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XBAND 2.0


rush6432

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Ok guys, im sure some of you know what Xband is, if not look it up on wikipedia. Basically we've re-created Xband on the PC using emulators and having our own front end program written to launch and connect to opponents. it also keeps track of stats and has xmail and you can get xband news and bandwidth as well as keep track of your friends with a player list. yes it will support NHL 95 and 96 eventually as well as host tournaments.

Xband 2.0 for the pc is in Beta 3 right now and features gameplay and match making with player lists. In addition to this, we've also got Xmail messaging system and taunts. Stats are not kept at this time the dev team is still working on the stats database. Currently only two games are supported (NbaJam TE, Mario Kart (battle and match race)) BUT more will be supported including NHL95 and NHL96 :)

Keep your eye on saturnleague.com for the download link here shortly within the next day.

Play as many games as possible and please report any bugs or suggestions or report any gameplay issues by sending an Xmail to Xband. Remember, this is a beta and the GUI is not final and is very much under construction still.

And dont forget your USB Snes control pads. it makes life soo much easier than using a keyboard.

Xband2.jpg

Edited by rush6432
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Ok guys, im sure some of you know what Xband is, if not look it up on wikipedia. Basically we've re-created Xband on the PC using emulators and having our own front end program written to launch and connect to opponents. it also keeps track of stats and has xmail and you can get xband news and bandwidth as well as keep track of your friends with a player list. yes it will support NHL 95 and 96 eventually as well as host tournaments.

Xband 2.0 for the pc is in Beta 3 right now and features gameplay and match making with player lists. In addition to this, we've also got Xmail messaging system and taunts. Stats are not kept at this time the dev team is still working on the stats database. Currently only two games are supported (NbaJam TE, Mario Kart (battle and match race)) BUT more will be supported including NHL95 and NHL96 :)

Keep your eye on saturnleague.com for the download link here shortly within the next day.

Play as many games as possible and please report any bugs or suggestions or report any gameplay issues by sending an Xmail to Xband. Remember, this is a beta and the GUI is not final and is very much under construction still.

And dont forget your USB Snes control pads. it makes life soo much easier than using a keyboard.

Xband2.jpg

Hi! and welcome to the site!

I'll tell you waht we use to play for SNES. WE use the zsnes emulator and hamachi to connect to opponents. It's been very easy to set up, no other computer configurations needed and I haven't seen anything that makes it easier for guys to connect. (keep in mind some people are not computer savy so simple is better).

I do have some feedback and please take make comments with constructive criticism (they may sound harsh but its meant well) because I am interested if it makes life easier for everyone.

I don't know what xband is...nor do I care to look it up. Tell me how it makes it easy for me. How does it work? How do guys play and connect? what do they need to download? Walk me through the steps.

xmail...I assume that's email....I have email..why do i need more email?

xband news? why would i care about that?

Very few of us care about nhl95 or nhl96. In fact most of us hate those games with a passion.

Taunts? is that like in game chat? zsnes has that.

Guys like using their keyboards...and I would say those that do, excel at playing nhl94.

Having said all that..I like the player lists, and keep track of stats.

Thanks again bud.

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Hi! and welcome to the site!

I'll tell you waht we use to play for SNES. WE use the zsnes emulator and hamachi to connect to opponents. It's been very easy to set up, no other computer configurations needed and I haven't seen anything that makes it easier for guys to connect. (keep in mind some people are not computer savy so simple is better).

Im glad you guys ask questions, most people havn't replied to a post yet but have browsed our site and signed up. id rather explain it to someone who doesn't know so they understand rather than assuming it does something it doesn't.

Xband may or may not be for you, but here is what it does.

Xband2.0 uses Zsnes and will search for another opponent based on skill and ranking stats and ping using its own coded program. you can also challenge people directly as well. Best part is you can randomlly get challenged or play your friends. The software is easy to use and comes with everything you need as well. the program will find your opponent and launch the zsnes emulator itself and connect itself. you dont have to do ANYTHING except choose "challenge". (yes its that easy). You might have to port forward a certain port on your computer if your running a router and heavy firewall but thats it.

