ZZCaster

A Zig port of CCCaster, the netplay launcher and DLL injector for MELTY BLOOD Actress Again Current Code (MBAACC).

Why the name? First Z from Zig the programming language, second from Z.ai which this project used(almost by its entirety).

What ZZCaster Does

ZZCaster consists of two binaries:

1. zzcaster.exe — The launcher. Provides an ImGui-based UI for selecting game modes (Training, Versus, Netplay Host/Join, Spectate), configuring settings, and mapping controllers. Creates the MBAA.exe process in suspended state, injects hook.dll via CreateRemoteThread(LoadLibraryA), then resumes the main thread.

2. hook.dll — The injected DLL. Runs inside MBAA.exe's process space. Patches the game's main loop to call a per-frame callback (frameStep), which handles input reading, network communication (ENet), rollback state management, and SFX deduplication.

This is how CCCaster works too.

Build

Prerequisites

Component	How to install
Zig 0.16	https://ziglang.org/download/ → extract → add to PATH or your package manager

All C/C++ dependencies (ENet, Dear ImGui, cimgui, SDL2 MinGW) are auto-downloaded by scripts/fetch-deps.sh.

Quick start

./scripts/fetch-deps.sh
zig build -Dtarget=x86-windows-gnu -Doptimize=ReleaseFast

Output appears in zig-out/bin/:

• zzcaster.exe — the launcher (32-bit)
• hook.dll — the injected DLL (32-bit, matches MBAA.exe)

Both binaries are 32-bit (x86-windows-gnu). MBAA.exe is a 32-bit binary, so hook.dll MUST be 32-bit to be loadable. zzcaster.exe is also built 32-bit so the launcher and DLL share types and ABI for IPC. The build will refuse to produce a non-x86 Windows target (see build.zig).

Deploy to game directory

./scripts/build-and-deploy.sh --game-dir="/path/to/MBAACC"

This copies zzcaster.exe to the MBAACC root and hook.dll + SDL2.dll to MBAACC/zzcaster/.

Usage

Interactive (ImGui UI)

zzcaster.exe

A window opens with a sidebar menu:

• Netplay / Spectate — Enter IP:port, then click Host, Join, or Spectate
• Offline — Training Mode or Versus Mode
• Game Config — Set win count and rollback frames (text input + Apply)
• Controllers — Per-player controller mapper: bind any button/direction via click-to-bind, set SOCD mode and analog deadzone, and toggle the optional Air Dash Macro (see below). Saved to mapping.ini and loaded by hook.dll on game start.

New Features

Air Dash Macro

An optional input macro, enabled per-player in the Controllers tab (off by default). When enabled, pressing 9AB (up-forward + A+B) or 7AB (up-back + A+B) will perform a forward or backwards jump then an air dash.

Wi-fi Indicator

When you play online, you can see if your opponent is using wifi or wired.

Dependencies

Library	Version	License	Purpose
ENet	1.3.18	MIT	Reliable UDP transport
Dear ImGui	1.92.8	MIT	UI rendering
cimgui	master	MIT	C API wrapper for ImGui
SDL2	2.32.10	zlib	Window, input, gamepad

Cross-compilation

ZZCaster cross-compiles from Linux to Windows. Both hook.dll and zzcaster.exe are 32-bit (-Dtarget=x86-windows-gnu). MBAA.exe is a 32-bit binary so hook.dll MUST be 32-bit; the launcher is also 32-bit so the two artifacts share types and ABI for the IPC config struct. The build script rejects any non-x86 Windows target with a clear error.

Credits

ZZCaster is a from-scratch rewrite of the CCCaster fork of Rhekar. The original project is a C++ Win32 application that has served the MBAACC community for years. This Zig port aims to modernize the codebase while preserving the same netcode algorithm and game compatibility.

Original project: https://github.com/Rhekar/CCCaster

Key components ported from the original:

• Game memory addresses and ASM hacks (from legacy_unused/targets/DllAsmHacks.cpp)
• Rollback state pool and SFX dedup (from DllRollbackManager.cpp)
• Netplay state machine and input synchronization (from DllNetplayManager.cpp)
• Spectator chain forwarding (from SpectatorManager.cpp)
• Rollback memory regions (from Generator.cpp)

License

ZZCaster is released under the same license as the original CCCaster.