PPSSPP will attempt to establish connection to any IP or domain that is put in the ad-hoc server text box. So, much like a web browser, it entirely depends on where you tell it to connect.

That being said, as for any security concerns, I am unaware of any exploits and/or wrongdoings with PPSSPP code, so you should be safe. It only passes the data directly between the emulated games and the chat box feature.

So, for PPSSPP multiplayer, you either need to be in a LAN with the other players or, as you’ve said, forward the port.

So, if you’re on the same LAN as your friend(s), it’s as easy as setting the IP address to the host (on all the clients) and the same wifi channel in PPSSPP settings.

If you wish to play online, it gets tricky. Most cellular data providers are behind something known as a CGNAT, which basically prohibits port forwarding.

The only solution and workaround to this is to use a VPN tunnel that can put you in a virtual LAN with your friends but over the internet. One of the most commonly used software on PC for this is LogMeIn Hamachi. Not sure if there is anything like it on Android, though.

I’ve actually set up a Yu-Gi-Oh Tag Force tournament for DLE but that quickly went nowhere after a couple episodes lol

Shining Force. One of few RPGs I played…

Man, I miss it. I know that the “Shining” brand technically isn’t dead but, it hasn’t been the same since after Shining Force 3. Or, heck, even during it.

Absolute madness. I cringe at the thought of making modern x86 asm code.

Great work!

Anti cheat is like DRM. It’s a waiting game more than it is about actual direct protection.

Wait, what? Playstation?

You could say that this isn’t very alarming

Similarly how SilentPatch and the WidescreenFix fixes various bugs and adds improvements, mine does as well.

As a matter of fact, I used to maintain ThirteenAG’s WFP for NFS. Now I’m focused on my own thing mostly. (Forked it off of it but barely any of the code is left lol)

It’s called NFS-MultiFix. (I made one ages ago in 2017 for ProStreet but I’m reviving the project now).

It’s a going to basically be an all-in-one thing. So, from basic things like a widescreen fix, to the added ability to change resolutions of environment maps and shadows, fixing clipped/popin shadows in Undercover, fixing crashes, fixing some crap gameplay features, resizable windowed mode, etc. Basically, making it a version of the game that it deserves to be on PC.

It’s a genuinely pretty massive set of fixes spanning over 80 cpp/hpp files with about 500 lines of code on average. I made sure to optimize every nitty-gritty and I ended up with a smaller DLL size than the average widescreen fix while adding so many more features.

I also have a design rule in place - it must do its best effort to work in every possible version of the game without crashing. This includes demo versions of the same games. (This sadly doesn’t count DRM but nothing I can do about that)

That being said, I am currently focused on ProStreet (as I’m also the main coder in Team Pepega for the Pepega Mod) and I hope to make a release within the next year. It should be available for every Black Box NFS on PC (except The Run and World)

If you wanna check out what I made so far, check out the Reformed mod for Undercover. I made an exclusive release for those guys because frankly, Undercover is the worst one out of the bunch (in terms of code).

Silent is a real cool dude. I’ve interacted with him directly and he’s always been helpful.

I assume the code was closed only because it was a bit of a hodge podge he had to clean up. (Well, that and the GTA modding scene is a bit, uh, toxic, to say the least)

I’m currently in a similar position for Black Box NFS games. It’s taken me over a year so far and I’m still not fully satisfied to release anything because there’s so much code to span over 6 (similar, but different) games.

Unironically, the best bet for them is nvidia 540xx drivers on the AUR with an LTS kernel.

Yeah enabling remote debugging because the dev thought it made it easier is a pretty big oof.

But this is just strike one. It’s a one man show, after all, so cutting them some slack is warranted when it comes to this specific topic.

Nevertheless, your concerns aren’t unfounded. This project needs more contributors to be able to keep up. (Thorium is basically in the same boat)