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Frequently Asked Questions
Table of Contents
Downloads
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Q: Which file should I download?
A: The Web install will likely be the smallest download. If you have trouble with your Internet connection, or want to keep the files to install on multiple systems, use the Offline install. -
Q: How do I upgrade my version of NetBattle?
A: If for some reason the auto-updater doesn't work, you'll need to install a new copy. Download either the Web or Offline install. Also, you may want to uninstall first to remove files that are no longer needed.
Common Problems
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Q: I'm on AOL, and I can't connect to a server! Do you support AOL?
A: Yes and no. AOL isn't the greatest connection, but it usually works. The only thing I've been able to find that stops NetBattle cold is the Parental Controls. Apparently when they're on, most (if not all) non-AOL TCP/IP traffic is blocked. The only solution is to turn them off. -
Q: After I use Swords Dance a couple of times on my Marowak, he does very low damage! What's going on?
A: There's a glitch in the Game Boy versions, recreated here, were a Marowak with a high Attack DV and a Thick Club will "roll over" it's Attack by using Swords Dance. The reason is that it loops past 1024, and winds up with a VERY low Attack.
The easiest way to fix this is to lower the Attack DV down to 13 (use the Expert button in the Team Builder). You could also just not use a Thick Club, or make sure to only Swords Dance once.
Configuration
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Q: Can I change NetBattle's language?
A: As of 0.8.41, Yes! There's a language plug in system to translate the program's text. Currently translatable are:-
Pokémon Names
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Move names
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Move Description Text
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Pokédex Text
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Battle Text
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Miscellaneous Text (Elements, weather, items, etc.)
Future releases will allow the program itself (menus, buttons, dialogs, etc) to be translated.
Language plug-ins, and a template to allow you to create your own, and a translator tool are included with the program, and available on the Download page.
To select a language, use the System tab in the Options menu. -
Battling
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Q: The server is asking me for a password! What do I do?
A: If it's asking for a User Password, it means you don't have a password stored. Just enter in whatever you want as a password. As long as nobody else has already used the nickname you want, you now have that name password-protected.
If it's asking for a Server Password, the server administrator has password-protected the server. You won't be able to get in without the password. -
Q: I'm entering a password, but it's not letting me in!
A: If you were able to log on with the SAME name before, it's very likely that you hit Cancel or Ok right away, and have a blank password.
If this is your first try logging onto a server, either the server is set to not allow new users, or somebody else is already using that name. -
Q: Can I battle with myself?
A: Yes. If you need to be offline, you can run a server (you might want to set it to be a private server), and two copies of NetBattle. You can also run two copies of NetBattle, and run through a public server. Remember to use a different nickname on each. -
Q: How do I battle somebody?
A: The quickest way - once you're connected to the Master Server, double-click somebody's name to bring up the challenge window. If their team is hidden, you'll see six Substitutes, otherwise you'll see their team. Whether or not they're hidden, you'll see a team ranking (estimated power, based on the Pokémon's species) in the lower-left corner. Select the rules you'd like to use, then hit the Challenge button. If the player is already busy, the window will close and you'll be notified. Otherwise, they will have the option to accept or deny the challenge. If they accept, battle will begin. -
Q: Are there any special commands on the server?
A: Yes! If the server you are on is 0.8.41 or better, you can use:-
/me [Text] - Action command - will show up as *** [Your Name] [Text]
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/ignore [Name] - Will ignore another user while they are connected. You will not see chat messages or challenges from an ignored player.
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/unignore [Name] - Removes a player from your ignore list.
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Q: What's this Speed rating on the challenge window?
A: It's a measure of how fast the player is communicating with the server. In technical terms, it's the number of milliseconds (from 0-9999) between the server requesting data and the client returning it. This is mostly affected by connection speed, but can also be affected by a slow computer. -
Q: What are these rules?
