Kaillera
Encyclopedia
Kaillera is middleware
designed to aid networked multiplayer
play for emulator
s. The word "Kaillera" is the verlan
of the French
word racaille which is used in reference to "bad people".
On 20 November 2006, Etai Hugi announced that a new version of Kaillera would be released in "the next several months". His announcement also suggested that the new version would be "much better" and "more efficient" than the current version. 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. It was later announced that the new version of Kaillera would be released on 7 April 2008. However, the official Kaillera website along with existing Kaillera master servers list was taken down a few days prior to the release date. Later when it came back up, no explanations for the downtime was given and nothing was released. The Kaillera team will no longer update Kaillera.
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.
Middleware
Middleware is computer software that connects software components or people and their applications. The software consists of a set of services that allows multiple processes running on one or more machines to interact...
designed to aid networked multiplayer
Multiplayer game
A multiplayer video game is one which more than one person can play in the same game environment at the same time. Unlike most other games, computer and video games are often single-player activities that put the player against preprogrammed challenges and/or AI-controlled opponents, which often...
play for emulator
Video game console emulator
A video game console emulator is a program that allows a computer or modern console to emulate a different video game console's behavior. Emulators are most often used to play older video games on personal computers and modern video game consoles, but they are also used to play games translated...
s. The word "Kaillera" is the verlan
Verlan
Verlan is an argot in the French language, featuring inversion of syllables in a word, and is common in slang and youth language. It rests on a long French tradition of transposing syllables of individual words to create slang words...
of the French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
word racaille which is used in reference to "bad people".
History
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. 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 announced that a new version of Kaillera would be released in "the next several months". His announcement also suggested that the new version would be "much better" and "more efficient" than the current version. 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. It was later announced that the new version of Kaillera would be released on 7 April 2008. However, the official Kaillera website along with existing Kaillera master servers list was taken down a few days prior to the release date. Later when it came back up, no explanations for the downtime was given and nothing was released. The Kaillera team will no longer update Kaillera.
Design
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.
Emulators with Kaillera support
- 19641964 (emulator)1964 is a Nintendo 64 emulator for Microsoft Windows, written in C and released as free software. It is one of the oldest and most popular N64 emulators, supporting many commercial N64 games...
(N64) - Atari800WinPlus (Atari 8-bit family)
- Bliss (Intellivision)
- CCS64CCS64CCS64 is a shareware Commodore 64 emulator developed by Per Håkan Sundell of Sweden.CCS64 plays Commodore 64 formatted games and music in windows, in an approximation of the original appearance, including interface...
(Commodore 64) - DEmul (Dreamcast, NAOMI, NAOMI 2, Atomiswave; requires netBlade plugin)
- DolphinDolphin (emulator)Dolphin is an open-source Nintendo GameCube, Wii, and Triforce emulator for Microsoft Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X . It is the first emulator to successfully run commercial Nintendo GameCube and Wii games and is the only emulator capable of running commercial Wii games...
(GameCube, Wii) - ePSXeEPSXeePSXe is a PlayStation emulator for x86-based PC hardware with Microsoft Windows or Linux. It was written by three authors, using the aliases "Calb", "_Demo_", and "Galtor"...
(PlayStation, requires Netplay plugin) - Final Burn Alpha (CPS1, CPS2, NeoGeo MVS)
- GensGens (Emulator)Gens is a free Sega Genesis emulator. It runs on Windows systems , on Linux and on Microsoft's Xbox. A port to the Sega Dreamcast, known as Gens4All, is currently in development. Development of Gens began in 1999...
(Mega Drive) - JnesJnesJnes is a NES emulator for Microsoft Windows. It is coded by Jabo, who is known for his work on Project64, a Nintendo 64 emulator. Using DirectX for hardware acceleration, Jnes also features online play with Kaillera, and the ability to use codes for cheat devices like the Game Genie and Pro Action...
(NES) - Kawaks (CPS1, CPS2, NeoGeo MVS)
- MAMEMAMEMAME is an emulator application designed to recreate the hardware of arcade game systems in software on modern personal computers and other platforms. The intention is to preserve gaming history by preventing vintage games from being lost or forgotten...
(various arcade systems)1 - Modeler (Sega System 32)
- Mupen64 (N64)
- Nemu64 (N64)
- NESten (NES)
- NestopiaNestopiaNestopia is an open source NES/Famicom emulator designed to emulate the NES hardware as accurately as possible. Originally for Windows only, Nestopia has been ported to the Mac OS X and Linux operating systems.-Features:...
(NES)2 - PCAEPC Atari EmulatorPC Atari Emulator is a software emulator for running Atari 2600 videogame console programs in Microsoft Windows or in MS-DOS. The latest versions of PC Atari Emulator released were 2.5 and 2.6 . PC Atari Emulator was originally written by John Dullea in 1996...
(Atari 2600, VCS) - Project64k, a modified version of Project64Project64Project64 is a proprietary Nintendo 64 emulator for Windows. It employs a plug-in system that allows third-party software developers to create their own implementation of a specified component...
(N64) - Snes9k, a modified version of Snes9xSnes9xSnes9x is an SNES emulator written in C++ with official ports for Linux, Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, the PSP and Android.-Background:Development of Snes9x began in July 1997 when Snes96's Gary Henderson and Snes97's Jerremy Koot merged their respective emulators to create Snes9x. Since then,...
(SNES) - WinUAE (Amiga)