like 3 hours. He suspected it was router problems as well, but after going into CMD and like changing settings on my internet and force allowing Ports It still wouldn't work. Firewall is permanently off for me as well.

We tried using the IP and Port method using 648/652 but the "Connect" button was greyed out when I typed in the code, like the option of clicking "Connect" doesn't actually open up when the Localhost code was typed.
Any other ideas? Or should I just make all my opponents download 430?

*Edit: Just retried using Localhost method, I can press the Connect Button now, but it still tells me "Disconnected" after like 30 seconds of waiting*

*Also, does using Localhost do anything different? Like would it lag more or something?*
 
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Sinz

The only true DR vet.
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8,189
Hey can I get some help with my set up? My problem is with the cstick on my set up. It's defaulting to this area down. Is there any way to make it default to the center? I've unplugged the controller and done resets (XYStart). Is there anything else I can do?
 

TheGravyTrain

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Theboyingreen
So I finally got the brawl iso and did the project m builder. However, my MD5 is wrong. I don't understand how. I got the iso from my own disc. However, I was suspicious something might be wrong because I didn't think the size was right. I thought I might be able to get away with it because it wasn't in an iso yet or whatever.

Where might I have gone wrong? Would how I got the iso (didn't follow normal instructions of getting it off the disc) maybe mess up the size? I just played it (some weird stuff, but I think its keyboard related since I don't have an adapter yet), but it functions great.
 

Y-L

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Ive had another friend try fixing it for me for like 3 hours. He suspected it was router problems as well, but after going into CMD and like changing settings on my internet and force allowing Ports It still wouldn't work. Firewall is permanently off for me as well.

We tried using the IP and Port method using 648/652 but the "Connect" button was greyed out when I typed in the code, like the option of clicking "Connect" doesn't actually open up when the Localhost code was typed.
Any other ideas? Or should I just make all my opponents download 430?

*Edit: Just retried using Localhost method, I can press the Connect Button now, but it still tells me "Disconnected" after like 30 seconds of waiting*

*Also, does using Localhost do anything different? Like would it lag more or something?*
The format for local host is ip:port. So you'd do like 192.123.4.567:2626 if using port 2626. There is no difference in lag between localhost and UDP code. The only difference is that UDP code uses a transversal server to keep a port open for routers (most routers) that work with it. The inputs do not go through the server, it just keeps a port open for you. You have to open a TCP port or something in your router settings. I'm not familiar too much with how to do it. Try portforward.com

Hey can I get some help with my set up? My problem is with the cstick on my set up. It's defaulting to this area down. Is there any way to make it default to the center? I've unplugged the controller and done resets (XYStart). Is there anything else I can do?
Look at your pad settings. Your down direction is Z-+ which is different than the rest. Redo your down direction.

So I finally got the brawl iso and did the project m builder. However, my MD5 is wrong. I don't understand how. I got the iso from my own disc. However, I was suspicious something might be wrong because I didn't think the size was right. I thought I might be able to get away with it because it wasn't in an iso yet or whatever.

Where might I have gone wrong? Would how I got the iso (didn't follow normal instructions of getting it off the disc) maybe mess up the size? I just played it (some weird stuff, but I think its keyboard related since I don't have an adapter yet), but it functions great.
You could have gotten a bad dump. You can verify the md5 checksum of your brawl iso on redump.org. All I did to get mine was use Cleanrip on Wii and dumped it to a usb drive. Simple. If the size isn't over 7gb it's definitely a bad dump.
 

Y-L

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So just re do the download off the Wii and hooe for better? After I check the brawl md5 of course.
You shouldn't be "downloading" anything. If you use Cleanrip, it extracts the iso from the game disc itself, then you verify that the checksum of the iso matches the one on redump.org
 

TheGravyTrain

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Sorry, improper use of the word "download". :) I used usb loader gx, just cuz its the most common. Maybe where it went wrong is I didn't format my flash drive as wbfs before I got the game off the disc, so I couldn't use wii backup file system program, I had to use some weird wbfs to iso converter. I will try it again when I get the chance. On a sidenote, using a keyboard to play is WEEEEEIIIIIRD. I won't be getting the adapter until the official one is confirmed/deconfirmed to work for pc, as it makes no sense to buy 2.
 

Y-L

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Sorry, improper use of the word "download". :) I used usb loader gx, just cuz its the most common. Maybe where it went wrong is I didn't format my flash drive as wbfs before I got the game off the disc, so I couldn't use wii backup file system program, I had to use some weird wbfs to iso converter. I will try it again when I get the chance. On a sidenote, using a keyboard to play is WEEEEEIIIIIRD. I won't be getting the adapter until the official one is confirmed/deconfirmed to work for pc, as it makes no sense to buy 2.
I would just get cleanrip, very simple to use, didn't have to format anything. Use Wii Backup Manager if you insist on converting wbfs to iso though.

I'm fairly certain the adapter will work, it is just a matter of someone making drivers for it.
 

Thamauturge

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Guys, I have a bit of an issue with this. My internet at my college seems wonderful, ping starts out really good. I get great download speeds and overall I would expect that Dolphin performance would be awesome. Unfortunately, this isn't the case... I always start matches and they have frequent ping spikes, going from like 40 to 180 or 200 for a few seconds. This makes it basically unplayable. What can I do to alleviate this? I am pretty sure it is my internet, because at my house I didn't get these obnoxious ping spikes.