A: A quick explanation:-
Sleep/Freeze Clause
No two Pokémon on a team can be asleep or frozen (but you can have 1 sleeping and 1 frozen) -
Self-KO Clause
If the last Pokémon on a team uses Explosion, Self-Destruct, Destiny Bond, or Perish Song, it will fail. -
Disable OHKO's
One-hit KO moves (Fissure, Horn Drill, etc.) will always fail. -
Apply PP Ups
All moves will be boosted to their PP Up levels. -
Stadium Mode
A 3-on-3 battle - at the beginning of the fight, you can see your opponent's six Pokémon, and pick the three you want to use. Your opponent does the same. You then battle with the chosen Pokémon. There are also a few slight changes to match glitches on the Game Boy versions that don't exist in Stadium. -
R/B/Y Mode (Only available with two R/B/Y compatible teams)
Plays using R/B/Y rules. -
Challenge Cup
Uses random Pokémon with random movesets. -
Level Balance
Adjusts the levels of all Pokémon to have similar stats (while some may be higher in one stat than another, the averages are close). Recommended for Challenge Cup. -
Disallow Spectators
Don't let other players Watch the battle. -
Disallow Spectator Chat
Allows people to watch your battle, but not chat. -
Battle Timeout
If a player refuses to move for five minutes after their opponent chooses a move, they will automatically lose. This will protect against "grief" players who try to force you to quit. -
Unrated
The results of this battle will not affect your stats on the server. -
Use Stadium Present
The move Present has a glitch in the Gold/Silver releases that causes it to do strange amounts of damage. This glitch is the default Present behavior in NetBattle. This option will use the corrected version of Present found in Stadium 2 and later.
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Q: Why does my opponent have six Substitutes?
A: They're set to have their team hidden. The only way to find out for sure is to battle them. If thay have any Pokémon normally considered Legendary or Uber, that will be reflected in the captions. Some Pokémon that the game considers Legendary are not reflected in NetBattle due to stat/type weaknesses or underuse. The Team Builder will show whether a Pokémon falls into one of these categories. -
Q: What's this "Team Power" thing?
A: Whenever you connect to the server, the client generates a rating of your current team. This is based on their stats and their type's strengths and weaknesses, and whether or not they're rare/legendary. A 100% is the strongest possible team (by this equation), a 0% is the weakest.
This does NOT necessarily indicate a team that would be good to use. It's only a rough indicator of a team's stats. -
Q: So, what's the most powerful team?
A: This may change as I tweak the program, but with the equation in the current version:-
Raikou
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Moltres
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Zapdos
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Mewtwo
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Lugia
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Ho-Oh
Keep in mind this isn't necessarily the most powerful team, as the chances of winning depend on the movesets and, of course, the trainer's skill. This is just the team whose stats and strength/weakness ratios come out the highest.
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Q: Whenever I try to challenge somebody, it says "Version Conflict" and won't let me battle!
A: The other player and yourself have different versions of the program. Due to constant changes to the attacks and database, different versions can't battle properly. First you should check the web site to make sure you have the most current version (check the About box to find out what you're using). If you have the most recent, then the other player has to update. -
Q: Can I see my battle record?
A: As of 0.8.41, your battle record will display properly in your info window. Remember, battle records are stored per-server, so your record on one server may be different from your record on another. -
Q: How do I Baton Pass?
A: Pick Baton Pass, and hit Attack. When Baton Pass is used, you'll need to switch.
Technical Stuff
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Q: What TCP/IP ports does NetBattle use?
A: TCP Port 30000 is used for connections to the server. Ports 30001 and 30002 are used to communicate with the server listing (outgoing only). -
Q: I've heard NetBattle opens up a lot of ports and/or leaves the system open to backdoors!
A: I have no idea how this got started. Here's a complete list of NetBattle's network activities:-
If Auto-Update is enabled: Connect to www.tvsian.com on port 80. Download one small file if there are no updates available, a handful of files if there is one.
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Running a server: Listen on port 30000, send on a random (system-determined) port.
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Connecting to a server: Send on port 30000, receive (NOT listen for any connection) on a random port.
