PSO v2 on GDEMU crashing when connecting

[hadyn]

Hi all,

I have a legit PAL retail copies of PSO V1 and 2.

I have two PAL Dreamcasts, one with a GDEMU that had an optical drive and had a registered serial for PSO.

When the drive was looking like it was going to die, I bought another DC and have now put the GDEMU in the original DC.

The new DC with optical drive, registered PSO with serials etc no problem and connects fine.


When trying to run PSO via GDMEU with my original Dreamcast it crashes just as it connects but I can still play PSO with my original save on my optical drive Dreamcast. Any idea on what is going on?

[Aleron Ives]

Are you using GDMENU? It doesn't work properly with PSO. You either need to use OpenMenu or no menu at all (such as by putting PSO on its own dedicated SD card).

[hadyn]

Are you using GDMENU? It doesn't work properly with PSO. You either need to use OpenMenu or no menu at all (such as by putting PSO on its own dedicated SD card).

Yes I’m using GDMENU - this is really helpful information - thank you!

I’ll buy an SD card to solely have PSO on now.

[lozz]

I've had this exact same situation this past week. I was hoping I could organise my SD card so PSO loads as default (without GDMENU) and then use the 'change disc' button to load up GDMENU, but haven't figured out how to make that work. Perhaps I'll just have to make the switch to OpenMenu instead - does that still have issues loading CDIs, or is that an issue long since fixed?

[DreamState]

Not sure why everyone’s having problems with PSO. I don’t have mine first in the list booting straight to it, and mine runs fine with no crashes. I do remember though I used to have this very issue but I haven’t for a long time now.

[onlycodered]

Are you using the Ives patched CDI via the GDEMU? That way you don't need to swap "discs" using your GDEMU. You just launch the game like any other game in GDMENU and the patched version connects right to Sylverant.

See "PSO DC Ives Pack 2.0 Torrent" at the link below:
https://psopalace.sylverant.net/downloads.html

[lozz]

Yes thanks I do have Ives pre-patched version onlycodered. I think you've got the wrong end of the stick though - I wasn't talking about using the 'swap disc' function to enable the patch, I was talking about using it to allow PSO to not be loaded via GDMENU, then (after pressing the button) have other games which are loaded via GDMENU.

I know some folks are sceptical about PSO + GDMENU being an issue, but given that Ives himself has recognised it, and given how many others I've seen report similar circumstances, I'm inclined to believe that GDMENU is indeed problematic for PSO.

[hadyn]

Just to be clear for my issue - do I just need to put PSO onto an SD card on its own and then GDEMU will boot it fine without crashing on connection?

[Aleron Ives]

I've had this exact same situation this past week. I was hoping I could organise my SD card so PSO loads as default (without GDMENU) and then use the 'change disc' button to load up GDMENU, but haven't figured out how to make that work.

I've been told in the Sylverant Discord that some GDEMU clones have a fake button that doesn't actually do anything! D: As a result, even though this would work on a genuine GDEMU, some clones won't let you do it, and you would be forced to either use OpenMenu or a separate SD card.

If your button works, you would be able to put PSO in folder 01 and GDMENU in folder 02. Start the game from the BIOS to load PSO, or press the button first to load GDMENU.

I know some folks are sceptical about PSO + GDMENU being an issue, but given that Ives himself has recognised it, and given how many others I've seen report similar circumstances, I'm inclined to believe that GDMENU is indeed problematic for PSO.

When people report random crashes with GDEMU in the Sylverant Discord, loading PSO without GDMENU is always the first troubleshooting step. PSO has extra DRM compared to most DC games and checks specifically to see if you've booted the game cleanly, i.e. without any other software running first. This is probably some kind of anti-cheating check to make sure you didn't use a GameShark, and homebrew launchers can trigger this protection and cause various strange problems.

Early versions of BlueCrab's PSO boot disc had these same troubles, and he had to rewrite it from scratch in order to make PSO happy.

Just to be clear for my issue - do I just need to put PSO onto an SD card on its own and then GDEMU will boot it fine without crashing on connection?

Assuming GDMENU is your problem, then yes. PSO is also super picky about your network settings, and some people need to set their MTU to 1400 in order to stop PSO from crashing upon connection, joining teams, and loading quests. Sega's spaghetti code is... not the best.

[onlycodered]

Interesting. I really could have sworn I played PSO through GDMENU previously (before I switched to OpenMenu) without any issues but maybe I'm mistaken. Learn something new every day.