chaos

This topic was brought up a few months ago, and I've finally decided to try it out and see if it would work. I believe @Scribe99 , @Depch , and @jer_33 were ones who had brought it up in this post: What is RetroArch? RetroArch is a front end that can run multiple emulator cores. What does that mean? You can find more info here - http://www.retroarch.com How it works, is you start up RetroArch, load an emulator core, and load content (i.e. a ROM). Instead of having multiple emulator programs on your gaming system, RetroArch has cores. These cores aren't the emulator program, but pretty much the emulator code itself, that runs in RetroArch. So, for example, if I downloaded the Snes9x core (SNES emulator), I would start RetroArch, load the Snes9x core, and load a game (i.e. NHL '94) and it would run just like it would in the emulator, except you have the RetroArch interface. Then I can close the game, load the Genesis Plus GX core (Genesis emulator), and load a game for that as well, without having to close the RetroArch program. There are advantages to having a single interface for multiple emulators. You can have global settings (i.e. controller button mappings) and you can switch between different systems very quickly without having to close and start up another program. It is available for almost anything (PC, Mac, Linux, Android, iOS, etc). The interface is very clunky, and looks like the XMB interface on the PS3. It takes some getting used to. I suggest you download it and try it yourself. The emulator cores can be downloaded right from inside the RetroArch program (there are a ton of cores). Information about it is plentiful on the web. Here is their official documentation - https://docs.libretro.com Once testing is done, we will write up a setup tutorial, and I'm hoping to make some files that can be run to automate the setup process. Why use RetroArch for playing 94 online? We are looking for a reliable, better, and simpler Netplay experience. While ZSNES has robust netplay capabilities, Gens (with Kaillera) is absolute trash. Desyncs and lag are a huge problem with Gens. Desyncs in ZSNES, while rare, can be recovered by reconnecting and loading a save state. Back in the day, we used servers instead of direct connect with Hamachi. It was a much simpler setup. RetroArch can give us something similar to that. So, if we can eliminate hamachi, that's one less program to worry about causing issues. I believe this can solve a major issue which causes people to leave online play - too complicated of a setup, and flakey Netplay. @kingraph and I tried out Netplay. It was very easy to set up. Kingraph would load the core and the content (NHL'94 ROM), start his Netplay server from the Netplay menu, I would go to the Netplay menu, click "Refresh Room List", then see Kingraph's name and click on it, and connect. No need for IP address. Though we aren't the best example since we live close to each other, Netplay was very smooth. I can connect to him at ANY TIME during the game (as long as he set it for 2 players, I believe). So, if we desynced, the host (home team) just needs to pause the game, wait for the client (away team) to reconnect, and play continues. Kingraph was also able to load a state while we were connected, so I scored 10 goals on him in the second period, he could just load a state from before the second period! We haven't tried out SNES yet. Hopefully tonight. Also, it may be possible to play cross-platform (i.e PC vs PC, Mac vs Mac, Pc vs Mac). We need to test this as well. Heck, it may be possible for someone to be playing on Android, Linux, or another platform as well. Will it work? Well, not completely sure yet. It does run custom ROMs locally and via Netplay. The emulator cores are different; there is no Gens or ZSNES core. Probably no one made them because they are inferior emulators. For cores (there are tons of different ones): Genesis - Genesis Plus GX seems to work well SNES - Possibly Snes9x, or bsnes will work We will need to decide on a core to use and for everyone to use that core. Since the emulator cores are different than what we've used in the past, the save states will be different, and thus the game uploader on the site will need to be changed. I looked at the Genesis Plus GX save state, and it looks like the data may just be shifted, and the endianness is different (something that is 04 09 in Gens is 09 04 in Genesis Plus GX). Have not looked at Snes9x save states yet. I'm still not sure if we need Hamachi or not. There is a "relay server" option in RetroArch that works similar to Hamachi. This is supposed to remove the need to open ports. Though I connected to Kingraph just fine and he did not have that enabled. If anyone is interested to try it out, PM me here or on Discord and I can help set you up. I'm still a little unfamiliar with the interface (Kingraph and I just yesterday figured out how to close a ROM haha), but I can help you get ready to play online with it. I'd like to get more people to test it out, especially guys who are quite a distance away from each other. Once we have it fully tested, and it works well for us, we can start using this going forward for leagues. TL;DR - Gens emulator sucks, RetroArch might replace it and ZSNES, need more testing. Oh and just to warn you, the most confusing thing is the controller setup. The button layout is similar to an SNES controller. So if you plan on playing Genesis, "Input button Y" in RetroArch is equivalent to the A button on the Genesis controller, "Input button B" is B on the Genesis, and "Input button A" is C on the Genesis controller. What's nice is once you have it set up, you can use your controller to navigate the menu. RetroArch Threads:

Trade a whole team? @hokkeefan is jealous. Why did he never think of that?

