Homebrew Nintendont BBA Emulation via LAN Adapter - Connecting two Wiis, stuck on Connecting Screen

[seseiSeki]

I'm trying to connect two Wiis running Nintendont using its BBA Emulation via two official LAN Adapters and a crossover cable, unfortunately, testing with Mario Kart Double Dash, I only got stuck at the screen that appears when trying to establish a connection.

Both Wiis are able to find each other. The "Searching for Gamecube" screen doesn't appear at all, starting LAN mode directly goes to the "Connection is being established. One moment please" screen, where nothing happens. Both Wiis are still responsive, so I'm able to return to the menu. Sometimes both Wiis just show a black screen for a few seconds, with the LAN setup music playing before showing the establishing connection screen.
Having the LAN adapters plugged in, but not the crossover cable, makes both Wiis wait after the Gamecube boot screen. Plugging the cable in syncs up both of them and the game proceeds with the Nintendo Logo.
Plugging the LAN Adapter into the other USB port doesn't change anything. Both LAN Adapters are working for connecting to the Internet.
I also did a quick test with Kirby Air Ride NTSC, but that one also gets stuck in the establishing connection screen, freezes the clock on screen after a bit for a few seconds on both Wiis, then continues spinning and becomes unresponsive.

Does someone know how to get the Wiis to connect or if it's even possible to connect two Nintendont instances? I read about connecting Nintendont to GCN or Dolphin, but couldn't find much about just Nintendont to Nintendont.

Using WiFi... kinda works. With more than one player per Wii, it gets very laggy, unstable and unfortunately unplayable.

Setup:
Two PAL Wiis (the ones with GCN ports)
Nintendont from SD card
Wii 1 loads the game from HDD, Wii 2 from the original disc
Mario Kart Double Dash PAL, tried 50Hz and 60Hz modes
All video tweaks (Force PAL60, Force Progressive, etc.) disabled
Native control enabled
BBA Emulation enabled and set to the LAN Adapter in Nintendont

 

[Exidous]

I don't have personal experience with this, but I know that others have used a network switch to connect among Wiis using Nintendont's BBA emulation - that is, not direct connection via crossover cable.

 

[kingjinxy2]

I did this back in 2019 with a crossover cable. It was kinda finicky, but it did work in the end.

Not sure exactly what your setup is like, but this is what I did:

• Make sure you actually have/need a crossover cable. Nowadays I think most Ethernet adapters for other systems have automatic crossover, so you don't actually need a specific cable for it, but I have no idea if Wii Ethernet adapters work without crossover cables. I think it may have worked without one, but my memory is a bit hazy on the details.
• Make a new connection in Wii settings for Ethernet. Wii 1 has IP 192.168.0.1 and gateway 192.168.0.2. Wii 2 has IP 192.168.0.2 and gateway 192.168.0.1. The connection test will fail, but that's ok.
• Turn on BBA emulation in Nintendont and force the number of the network connection you made earlier–1, 2, or 3. Automatic works great when both Wiis are connected to the Internet via the same switch, but it won't help here. Not 100% what Automatic does, but I think it uses whatever connection your Wii can successfully use. I never used Native Control when using BBA, and I don't see why it wouldn't work, but you can try turning it off if all else fails.
• Boot the game on Wii 1 (not sure the order really matters) and you'll probably see that the game sits forever on a black screen. If you then boot the game on Wii 2, the game continues on Wii 1. My guess is that the BBA emulation keeps looking for the other console for a while. You can see the Ethernet adapter lights come on (and stay on) when there's a connection. You might have to wait a bit on a black screen if using storage devices with different speeds. I know my SD card was kinda slow to load Double Dash, but my flash drive was much faster.
  
• You should be able to connect pretty quickly. I never had to wait very long for the Wiis to see each other. If it's not working, reboot and try again. BBA emulation is not perfect, and you may see stutters every so often, but it was pretty infrequent for me. You might also just get disconnected if the connection is flaky. Hopefully wiring the consoles directly together reduces that issue.
  
• Wi-Fi does really suck because it's just not meant for the kind of low latency needed for these games. Not recommended.
  
• If you can get the games connecting, you should be able to force progressive scan if you really want it. Not sure if 50 Hz and 60 Hz can work together, but make sure both consoles are either 50 or 60 Hz if it doesn't work.

Hopefully that's everything you could possibly want to know.

 

[seseiSeki]

Make a new connection in Wii settings for Ethernet. Wii 1 has IP 192.168.0.1 and gateway 192.168.0.2. Wii 2 has IP 192.168.0.2 and gateway 192.168.0.1. The connection test will fail, but that's ok.

Static IPs! How did I not think of that, thanks a lot

Alright, quick recap using two Wiis and Nintendo LAN adapters:
- You do need a crossover cable, a normal LAN cable won't work.
- Add a wired network connection and assign static IPs, like in the quote. The only thing missing was the subnet mask 255.255.255.0. Enable BBA emulation in Nintendont and force your new wired connection.
- Forcing video modes in Nintendont doesn't matter. One of my Wiis is running in progressive, the other is just set to force PAL60 (Deflicker). If you want to play Double Dash, you just have to make sure both Wiis are running at either 50Hz or 60Hz, you can't mix both like in Kirby Air Ride.
- The order in which you boot the Wiis or games doesn't matter. I just start them at the same time. The one you boot first should wait on a black screen for the second one and then continue. (using Double Dash)
- Starting LAN Mode should not show the "LAN connection is being established. One moment please" screen, but immediately go to the countdown for finding other Game Cubes. My Wiis found themselves after about 10 seconds every time.

 

[kingjinxy2]

Sorry I forgot about the subnet mask, but it looks like you figured it out. This should also work with any combo of GameCubes and PCs running Dolphin, although I’m not sure how you manually assign an IP address to the GC, except with Swiss and that new GC LAN adapter clone.

 

[seseiSeki]

Sorry I forgot about the subnet mask, but it looks like you figured it out. This should also work with any combo of GameCubes and PCs running Dolphin, although I’m not sure how you manually assign an IP address to the GC, except with Swiss and that new GC LAN adapter clone.

Yeah, I had some networking at school, so I remembered that you need subnet masks ^^

It's not quite the same for more than two... things that play GCN games. If you're connecting three or more, you need a network switch and LAN cables. Crossover cables are meant for a direct connection between two devices, but if there's a switch between them, you need normal LAN cables.