I have mixed feelings about this revelation. There's a new client out called GGPO that uses Final Burn Alpha. It's a fighter-optimized network protocol. So far you can compete in Street Fighter Alpha 2 and Marvel Vs. Capcom. I really like it. It's responsive, generally, and the players seem competent. But there are some concerns.
I have a crappy PC pad that's a bit worn down so I can't do moves for shit. Makes me feel like being back in high school fighting with the SNES pad and trying to learn the moves. I mean, I'm not really that good anyway. I've always been able to pull off the basic moves just fine until I get under pressure and then, yeah, sometimes I screw them up. But not like this.
What's also frustrating is that some players seem good at attacking and difficult special moves but bad at positioning. They take hits they shouldn't be taking and then pull off perfect spinning pile drivers with Zangief. And I stand there wildly headbutting with Dhalsim because my game pad, combined with a need for practice, keeps me from doing a frikkin' yoga flame. Yoga flame is seriously underused....
Anywho, GGPO is awesome, and I suck. That's the summary.
Play Capcom (eventually SNK) fighter on-line via PC!
Sounds interesting.... how easy/intuitive is it to arrange matches?
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Basically you go to the GGPO web site and create an account. then you download the software package which includes the client/chat/matchup software and a modified version of Final Burn Alpha (henceforth FBA). You have to get the ROMs yourself. This is where Underground Gamer is your friend.
Once you've installed the software you can open the GGPO program which is, effectively, a chat program. There are a few menus, a chat area on the left, and a user listing on the right. You start in general chat, but in order to play a game you have to choose the right chat channel for that game. From a menu you can select (currently) Marvel vs Capcom (Casual), Marvel vs Capcom (Tournament), Street Fighter Alpha 2 (Casual), and Street Fighter Alpha 2 (Tournament). I don't know how tournaments are run yet.
You just join the channel, in my case usually SFA2 (Casual), and it displays a user list on the right. At the top are available players. Below that are the players currently in matches (it also says who they are playing). At the bottom are players with the status AFK. When you right click on an available player you can challenge them to a match. When you right click on a player who's mid-match you can choose to watch the match as a spectator. The user list does display pings for most players.
If you accept a match (rather than Wimp Out), someone accepts your challenge, or you join as a spectator the GGPO client opens FBA, loads the ROM, and dumps you right into the character select screen as if you'd dropped in a quarter and hit Start. You can hit T to chat and you can map your controls if the other player will give you a moment. I know there are dip settings you can alter but I don't know when or how to do that yet, things like Free Play. Most of the FBA menus are grayed out.
When you lose a match the winner continues on to play the computer but you remain connected, so you can add a coin and hit start to play again. Most players seem to play several matches. You don't disconnect until one of you closes FBA. Between matches is the best time to hit T to chat or change your keys. You are always player 1 in the controller mapping even if you are player 2 on the screen.
GGPO does not keep match stats at present so it's hard to know if you're going to get slaughtered or wipe the floor with them. It's probably something they are working to add. They are going to open new chat channels later with new games, but they are avoiding anything that's been recently released with on-line play, like Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo.
Once you've installed the software you can open the GGPO program which is, effectively, a chat program. There are a few menus, a chat area on the left, and a user listing on the right. You start in general chat, but in order to play a game you have to choose the right chat channel for that game. From a menu you can select (currently) Marvel vs Capcom (Casual), Marvel vs Capcom (Tournament), Street Fighter Alpha 2 (Casual), and Street Fighter Alpha 2 (Tournament). I don't know how tournaments are run yet.
You just join the channel, in my case usually SFA2 (Casual), and it displays a user list on the right. At the top are available players. Below that are the players currently in matches (it also says who they are playing). At the bottom are players with the status AFK. When you right click on an available player you can challenge them to a match. When you right click on a player who's mid-match you can choose to watch the match as a spectator. The user list does display pings for most players.
If you accept a match (rather than Wimp Out), someone accepts your challenge, or you join as a spectator the GGPO client opens FBA, loads the ROM, and dumps you right into the character select screen as if you'd dropped in a quarter and hit Start. You can hit T to chat and you can map your controls if the other player will give you a moment. I know there are dip settings you can alter but I don't know when or how to do that yet, things like Free Play. Most of the FBA menus are grayed out.
When you lose a match the winner continues on to play the computer but you remain connected, so you can add a coin and hit start to play again. Most players seem to play several matches. You don't disconnect until one of you closes FBA. Between matches is the best time to hit T to chat or change your keys. You are always player 1 in the controller mapping even if you are player 2 on the screen.
GGPO does not keep match stats at present so it's hard to know if you're going to get slaughtered or wipe the floor with them. It's probably something they are working to add. They are going to open new chat channels later with new games, but they are avoiding anything that's been recently released with on-line play, like Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo.
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fastbilly1
- Site Admin
- Posts: 13775
- Joined: Tue Apr 17, 2007 7:08 pm
Well if you have a ps/2 port and dont want to tinker around with building your own, the hotrod SE is quite a capable tankstick. It only has Happs parts in it, so it is pretty close to the Marvel vs Capcom machine partswise (the sticks are different, Happs competitions instead of ultimates - or was it the other way around?), and it is cheap. Its sturdy and my old one took a lot of damage before I had to part it out - at the time I bought it, it was cheaper to buy one for parts than to order the same parts from Happs. The only downsides are it is ps/2 and you cannot reconfigure what keys the encoder represents (it is hard encoded). This is only a problem when you are using a program that will not let you use right shift as a key, ie NeorageX, but for mame it is flawless, so I figure it will work with this one.
http://www.hanaho.com/Products/HotRodJoystick.php
http://www.hanaho.com/Products/HotRodJoystick.php
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InfectedZero
- 8-bit
- Posts: 17
- Joined: Mon Nov 26, 2007 5:21 am
- Location: San Antonio