Cgy takes Calle johansson

Thanks for posting this bud. Confirmed

Confirmed

CGY trades 1.6, 2.11, 4.11 to NYR for 1.10, 2.7, 4.7

Oh didn't know that. Was that hack applied in blitz? If not the late check stat is pointless no?

Are you sure that individual late checks are picked up? I thought I remember @smozoma explaining it as the only way to get the proper team check count was by adding up player checks, and team late checks were determined by subtracting total player checks from total team checks in the save state.

This doesn't need to be hacked, the website code is set up now to not count after whistle checks.

kgman had to take a 3-hour nap for the lag to catch up to him

I don't know what the lag is on this system, but I think framemeister adds 20ms. The OSSC doesn't add any. 20ms is equivalent to 2 frames (16.6ms is 1 frame). Since games only check inputs on vertical blank period, anything between 17 and 33 is 2 frames. You are always a frame behind regardless of what kind of setup. Any controller click you won't see a reaction for a frame, because it doesn't check for controller input until vertical blank and the time it takes to draw the screen from the top to where your controlled player is. Tvs add much more lag. You'll see different results depending on the flat screen television you are using. In comparison, playing via net play as the client, not the host, is about 2-5 frames (says the delay in the kaillera window when connecting). So when the opposite player makes a move, it takes about 2-5 frames for you to see it.

Done. Yes eventually, once I finally finish updating the site to the new look.

There was a league using WHA SNES ROM. You can download the ROM here - There are no WHA Genesis ROMs that I know of.

Vegas with some tough 7 game series. Don't think they will be able to pull it off

I kno @jer_33 is fighting connection/lag issues. Hopefully he gets it figured out.

What emulator are you using? Regular gens or gens-net play save?

Good luck, any questions let me know. The note about Little Endian doesn't apply to Genesis, you dont have to flip the bytes. So the stuff that uses 4 bytes (like Team Pointers) will already be in the correct format. Example - Anaheim: E27E7 E27E8- 4F EB (In Genesis, it will already be EB 4F) Swap bytes (because of Little Endian for SNES)- EB 4F I use 0xED for Hex editor in Mac. Use the older version though, the newer one for 10.11+ has when cutting and pasting I remember. http://www.suavetech.com/0xed/ - I use 1.0.11 on newer Mac OS and it works fine. Make the spacing in bytes too, makes it easier to look at.

