Dolphin Gamecube XLink BBA Tutorial

XLink Kai is a multi-platform and peer-to-peer LAN tunneling service which enables users to play local area network and ad-hoc multiplayer games on their consoles online with people all over the world. XLink Kai was first released in 2003, supporting the Xbox, PS2, and Gamecube at launch, with PSP, PS3, Xbox 360 and others support arriving soon after. Now, as of version 7.4.37, XLink Kai has added support for emulators to communicate directly via the XLink Kai client. The first to support this feature is the PC version of Dolphin when playing GameCube LAN games.

XLink Kai Home Page - https://teamxlink.co.uk
XLink Kai Status Page - https://status.teamxlink.co.uk/
Popular on XLink Twitter Bot - https://twitter.com/PopularOnXLink
Team XLink Official Discord - https://discord.gg/UyyjNpa
Supported Games List - https://www.teamxlink.co.uk/supported-games

Creating an Account and Installing Kai

To begin, you'll need to first create an XLink Kai account and download the program. Click on 'Sign Up' at the top of the XLink Kai home page and fill in your details, then hit submit. You'll then need to verify your email address and consent to the XLink Kai data collection policy (GDPR compliance). Be sure to also read the Acceptable Use Policy.

Afterwards, head to the downloads section and download the version of XLink Kai available for your operating system. (Remember that XLink Kai version 7.4.37 and higher is required for Dolphin XLink Kai BBA). Windows and Mac users, simply follow the instructions in your installer. Linux users will receive a binary inside a zip file or use the use the package repository

Windows users will be prompted to install WinPcap if they do not have it, or NPcap already installed. This is required for XLink to function.

Once XLink is launched, the Web UI will auto launch on the computer running the engine by default, in your default browser. This can also be accessed by typing in 'http://127.0.0.1:34522' into the address bar of any browser on the computer, or http://[IP address of computer running Kai]:34522 on any other device.

The rest of the tutorial will assume you are using the cross-platform Web UI, as opposed to the classic Windows GUI.

Need a bit more detail? Check out the install guides:

Setting up Dolphin on Windows

Dolphin 5.0-12233 or higher is required

Download the latest beta release or nightly release of Dolphin from https://dolphin-emu.org/download/ and extract/install it.

Once Dolphin is running open the configuration screen by clicking the "Config" button or going to Options -> Configuration

Select the GameCube tab and change the "SP1" drop down to "Broadband Adapter (XLink Kai)"

(Optional) If you are running Dolphin and XLink Kai on different computers/devices click the "..." button and enter the IP address of the PC/device where XLink Kai is running.

Playing GameCube LAN on XLink

Start XLink Kai and log into the WebUI with your browser. Once logged in click "Game Arenas" and navigate to the game you want to play. Check Supported Games for the list of LAN capable games.

In Dolphin start your game and you should see "XLink Kai BBA connected" on screen and once you activate LAN mode in game Dolphin will be detected as a GameCube and be shown in the consoles section of the Metrics screen.

If the metrics screen shows a detected Nintendo Console and says "Reachable: Yes" you are GOOD TO GO! You are now ready to play against other players but keep in mind GameCube LAN titles are very sensitive to latency so you need to be playing with others that are geographically close by so your ping to them is low enough for the game experience to be enjoyable.

Troubleshooting

No detected console

If the Metrics screen is not showing a detected console type /engine ddsclients in the XLink Kai chat to show connected emulators. This will show what (if any) emulators are currently connected and any game consoles detected via those emulators.

Example showing Dolphin connected and a GameCube detected after LAN mode was started in Mario Kart Double Dash

	* Engine DDS Clients *
dolphin "dolphin00:09:bf:fd:f4:ac"
- Nintendo Console 0009BFFDF4AC (Nintendo Gamecube)

If this section is blank make sure that "Broadband Adapter (XLink Kai)" is selected in Dolphin's GameCube configuration and that windows firewall has exceptions for both Dolphin and XLink Kai.

"Wrong IP Address" Message

In the XLink Kai configuration ensure "Automatically assign IP for: Gamecube/Switch/Wii/WiiU" is enabled then restart Dolphin.

Can't connect to other players

This is probably a port forwarding issue, especially if you see "No connection" under other player's names in XLink Kai. By default XLink will attempt to use UPNP to automatically port forward for you (Port set to 0 in XLink config) but sometimes this fails or your router does not allow UPNP. If it does support UPNP but forwarding is failing try rebooting your router. Some low-cost routers often have trouble with UPNP, especially ISP provided routers.

If this fails you may need to manually port forward, please see the port forwarding page.

Running Multiple Dolphins locally

If you want to run multiple copies of Dolphin on the same local network, all using one XLink Kai client, there are a couple things to keep in mind.

Each dolphin instance must have a unique BBA mac address. You can set this in Dolphin.ini or by changing your BBA type to TAP, editing the MAC address, then changing it back to XLink Kai BBA. If you are entering a MAC address by hand keep in mind it must begin with 00:09:bf or 00:17:ab
If the Dolphin instances are not running on the same PC as the XLink Kai client you will have to enter the local IP address of the PC in the BBA configuration and also be sure the firewall on the PC isn't blocking the connection to XLink!

Gamecube Multiplayer on Android

As of Dolphin 5.0-16950 Gamecube BBA is available on Android! Using XLink Kai the mobile version of Dolphin can now play Gamecube LAN games over WiFi with other local and remote players on mobile Dolphin, PC dolphin, and real Gamecubes.

Dolphin 5.0-16950 or higher is required

Download the latest dev release or nightly release of Dolphin from https://dolphin-emu.org/download/ and extract/install it.

Once Dolphin is running open the configuration screen by clicking the "Config" button or going to Options -> Configuration

Select the GameCube tab and change the "SP1" drop down to "Broadband Adapter (XLink Kai)"

Open XLink Kai on your PC/device and enter the IP address of the PC/device where XLink Kai is running.

On your XLink Kai device (or remotely accessing the WebUI) make sure Allow Remote DDS Connections is toggled and save and relaunch XLink Kai.

Open up your GameCube game and you're good to go!

Dolphin Gamecube XLink BBA Tutorial

Contents

Creating an Account and Installing Kai