Current version of netplay server

[Jerry]

We are trying to setup our own netplay server, however there does not seem to be a current version available. We use the ubuntu devel ppa which provides the fs-uae package in version 2.5.40. This version is incompatible with the fs-uae-netplay-server 2.4.1+ds-3 (coming from the original ubuntu repositories?). We can't find any fs-uae-netplay-server on the official site. Any pointers?

[FrodeSolheim]

The server is found on the source section of the downloads page:
http://fs-uae.net/download#source

Anyway, there hasn't been any changes to the netplay server for ages, so there shouldn't be any incompatibility...

[Jerry]

Thanks, that does the trick. Seems that we mistakingly tried to use the fs-uae-netplay-server as the fs-uae-game-server. Only the netplay-server is available as a package so we thought this was the way to go. And though the ubuntu fs-uae-netplay-server package also contains the game-server code it does not link it to a user accessible path.

It seems that the netplay-server can also initiate a game session but I didn't have time to figure this setup out.

[FrodeSolheim]

I also forgot that a current version of the netplay server script is always included in FS-UAE Launcher (it is used by the /hostgame account).

It can be started with:

fs-uae-launcher --server

[Hungry Horace]

Hi Frode
Is there still an issue with the net play server and the Dev versions, it is that all sorted now?

[FrodeSolheim]

Originally Posted by Hungry Horace

Hi Frode
Is there still an issue with the net play server and the Dev versions, it is that all sorted now?

Hi, I don't know of any issue with net play.

[ztronzo]

(Not sure if I should post here or on a different thread...)
I would like to report that Im having some issues with the MAC versions of FS-UAE in combination with the netplay server fs-uae-game-server-2.2.3.py

When I connect to the server using PC versions of FS-UAE or a combination of Mac with PC FS-UAE versions and disconnect from the server by closing FS-UAE.. everything seems to be normal (after getting immediately a bunch of post Errno messages as error 99 etc) either I quit the Mac or PC client first.
The script unloads just fine and the port is free again... all is good

But, When I connect using a Mac client or any combination with just Mac FS-UAE clients and disconnect...
The python script keeps running displaying at the terminal screen rows of:
2650 acked [2624]
No Errno message is displayed and its like I never disconnected.
Even the port stays in use until I kill the python script process manually...

I Have the same with the current OS-X versions of FS-UAE 2.6.2 and FS-UAE-dev.2.7.7 64bit with the same results.
Also tried with the server-script taken from the source \fs-uae-launcher-2.7.7dev\fs_uae_launcher\server\game.py
All PC versions of FS-UAE work great... but I can achieve the same results using the PC versions of FS-UAE just by cutting off the connection (not properly closing the client)...
My conclusion is that all current Mac FS-UAE clients do not send a correct disconnect command to the server-script...

My guess...
Perhaps check and recompile the Mac OSX versions for proper disconnect routines?
or update the python script to terminate itself when an improper disconnect happens?

PS1. It wouldnt be a problem to just close the script and re-run it - if I was running it locally, but Im using dedicated servers for people to be able to run a netplay server-script through a web-browser (www.amiga.xyz),
and all ports get hogged up very quickly when only mac clients connect.

PS2. I probably can do a workaround by running a command by closing the netplay-script after a day...
example: killall --older-than 1d fs-uae-game-server
but someone knowing this vulnerability can easily hog all the ports on the server at once...
perhaps the netplay-script has an internal timeout or a client ping response timeout to shutdown itself after the game has started?

[ztronzo]

PS3. (Not having any effect with the above issue) I took the liberty of tweaking the netplay script just so I can use client combinations of FS-UAE stable 2.6.2 with FS-UAE dev 2.7.7, if anyone needs to know how, I commented out the following:

if client.player == 0:
self.emulator_version = client.emulator_version
#commented out the following to avoid check for versions - works ok
#else:
#if self.emulator_version != client.emulator_version:
# return ERROR_EMULATOR_MISMATCH

[ztronzo]

PS4. Same problem as above happens with Linux Ubuntu too! (Tested with version Ubuntu 14 FS.UAE 2.6.2)
I discovered this because I was thinking of using a bot client to connect locally on the server as an extra player just to make sure everything disconnects normally...
But Im afraid it disconnects exactly as the Mac version not freeing the port and giving endless acked lines ex. 334 acked [327] 334 acked [327]...

[FrodeSolheim]

@ztronzo disconnect problem confirmed: https://github.com/FrodeSolheim/fs-u...cher/issues/32.

Originally Posted by ztronzo

PS3. (Not having any effect with the above issue) I took the liberty of tweaking the netplay script just so I can use client combinations of FS-UAE stable 2.6.2 with FS-UAE dev 2.7.7, if anyone needs to know how, I commented out the following:

This is not a very good idea. Since the emulation code between different FS-UAE versions may differ, you can easily get desyncs doing this. Of course, FS-UAE will detect that and issue an error message if this happens. But don't blame FS-UAE ;-)

[ztronzo]

Originally Posted by FrodeSolheim

@ztronzo disconnect problem confirmed: https://github.com/FrodeSolheim/fs-u...cher/issues/32.

This is not a very good idea. Since the emulation code between different FS-UAE versions may differ, you can easily get desyncs doing this. Of course, FS-UAE will detect that and issue an error message if this happens. But don't blame FS-UAE ;-)

I understand the risks... Hopefully will see the error within he first 10 minutes of gaming... but until now all versions from 2.6.1 and above worked flawlessly.. will test with 2.7.8 on both Mac/PC/Ubuntu during the weekend to confirm if it works too...

The most errors I get with desyncs are because of cached disks... or saved disks (in the saved states)... but after deleting all cache and saved states everything seems to work well without any desyncs...

Is there a way I trigger an option from a config file to delete all cache or is there way to enable FS-uae to do this automatically?

Also something I noticed, I can have hardfile and cd-rom load between PC versions with netplay and they work well without any desync issues... but once a Mac client is involved with a PC client I always get errors with the hardfiles and cd-rom files... I have no issue with disk files...

For the above problem, I made a workaround for small games (1 to 4 disks) by splitting the hd file to disk files and having the startup copy all files to RAM: (after adding 4MB Fastram) on later running the executable from there... but I wouldnt recommend it for games over 4 disks...

[FrodeSolheim]

FS-UAE Launcher sets up a new random/temporary save state dir when you start a netplay game, to ensure that all players starts with a clean slate. You should be able to use the state_dir_name for this purpose.

Hardfiles (and I think also CD-ROMs, but I'm not sure without checking) are incompatible with net play! This is also documented. Use directory hard drives or zip files (zipped directory hard drives) instead.