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Connecting to the server list: Send on port 30001 or 30002 (depending on whether you're running a server or client), receive on a random port.
Just to note: to the best of my knowledge, none of these ports are used by other applications. Even if some virus/backdoor were to use them, it would NOT be able to do anything to your system, as NetBattle would receive the data (only if you're running a server or hosting a direct-connect game) and not the virus or backdoor program.
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The Server
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Q: How do I run a server?
A: It's a fairly simple process...-
Use the "Run a Server" icon in the Start Menu group (HubertWare)
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Go to Server/Options... in the menu to set your maximum number of users, welcome message, floodcount tolerance, send speed (higher = less bandwidth used), and optionally a server password.
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If you have a firewall, open port 30000 for incoming TCP traffic. You may also need to set Port Triggering to allow outgoing traffic. See your firewall's documentation for information about that.
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You're all set! If you don't have a static IP address, you may want to consider setting up a dynamic DNS address (http://www.dyndns.org is one free service).
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Q: People are having problems battling on my server!
A: Assuming it's not one of the known client bugs, make sure your server is up-to-date. In addition to bug fixes, there have been numerous changes to the networking, and new clients might not communicate properly with older servers. -
Q: Somebody logged on with the wrong password, now they can't get back. How do I fix it?
A: Go to Player/User Manager... in the menu. On the Players tab, you can delete the player, or change their password. -
Q: Somebody is acting like a jerk on my server! How do I get rid of them?
A: If Kicking them doesn't get the message across. pick Player/Ban (IP) from the menu. This bans their IP address. If they're off the server when you notice, you can manually ban them. Go to the User Manager, select the IP Ban tab, type in their IP and press the Manual Ban button. Note that in some cases (especially with dial-up) banning will block other users on the same ISP.
You can also ban users by name. NetBattle stores a unique ID for each user, so even if they change their name, they won't be able to get on. The only way a Name-Banned user can get on is to use a different PC, but you can ban that one also. -
Q: How do I get rid of an IP Ban?
A: Select Server/Server Data... from the menu. Go to the Banned IPs tab. Select the IP you'd like to unban, and click "Unban." -
Q: Can I filter out cursing/ban dynamic IPs?
A: In 0.8.38+ you can. Go into the Server Data manager, and use the ISP Ban function to ban dynamic IPs, and the Word Filter option to filter out certain words. -
Q: Can I make users moderators?
A: Yes. Use the Server Data Manager, select the user, and use the options at the bottom the change their rank. Moderators can kick players, Administrators can kick users, ban users by IP, and ban users by name. -
Q: What's this "queue" thing?
A: Recent versions of the server have added in request queuing, in order to keep bandwidth use under control and prevent one connection from tying up the server. The queue is the number of requests waiting to be processed. If this is constantly high, you may want to consider increasing the send rate or decreasing your maximum number of users (see the options menu for both) to prevent lag.
Note that if it's set too low, your system may not be able to process fast enough. It may take some experimenting to find the best value for your system. -
Q: I minimized the server, and now I can't find it!
A: As of 0.8.41, NetBattle will minimize to a tray icon when the Master Server is running. The icon will appear at all times when the server is running. You can double-click it to show/hide NetBattle, or right-click it for a pop-up menu. -
Q: Something happened with one of the connections, and now I'm having trouble! What do I do?
A: As of 0.8.41, there's a Socket Status window available. Select Server/Socket Status... from the menu to access it. From here, you can select a socket from the list, and manually disconnect it. -
Q: What's the deal with this "Server Script" stuff?
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A: See this FAQ by MasamuneXGP, who wrote that part of the program.
Miscellaneous
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Q: The name "NetBattle" sounds familiar. What's it from?
A: The RockMan.EXE/MegaMan Battle Network games on Game Boy Advance. -
Q: Have you made any other games?
A: Very little that's made it out to the public, except for three Flash games. HubértMon, Ninji Attack, and Ghostcatcher. All three of them ran in my comic, Hubert.