Try using VirtualBox. It's free to download, then get a Win 7 or XP ISO from the internet, without a license it will still run fine. Pretty simple to set up, but you should be able to run NOSE through it without having to dual-boot to Windows. I have the info for SNES. It is the same as Genesis, except some bytes might be swapped (Little Endian vs. Big Endian). But you can get the general idea where to look for things. The pointers will be at a different location, I believe. SNES ROM Data Offsets (in Hex): Team Pointers (E27E7 (927719) - E2856 (927830): Points to Team Data Offsets. This list determines the order of the teams in the ROM. Starting Pointer position is at E27E7 (for ANH). The Team Data is not in the same order, some teams are out of order (Ex., ANH and FLA are at the end). Reading Pointers: Each pointer is 4 bytes (the last 2 bytes are 9C 00, not needed). The first 2 bytes need to be converted to be used to point to the start of Team Data. Example - Anaheim: E27E7 E27E8- 4F EB Swap bytes (because of Little Endian)- EB 4F Subtract 80 00 - 6B 4F Add 02 00 (Header offset) - 6D 4F Add 0E 00 00 - 0E 6D 4F = Team Data Pointer Simplified: EB 4F + 0D 82 00 = 0E 6D 4F Start of Team Data: E2857 (First Instance of 55 00 0E 00). First Set of Data is for ASE team in original ROM (Team in ASE position) Starting with E2857: 0 and 1: Offset + 5500 (85 bytes in decimal) : Player Data Start 2 and 3: Offset + 0E00 (14 bytes): Palette? 4 and 5: Start of Team Name Length bytes (Offset + value) 6 and 7: ??? 8 and 9: Next 2 bytes: Palette again (seems to always be 0E 00)? 10 and 11: Number of Goalies - Offset + value (Value seems to always be 13 00 or 19 in dec) . 12 and 13: (15 00 normally) - Lines - Offset + value (15 00 or 21 bytes in dec). 14: Offense and Defense Strength 15: Home and Away Strength 16: PP and PK Strength 17: Number of Players. First nibble is # of F, second is # of D 18: Overall Rating. Value in Hex. 19 and 20: Number of Goalies. The 2 bytes starting at that position control number of goalies on team, up to 4 (11 00 for example would be 2 goalies). All non zero values are a goalie. 21: Lines. Values are roster offset, starting with 1 (not zero). G, LD, RD, LW, C, RW, XA (7 bytes). Spaced with a 00 between lines. Best, SC1, SC2, CHK, PP1, PP2, PK1, PK2. Block starts and also ends in 00. Player Data: Player Data Starts 85 bytes (0x55) from Start offset XX 00 "PLAYER NAME" XX 123456789ABCDE XX = "Player name length" + 2 (the two bytes in front of the name) in hex. 00 = Null (Nothing) "PLAYER NAME" XX = Jersey # (decimal) 1 = Weight 2 = Agility 3 = Speed 4 = Off. Aware. 5 = Def. Aware. 6 = Shot Power 7 = Checking 8 = Stick Hand (Uneven = Right. Even = Left. 0/1 will do.) 9 = Stick Handling A = Shot Accuracy B = Endurance C = ? (Roughness on Genesis) D = Passing E = Aggression ========================= --## ## ## ## ## ## ## -- ========================= ========================= -- GOALIE STATS -- ========================= XX 00 "PLAYER NAME" XX 123456 789A BCDE XX = Player name length + 2 (the two bytes in front of the name) in hex. 00 = Null (Nothing) "PLAYER NAME" XX = Jersey # (decimal) 1 = Weight 2 = Agility 3 = Speed 4 = ? 5 = Def. Aware. 6 = Puck Cont. 7 = ? (0) 8 = Handness (Uneven = Right. Even = Left.) 9 = ? (0) A = ? (0) B = Stick Right C = Stick Left D = Glove Right E = Glove Left At the end of the Player Data, before the start of Team Name Data, there are 2 bytes (02 00). Team Name Data: Team Name Data starts at the end of Player Data (offset given in First 2 bytes after 15 00 0E 00 in Team Data). First offset: Length of Team City (including this byte) AA 00 "TEAM CITY" BB 00 "TEAM ABV" CC 00 “TEAM NICKNAME” DD 00 “TEAM ARENA” AA - Length of Team City (includes AA and 00) BB - Length of Team Abv (includes BB and 00) CC - Length of Team Nickname (includes CC and 00) DD - Length of Team Arena (includes DD and 00) All Name Data is in ASCII format.

You may need to change the Team Name Pointer in the Team Data located before the Player Data. You need to set it to the correct offset. And I think you pad empty player data with FFs, not 00s.

Late checks are only added to the total team checks. Since the player checks for are not touched, I can add them up for each game and adjust the team checks to show the correct amount.

@aqualizard The checks stat is the total made by CPU and player-controlled guys. Raph hacked the ROM, but I adjusted the uploading process, so regardless late checks won't count anyway. Late checks won't be counted towards team Chks in any league from here on out. I will correct the stats from previous save state seasons as well (2013-).

@CoachMac Yes, keep the cable. As far as the Sony PVMs, just be careful buying one on eBay. They are heavy and if they aren't packed right, it's not making it to you in one piece. There are state public auctions that go on that usually have these monitors that go for cheap. It's all done online, you bid like eBay and if you win you go pick it up. https://www.ebay.com/itm/Sony-BVM-1315-Monitor-/252883026915 - I found this one on eBay. The BVM monitors are the next step up from PVM. This one is only 13" and it's located in Sparks, NV. No speakers though, you'd have to use some cheap computer speakers. You can use this adapter to try it out with just the Genesis AV cables. - https://www.amazon.com/Sienoc-Male-Female-Adapter-Connector/dp/B00KX17NGU/ref=pd_lpo_vtph_23_bs_t_1?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=YVBQ4Y5AHEQRRG6G0BWN . See if he would let you test it out. If you like it, I'd offer the guy $150 and see if he takes it. He wouldn't have to pay eBay fees if he sold it to you locally. That's not a bad deal for that monitor. You will need a SCART to BNC cable to use your RGB cable for any of these monitors. https://www.ebay.com/i/202264834157?chn=ps&dispItem=1

If you really want a nice CRT, look for Sony PVM series. I was lucky to find one in a lab I was working in where the guy was getting rid of it. Paid $70 for shipping. They are $$$ but they will display RGB and are "lag-free". They are also pretty heavy. They are professional CRTs, mostly used in video editing and hospitals. Composite on it even looks great.

I haven't noticed any lag. But every TV and every person is different. I'll have to do some more testing, I haven't played many sports games on it. Hopefully you were able to get most of your money back. Sorry bud.