Why Doesn't the MS have a free server hosting option?

[Banjo268]

Not sure how many people are familiar with the game SM64ex coop, but it essentially allows you to play sm64, with, well, coop.
The original game is longer being worked on and is currently being lived through Coop Deluxe, a fork of the game with new feature and QoL changes. The linke to the site is here. I highly recommend checking it out, it's alot of fun.

But this is under SRB2 Discussion, and I wanna pose a question: why can't the MS have a non-port fowarding option like Coop Deluxe has? In both the OG Coop and Deluxe editions of the game, they have a standard port forward option, but also a "CoopNet". It's essentially a free server for those who wanna host their save online without the hassle of port forwarding. So I ask, why hasn't SRB2 been able to do this? Is it an engine problem? Or something we haven't figured it out? I find it really cool that Coop Deluxe has a way to host without getting technical, and with issues I've had in the past, and others have also had, I wonder how come we can't figure something similar out?

 

[amperbee]

why hasn't SRB2 been able to do this?

Letting people use your bandwidth and computer to host servers is a bad idea.
Letting people use someone else's bandwidth and devices to host servers, like how there are online websites that host Minecraft servers for you, usually costs money.
Developers don't have infinite money.


There have been attempts to circumvent the port forwarding issue in some other ways, like how Ring Racers implemented NAT punching for hosts, however not all networking devices support this.
There's also UPNP, but again, some devices don't support it either.

 

[Banjo268]

Letting people use your bandwidth and computer to host servers is a bad idea.
Letting people use someone else's bandwidth and devices to host servers, like how there are online websites that host Minecraft servers for you, usually costs money.
Developers don't have infinite money.

While I do understand what you mean and that the devs don't necessarily have the money to run the servers or someone using your bandwidth is pretty bad, I still find it odd that a (fan?)game for SM64 is able to create this public server while SRB2 has had struggles with the port forwarding. I know RR and Kart have different means of hosting, but like you said, it's NOT always supported. It's why I think something like this could be a massive benefit to online hosting.

 

[amperbee]

I still find it odd that a (fan?)game for SM64 is able to create this public server while SRB2 has had struggles with the port forwarding.

You know, sm64coopdx does have the same port forwarding "issues" as SRB2 does, if you happen to use direct connection.
It just so happens that they have the cash money and the resources to let you host servers in their machines, thereby masking that issue no problem.

It's not really something odd, it's just what happens when you have money to throw into the wind versus not having it.

 

[time gear]

I still find it odd that a (fan?)game for SM64

Just wanted to chime in to clarify, it's not a fan game. It's a fan project that adds online coop compatibility to the fan made decomp port of SM64. For visual thinkers, the timeline goes like this:

1. SM64 is an official game by Nintendo made for the Nintendo 64.
2. Some fans reverse engineered the source code for a decomp port to modern PC's, allowing SM64 to be played natively without emulation provided they have access to the original N64 game.
3. A different group of fans took the fan made decomp port of SM64 and added compatibility for online multiplayer.

The only reason Nintendo hasn't been able to shut down either the decomp or the multiplayer version is because neither of these two projects use any copyrighted code and the only way to make what is there function is to already have access to the original game somehow. Basically, neither project is doing anything to assist with or endorse piracy and how people go about getting themselves access to the original game, legal or otherwise, is their own responsibility and not that of the project creators. It's basically legally the same thing as developing an emulator; legally the emulator can be made to run games, but it can't be distributed with said games or directly promote or assist in piracy. Emulation itself is legal, downloading the games that run on emulators for free from third party sources instead of dumping your own files or otherwise obtaining them from legal purchases isn't. This is the same thing, except it's a port instead of an emulator.

Another similar situation is the Morrowblivion, Skywind, and Skyblivion projects. These are remakes of previous games in the Elder Scrolls series within newer games in the series. The remakes themselves would could as piracy if they just worked as is, but they get around this by requiring you to have the original games to use as a base, and point you to their store pages on Steam for how to obtain them. So far, Morrowblivion is released and both Skywind and Skyblivion are unreleased works in progress.