How can I recover PSO access key with original save and dreamcast in hand, but no original case?

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Elliander
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How can I recover PSO access key with original save and dreamcast in hand, but no original case?

Post#1 » Thu May 06, 2021 4:48 pm

Hi, I have a very old Phantasy Star Online save on a VMU, and the original Dreamcast used to play the game, and the original disc, but I can't find the original serial or access key because I kept all my discs in a binder rather than the original jewel cases. I am sure I have it somewhere, but haven't been able to find it in the several months of looking.

I'd like to take the game onto a new modded Dreamcast and I'd like to be able to play with that character without any issues. I was wondering if there was any way to access serial number and key with what I have.

I have DreamConn+ wireless bluetooth controllers that charge with a USB cable that can plug into a PC, so would it be possible to use them in some way to get the save file onto my PC and read the serial key there? I mean, if the game will only let you play a character on a console that used the same serial key that was used with the save that means the serial key must be stored somewhere on the save, right? I don't need to edit the save in any way, just access the serial number.

Alternatively, would there be any way of getting it to show the serial number and access key on the original dreamcast used? or else what would be my options? Note that while I recall having entered the key somewhere I have never played on the official servers back when they existed.

Thanks.

EDIT: The internal battery on the old Dreamcast will be long since dead. I don't suppose that matters?

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lozz
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Re: How can I recover PSO access key with original save and dreamcast in hand, but no original case?

Post#2 » Thu May 06, 2021 5:29 pm

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but I don't think you will be able to recover that character. If the SNAK was still saved on the DC's memory, then you'd be fine. If not, and you don't have the SNAK available, then you're out of luck.

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Elliander
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Re: How can I recover PSO access key with original save and dreamcast in hand, but no original case?

Post#3 » Wed May 26, 2021 3:22 am

The SNAK is saved on the DC's memory, but I haven't been able to recover it. I heard that if I try creating a new character on the console I already played on with the original VMU that it will display the serial number, but it doesn't. Actually, when starting offline, it doesn't even ask me to enter the serial number (on that Dreamcast - it does on the newer one) and if I click to go online it then asks for a serial number which isn't pre-filled out. Since the old Dreamcast has a video issue it's not exactly easy for me to play on, but I can at least see enough of the screen to know that it's not displaying anything.

So, going forward, I am sure I will just have to start over, but I'd also like to be able to play online and there are other people in my house who may want to play as well and having to name each console is a bit much for a 20+ year old console.

Since the serial number seems to permanently save itself to the console what would happen if someone were to use the same SNAK on more the one console for simplicity sake? Would both consoles be able to play together on a private server? Would a character created on one be able to work on the other? Would there be any problems that would result from such a move?

If I can use the same key on more than one Dreamcast it would seem to be better since I could then store one code for all of them and not have to worry about which console a given character was created on, but I want to make sure that I won't cause any problems later if I do so.

Thanks.

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mistamontiel
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Re: How can I recover PSO access key with original save and dreamcast in hand, but no original case?

Post#4 » Wed May 26, 2021 8:06 am

Track down your SNAK wherever your PSOv2 jewel case may be

Input it into the next Dreamcast need resume character, good to go

EDIT: No you're fine no such scenario there is DC flash eraser it's how I got my next Dreamcast and made her my primary

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BlueCrab
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Re: How can I recover PSO access key with original save and dreamcast in hand, but no original case?

Post#5 » Wed May 26, 2021 11:45 am

Elliander wrote:The SNAK is saved on the DC's memory, but I haven't been able to recover it. I heard that if I try creating a new character on the console I already played on with the original VMU that it will display the serial number, but it doesn't. Actually, when starting offline, it doesn't even ask me to enter the serial number (on that Dreamcast - it does on the newer one) and if I click to go online it then asks for a serial number which isn't pre-filled out. Since the old Dreamcast has a video issue it's not exactly easy for me to play on, but I can at least see enough of the screen to know that it's not displaying anything.
Try playing offline, quitting the game, then selecting the option to play online. It may show you the serial number then.

Since the serial number seems to permanently save itself to the console what would happen if someone were to use the same SNAK on more the one console for simplicity sake? Would both consoles be able to play together on a private server? Would a character created on one be able to work on the other? Would there be any problems that would result from such a move?
If the same serial number is used on multiple consoles, you should indeed be able to move the character data between them without trouble. As for the rest of the question here, it probably depends on the policies of the server. I can only speak to how Sylverant handles it...

On Sylverant, if you register a key on the website to your account (that is to say, you're using a unique serial/access key from your game's case and you register that on the website), then only one console will be allowed online at a time with that key as all copies will have the same guild card number (and only one instance of each guild card number is allowed online at a time since the game requires that). If the key is not registered, you will be able to be online with multiple consoles at a time, but your guild card number will change on each console (so things like guild card searching will not necessarily work the way they should).

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Aleron Ives
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Re: How can I recover PSO access key with original save and dreamcast in hand, but no original case?

