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Kaillera

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Kaillera
Developer(s)Christophe Thibault
Stable release
Operating systemMS Windows
TypeEmulator
LicenseClosed Source
Websitehttp://www.kaillera.com

Kaillera is middleware designed to aid networked multiplayer play for emulators. The word "Kaillera" is the verlan of the French word racaille which is used in reference to "bad people".

History and current status

Kaillera was developed by Christophe Thibault in the years 2001-2003. His most recent entry was the Kaillera Client library and SDK on 14 April 2003. Later in early 2006, rights and source code of Kaillera were sold to a private online gaming advertising company called TC. Ads and Etai Hugi (was announced on Wikipedia Kaillera page on 28 April 2006). On 17 June 2006, Christophe Thibault himself publicly confirmed the sale of kaillera and also announced that TC. Ads. no longer had anything to do with the Kaillera project and that Etai Hugi is the only owner.

On 20 November 2006, Etai Hugi (allegedly) announced that a new version of kaillera would be released in "the next several months". His announcement also suggests that the new version would be "much better" and "more efficient" than the current version.[1] In July 2007, he posted on the official forums and sent emails to the forum administrator announcing that the next official release would occur in "3-4 months." This announcement coincided with a revamp of the forums and the posting of new unofficial builds created by others for download (the first new downloads posted in nearly four years). On 4 November 2007, it was announced that due to unforeseen "bugs" the imminent release would be postponed for a time.

Technical aspects

Like most networked multiplayer gaming systems, Kaillera is implemented to work on client-server architecture.

The client is implemented as a small library with a typical GUI which is incorporated with the emulator. Its simple self-explanatory API consisting of only 8 functions allow emulators to perform necessary functions such as specify the list of games it supports and control game execution to some extent. Everything after enabling the client to starting the game is managed by the client and the user. The client can only make requests to server on user's input and react to server's response.

On the other hand, the server takes the tedious role of managing all the users. Users can join servers if their conditions are satisfactory. Then they are allowed to chat and make games on the server which other users can join. A maximum of 8 players are allowed to participate in a game and others are treated as spectators. Once a game starts, the server is also responsible for scheduling and mix matching data sent by emulators in a manner befitting user's ping and connection configuration.

Unofficial developments

Emulinker

Emulinker is a Kaillera server with extensive enhancements in security and stability and administrative options. It was written in Java by Paul Cowan "Moosehead", the owner and operator of Anti3D.com. The latest version (server 1.0) was released in May 2006.

Recently, there have been new (unofficial) versions of EmuLinker being developed and distributed among the popular servers. SupraFast creating one EmuLinkerSF.

Open Kaillera

Open Kaillera is an open source kaillera project founded by James "Anthem" Costlow (2003). Then its authority was transferred to Joel Muzzerall "tseng" (2004). Later in mid 2006, the project was taken over by K. "Civilian". Latest version (client v0.14) was released in September 2006.

Open Kaillera released their first complete client in mid 2007. It allows users to use direct IP connection (P2P to play games with kaillera supported emulators. It has extensive enhancements in player response delay and only 2 players are supported.

Supraclient

Supraclient is a Kaillera client with a distinctive graphical user interface written in C++. Its latest version (CPPE v0.87.6) was released in September 2007. One if its earlier discontinued derivations written in VB6 was made open source by its author Daniel Strusser "SupraFast."

Unofficial Kaillera Server

Unofficial Kaillera Server is an unofficial server built from perceived C code with fixes and enhancements for Windows and *nix.

Emulators with Kaillera

In addition, there are several third-party versions of MAME with Kaillera, but these violate the MAME license by not having the source code to the Kaillera client library distributed, even though the source code to the modified version of MAME itself (such as "Mame32k") are always provided.

Unofficial Projects

Communities

  • EmuNetLeague Connecting players to compete in unpopular/uncommon games
  • Emuline.fr/site/ Kaillera french community & Emulation online, retrogaming tournament

GodWeapon.net Kaillera Server and Combo Videos