PSO: How to differentiate O and 0 in the serial number?

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Elliander
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PSO: How to differentiate O and 0 in the serial number?

Post#1 » Tue Jan 18, 2022 4:59 pm

Hi, I went ahead and purchased a new sealed copy of PSO for use on a new Dreamcast since I couldn't find my old one to play with my game from 2003, and the Dreamcast that the old serial number was used on has bad video so can't play. I am now at the page where I need to enter the serial number, but the serial number has either an O or a 0 and with the font I can't really tell which is which. Is there any way for me to be sure before I enter it? Like, is there a line through the zeroes on the serial number if it is a zero like it is in the game? Will the Access Key be seen as invalid if the serial number is entered incorrectly? Since there's no undo here I want to be absolutely sure I do this right.

Also: I have an Ethernet adapter and a keyboard and want to eventually be able to play online with any online server that's active. Is there anything that I should know to get connected before setting everything up to initially play offline?

Thanks!

EDIT: Similar question for a W. Determining if it's capital or lowercase, or if the game will catch incorrect combinations either way.

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mazonemayu
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Re: PSO: How to differentiate O and 0 in the serial number?

Post#2 » Tue Jan 18, 2022 5:44 pm

well, for starters an 0 is not as wide as an O, it's like that in every font ever made ;)

for example this one clearly has a 0 (zero)

https://archive.org/details/PhantasySta ... 20page.jpg

it doesn't matter if you make an error, it simply will not work & you'll have to start over again
We are SEGA generation.

Subscribe:

https://youtube.com/user/mazonemayu <———gameplay vids be here

Visit:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/150479343@N06/albums <—-collection piccies here

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Elliander
lithium
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Re: PSO: How to differentiate O and 0 in the serial number?

Post#3 » Tue Jan 18, 2022 6:03 pm

Thanks for the pictures! I was looking for a visual reference! Yeah, I know that O is wider than 0 in every font, but because this font shows all the numbers as wider than normal fonts and because there wasn't both an O and a 0 I wasn't sure. I was afraid of ending up starting a game with a bogus serial combination and then not being to play online with others so it's good to hear that it won't let me proceed. I guess the game does some math on the serial number and access key to make sure they are possible matches?.

My game doesn't have a card like that. The serial number is in a sticker inside the jewel case, but I can compare the 0 in that code to other letters in my code to say that I probably don't have a zero here.

Looking at my W, it's the same height as a normal lowercase letter so I am going to assume that's lowercase and see if it works.

... and ... huh. The game gave me a hard beep. hmm. Maybe it was a zero afterall? *tries again* OK, it accepted zeroes, so the font on my game case is totally different from the font in your picture, but at least it didn't let me use the wrong one, so crisis averted there. Now onto the Access Key

... and ... a lowercase w is definately what it was. It took both the serial number and access key! and I'm in at long last!

So, out of curiosity, how exactly does the game determine what a valid serial number and/or access key is? Does it contain a library of valid ones on the disc, or does it do math on them like how credit cards can be checked to see if they are possibly valid before running them? and if it does math on them, does it also compare the two codes together with additional math to be sure that they can work together?

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mistamontiel
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Re: PSO: How to differentiate O and 0 in the serial number?

Post#4 » Tue Jan 18, 2022 9:48 pm

..I was gonna say you can continue maintain your 2003 character but without the SNAK associated to him+her means no ={

Sylverant is the only servicing PSODC. Swell fast grinding too and also recommend burning Aleron Ives' CDIs (don't play Enhanced Ultimate difficulty until you're well beyond the lv80), the original filesort from the GD is hot garbage

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BlueCrab
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Re: PSO: How to differentiate O and 0 in the serial number?

Post#5 » Tue Jan 18, 2022 10:39 pm

In the serial number, it will always be a number 0, not a letter O (serial numbers are actually just 32-bit hexadecimal numbers, so the only valid characters are the numbers 0-9 and the letters A-F). Now, in the access key, it may be either, so that's where you need to be careful. That said, hopefully the game will catch your mistake and buzz you if you get it wrong (as you noticed).

As for how the game determines whether you've given it a valid key or not, it applies some sort of function on the key to do so (at least somewhat like how a credit card does it, yes). I'm not gonna go too much more into detail other than to say that the checks are different per version and region.

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