This guide is to help people who want to play SD Remix 3.3 FULL online with other people. This guide is organized so that each thing that you need is separated into different sections, so you can use this guide whether you’ve got SD Remix working on Dolphin already or if you’ve got nothing set up at all. If you read the section and you see that you’ve already got it, you can probably skip to the next section (though you should try and skim it anyway just to make sure you have everything you need).

NOTE: If your goal is to play normal 1v1 matches with others, we HIGHLY recommend you instead use the Slippi Rollback capable version, as rollback gets rid of lag spikes and input delay, which is a far superior gameplay experience. Go to the Slippi Rollback Netplay Guide for more info. These instructions are really only meant for players who want to mess with SD Remix Options and/or don’t want to play standard 1v1 matches.

Step 0: Make sure your computer meets the requirements to play SD Remix and play online

The MINIMUM requirements for 2 player matches include:

• Intel Core2 Duo or AMD Phenom Processor
• nVidia 8xxx or AMD Radeon 4xxx series graphics card
• 2 GB of RAM
• DSL or Broadband internet

Recommended specifications are:

• Intel Core i5 or AMD Phenom II processor
• nVidia 8xxx or AMD Radeon 4xxx series graphics card
• 4 GB of RAM
• DSL or Broadband internet
• A wired LAN connection to your PC/Laptop (as opposed to Wifi)

Step 1: Build the SD Remix ISO

Before you can play SD Remix online, you’ll need a copy of SD Remix. For full instruction on building the ISO, refer to our ISO Instructions. We recommend patching it instead of building from source, as it is easier.

Step 2: Get the latest Anther’s ladder Dolphin build

Follow the instructions on setting up Melee’s netplay setup: https://www.smashladder.com/guides/view/272o/melee/how-to-play-melee-online-netplay-guide-faster-melee-proj

You need to make sure that your SD Remix ISO shows up in the Dolphin games list. The entry should look something like this:

If you don’t see this, that means you don’t have the correct path set up. To set up the correct path, click on the config button. It should look like the image to the left of this text.

In the config window, go to the Paths tab. Click the Add button, like so:

Select the folder that contains your SD Remix ISO. Then close the config window. The entry should show up. If it doesn’t click the Refresh button (it should look like the image to the left of this text), and it should show up. If it still doesn’t show up, make sure you added the right folder to Paths.

Step 3: Install and Enable Netplay Gecko Codes

Step 3.1: Install Netplay Codes

We have provided a file Dolphin game settings file that holds all the netplay gecko codes (and other game fixes). You can download it here (right click and “Save Target As”): https://raw.githubusercontent.com/underscoreglook/SD-Remix/master/docs/external/SDRE32.ini

If you didn’t use the SmashLadder Launcher and downloaded Slippi (FasterMelee) directly, navigate to the Slippi folder, then go into the Sys folder, then go into the GameSettings folder. Copy SDRE32.ini into this folder.

If you did use SmashLadder Launcher, open up SmashLadder Launcher and go to Settings. In the Dolphin Settings section, under the heading “Dolphin Install Path”, click on “Default Location”. It should look like this:

Clicking on that will open up a folder in Explorer. From here, go to the “dolphin_downloads” folder, open the Dolphin version you plan to use (recommended to use the latest version of Project Slippi), and if there’s another subfolder for the build (it’ll be the only thing in the folder) then open that. At this point, you should see “Dolphin.exe” in the folder. From here, go into the Sys folder, then go into the GameSettings folder. Copy SDRE32.ini into this folder.

TROUBLESHOOTING: If in step 3.2 you don’t see any codes, some users have reported that they need to put it in User/GameSettings instead of Sys/Gamesettings, so try that if the Sys folder isn’t working.

Step 3.2: Enable Netplay Gecko Codes

Open your chosen version of Dolphin (again, we recommend the latest Slippi). Right click on the SD Remix entry in your games list (again, it should look like this):

Then, select “Properties”. In the properties window, go to “Gecko Codes” tab. I should look like this:

Clicking the check marks will enable that particular code. In general, you must have the same codes selected as your opponent, otherwise you will desync (the exception are the “Game Music ON” and “Game Music OFF” codes, which doesn’t have the be the same as your opponent). In addition, enabling too many codes will cause your game to crash when you start it.

