Video

This video was recorded at actual speed, so yes, this did lag. I’ve since upgraded my CPU, which has smoothed this over completely, as seen here: czcams.com/video/SH2CW_wZJ_4/video.html

I set this up using MelonDS, which added local multiplayer support a couple of years ago.

@@MarioManTV Thank you friend. I just downloaded MelonDS here and it worked. But how did you manage to bring the screens together so that the name of the emulator does not appear at the top and also where the file, system and config are located. Thanks

@@leobourn I removed the window frames and positioned the instances using a custom tool I wrote: github.com/SMarioMan/ArrangeInstances Unfortunately, this doesn’t remove the menu bar because of the way melonDS renders it. To remove it, I made a custom build of melonDS to toggle it with a hotkey: github.com/SMarioMan/melonDS

@@MarioManTV I understand in parts. How can I implement this in my MelonDS? Or would it be possible for me to download your version with this modification already made?

@@leobourn Here's a release of the custom build I use, which includes the executable: github.com/SMarioMan/melonDS/releases/

@@TheNorthFisher A 31 player LAN is really impressive too! I’ve figured out the technical side here, but the logistics of organizing a 24 player meetup honestly intimidates me.

@MarioManTV im still willing to donate to help setup 16-24 players at once. I was able to get it working with 12 but on a virtual network. Not sire if that is how you did it?

Dolphin does most of the work here. If you want to run multiple copies of the game on a single machine, you’ll need to set up virtual TAP adapters and bridge them. The guide for that is maintained here: wiki.dolphin-emu.org/index.php?title=Broadband_Adapter

@@MarioManTV thank you.

I put this together using a variety of guides and tools, some of which I even made myself to streamline the process. I have had plans to make a comprehensive guide for a long time now, but the work hasn’t been completed yet.

In this video, I created an OBS layout and used the full screen projector to display it all to players. This adds too much latency for my taste, so these days I use a piece of software I wrote myself that uses the Windows API to remove window decorations, resize, and reposition each instance automatically, in tandem with Buttery Taskbar 2 to hide the Windows taskbar completely. This solution is also way more flexible, supporting lots of games and making it easy to optimize the layout for an arbitrary number of windows. OBS requires setting up each arrangement by hand. My tool: github.com/SMarioMan/ArrangeInstances Buttery Taskbar 2: github.com/LuisThiamNye/ButteryTaskbar2

For 12 player, this is fairly straightforward. Install Dolphin on each Steam Deck, set up and run a matchmaking server VM on another local machine (github.com/SMarioMan/wii-online-server/releases ), find and enable the No-SSL cheat for the game to connect to your server, override the DNS settings of each Steam Deck to go to your custom server, and they should all connect online. It’s a slight rework of this guide, but for emulator: github.com/barronwaffles/dwc_network_server_emulator/wiki#nintendo-wiiwii-u-configuration

As an alternative, there is a LAN mod that should work without any custom server work: wiki.tockdom.com/wiki/LAN_Multiplayer

I actually used 10 GameCube controllers. This was accomplished using a bunch of GameCube controller adapters and a piece of custom software I wrote: github.com/SMarioMan/gamecube-adapter-unlimited

I’ve preconfigured a VM that should work with CTGP-R in Dolphin. You’ll have to use cheat codes to disable SSL and turn off room security in the CTGP-R settings. I’m working on a tutorial, but this should help you along. github.com/SMarioMan/wii-online-server

@@MarioManTV Thanks! I will need install the homebrew on Dolphin to make this?

@@MarioManTV The server is running, but I don't know the DWC login. I've tried quite a few guesses with no success. Can you tell me what it is?

@@masterpayne5982 It’s all in the VM notes. I believe those are stored in the .vmx file.

@@MarioManTV Dang man your the best! I should've checked that 😅

actually, no. this was an online match, meaning anybody can be any character. this means characters can overlap. if you've seen online gameplay, or just people talking about online, you'd notice the infamy of there being 12 player races consisting only of funky kong. now, you may ask, why? why have more than one person play as a single character? let me explain. this is done for a number of reasons. first, you aren't loaded into a match when you pick a character, and if you were, it would break the game. second, making this change would cause many people frustration, as this would mean you'd have to take out an available slot to choose a character. for example, if someone has already picked funky kong, it would take out the funky kong slot, and nobody else could use him. again, this could frustrate people and might have led to people targeting others who "stole their character." here's the thing. even if this were normal multiplayer, and not an online match, you could still do this easily. with one remote, pick bowser, then un-pick and move to a different character. do not click the character you moved the remote to. then, do the same exact process with the different remote. press back to go to the last menu in the main menu, the vs race or battle race menu. press a again, and both players will hover over the same character. press a on both of them, and you can play as one character as both racers. so no, this isn't actually impossible, though it is kind of strange. hope that all made sense.

At its core, I used melondDS local multiplayer emulation.