Netplay question

First of all, being new to the community and to RetroArch as a whole, I’d like to thank maister and Squarepusher for creating such an awesome emulation suite. I find the idea of one program to house all emulation platforms to be absolutely genius. With all of the features it serves up beyond that, it’s just amazing!

As for my question, after finding and configuring RetroArch, a few online friends and I decided to give gauntlet IV on Genesis a shot on 4 player. We found quickly that only 2 players could play. We then attempted to at least have the other 2 spectate which also could not work. We thought it may be the emulator core so we switched to SNES9X and gave Super Bomberman 3 a shot, finding that it was not the core after all.

My real question is whether or not there are plans to add 3 and 4-player netplay to RetroArch. I realize that this would be far more difficult code if possible at all to implement; however I am curious, especially since an N64 emulator is being added to the cores. I was also wondering if I was doing something wrong or if you just cannot have a third and/or fourth person spectating.

As a second question I also wonder if netplay setup could be added into RGUI (if it’s not there and I’m just oblivious) as I’m not really a fan of Phoenix. Being a longtime Windows user, I don’t like having extra tasks running that aren’t necessary. We all know how that can affect Windows performance. Given everything that is in RGUI, I think that with netplay added to it, there would be no need for Phoenix other than the updater.

The way the netplay works (exchanging savestate deltas, comparing them for differences, resolving differences, then catching up) simply doesn’t allow for >2 players. Having to choose between netplay and spectator mode is a similarly logistical issue, I believe.

If another netplay system is implemented in the future, it may not have these limitations.

I can definitely see how that could be difficult to code and the server machine would have to be a beast to keep up with all of that. I can accept that answer though since most games from that age were only 2-player anyways. I suppose that as far as spectating goes, using Twitch to live-stream would be just as effective. Although it would be cool to implement Twitch right into it like some games I’ve seen. I’m sure that’s a ton to code however.

The one thing I’d really like to know then is if it is possible to use netplay without Phoenix. I much prefer just using RGUI and it doesn’t seem to be able to start netplay from within. I also noticed that if I open RGUI while in netplay, it will disconnect. I assume this is due to a pause in save-state synchronization. Regardless of that issue it would still be nice to begin netplay from RGUI.

I’m not sure if I’m just oblivious to the option (wouldn’t be the first time) or if it just hasn’t been coded into RGUI.

I believe you can initiate it from the command line (check the phoenix log after a netplay game to see the launch command), but yeah, pausing the emulation with RGUI will definitely desync.

Thanks hunterk. I appreciate the help