[Tutorial] MHP3rd HD 2, 3, & 4 Player Guide w/Networking

[Fifthdread]

With all the confusion thrown around this thread, I figured I would share with everyone a guide to get 3 players playing Monster Hunter Portable 3rd HD (English patched) ONLINE. I am going to share what I have learned, and hopefully this will lead to innovation, and potentially a 4 player "100%" method. So here it is...


--- Fifthdread's Guide to playing MHP3 Online over PPSSPP ---


Requirements:

1: Latest PPSSPP download. As of this guide, version 0.9.7.2 is the latest.
(required VC 2013 runtimes to get emulator running)

While many are suggesting specific builds, I would go ahead and always use the LATEST build. Go to the download page for PPSSPP and get it.

2: VPN Software such as Hamachi or my personal favorite so far NeoRouter Free.

Some are using Evolve to play with the community and that's fine. However, for me I wanted to play with a specific group of friends and the owner of this thread suggested NeoRouter. After using it, I agree that it is a good solution. Hamachi is a good solution however there is a 5 person limit to how many people can join the Hamachi network. To free up space you must remove old people from the network. NeoRouter Free does not have this limitation, however you will need to host a NeoRouter "server" to get it working.

3: Monster Hunter Portable 3rd Patched (HD / English)

4: AdhocServerProOnline, the link is here (download Windows / your OS version)

5: Patience


- SETTING UP THE EMULATOR -

Download the emulator and extract the contents of ppsspp to the directory of your choice. Place the ISO for the game wherever you want. I made a games folder under \ppsspp\ and place the .iso files in there. From here we must test the emulator. Get everything setup, including mapping your controls to the controller of choice. Go ahead and launch the game and mess with how you want the graphics settings. I recommend having texture scaling 2x with xBRZ. This makes the game textures smooth and looks nice. If you experience lag, simply turn off texture scaling.

The only REQUIRED changes in the settings are:
1: You must turn OFF Fast memory (unstable) which will fix a few problems.
2: You must enable "Enable networking/wlan (beta)" in Systems settings.
3: Alternate Speed should be set to 25%
4: Enable show FPS / Speed if you want to see how fast your emulator is running. Useful.

After you are finished doing things with the settings or even testing the game, let's move on to setting up the VPN. Modifying the ppsspp.ini file will come soon, but setting up the VPN comes first.


- SETTING UP THE VPN SOFTWARE -
This is what you need to connect to one another, and works well. While a VPN isn't necessary, I found it to be the best way since there are limitations with how the ppsspp.ini file needs the IP address.

Download NeoRouter Free or Hamachi. If you use Hamachi, have everyone join the same network and ensure there are no connectivity problems between players. Hamachi is the easiest, but if you have a problem with the 5 person limitation you want to use NeoRouter Free or Evolve.


- NeoRouter info -

If you are using NeoRouter, things may be complicated for an inexperienced computer person. This VPN software requires a "Server" or someone to run the server software while everyone is connected.

One person should install the NeoRouter Server, and everyone else downloads the NeoRouter Client. The user who installs the server should get the option to also install the client. If the server computer is used to play the game, than they should also have the client installed.

Whoever hosts the NeoRouter server should go online to the NeoRouter site and create a domain. From here, they need to create a domain under their public IP address. To get this, google "what's my ip" and that will be it. From here, you will need to login to your router and port forward TCP port 32976 to the server computer (I did both UDP and TCP). If you don't know how port forwarding works, I'm sorry for making this complicated. You should probably go with Hamachi since all this is not required.

Setting up NeoRouter involves creating a "domain" on the NeoRouter website, setting up a network username and password that all the clients will use, and then connecting to it. Please read the NeoRouter documentation for more info on how to setup NeoRouter.

- Running the AdHoc Server -

Whoever is hosting the VPN or has the fastest connection to the other players should host the AdHoc server. To run it, download AdhocServerProOnline from the dropbox link and run it. This will launch a CMD prompt window and the Adhoc server will begin listening for clients. If you have a VPN setup, ensure you know the "VPN IP" of the AdHoc server.


- SETTING UP ppsspp.ini -

This step assumes you have a VPN setup with your friends and the AdHoc server is running.

Go to ppsspp\memstick\PSP\SYSTEM\ppsspp.ini

This file needs to be modified for each player. The following parameters are required to be changed:

FrameRate = 15

Change it to
FrameRate = 3

This changes the "alternate speed" from 25% to 5%. THIS is the "5%" method which works 100% of the time for 2 people and 100% of the time with 3 people (if using the 4th proxy player - more on that later) and offers the most reliable, stable method of connecting between players. All players should have this set.

NOTE: This setting will change back to 15 if the settings menu within the emulator is opened. In the event you are running the emulator and go into the emulator settings page, you will be required to go back into this .ini file and change this back to 3! This is annoying. To test to ensure that 5% is working, in the emulator press the `~ key (aka the key to the left of 1). On the top right of the screen (if you have show framerate / speed enabled - not sure what the default is) you should see something like 30/30 (100%) when at normal speed and 3/30 (5%) when at 5% speed. If this says something like 25% speed, than you need to go and set the FrameRate = 3. Close the emulator completely before you make this change, change it, then re-open the emulator.

EnableWlan = True

Should already be true but if not, make it so.

NickName = (anything)

This is just for the Adhoc server. It just has to be unique.

proAdhocServer = (IP Address of Adhoc server)

EVERYONE should have this set to the IP address of the person who is hosting the ADHOC server. This includes the person who is hosting it. They cannot use localhost or 127.0.0.1 OR 192.168.x.x! They MUST use the same thing as EVERYONE ELSE or it will not work for them! To find out what the IP everyone should use is, open up the VPN software you are using and right click on whoever is hosting the adhoc server. You should be able to get there IP address from here. For me, My IP address of my server is 10.0.0.3. Again, this has to match for everyone.