I do have some feedback and please take make comments with constructive criticism (they may sound harsh but its meant well) because I am interested if it makes life easier for everyone.

I don't know what xband is...nor do I care to look it up. Tell me how it makes it easy for me. How does it work? How do guys play and connect? what do they need to download? Walk me through the steps.

Currently, mario kart (battle/match race) is supported as well as NBA Jam TE for now as both roms have been patched

to lock out any option changing and it directs both users directly to 2 player mode. most roms will be like this to avoid any cheating options or unfair advantages for each player.

Other games for snes including Killer instinct, mortal kombat series (2, and 3) will be supported as well as super street fighter 2, madden 95, 96, nba live series, ect ect and a few others. We will also add support for other games that were not on the original xband as well eventually after the original few are supported

xmail...I assume that's email....I have email..why do i need more email?

xband news? why would i care about that?

Very few of us care about nhl95 or nhl96. In fact most of us hate those games with a passion.

Taunts? is that like in game chat? zsnes has that.

Guys like using their keyboards...and I would say those that do, excel at playing nhl94.

Having said all that..I like the player lists, and keep track of stats.

Thanks again bud.

XMail is an internal messaging system used on xband to send your friends messages to play games or submit messages to xband to allow you to sign up for a tournament (if there is one running) as well as keep in touch with friends.

I guess you can use whatever client you would like to (ie aim or trillian or MSN) but the point is that its in the software and its easily accessable and will be shown real time to the other player if their online. if their offline it saves it in their inbox (just like email) and they can read it later when they sign on.

Xband news gives new up to date info on tournaments happening on xband as well as other gaming news AND will display the top 10 highest ranked players each month for each game

As far as taunts its basically a message box you can enter a creative challenge message or something vulgar if you want that displays with your use profile and profile icon while the game is being setup and about to launch. It adds a little excitement. can you do without it? sure i guess but it makes it just feel that much more competative.

Keyboards are allowed, we figured most people would like to play the classics using the original snes controller via usb but there isn't anything that says you HAVE to use a controller. by default the program runs off keyboard which is configurable.

Xband is NOT just for snes. genesis will be supported shortly after with the same games and more. We might be able to add NHL 94 if you guys really want it.

Player stats will be kept and xband even has its own point system that ranks you based on how many matches you've played and depending on the opponents skill level your match will be worth either more points (if the user your matched with has a better track record with wins that you) or less if he has less wins than you. the points ultimately allow you to advance and get diffrent titles based on how many games you've played and your win/loss ratio

Currently the stats system is under construction and more details are still yet to be revealed on it. Its not implemented just yet but will be shortly.

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XBAND wikipedia

some screenshots

The biggest community here is for Genesis NHL '94, followed by SNES '94. After that, the 93s and 95s i guess. So if you're wondering where to put your effort, I guess SNES 94 (since you've already got 95 and 96 working) and then Genesis 94.

The ranking system sounds very cool.

When you say it'll track stats... Can you elaborate a bit? Wins/losses? Goals for/against?

We have some systems here that can track around 100 different stats (team stats, player stats). Here is the url giving the offsets for the stats in the save files.

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My question is: Does the SNES version of 96 freeze up on you in emulators? Maybe it's because of the voice emulation that cause it to freeze in the middle of the game, especially after a Fighting penalty.

Have you also tried 97 and 98 on Genesis?

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XBAND wikipedia

some screenshots

The biggest community here is for Genesis NHL '94, followed by SNES '94. After that, the 93s and 95s i guess. So if you're wondering where to put your effort, I guess SNES 94 (since you've already got 95 and 96 working) and then Genesis 94.

The ranking system sounds very cool.

