If you haven’t been around in the past couple of days, then you probably never noticed, but Sylverant now has a new host. I apologize for the downtime over the past few days, but things are getting a lot closer to normal now…

I’d like to sincerely thank our previous host GrizzlyAdams for graciously hosting us for the past seven years. It’s hard to believe, but it all started with me joking around on IRC and asking if he’d like to host a PSO server that I was writing — and he agreed. I never expected him to do so, and I never expected the server to still be around all these years later. Unfortunately, due to a number of issues, he had to discontinue our hosting, thus I’ve moved us over to a new cloud hosting solution.

There are still a few things that aren’t quite back to normal yet, but they should get there over the next few days. The server itself has been back up for several hours, even if the website has lagged behind a bit.

I’ll be posting more details about what this move means in the near future.

If you are using one of the DNS tricks to access the server, you will have to update the address of the server. The How to Connect page has already been updated with all the information that you need to know. Anyone using the Sylverant PSO Patcher disc on the Dreamcast shouldn’t have to change anything (unless you were also using the old DNS server — if so, just remove it as it is not necessary). I still need to get the PPP server set back up for use with Devolution, so Wii users will have to wait just a bit longer for me to get everything back to normal (sorry!).

It’s been a while since the last event (which wasn’t my intent), so I figure it’s a good time for a new one. So, here’s what you need to know…

Event Information:
Start Time: October 24, 2016 @ 00:00 UTC (@41)
End Time: November 7, 2016 @ 00:00 UTC (@41)

Description:
Hunters! Are you ready for Halloween? The monsters of Ragol certainly are. Crash their party and help make the streets a safer place for children of all ages.
This Event is only open to PSOv1 and PSOv2 users (on Dreamcast or PC).

Prizes:
No prizes are being given for this event. This one is completely for the fun of it.

(Not So) Fine Print:

• This event, like previous events, requires you to have enabled /trackkills on your account while logged in (with /login or /tlogin). It is only open to those with a registered account on the Sylverant website that have registered their serial number and access key on the site.
• The /trackkills command must be run on each registered guildcard in your account for any kills made with that guildcard to be counted (results are aggregated across all guildcards in your account).
• If you used the /trackkills command in the earlier events, unless you have since disabled it, your kills will be tracked for this event.
• Only enemies killed in free-play will be counted — no enemies killed during quests will count toward your totals for this event.

Get out there and crash the monsters’ party!

It came to my attention a couple of weeks ago that Wii users were unable to connect to the server using Devolution in the normal manner prescribed by it’s author tueidj. Being that I haven’t changed anything in the Sylverant code in a while directly related to logging in with the Gamecube version, I was naturally curious as to what was going on. To this end, I reached out to tueidj regarding the matter.

Upon contacting tueidj, he informed me that he had effectively blacklisted any traffic from his server to Sylverant (by a process known as null-routing any connections). The effect being that he blocked all Wii users from connecting to Sylverant unless they set up their own PPP emulation servers to do so. As of now tueidj is still null-routing connections to the IP address for Sylverant (if you were to specify 0 for a phone number and specify Sylverant’s IP for the DNS server), but connections that normally would go to Sylverant automatically (using 2 for the phone number) are being now directed to l33tserv instead. tueidj took this action without contacting anyone associated with Sylverant and with no warning whatsoever.

I have had nothing but respect for tueidj up until this point — he created Devolution and has hosted the requisite PPP emulation server for many years without any problems. I also respect that most Devolution traffic generally goes through his server and he can do with that server as he pleases. However, null-routing the traffic bound for Sylverant (and subsequently redirecting it to l33tserv) without even the decency to notify me is not exactly deserving of respect. Out of full disclosure, I should also mention the reason that tueidj has taken this action: he got into an argument with Aleron Ives on the forum (over something completely pointless) and I chimed in to ask everyone to chill out. That is it.

I have held up on writing this post for about a week after I found out about the issue, hoping that an amicable conclusion to the situation could be reached. However, it appears at this point that there will be no amicable conclusion to the issue with tueidj, especially being that traffic is now being redirected to l33tserv. Unfortunately, the software that has been discussed previously to set up a PPP emulation server is horribly out of date and does not build nor work properly on the OS I have set up on the server here. This unfortunately means that until I can develop a replacement for that PPP emulation software (I have begun on this task about a week ago now), nobody will be able to connect with the Wii to Sylverant (unless someone else sets up the PPP emulation server software successfully).

It was fifteen years ago today that Sega released Phantasy Star Online for the Sega Dreamcast in the United States. It seems fitting to do something to commemorate this anniversary, so we have a new server event that starts now.

Event Information:
Start Time: January 29, 2016 @ 05:00 UTC (@250)
End Time: February 12, 2016 @ 05:00 UTC (@250)

Description:
The original Phantasy Star Online for the Sega Dreamcast was released 15 years ago. Let’s keep the hunt going for 15 more years!
Your task is to hunt down the enemies that tormented all of those brave hunters that took to Ragol in the original Phantasy Star Online.

Prizes:
No prizes are being given for this event. This one is completely for the fun of it.

(Not So) Fine Print:

• This event, like the previous two events, requires you to have enabled /trackkills on your account while logged in (with /login or /tlogin). It is only open to those with a registered account on the Sylverant website that have registered their serial number and access key on the site.
• The /trackkills command must be run on each registered guildcard in your account for any kills made with that guildcard to be counted (results are aggregated across all guildcards in your account).
• If you used the /trackkills command in the earlier events, unless you have since disabled it, your kills will be tracked for this event.
• Only enemies killed in free-play will be counted — no enemies killed during quests will count toward your totals for this event.

Get out there and hunt down the creatures that tormented the brave hunters of lore!