Post#6 » Wed May 26, 2021 4:52 pm

IIRC you need to go online with the existing character, quit the game, and then make a new character. It will fill in the fields for you when you try to go online with the new character.
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Elliander
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Re: How can I recover PSO access key with original save and dreamcast in hand, but no original case?

Post#7 » Wed May 26, 2021 6:38 pm

BlueCrab wrote:Try playing offline, quitting the game, then selecting the option to play online. It may show you the serial number then.


I tried that, but when I even press to go online it asks me for the serial number, even though it doesn't ask for it when I play offline. I seem to remember that the access key was something weird though.

Is it possible for an access key to be all zeroes or something like that? and if so how many characters should it be? That wouldn't help me with the serial number though even if that were the case.

BlueCrab wrote: On Sylverant, if you register a key on the website to your account (that is to say, you're using a unique serial/access key from your game's case and you register that on the website), then only one console will be allowed online at a time with that key as all copies will have the same guild card number (and only one instance of each guild card number is allowed online at a time since the game requires that).


If I create a new character with a new VMU it creates a new Guild Card. Wouldn't it's ID be different?

BlueCrab wrote: If the key is not registered, you will be able to be online with multiple consoles at a time, but your guild card number will change on each console (so things like guild card searching will not necessarily work the way they should).


I could purchase a new factory sealed copy to make sure that the code has never been registered and then use it with all the consoles, but what kind of problems would I face if I were to do that? What would it mean for Guild Card searching to not work the way it should? and can the key saved on the console ever be deleted? Alternatively, I could plan to buy a new case for each console, but to do that I would still need a way to delete used codes. Either way, going forward, I will plan to tape onto the underside and inside of the console case the PSO serial and access keys.

Aleron Ives wrote:IIRC you need to go online with the existing character, quit the game, and then make a new character. It will fill in the fields for you when you try to go online with the new character.


That could be the problem. I don't think I have ever taken this console online back when the official servers existed.

So, is there no way to extract the keys from the DC internal memory? I get that the save file is encrypted with the keys, so I wouldn't get them that way, but that means the keys have to be stored on the console itself in some accessible state, right?

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BlueCrab
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Re: How can I recover PSO access key with original save and dreamcast in hand, but no original case?

Post#8 » Wed May 26, 2021 9:13 pm

Elliander wrote:Is it possible for an access key to be all zeroes or something like that? and if so how many characters should it be? That wouldn't help me with the serial number though even if that were the case.
It is not possible for an actual "valid" access key to be all zeroes, that is for sure. Access keys are 8 case sensitive numbers/letters for the Dreamcast version of PSO.

If I create a new character with a new VMU it creates a new Guild Card. Wouldn't it's ID be different?
A guild card file and your guild card number are two different things. The guild card file just saves the cards you have gotten from other people online. Your guild card number is assigned by the server and is required to be a unique number amongst all other people playing online at any point in time. The server itself never sees your guild card file and has no idea of what the content of it is.

I could purchase a new factory sealed copy to make sure that the code has never been registered and then use it with all the consoles, but what kind of problems would I face if I were to do that? What would it mean for Guild Card searching to not work the way it should? and can the key saved on the console ever be deleted? Alternatively, I could plan to buy a new case for each console, but to do that I would still need a way to delete used codes. Either way, going forward, I will plan to tape onto the underside and inside of the console case the PSO serial and access keys.
Once again, I'm only speaking about Sylverant here as I have no idea how Schtserv handles this at all...

When logging onto the server, your Dreamcast sends the serial number, access key, and another identifier to the server to log you on. This identifier is treated by the server as a console ID. Thus, the server has three pieces of information to identify you: a serial number, access key, and that "console ID". However, certain circumstances can cause this "console ID" to change.

If a serial number/access key pair is not registered on the Sylverant website, the server will check whether there are any guild cards in the system that have an exact match for all three of the identifiers in the log on packet. To this end, a non-registered key can be used on multiple consoles as long as that console ID from earlier never matches on two consoles. To this end, Sylverant will not allow "shared keys" (that is to say keys that people have posted online) to be registered on the website. You can still use these keys to play the game, but you cannot register them to your account (and thus, any characters created using these keys cannot use any features that require registration on the website).

If a serial number/access key is registered on the Sylverant website to your account, the server will no longer take the console ID that is connecting into account when determining your guild card number. To this end, every console that uses that same serial number/access key will have the same guild card number and you will be able to thus freely use any character with that serial number on any of the consoles. However, as I said before, this will also mean that only one of these consoles will be able to be online at a time because the guild card number must only be in use by one client at a time.

You do not necessarily need to purchase factory sealed copies of the game -- any copy that has the original serial number/access key page or sticker is fine (assuming the version/region match whatever disc you are using to play the game, of course). If you happen to purchase a copy that has already been registered on the website, I can help solve that problem for you for Sylverant.

As for why guild card searching doesn't necessarily work right... Think about it this way... Let's say you start your character on the console with ID 1234 and you move it to the console with ID 2345. These two consoles will have different guild card numbers if the key is not registered on the website. Thus, a player you exchanged cards with on the first console wouldn't be able to find you on the second console and vice versa. Also, as I mentioned earlier it is possible for that console ID to be changed by some circumstances, which will also break any cards you have exchanged with others.

