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 Unfortunately, the software that has been discussed previously to set up a PPP emulation server is horribly out of date and does not build nor work properly on the OS I have set up on the server here.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!

It’s been a while since there’s been any news here, but all in all that’s probably a good thing. It means that things are pretty calm and running relatively smoothly (which is always a good thing). Over the past few months, I’ve not had much time for working on the server, but there have been a few changes here and there. Here’s a little list:

• Added NOL protection code
• Small bugfixes to server-side drops (yes, I know there are still issues on PSOGC)
• Made the quest list show quests for all episodes on PSOGC, not just the one that the game is set to
• Fixed the quest list icons on PSOGC
• Added long descriptions of quests on the Download Quest menu

Thanks go to Aleron Ives for nagging me to do all of these (and for filling in the long descriptions on the download quests). 😉

Speaking of download quests, there’s been a few other interesting developments regarding them. First of all, Aleron Ives has gone ahead and added all the different language versions of the PSO+ quests that are available as download quests on PSOGC. (Thanks go out to Hayame for providing the quests from his Japanese copy of PSO+.) Also, I’ve added all the download quests I can find for PSOv1. Unfortunately, I’ve only got one language for each quest (Letter from Lionel is only in English, all the rest are Japanese-only). That said, we do finally have some PSOv1 download quests, which is a good thing, all in all. 🙂

Anyhow, that’s all I’ve got for today. I hope everyone in the US has a great Independence Day (and everyone else just has a nice day regardless of it not being a holiday). 🙂

I’m getting this organized a bit later than I would have liked, but I really wanted to have an Easter event, so here it is…

Event Information:
Start Time: April 3, 2015 @ 16:00 UTC (@708)
End Time: April 10, 2015 @ 16:00 UTC (@708)

Description:
Forest-dwelling monsters are stealing all the Easter Eggs that were hidden for the annual Pioneer 2 Easter Egg Hunt. Hunt down the monsters that seek to ruin the holiday for the children of Pioneer 2!

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 one earlier in the year, requires you to have enabled /trackkills on your account while logged in (with /login). 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 event, 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.

Well, even if it is a few hours early for me, officially by the server’s time (UTC), it’s the new year. So, it’s time to unveil a new feature of the server that hopefully some people will find enjoyable. 🙂

Last year, I started accepting donations in Dogecoins that would be put toward server events and whatnot. Today begins the first of these events! As of the time of the writing of this post, the donations wallet has just under 14,000 Dogecoins in it, so I’ll put 7,000 coins up for grabs in the event that starts today.

How the event will work is as follows, anyone who wishes to participate in this event (as well as any future events) must be logged into his or her account on the server (i.e, you have to have used the /login command in-game), and then must use the new /trackkills command. Once you do so, the server will keep track of the enemies you kill in-game and will automatically record them when you leave the team you’re in. Note: the new /trackkills command and enemy tracking now works on Iselia, Vega, Altimira, and Palmacosta.

For the current event running, your kill counts of certain Episode 1 enemies (no, I’m not telling you which ones, but feel free to try to figure it out 😉 ) will be totaled up across all free-play (non quest, non challenge, non battle) teams that you participate in for the next month. At the end of the month, the top three players by that count will receive a prize. It’s as simple as that. First place will take home 4,000 DOGE, second place will take home 2,000 DOGE, and third place will take home 1,000 DOGE. Winners will be contacted by me after the end of the month to figure out where to send their winnings (and if any winners wish to reinvest their winnings in the donations pool, they are more than welcome to do so).

Anyway, I hope everyone enjoys our first server-wide event and I hope everyone has a great new year.

PS: Continue reading for answers to a few questions you might have…
Read the rest of this entry »