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is hamachi really necessary?


donnybrook

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since i recently reformated my pc i have had to go though the tediouds task of installing hamachi again. i always run into some stupid little problem trying to install or run hamchesse, nothing major just annoying. but it makes me think.. why do we use hamachi? why dont we just connect direct, seems easier.. maybe even faster? i donno. but i cant see a possible advantage hamachi has over direct. but im mostly ignoranat on the subject so i just dont know, can someone tell me or is it one of those things that our quirky community does thats sorta outdated i.e. use aim and gens over kega.

id also be intrested in hearing if theres any alternatives to hamachi.

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Direct connect requires changing your internal IP settings and setting up your router properly and going around firewalls more than the standard download & install Hamachi does. So, if you struggle setting up Hamachi, I can only imagine the amount of hair you would yank trying to go to direct connect.

Plus, it only works for the HOST, so even if you have it, but your opponent doesn't, you still need Hamachi/Server to play his games.

That said it is much faster and almost completely void of disconnects.

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The only purpose Hamachi serves is to make it easier to connect P2P. As Brutus said, setting up port forwarding requires you to configure your IP address to be static, access your router and open up port forwarding. I find most people have a hard time just downloading the emulator and configuring their controller, configuring their firewalls (#1 issue to overcome with newbies) before playing.

If you can, go ahead and play direct, there's nothing to prevent you from doing so. I've set it up myself as well for GENS and SNES.

Having said that, I haven't found Hamachi to be a problem at all. It really does make everything much easier.

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Direct connect is much faster. It's the only way I can play Depch & Fitzo in Scandanavia without a significant delay on button presses.

Also, it's not totally necessarry to configure a static ip`address to use direct. Whenever ur ip changes direct connect will stop working: You just head into your router & disable, then re-enable port forwarding & you go again until the next time the ip changes. It's not really a great drag. After setting up port forwarding the first time it's simple to disable & then enable again. Modern routers have fairly user-friendly menus to set it up & after the first time it's easy once you know.

I would recommend everyone to do it as the connection is much better. For me down here in Mexico it's a noticeable improvement. Maybe if you usually get very low ping with Ham it's less of an issue.

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Also, it's not totally necessarry to configure a static ip`address to use direct. Whenever ur ip changes direct connect will stop working: You just head into your router & disable, then re-enable port forwarding & you go again until the next time the ip changes.

Yep, Robbie's right, you don't have to set up a static IP. On my router, I'd just need to go in and change the IP my router forwards to. (I guess his works differently if he needs to disable/enable..).

When I did my original port forwarding guide, I suggested static IP so people wouldn't get confused/lost when it stopped working.

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My IP is static only when I plug in my laptop, and since the only time I plug in is to play '94, it works nicely.

That's a good idea -- set a static IP on the wired adapter, but leave the wireless adapter alone.

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I don't know much about Ham works, but I would think the direct tunnel and opening the port yourself would be the same speed.

If they are both direct connections between the two computers just wrapped so it gets through the NAT, etc. shouldn't the speed be the same?

i'm not a network engineer, and have limited knowledge of IP. Just feels like you can't get more than a direct tunnel.

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If anything, the direct connection by setting up port forwarding in your router will be fastest, because it is direct.

Hamachi adds some overhead, so can not be faster, it can only be slower. However, *how much* slower, if noticeable at all, I do not know.

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