When you say it'll track stats... Can you elaborate a bit? Wins/losses? Goals for/against?

We have some systems here that can track around 100 different stats (team stats, player stats). Here is the url giving the offsets for the stats in the save files.

As for stats it tracks wins and losses but no specific in depth stats. that might be added later on if we want to expand on the xband idea more.

As for the NHL series we are going to support 95-96 to start with and then since 94 seems to be pretty popular i dont see why we couldnt add support for it.

No nhl games are working yet with patches on the network but they will be soon hopefully. i cant say that they work perfectly yet as we havn't tested them but we are definatly lookin into implementing them and supporting them. Hopefully we can tweak the netplay a bit and get good results. There shouldn't be much lag if any at all the way we have the network setup to match players (latency is taken into account)

BTW thanks for the offest info on where to get the stats in the save files this may come in handy later if we decided to implement stuff. What would help us out is if you guys had a hacked or update version of the nhl 95 and 96 roms with any bugs fixed. we'd like to start with a rom that doesn't have any special stuff in it other than fixes to fix bugs that were shipped with the game.

Anyway ill keep you guys updated as things progress. we plan on adding a fighting game next (Mortal kombat, or street fighter) next and another sports game hopefully (nhl series.)

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My question is: Does the SNES version of 96 freeze up on you in emulators? Maybe it's because of the voice emulation that cause it to freeze in the middle of the game, especially after a Fighting penalty.

Have you also tried 97 and 98 on Genesis?

We havn't tried 97 and 98 yet but ill see what i can find out about them. we're using a diffrent emulator than gens right now that works perfectly without major lag. as for the snes version of nhl 96 i havn't tried that other than a quick play through i didnt seem to have any issues but then again i didn't play it in depth. ill see what i can find out. im sure when we try to implement it we'll come across it. If we can stream ram and pull out specific stuff from the roms (scores, timers, ect) and other data on the fly to make this work with xband im sure we can get the rom working properly on the emulator even if it means patching.

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Do you also have a website where those guys meet? How about linking us?

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Do you also have a website where those guys meet? How about linking us?

Yessir. www.saturnleague.com for now

Check the xband 2.0 thread. The front page of saturnleague should be showing updates on releases of xband2.0 which should be tonight or tomorrow i would think at the latest. Xband2.0 also has a chatroom in the software where users can hang out as well.

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Team LagunaKrazy has released the newest update of their Xband 2.0 service beta. The biggest change- gaming is now supported! The team has been hard at work ironing out bugs, and I can confirm that the multiplayer matching is working well. This release features Super Mario Kart and NBA Jam gameplay built-in, so no need to worry about retrieving other downloads. Go ahead- grab a gamepad and let's play!

Changes from Beta 2 to Beta 4 (Beta 3 was not released publicly)

-Multiplayer gaming!

-Taunt screen implemented for before the match-see who your opponent is

-Xmail fixes

-Player list fixes

-Taunt and profiles added, player list feature added

Some notes on the release: This is very important. Port forwarding needs to be setup for the matching to work properly. Please head to your router configuration and open port 7845 for TCP and UDP. If you are unsure how to do this, check out the port forwarding guides for instructions on how to do this tailored to your router. The process usually does not take more than a couple minutes.

To configure your game pad controls, open up the Xband/ZSNES folder, and click on ZSNESW.exe. Click the "config" menu, click "Input 1", and configure your controls. Do this before you start Xband, so that your controls are ready before game time.

Please let us know how the service functions for you. Bug testing is very important at this state. Post bugs and discuss the beta here, and bug reports can also be sent by addressing an X-mail to "Xband".

Without futher ado, here is the download. Happy Xbanding!

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Wasn't there like some thread a few years ago where someone else new came along and was talking about some service that would connect emulators and people generally denigrated the thing because we're like that?

