ZSNES/ZBATTLE NETPLAY GUIDE
by Mat Schwartz

ZSNES and Zbattle can make beautiful things happen when they work well together, but firewalls between you and your opponent, be it hardware and/or sofware, can ruin the magic. The following is a short guide to getting you up and running as soon as possible:

ZSNES
The basic operation of ZSNES netplay is fairly simple:

1. Fire up ZSNES and go Netplay > Internet in the menu. A screen will pop up similiar to this one:

One player must host the server, while the other joins. The player hosting the server must also provide his/her IP to which you can connect. This can be easily obtained through a site such as http://www.whatismyip.com/.

As a general rule in any match where one or both player(s) is behind a router, the game must be hosted by someone who is either:

A) Not behind a router
B) If he/she is, then they know how to get around it

Another important thing to note is the UDP and TCP protocol which ZSNES can use. For people who officially have no idea what the hell I'm talking about, refer again to the little picture above.

Here's what you need to know about that little checkbox:

1) If you are behind a router and can't get around it, both you AND the host must uncheck this box and use TCP.
2) UDP provides faster gameplay so use it when both users are NOT behind a router OR know how to get around them. Leave the box checked in this case
3) Once again I must say BOTH USERS MUST HAVE THE SAME SETTING OTHERWISE YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO CONNECT

2. Hosting player clicks "START AS SERVER"

3. Joing player inputs the IP and clicks "CONNECT TO SERVER"
Give ZSNES a minute to connect and you should be good to go.

Zbattle - Gods gift to online snes players
If any of you happen to meet one of the coders for this little program somewhere on the sidewalk, please, I beg you, buy that man a pint of some sort of beer. He has must made your life easier and heres why:

1. After installation of zbattle, open the program and point it to your zsnes and rom folder.

2. File > Connect

3. Player hosting: Game > Create
Make sure to select the proper rom in the game lobby

4.Player joining: Game > Join

5.Player hosting: Start and off you go.

Pretty simple stuff, no? Again, the general rule applies, but in order to use zbattle BOTH YOU AND YOUR OPPONENT MUST BE FREE OF ANY FIREWALLS OR YOU BOTH MUST KNOW HOW TO GET AROUND THEM.

Router/Firewall
This is where things can get tricky and if you did not personally setup your router/network I recommend trying to find the hero that did the work for you, and ask them for a few minutes. In order to track down the problem we can go through a few steps to diagnose it:

1. Are you behind a router on your network?
If yes you have 2 real options:

a) Port forwarding
This is the best option you have but also the most complicated. What you need to know is that public port 7845 UDP AND TCP must be forwarded to the private port 7845. You can find some tutorials for the more popular router brands here:

LINKSYS | D-LINK | Other helpful information can be found at http://www.portforward.com/

b) DMZ - De-militarized zone.
Enabling this option on your router will open up all the ports on your router to a specified computer, and it is recommended that you turn this option off once your game is complete.

2. If you are in Windows XP, is the windows firewall running?
If it is, or if you simply want to check please refer to this link: http://www.utmem.edu/helpdesk/sp2/sp2firewall.htm

3. Do you have any other software firewalls active?
Programs such as Zone Alarm, Norton, etc. are all meant to protect your computer from unwanted visitors but they can make online gaming impossible. These ones should be turned off easily enough by opening them up and making the appropriate changes.

I think that about sums it up and here's hoping that you've found some information that might help you out. As always please feel free to email me or message me at poo_collins@hotmail.com or AIM: schwartz124 and I'll be glad to do what I can.

See you on the ice :)