Netplay questions: Can two Pi's connect directly via LAN?

Daistaar

Hey guys,

I have a few quick questions regarding Netplay. I've looked at the Docs on here and and read in the github but I'm not sure if I'm clear on a few things for a specific scenario I'm trying:

I have a Raspberry Pi 3B+ in a car (Wired into the center console) that is mirrored on two headrests monitors. This currently allows the kids/adults in the backseat to play games mirrored. Works awesome for full screen games like Final Fight and various Street Fighters. Basically anything full screen which can be seen by both. Everyone loves it. However, when playing split screen games like Mario Kart, I'd like for each player to have their own dedicated full screen. I know the games were never coded like this but I'm curious if Netplay would provide an experience similiar to this. I'm wondering if it would be worth my wile to install a second Pi and have it configured on one screen as a client and the other as a host and link them directly to each other via LAN. Would this allow, say full screen multi-player Mario Kart for each monitor? Would they still just see everything split? More curiosity as I have a few Pi's sitting around that I wouldn't mind using to enhance the roadtrip experience even further.

dankcushions

@Daistaar said in Netplay questions: Can two Pi's connect directly via LAN?:

Would this allow, say full screen multi-player Mario Kart for each monitor? Would they still just see everything split?

everything split.

Parabolaralus

@Daistaar Follow these instructions Netplay and forget about the router config for opening ports because you wont have one in between the Pis. Wire the Pis together with a patch cable...

Each Pi will need its own static IP on the wired interface in which this guide should help you get configured PiHut Static Config
You can copy the code from their website under eth0 to get you setup. Make sure each Pi has its own unique IP address for example host is set to 192.168.1.100 and client set to 192.168.1.200, but if you want to get really fancy and maybe take your Pis in/out of the car for updating, etc be sure to use the same address range as in your home...for example if your home network is 10.1.10.xxx use that instead of 192.168.1.xxx

You can also always leave the wireless interface alone and have it get its assignment from the DHCP server for updating when you take them inside, but its up to you. I personally put statics on all my pi/desktops, but i also have use cases for doing so.

Clyde

@Daistaar said in Netplay questions: Can two Pi's connect directly via LAN?:

Would this allow, say full screen multi-player Mario Kart for each monitor? Would they still just see everything split?

That would require heavy hacking on the game roms themselves, while RetroArch's Netplay just uses the unmodified roms and spans the players' monitor & controller cables through the network, figuratively speaking.