MacAddress = (Any random mac address)

This can be a random MAC address and must be unique (not matching anyone elses).

EXAMPLE CONFIG:
EnableWlan = True
NickName = MonsterSlayer1337
proAdhocServer = 10.0.0.3
MacAddress = 12:34:56:78:90:12

DONE with config!!!!! SAVE IT!

Also, if you want to prevent your emulator from saving over your FrameRate = 3, make the file read only by right clicking on it and going to properties. Click read only. Save.



- Getting in the game together -

Finally! You should have everyone connected to the VPN, the Adhoc server setup, and everyone should be configured. Start the game, and if you are starting a new game, ensure you say NO to the tutorials. You will be required to do them if you do not, making the test take longer. Some of them are not translated, making them useless!!! ALSO, since this is a PSP game it uses PS controller references. Circle is CONFIRM and X is always BACK in menus. Ensure you press Circle when selecting something. My friend enabled the tutorial 3 different times because he hit X instead of Circle...

To enable online play in the game, you must first talk to everyone in the town. This includes the cat lady, the village chief, the armor smith, the cat armor smith, the weapon shop, the item shop, the farm dude... and I think that's it. After they are all talked to, go to the very top of the town (the building you came out of with the hot spring) but don't go in. You should have two options. In the top left corner you should see Square enters the Offline Hunting Hall and X enters the Online Hunting Hall. IF X IS NOT THERE TALK TO THE TOWNS PEOPLE - IF IT IS STILL NOT THERE TALK TO THE VILLAGE CHIEF. If she says anything about training than slap yourself- you enabled the tutorial! Remake that save file.

Now is the first test. Each player should push X to enter the online Hunting Hall. Everyone should go into the same room (room 1). At this point many errors can happen like "connection error / timeout" which means something may be wrong with your ppsspp.ini, but odds are it is because you can't communicate with the Adhoc server host. If you are having problems, ensure the IP of the host is correct, the Adhoc server software is running, and you can communicate with the host over the VPN (ping / check VPN settings are g2g)


- We are in the Hunting Hall together , NOW WHAT?"

Now we discuss the "method" for 2 and 3 player gameplay.

2 players: This should be easy. One player gets the quest and the other one joins via the hunting board. Once all players are ready to go, stand by the door and read "THE METHOD" below.

3 players: This works 100% of the time with a 4th "proxy player" in the lobby. There are a few ways to do this. For me, I have two computers in my house with ppsspp setup. I have one computer with a character named "aa" sit in the lobby. For some reason, it is suggested that this adds stability. I have not messed with not having the "aa" player in the lobby. It may work without him. Now that you have 3 players ready to get in a quest, stand by the door and read "THE METHOD" below.


- "THE METHOD" -

If you want to know why we are using this method, read "Why do we use this method" below.

Finally, the method. I have spent hours learning the quirks of how Monster Hunter needs us to do this.

All players should ensure that their emulators are still at 5% by pressing the `~ key. If everyone is at 5%, unslow and continue...

At this point, you have a "Quest Host" and "Additional Players" who are ready to play. Additional players "ready up" at the door by pressing Square. Now all Additional Players will SLOW to alternate speed. (Note: If playing with 3 players and using a 4th "proxy player", you don't need to slow it)

The Quest Host will press Square and will see a screen asking if everyone is ready to begin the quest. Hover over the -YES- button and press Circle to confirm - immediately after pressing circle, the Quest Host SLOWS the game to alternate speed. Everyone is in slow motion at this point. If you want to be extra safe, slow first then press Circle to confirm. Sometimes I have to spam Circle if I use this method, thus I have adopted the "Circle - `~" method.

Everyone will begin to load the game. You will see a loading screen with the name of the quest in the center of the screen.

At this point, every player will eventually see "Beginning Quest" in the center of the screen. Coordinate over voice chat. Once everyone gets "Beginning Quest" you can count down from 3 and everyone can speed back up at the same time. You do not need to wait for the game to start to un-slow. This method works 100% of the time for us.

To summarize the method:
1: Ready up and slow
2: Press YES and start the quest- host slows as well
3: wait for "Beginning Quest" then unslow at same time
4: Hunt

If you have no voice chat, you CAN slow until the quest starts. Everyone should probably do the same thing as everyone else though.


- Why do we use this method? -

You are skeptical- I get it. I was as well. However, for some reason or another, Monster Hunter requires an extremely latency free connection between all clients when joining a quest. If the connection is not excellent than it will kick players out of the quest before it even starts. This could be related to how the game was designed for Adhoc play between two PSP devices next to one another. This could also be related to how the PPSSPP emulator handles the adhoc netcode, but I have no idea. All I know is this is an emulated environment, and by slowing the game to 5% it allows the game to think the network connection is extremely fast, seeing as it gives all network data a ton of time to flow between players. Because the game thinks the network is fast when in reality it is the game running in slow motion, things work and you can play with friends.


Questions? Comments? Did I miss something? Let me know. If you want to join me, let me know and I will give you my Teamspeak server info and my NeoRouter info. I will also help you get started if you want to join. I can be reached at [email protected] as well.

edit: I am able to play between players ranging from 250ms ping / 150ms ping. I am hosting the server from Hawaii, and have played with Texas / East Coast players with the method still working 100%. Monster hunter is surprisingly good with handling latency once the game is loaded.

Edit by vnctdj : AdhocServerProOnline download link from Kyhel's thread added.