Keys saved on consoles can be deleted by resetting the flashrom of the console (there is a homebrew program out there to do this and the US v1.0 web browser can also do it). Keys saved on the website can be deleted on the website (although, this does not delete the key from your console or your save file, obviously). Keys saved in a particular save file from the game cannot be changed -- once you enter a key, that character is locked to that key forever more.

So, is there no way to extract the keys from the DC internal memory? I get that the save file is encrypted with the keys, so I wouldn't get them that way, but that means the keys have to be stored on the console itself in some accessible state, right?
There is currently no way to get the access key back from the console. It is possible to get the serial number, but without the access key it is pretty much useless.

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Elliander
lithium
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Re: How can I recover PSO access key with original save and dreamcast in hand, but no original case?

Post#9 » Thu May 27, 2021 10:28 pm

BlueCrab wrote: It is not possible for an actual "valid" access key to be all zeroes, that is for sure. Access keys are 8 case sensitive numbers/letters for the Dreamcast version of PSO.


It seems I was remembering wrong anyway.

This part's confusing me:

BlueCrab wrote:
To this end, a non-registered key can be used on multiple consoles as long as that console ID from earlier never matches on two consoles. To this end, Sylverant will not allow "shared keys"


This seems contradictory. Presumably, each Dreamcast would have a unique console ID, right? So wouldn't each Dreamcast create a different guild card?

Let's say I hooked up 4 consoles together. Each one used the same serial number/access key, but each having a different Console ID. Each member of the family creates a new character on their respective consoles, each having ther own unique guild card. Would they be able to play together online on Sylverant?


BlueCrab wrote:Let's say you start your character on the console with ID 1234 and you move it to the console with ID 2345. These two consoles will have different guild card numbers if the key is not registered on the website. Thus, a player you exchanged cards with on the first console wouldn't be able to find you on the second console and vice versa.


So as long as I make sure that each person plays on the respective console they started on this issue wouldn't crop up? If I understand correctly, it seems like that's a lesser issue than using a separate key on each console. If each console has the same key they could still play offline on any one, and just have to be on the correct one when playing online, and only if they want to bother with using guild cards. On the other hand, if each has it's own key they'd only ever be able to play on one console no matter what. Is that about right?

Even if I find my original key, I still need to me a choice on that.

BlueCrab wrote:There is currently no way to get the access key back from the console. It is possible to get the serial number, but without the access key it is pretty much useless.


How would I get that? Although, at this point, I am not sure I can do much more. The original Dreamcast's video is getting worse. I think it's on it's last legs.

I was able to get DreamConn+ to pair to my PC properly and was able to extract my PSO saves which incidentally removed the copy protections. Since restrictions were lifted I got my hopes up thinking it would let me play, but no, it didn't. Are there no editors to at least try and access the save file, even for offline play? Or even some modified ROM that won't check for the access key so that I can just load up my character?

SMiTH
Black Mesa
Posts: 1492

Re: How can I recover PSO access key with original save and dreamcast in hand, but no original case?

Post#10 » Thu May 27, 2021 11:13 pm

none of it matters unless you want a unique guild card #.
flash reset the dc, make new pso character and just use a shared serial and be done with it.
idk why the old character data would be so important?

if you want to have a character that was close to your original one...a specific level, specific items, etc, (like your original saved character)
just host a pso server, create new pso character that looks as close as you can remember to your old character and login using a shared serial since you dont have the access key etc., then mod your character level, mod you items, etc. so now its as close to original as possible.

you could either /save and then hex edit the character data, then /restore or you could simply memory edit the pso server itself or you could edit packet data but that is blocked or at least it used to be?

so while searching your name if you are on ver 2 you will see 35 ae ff ff in hex that is the name color.
if you see this then you're in the right place to edit character.
a few rows above name is the character level.
also next value after 35 ae ff ff is for npc characters 01-05 i.e sonic, tails, knuckes, rico, famitsu or whatever the ninja npc is called?
be careful though because its easy to make an rsod character by either modding name to unused unicode characters or going past allowed character limit, but no worries for the most part since i think all of this is patched on all servers.

another method would be to login using pso for pc then do all of the bankmods so you can get the items you used to have on original character and transfer them to your new dc character.

or mod what items your character starts with
idk

anyways i doubt any1 cares about what i am talking about.
but my point is that you could create a new character to look just like your original and that character could have all of your old items that you used to have. of course this new character might not be exactly the same and the items might not have all of the same percents and stats or w/e but it is as close as you can get. and you could make the items better than what you originally had lol

again you would need host your own server to do this since sylverant is legit and this probably breaks tos?

**now if you wanted to clone your character data you could backup vmu data and then use that vmu data on a dc emulator (nulldc, demul,etc) then load your save offline pso.
next use a memory editor and copy your character data hex code then save it to txt.
then you could mod character as i talked about earlier and use an exact clone of the orginal character data.

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