While you and your opponent may decide for yourselves which codes to enable, we consider these codes mandatory to enable, as they reduce internet latency and have quality of life features specifically for netplay:

• SDR Netplay Settings
• Normal Lag Reduction
• Performance Lag Reduction

In addition, we consider the following to be important for gameplay reasons:

• Universal Controller Fix
• Lagless FoD
• Hide Nametag When Invisible

The “20XX Neutral Spawns” code would also be nice, but it is a really big code, and tends to crash the game when other codes are enabled because of its size. There is work on fixing these are similar issues.

Step 4: Finding an opponent (using the Anther’s Ladder SDRemix chat room)

There are many ways to find matches, but the one we’re going to go over is using Anther’s Ladder.

Before you do anything, you need an account. If you don’t have an account, you will need to sign up for one at www.smashladder.com.

Once you have an account, you should log in and go to the “SDRemix” chat room. This is the main location that people who want to play SD Remix will go to, though it may be pretty empty (we’ll go over how to rectify that in a second). To go to the SDRemix chat room, follow this link while logged in: https://www.smashladder.com/netplay/1024

Once you’re in the chat room, you can ask the chat if anybody wants to play, or if someone has already said they would like to play, you can say that you are interested in playing that person. However, it is recommended that the opponent you choose be from the same region as you to get as little lag as possible; lag can not only cause slow frame rates during gameplay but also desyncs in very bad cases.

Make sure that both you and your opponent decide on which version of Dolphin you’re going to be using, as this can be very important to preventing desyncing, and also for a gameplay connection to even work at all.

Step 5: Starting a match

Once you have found an opponent and have decided on which version of Dolphin you will be using (once again, we recommend the latest version of Slippi), make sure you both have the same netplay codes enabled (see step 3.2). Then, you both need to decide who is going to host. Once that is decided, in Dolphin, go to Tools -> Start Netplay.

If you are the host, you will need to go to the “Host” tab. In the list of games, you need to select SD Remix (it will have the Game ID of “SDRE32” in parenthesis after the title). After selecting it, click “Host”. On the right hand side of the new window, make sure the drop down window says “ID:”. To the right of that will be a code, called the “host code” (random letters and numbers). To the right of that there is a button that says “Copy”. Click on that to copy the host code to your clipboard. Paste that in a conversation to your opponent (probably in an Anther’s Ladder private message to your opponent).

If you are not the host, you will need to wait for your opponent to give you the host code. Once you get it, go to the “Connect” tab and put the host code you’ve just received in the “Host Code” text box. Then click “Connect”.

At this point, both players should be able to use the window to chat with each other on the left side.

If you are the host, you will need to set the pad buffer, which is at the bottom of the window next to the “Start” button. But what do you set it to? A good start is to look at your opponent’s ping on the right hand side. Divide the ping you see by 15ms, round that up, and set the resulting number as your buffer. When you both are ready, click “Start” to start the match.

Step 6: Playing the match

Once a match has started, the first thing you need to do is make sure your game is full screen, as this will affect the frame rate and lag you suffer. If you are in windowed mode, press alt+enter while Dolphin is the active window to go into full screen. If you need to go back to windowed mode, you should press alt+enter again.

Secondly, go to the character select screen and make sure you’re getting a good frame rate (remember to check the frame rate while you’re in full screen). If you are getting lower than 60 frames per second, the host may need to increase the pad buffer, like in Step 5. Increase the pad buffer until the frame rate stabilizes, but make sure it is as low as possible because a higher pad buffer will introduce input lag.

At this point, you just select the characters and stages. You may want to communicate with your opponent in the Dolphin netplay chat which stage(s) you want, assuming you don’t go random. Having multiple monitors is useful for this, as you can see the chat and play in full screen at the same time. If you don’t have multiple monitors, you can just use alt+enter to enter and exit full screen mode.

After every match, you should make sure you go into chat to make sure your opponent hasn’t said anything. If not, you can continue playing more matches.

Step 7: Ending a match

If you or your opponent feel like you want to stop, this should be communicated in chat. It is also customary to say something like “Good games”, “GGs”, “It’s been fun”, or “Thanks for the matches” and generally having a closing conversation or saying goodbye before leaving. You can then stop Dolphin however way you feel (you can just close all the relevant windows, though some may ask to confirm that you want to close them).

If you got this far, congratulations! You have successfully played SD Remix online!