Is ethernet the only way? If so that's a shame, since it drastically reduces the portability...
 

Y-L

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Guys, I have a bit of an issue with this. My internet at my college seems wonderful, ping starts out really good. I get great download speeds and overall I would expect that Dolphin performance would be awesome. Unfortunately, this isn't the case... I always start matches and they have frequent ping spikes, going from like 40 to 180 or 200 for a few seconds. This makes it basically unplayable. What can I do to alleviate this? I am pretty sure it is my internet, because at my house I didn't get these obnoxious ping spikes.

Is ethernet the only way? If so that's a shame, since it drastically reduces the portability...
Well using WiFi is going to increase probability of packet loss, not to mention you're likely sharing your college Internet with however many other people are using it. Wouldn't know what to do besides contact whoever is in charge of the WiFi. It is definitely your Internet.
 

Thamauturge

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Well using WiFi is going to increase probability of packet loss, not to mention you're likely sharing your college Internet with however many other people are using it. Wouldn't know what to do besides contact whoever is in charge of the WiFi. It is definitely your Internet.
This would have been my first assumption, but my good friend brings his laptop over and plays online all the time and raves about how good our internet is... We have our own modem in my dorm so its only being shared between my roommates and I. Is my Wifi card just inferior to his or something?
 

Warau

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Messages
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When I play with my friend, we often get desynced.
He used the ISO builder to get his PM, I on the otherhand got my PM from a torrent. So I didn't use the ISO builder..

I think the version difference(?) is the cause of the desync.
As far as I know the problem isn't my internet or CPU.
 

Y-L

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When I play with my friend, we often get desynced.
He used the ISO builder to get his PM, I on the otherhand got my PM from a torrent. So I didn't use the ISO builder..

I think the version difference(?) is the cause of the desync.
As far as I know the problem isn't my internet or CPU.
1) do not talk about torrenting here
2) make the iso yourself and you won't have this problem
 

Y-L

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100,000 views guys, absolutely incredible. I am sure Netplay will only continue growing.
 

Ghetto Blush

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I just received my Mayflash adapter in the mail. After calibrating it successfully with the software it came with, Dolphin doesn't recognize the adapter. I tried setting the GCPad to DInput/0/USB GamePad and DInput/1/USB GamePad and neither seem to work. What's the problem here?
 
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Y-L

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I just received my Mayflash adapter in the mail. After calibrating it successfully with the software it came with, Dolphin doesn't recognize the adapter. I tried setting the GCPad to DInput/0/USB GamePad and DInput/1/USB GamePad and neither seem to work. What's the problem here?
Does Windows recognize it? In control panel->devices do you see your game pad? Well actually dolphin is recognizing it's there if the options in the gcpad settings. Have you tried loading my gcpad settings in the faq?
 

brsan

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Dec 17, 2013
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Hello, I've been having trouble with building the iso. I do not have a mac and am using windows. I think I have all the files in the right place, but it says that it cannot find the projectm\pf folder in the same directory as the builder pack. Here is a screen shot.


I also checked my brawl iso with WinMD5 to make sure it has the same hash as ones that are confirmed to be working. Is there anything I am missing?

Edit: I tried on a different computer and it seems to be working, not sure why it didn't work on this one.
 
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Ghetto Blush

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Does Windows recognize it? In control panel->devices do you see your game pad? Well actually dolphin is recognizing it's there if the options in the gcpad settings. Have you tried loading my gcpad settings in the faq?
Yeah my computer definitely recognizes it, as the calibration worked. I loaded your gcpad settings but I had to make the Profiles and GCPad folders in the Config folder myself if that means anything. I'm not sure if it actually worked because the settings that show up are still the default settings. The Config folder also already has a file named GCPadNew...should I replace that?

Is there some step inbetween playing with the Mayflash and installing the drivers? Will the buttons displayed on the Dolphin GCPad settings automatically change to stuff like "Button 0"?

Nevermind, I got it to work. Great guide.
 
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Y-L

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Hello, I've been having trouble with building the iso. I do not have a mac and am using windows. I think I have all the files in the right place, but it says that it cannot find the projectm\pf folder in the same directory as the builder pack. Here is a screen shot.


I also checked my brawl iso with WinMD5 to make sure it has the same hash as ones that are confirmed to be working. Is there anything I am missing?

Edit: I tried on a different computer and it seems to be working, not sure why it didn't work on this one.
You probably needed administrative access.

Yeah my computer definitely recognizes it, as the calibration worked. I loaded your gcpad settings but I had to make the Profiles and GCPad folders in the Config folder myself if that means anything. I'm not sure if it actually worked because the settings that show up are still the default settings. The Config folder also already has a file named GCPadNew...should I replace that?

Is there some step inbetween playing with the Mayflash and installing the drivers? Will the buttons displayed on the Dolphin GCPad settings automatically change to stuff like "Button 0"?

Nevermind, I got it to work. Great guide.
In case you ever want to manually set up, you left click the boxes and input the corresponding button in gcpad settings or right click the boxes to manually select a button. Make sure you turned on a standard controller as well.
 

Ghetto Blush

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Yeah I didn't realize your settings would be under the Profiles tab of GCPad. Seems like a no brainer but I didn't even think to click it.

On Netplay, if I drop frames does my opponent also drop frames?
 
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