Unofficial Dreamcast Phantasy Star Online Server Created

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."

codebreakers

[Anonymous Coward]

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.

Re:codebreakers

[notsoclever]

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.

Re:codebreakers

[Anonymous Coward]

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.

the faq was a bit vague..

[gl4ss]

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 :\

same as it ever was

[August_zero]

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.

Re:same as it ever was

[Tetrad_of_doom]

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.

Re:same as it ever was

[TLSPRWR]

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.

Re:same as it ever was

[Tetrad_of_doom]

Will these new unofficial servers charge for use?

Re:same as it ever was

[fruitbane]

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!

Re:same as it ever was

[August_zero]

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.

It's pretty easy to use

[Myria]

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

Is Sega's server simply a matching service?

[Webapprentice]

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?

NAT and Linux boxes.

[13Echo]

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.