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Unofficial Dreamcast Phantasy Star Online Server Created

Posted by simoniker on from the those-good-fer-something-hackers dept.

Thanks to Insert Credit for their news story noting: "Some intrepid fellows have taken it upon themselves to construct an unofficial Phantasy Star Online Dreamcast server." Since the official servers closed last year, those wanting to play on DC were out of luck, but a DXBNet forum post notes that an early V2-only test server is public. In the same forums, an earlier FAQ explains: "There's... a [Code Breaker] code that will modify [the server name] where you log-in to", although it's clear that development is still early, and "the server is still under heavy maintenance."

25 comments

  1. Frosty one? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    Thanks! -scc

    1. Re:Frosty one? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

      Mod parent up +5 fresh frosty piss.

      Very refreshing.

  2. Unofficial 10000 digits of pi by users.pl · · Score: -1

    3.141592653589793238462643383279502884197169399375 1058209749445923078164062862
    08998628034825342117 067982148086513282306647093844 6095505822317253594081284811
    17450284102701938521 105559644622948954930381964428 8109756659334461284756482337
    86783165271201909145 648566923460348610454326648213 3936072602491412737245870066
    06315588174881520920 962829254091715364367892590360 0113305305488204665213841469
    51941511609433057270 365759591953092186117381932611 7931051185480744623799627495
    67351885752724891227 938183011949129833673362440656 6430860213949463952247371907
    02179860943702770539 217176293176752384674818467669 4051320005681271452635608277
    85771342757789609173 637178721468440901224953430146 5495853710507922796892589235
    42019956112129021960 864034418159813629774771309960 5187072113499999983729780499
    51059731732816096318 595024459455346908302642522308 2533446850352619311881710100
    03137838752886587533 208381420617177669147303598253 4904287554687311595628638823
    53787593751957781857 780532171226806613001927876611 1959092164201989380952572010
    65485863278865936153 381827968230301952035301852968 9957736225994138912497217752
    83479131515574857242 454150695950829533116861727855 8890750983817546374649393192
    55060400927701671139 009848824012858361603563707660 1047101819429555961989467678
    37449448255379774726 847104047534646208046684259069 4912933136770289891521047521
    62056966024058038150 193511253382430035587640247496 4732639141992726042699227967
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    85784383827967976681 454100953883786360950680064225 1252051173929848960841284886
    26945604241965285022 210661186306744278622039194945 0471237137869609563643719172
    87467764657573962413 890865832645995813390478027590 0994657640789512694683983525
    95709825822620522489 407726719478268482601476990902 6401363944374553050682034962
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    54735739523113427166 102135969536231442952484937187 1101457654035902799344037420
    07310578539062198387 447808478489683321445713868751 9435064302184531910484810053
    70614680674919278191 197939952061419663428754440643 7451237181921799983910159195
    61814675142691239748 940907186494231961567945208095 1465502252316038819301420937
    62137855956638937787 083039069792077346722182562599 6615014215030680384477345492
    0260541466592520

  3. codebreakers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

    As long as the actual IP address isn't hardcoded (highly unlikely), you should just be able to punch in an ip address for a nameserver that is run by the same people, a nameserver that can lie to your client software to send it in the right direction. Much easier.

    1. Re:codebreakers by notsoclever · · Score: 1

      And for the 3 people who have the Dreamcast Broadband Adaptor on a NATted home network, they could just set up their own DNS zone too.

      --
      There are 10 kinds of people: ones who understand ternary, ones who don't, and ones who think this joke is about binary
    2. Re:codebreakers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

      As long as the actual IP address isn't hardcoded (highly unlikely), you should just be able to punch in an ip address for a nameserver that is run by the same people, a nameserver that can lie to your client software to send it in the right direction. Much easier.

      Actually, this (fixed IP) is exactly how Sega did it with Alien Front Online, and why its online play got broken when they changed network providers.

    3. Re:codebreakers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      the private server was originaly created for pso pc but we decided to add dc suport becuse dc servers were also shut down. the best way to connect with dc is the code breaker and for pc you just edit the connection adress its easy to get online AND ITS FREE!!!

  4. Great! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Now you 3 guys take out those mobs, and I'll make sure these crates of treasure get thoroughly searched..

  5. the faq was a bit vague.. by gl4ss · · Score: 1

    can you play this with the modem if you connect the modem to another modem and give it ppp(or whatever it wanted) over that?

    bba's aren't that easy to find for cheap :\

    --
    world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
    1. Re:the faq was a bit vague.. by toiletsalmon · · Score: -1

      Supposedly...

      http://home.elp.rr.com/terlouw/DCWinMEServer.htm

  6. WTF is Phantasy Star? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    WTF is Phantasy Star? Is it one of those games that's retarded popular in Korea, but no one gives a shit about it here?

