Netplay support allows up to five players to sit in front of different computers and simultaneously play the same game, or just watch someone else play a game. All the computers have to be connected to a network that allows TCP/IP traffic to flow between them; this includes a local Ethernet-style network, a direct-cable connection, or, if you're lucky and have short ping times, the Internet.
Snes9x netplay inevitably synchronizes all the computers at the sacrifice of the speed of input response. Note that this feature is Mac OS X only - not compatible with Windows and other platforms.
The player with the fastest Mac should act as the server (S). The others are clients (C). Server should open the port 6096/TCP.
Here is the workflow to netplay with up to five players.
| (S) | If you guys want to play with Multi Player 5, choose 'Multi Tap' in 'Input Device' in 'Emulation' menu. (Clients don't need to select it.) |
| (S) | Open the ROM image. Pause the game. |
| (S) | Choose 'Server...' in 'Netplay' menu. The clients list appears. The first client is yourself. |
| (C) | Choose 'Client...' in 'Netplay' menu. |
| (C) | Input server's IP address and your name. Press 'Connect' button. |
| (S) | The clients appear in the clients list with 'Connecting' status. |
| (C) | A ROM load dialog appears. Open the same ROM image as server's. |
| (S) | Wait until all clients become 'Ready'. Press 'Play' button. |
| (C) | The players list dialog appears. Press 'OK' button. |
| (C) | Netplay starts. |
| (S) | The game is reset and netplay starts. |
| (S) | Adjust the timing by '2P-L' and '2P-R' button. If 'Show Onscreen Information' is active in 'Preferences' dialog, a value appears in both the server's and client's game screen. Increasing this value will smooth the frame rate, but also delay the input response. |
| (S)(C) | All functions (screenshot, etc.) are unusable. |
| (C) | Clients cannot stop netplay by themselves. |
| (S) | Netplay stops when server pauses the game. |
| (S) | SRAM file may be overwritten by this play. |
| (C) | SRAM file won't be overwritten by this play. |