Ultra Street Fighter IV gets a new lease of online life thanks to rollback netcode mods

More than a decade after its release, Ultra Street Fighter IV is getting a second wind online thanks to community mods that replace its old delay-based netcode with genuine modern rollback netcode. Two competing projects are moving forward in parallel, SF4Enhanced by developer Faabi (built on Anthony Danducci's SFE mod) and SFEmbers by developer Kabiefox, both promising a noticeably smoother and more consistent online experience than the original game.

SF4Enhanced just hit a major milestone with the release of version 1.0.0: the mod now features public lobbies where anyone can join a match without an invite code, runs with no port forwarding setup required, and relies on relay servers in Spain, Germany and now the United States to cut latency for players worldwide.

An enthusiastic welcome, but not a unanimous one

Well-known figures from the competitive scene, such as pro player Chris Tatarian, said they were impressed by how smooth the game now feels, while former tournament organizers called the work 'incredible'. Other players, however, report less stable sessions than expected, sometimes with more lag than the native netcode, a sign the mod is still being refined. SF4Enhanced is available for free on GitHub, and a detailed setup guide for installing it on the Steam version of the game is available on usf4.online.

Source: Time Extension