MHTri community server: client setup guide

-------------------DOLPHIN USERS------------------- 1) Acquire an ISO file for the PAL or NTSC version of Monster Hunter Tri. You can get it from archive.org: https://archive.org/download/Wii_ISO If you have concerns about legality or malware, you could also rip it from a legitimate copy of the disk: https://dolphin-emu.org/docs/guides/ripping-games/ 2) Install Dolphin Emulator from https://dolphin-emu.org/ 2a) Ensure that your Dolphin version is at least 5.0-17269. You may need to enable the Beta branch (Options -> Configuration -> General tab -> Auto Update Settings -> Auto Update to Beta (once a month)) 3) Add your ripped Monster Hunter Tri ISO to your Dolphin Library. 4) Download the MH3SP Riivolution Patch from https://drive.google.com/uc?export=download&id=1gmd7-QpS89-EqFMPJn-egLqf_GNcBpgW (alt: https://mega.nz/file/wIcAUKDL#A-9ptL8Zr3k-ziynp9AfrxXxm745DlYaL6Pqy7CqdeY) and extract it to a folder. Save it to a location you can easily remember- maybe even right alongside where you saved your Monster Hunter Tri ISO. 4a) IF YOU ARE ON LINUX OR ANDROID, Dolphin requires that Riivolution patches be installed in a specific directory. On Linux, open Dolphin and go to File -> Open User Folder, which will open your file explorer. From there, open the Load folder and extract the entire riivolution folder from the zip file into there. On Android, tap and hold on the game in the Dolphin main menu and tap Start with Riivolution Patches. At the top, you will see SD Root: <some directory>. Extract the entire riivolution folder from the zip file into that directory. 5) Open Dolphin and right-click the Monster Hunter Tri entry you added in Step 3. Click "Start with Riivolution Patches." 5a) Click the "Open Riivolution XML..." button and, in the window that pops up, navigate to the Riivolution Patch you extracted in Step 4. Navigate into the riivolution folder and open the MH3SP.xml file. You do not need to change any of the settings that appear from their defaults. 5b) Click the "Save as Preset..." button and save the file as something like, "MH3SP Server" 6) You should now see a new "game" on your Dolphin home screen called "MH3SP Server", or whatever you saved it as in Step 5b. Double click on that game to start, and you should be able to connect! Every time you launch the game, you should use that "game" you saved in Step 5b. That is your shortcut for launching a version of the game that can connect to the MH3SP Server. Now selecting "City" (online mode) in-game should connect you to the community server. Happy hunting. If the emulator is running poorly, make sure Options>General>Enable Dual Core is DISABLED. You may also need to change the Options>Graphics>General>Basic>Backend setting. I recommend Vulkan for AMD hardware. One more thing: you should right-click MHTri in your Dolphin library, click Properties, navigate to Patches, and enable the "Bloom OFF" patch. The emulator can't render bloom properly, it will look very messed up. OR use "Bloom Removal" in the Graphics Mods section. DO NOT USE BOTH. I'm not sure if there's any practical difference, you might want to experiment. Yes, this will work on a Steam Deck. -------------------WII & REAL DISK USERS------------------- 0) This requires a homebrewed Wii, which is beyond the scope of this guide. 1) Install Riivolution onto your Wii. Basic instructions and download links can be found at https://www.wiibrew.org/wiki/Riivolution 2) Download the MH3SP Riivolution Patch from https://drive.google.com/uc?export=download&id=1gmd7-QpS89-EqFMPJn-egLqf_GNcBpgW (alt: https://mega.nz/file/wIcAUKDL#A-9ptL8Zr3k-ziynp9AfrxXxm745DlYaL6Pqy7CqdeY) and copy the riivolution folder from it to the root of your SD card. 3) Insert your Monster Hunter Tri disk and load Riivolution. You should see the patch options appear with default settings; do not change these settings from their defaults. 4) Launch the game with the patches via Riivolution. Every time you want to connect to the MH3SP server you must launch your game via Riivolution. Be aware that real hardware tends to drop your connection. Dolphin is easier, offers more features, and is more stable. ------------------- Wii & USB Loader ------------------- 0) As with the disk method, this requires a homebrewed Wii. I am not familiar with USB loading; user discretion is advised. 1) Download the ISO Patcher from https://github.com/sepalani/MH3SP-patcher/releases/download/local-v2022.12/local-iso-patcher-v2022.12.zip 2) Extract the ISO Patcher zip file somewhere, it should extract a folder named iso-patcher 3) Download the ISO Patches from https://drive.google.com/uc?export=download&id=1T6X49pLewXRo8n8PpEHV1mza83n9zTdB (alt: https://mega.nz/file/tFE3yKyI#_FLTLfmVT-Dw2Y19cIafZz7FTZmU3SMnXWyLvVFIieI) 4) Extract the content of the ISO Patches zip file into the iso-patcher folder. (It must say that it would replace existing files, you must hit yes) 5) Copy the Monster Hunter Tri ISO file into the iso-patcher folder. (The game must be in ISO Format, if you have it in any other format, you must convert it first) 6) Execute patch-images.bat located in the iso-patcher folder. Shortly, a screen should appear with a messages that explain what is patching. 7) When the patching is done you should see the message that say Press any key to continue.... 8) The patched ISO should be located on the folder called mh3sp-images inside the iso-patcher.