    1. Re:WTF is Phantasy Star? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Flamebait

      Oh, are you the anti-Korean troll that's been hanging out here recently?

      What happened, did a Korean guy steal your girlfriend or something?

    2. Re:WTF is Phantasy Star? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

      A Korean guy *is* my girlfriend! A HAH HAH HAH!

    3. Re:WTF is Phantasy Star? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

      AIDS PUNISHES FAGS.

  7. same as it ever was by August_zero · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Good news, though after the cube and x-box versions there isn't really any reason to still play the old one if you have access to the newer version. But I suppose some people prefer the old version just as a few people hated the Diablo 1.10 patch.

    But there is something to be said about the nice warm fuzzy feelings that come with nostalgia, maybe it's just a feeling of security as you hold one of those ghastly boxy dreamcast controlers.

    I wonder if Sega is going to get a bug up their asses over this? I think it is a safe bet that part of the EULA is that the game was only to be played on Sega servers.

    --
    On Wall Street they say "buy low, sell high" On the pad we say, "buy high, sell high" Isn't that somehow better?
    1. Re:same as it ever was by Tetrad_of_doom · · Score: 1

      Actually, there is a good reason to play the Dreamcast version. The GCN and XBox versions cost $10 a month, while the DC version was free.

    2. Re:same as it ever was by TLSPRWR · · Score: 1

      WAS free, PSOv2 for Dreamcast was about $10 a month as well. Why people continue paying for hardly anything that PSO offers is beyond me.

    3. Re:same as it ever was by fruitbane · · Score: 1

      PSO released on newer systems may not be enough to encourage some of us to spend hard-earned cash on a GameCube or X-Box. For those of us that have Dreamcasts and have the game, why should we upgrade to continue using what we have been able to use for some time? Bring on the free server!

    4. Re:same as it ever was by Tetrad_of_doom · · Score: 1

      Will these new unofficial servers charge for use?

    5. Re:same as it ever was by August_zero · · Score: 1

      each to their own, but the cube and x-box versions added loads of content: levels, monsters, items, classes, etc. The free vs $10 a month is a strong argument, and I can understand a general unwillingness to abandon 200+ hour old characters.

      --
      On Wall Street they say "buy low, sell high" On the pad we say, "buy high, sell high" Isn't that somehow better?
    6. Re:same as it ever was by High+Res. · · Score: 0

      Actally in Japan they had to pay an online fee for all versions of the game, including V1. The online fee for V2 in the US came out to roughly 10 dollars for THREE months of online play. Currently Ep 1 and 2 (and the upcoming Ep 3 which will share the fee) have a fee of 8.95 per month in the US, and I believe somewhere around 5 a month in Japan.

  8. It's pretty easy to use by Myria · · Score: 5, Informative

    I made my own, independent PSO server that also supports GameCube PSO. My server isn't public, though.

    You can log onto the server using either this Code Breaker code or by setting your DNS server as someone mentioned earlier.

    There is one problem, however. When Sega shuts down auth01.dricas.com, which they surely will, it will be impossible for American v2 and Japanese players to get on these servers without a Code Breaker. This is because the game connects to this particular server using HTTPS, and verifies the key as matching "auth01.dricas.com" and being signed by VeriSign.

    Melissa 3

    --
    "Screw Sun, cross-platform will never work. Let's move on and steal the Java language." - Visual J++ Product Manager
  9. Is Sega's server simply a matching service? by Webapprentice · · Score: 2, Interesting

    From what you describe, it sounds like the server is simply a matching service and you don't need their server software to do stuff.

    Or did somebody reverse engineer the srever code by reading packets?

  10. Yet another reason why... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I support open server platforms.

    PSO is fun enough offline, but the meat is online. Or, at least, it is, until someone on the other end decides it's no longer financially viable. There's really no reason why a server program can't be released for end user use when a product has reached End Of Life.

  11. NAT and Linux boxes. by 13Echo · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Has anyone tried doing this with a NAT/router system on a Linux box? I suppose that one could use some sort of forwarding to do all of the dirty work.

    I have the Gamecube game, but the cheating was even worse than the DC games so I stopped playing. At least this way, we can have controlled servers with people that actually pay attention to what is going on.

    Sure, the Dreamcast misses the extra stuff that is in PSO Episode 2, but version 2 is still a great DC game. I might just have to reawaken these old characters and start playing again.