Phantasy Star Serial Number & Access Code Workaround?

[Zoex]

Does anyone know if the serial number is stored with the guild license or the system file? The license can be copied but the system file can't so I'm leaning towards that. Knowing which one will make finding what I'm looking for easier.

[Aleron Ives]

The save files are encrypted (or at least obfuscated), so you cannot extract the serial in an existing save file. You should have kept your game case.

[Zoex]

It doesn't matter if it is if there is no integrity check built in. There's only what, 15kb of data to figure out?

Also, I feel like harping on me for not having a plastic case from 18 years ago is needlessly petty. I'm sure there are other people in similar situations. Especially since the actual disc drives on these systems are well past their service life.

[Ragfish]

Also, I feel like harping on me for not having a plastic case from 18 years ago is needlessly petty.

What were you expecting him to say? You don't have the original console, and you don't have the serial number used to create it. If you had one or the other, then the save could likely be salvaged. But not having both of them unfortunately pretty much means it's doomed.

If you really think that you can extract it from your save file, then I won't discourage you from trying. But unfortunately your situation is beyond the point where we can easily help you.

[Zoex]

Something closer to what you said "We don't have a way right now, good luck" I felt was a bit less abrasive.

I've seen many posts with similar issues. It will continue to be a growing problem as things get lost and systems die off. I think it's worth looking into.

I just find it odd that a game that has been hacked so hard that it's online service has been brought back from the dead still has this quirky issue. At it's worst your parsing 100kb of data for 16 characters, it doesn't seem insurmountable.

[Aleron Ives]

Feel free to pay BlueCrab's bills so he can spend more time working on PSO stuff. It's one of the many things he hasn't had time to do yet, and the number of people who understand SH4 and care about PSO is very small.

[Zoex]

I think you would be surprised at how much of a conservationist I am. I'm pretty nostalgic for the characters I made when I was a teenager, so I don't want to write this off without trying.

I wouldn't mind paying someone to figure it out if that's what it comes down to, and it's not the first time he's been mentioned as someone who could solve this issue. Tell him to hit me up. I'd love to ask him what it would take to make it worth his time.

[Aleron Ives]

He doesn't take money for his work, so it'll happen whenever he has the time and interest, which probably won't be soon considering how many other PSO projects are on his to do list. Feel free to save your VMU file in the hope that you'll be able to use your character again someday, but unless you want to wait years before playing again, you'll have to start a new character in the meantime.

[PacketShepard]

I can see the data that's on the VMU in a hex editor. What I'm looking for has to be in there to match against what's saved to the system. I just need a way to find the address lines that have the serial and key.

Hi Zoex,

Sorry to necro here. I can help you recover your save using a new psotool source that showed up on github in the last two months. It can bruteforce the serial to decrypt and then the SNAK can be retrieved from inside the save. Just PM me and we can connect on discord.

See here:

https://github.com/p1pkin/psotool