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Some notes on the release: This is very important. Port forwarding needs to be setup for the matching to work properly. Please head to your router configuration and open port 7845 for TCP. Do not forward UDP; there is no need. Just TCP.. If you are unsure how to do this, check out the port forwarding guides for instructions on how to do this tailored to your router. Scroll down the page and click on your router. Then click "skip advertisement." You do not have to pay for anything on the site. The process usually does not take more than a couple minutes.

To configure your game pad controls, open up the Xband/ZSNES folder, and click on ZSNESW.exe. Click the "config" menu, click "Input 1", and configure your controls. Do this before you start Xband, so that your controls are ready before game time.

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Some notes on the release: This is very important. Port forwarding needs to be setup for the matching to work properly. Please head to your router configuration and open port 7845 for TCP. Do not forward UDP; there is no need. Just TCP.. If you are unsure how to do this, check out the port forwarding guides for instructions on how to do this tailored to your router. Scroll down the page and click on your router. Then click "skip advertisement." You do not have to pay for anything on the site. The process usually does not take more than a couple minutes.

unfortunately this could be a dealbreaker here. a lot of people don't know how / won't learn how / or even are not able to forward their ports...

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http://www.portforward.com/

forgot to inlude the link for port forwarding

simple guide on how to do it.

"simple" :D

there are a couple posts on here about that site, but... : )

some people for whatever reason don't/can't do it.

but maybe XBAND will give them more inspiration to put in the 30 minutes or whatever it'll take to figure out (it's easy once you've done it a couple times, but for the first time for someone who isn't technical, it's slow work.. most people don't even know what router they have.. what it's IP is.. what a static IP is..)

Personally, (off topic..) I really hate that site. I already know how to set up port forwarding (computer engineer..) and somehow that site manages to confuse the hell out of me when i try to use it to help guide someone else to set up their router.

For example... when you select your router, it takes you to an advertisement.. but doesn't make it clear that it's an ad so you think you have to pay for it. Half the people who need this site will give up right then and there.

If you manage to get past the ad and get to the page for your router, it presents a big list of games, but of course "NHL 94" isn't in the list (or Gens emulator or kaillera...), so half of the remaining people will give up, since the "default guide" link is not prominently displayed.

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I'm with smoz...I used to spend a ton of time helping new guys port forwarding, bypassing routers etc. Way more time than I even care to talk about...and while port forwarding might be simple for some...it's not for easy everyone.

Hamachi skips all that..makes things easier for me and for everyone.

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This is Krazystyle -

The lead developer of the XBAND 2 project. We will be working on getting several versions of NHL running in netplay. As for the port forwarding issues, We plan on implementing UPNP coming up sometime soon, which will do the port forwarding for you!

The biggest advantage of using XBAND 2 is that it really brings the community together into classic gaming.

Not to mention the most important part : STAT TRACKING!

I'll be in contact with you all in the future when we get closer to having a more user friendly play experience :)

-Krazystyle

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interesting but nothing ground breaking as we basically already have all this with our current leagues.

What we need is this on a console like ps3, xbox360 or wii so a huge amount of people could play.

Put keep on working on this, sounds promising. Get support for 94 not 95.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Currently testing support for NHL 94. If the game were to automatically track more stats than just wins and losses , what types of stuff would be useful? Shots on goal, etc...

take your pick from here: http://www.blitz94.com/teamstats.asp (scroll down to see all 4 tables)

at a minimum: goals for/against. shots for/against. wins/losses/ties and overtime wins/losses (since an overtime loss is worth a point these days).

power play and penalty kill percentages are also pretty common stats for hockey.

bonus:

some people might want to see penalty minute stats. shooting percentage and save percentage.

i also like seeing the bodycheck stats.

if you can get all those in, that'd be amazing.

Oh, and I'm not sure if this is possible, but being able to split up a person's stats based on what team they used would be huge, because otherwise everyone will play with chicago or montreal or detroit every game in order to keep their stats high.

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