ggpo.net - lagless internet fighting games?

nothingxs · Last edited by nothingxs on Sun Jun 24, 2007 2:32 am; edited 1 time in total

The GGPO.net project is gathering a lot of attention over at the Shoryuken Forums, for its nearly lag less netcode. What does that mean for both the casual and "hardcore" fighting game enthusiast?

"GGPO.net is a new approach to online fighting games. Traditional networking algorithms used to compensate for network latency result in either slower than normal gameplay or an excessive amount of delay (or lag) tacked onto the beginning of each move. GGPO.net uses a novel way to hide latency which lets the game run at full speed without adding any delay to any of your moves. So your timing doesn’t change and combos come out like butter. It’s almost like playing head-to-head in your living room!" - Tony Cannon

It means that the dream of having actual, playable matches online is quickly becoming a reality.

Featuring a simple lobby system, a "challenge" system by which you challenge other players to a match, and currently only supporting Street Fighter Alpha 2, this is another of a bunch of crazy cool emulation developments that have been springing up recently. With CPS3 emulation just recently having become possible, perhaps totally lagless online Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike isn't so much of an impossibility, and there are always other games to consider (such as The King of Fighters).

Head over to http://www.ggpo.net to read more, and download the client if you want. You must provide your own SFA2 ROM image.
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mauve · Joined: 07 Dec 2006

Anything has to be better than Kaillera. Anything. So I am all for checking this out, even though my SFA2 skills are several years old and hilariously crap now.

I had just about given up trying to keep up my SS5S playing thanks to its utterly ridiculous lagtacularness any time I tried to play.

BotageL · Joined: 04 Dec 2006 Location: *fidget*

I think I love this program.
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nothingxs · Posted: Sun Jun 24, 2007 5:48 am

Some of the future things planned for this game include:

GGPOTV: Watch recorded videos of the game on the GGPO website. Maybe in the future you can even watch player matches live.

More games: Self-explanatory!
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hey guys, i'm back to not being cool again!

"newsflash, big guy. you can wax on wax off all you like, i'm still kicking your ass."

another god · Joined: 04 Dec 2006

Have you tried Poporu? Because Poporu lets you have a lobby of a bunch of players while watching everyone take turns playing. I hear it's good, but it's Korean and my Firefox no likey it.

nothingxs · Posted: Sun Jun 24, 2007 7:36 am

Triton · Joined: 05 Dec 2006

I played this quite a bit yesterday. These guys play better than i did in my teenage years. I think i won maybe 5 rounds in 20 or so matches.

Im sure as more people pick it up there will be a broader range of skill. The netcode is unbelievable. It really does "feel" right, even though its sometimes jerky.

Broco · Joined: 05 Dec 2006

Hmm I wonder how this works technically; it doesn't seem to be explained. It has occured to me in the past that it might be possible to have essentially perfect lag hiding within an emulator by constantly rewinding the emulation and recalculating previous frames based on recently arrived packets -- exploiting the fact that modern CPUs are orders of magnitude faster than 16-bit-era systems. That seems very complicated to do though. But not intractable, so I wonder if this project is taking that approach.
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BotageL · Joined: 04 Dec 2006 Location: *fidget*

I've heard reports of occasions where people experienced a bit of "rollback" when the lag got heavy; like, they threw someone then suddenly they were being thrown and had throw escaped, etc. It hasn't happened to me much, however, and regardless it's way better than the old input-lag-inducing methods.
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Broco · Joined: 05 Dec 2006

My guess must be right then. And yeah obviously it would be preferable to have a genuinely lagless network, but given that you have lag, that's the optimal way of hiding it. Possible improvements after that lay in the heuristics used to predict movement of the other player(s) when you lack information (assume they press no buttons? assume they continue to press the same buttons they are currently pressing? some kind of more sophisticated guess?)

This is actually a variant of the approach used in FPSes since Quakeworld. In FPSes it is easier in a sense because the only thing you have to predict and rewind is the physics of a few objects (players and non-hitscan ammunition), not the entire state of the machine -- as you are forced to do with black-box emulation.
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Balzac · Joined: 04 Dec 2006

My initial impressions playing pubbies were pretty meh. Better than Kalliera to be sure, but still not what I'd call playable.

Then I had a few matches with Sub (who is probably in a 15-20 mile radius from me) and was blown the fuck away.

Dandy J · Joined: 24 Mar 2007

nothingxs · Posted: Mon Jun 25, 2007 4:31 pm

dandy get out of here with your gay-ass adon fuck
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hey guys, i'm back to not being cool again!

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!= · Joined: 04 Dec 2006 Location: the planet of leather moomins

Now with KOF98! Perfect preparation for the upcoming remake!