New method for connecting Dreamcast!

[pcwzrd13]

Alright, so I was able to follow the instructions for setting up the router to a tee but I am not able to get the router to answer the call from the Dreamcast. The Dreamcast just keeps saying there was no answer (I am using PlanetWeb 2.6 BTW). I notice that the "Carrier" light on the router will turn off when the Dreamcast is attempting to dial (normally it just blinks red) so I know there is some communication going on. I checked the logs on the router and there is nothing there. The only thing I can think of is maybe it's the Phone Line Simulator. Is that actually required if I'm using blind dial? I tried plugging the Dreamcast directly into the router but the router doesn't have any reaction at all when I do that (the "Carrier" light keeps blinking). Any ideas? I attached the manual for my TLS below so you can make sure it will actual work for this.

[brourke228]

You need a phone line simulator for this to work because the netopia is auto-answering the dreamcast. It answers after the second ring. As far as I know modems aren't capable of auto-answering calls unless they are made over a live phone line (or phone line simulator) I have tried it many times and it just doesn't work without one. So by using blind dial what you have is Dreamcast dialing (which it normally wouldn't do without dial tone) and the netopia not answering the call. The only reason you are able to get a PC-DC server working with a phone line simulator is because you are initializing the call manually by killing mgetty (linux) when it is supposed to answer. Blind dial is needed for that because you don't want DC to wait for a dial tone before it dials because there isnt one.

So most-likely your phone line simulator is the reason its not answering the call. I would first try changing the number Dreamcast is dialing to some random 7, 10, or 11 digit phone number and see if that works. I'll check the user manual later to see if i can find anything on it. With the Teltone phone simulators though, there are specific phone numbers associated with each line or on some of the higher end models these numbers are programmable.

[pcwzrd13]

Well, I think I know what the problem is. My TLS does not simulate a dial-tone, only the ring. It sends a ring voltage through the line every time you push the switch. I assume the router needs to hear a dial-tone as well since I set the Dreamcast to blind dial and it still doesn't work. If you can confirm this for me then I will go ahead and look for another TLS.

[brourke228]

I think it does. I can only check if it requires dial-tone when dialing out though, because i cant simulate the ring from another device without my line simulator on which also supplies dial tone. If you create another connection profile which allows dial out and set a phone number then go to Establish WAN connection you can see that the first error message in the status window is "No Dialtone".

[brourke228]

Actually if you look at the Modem dialing prefix it is "ATDT" the DT may stand for dial-tone hold on..

Yeah nvm removing that just caused it to do nothing.

BTW if i hit the ring button twice on my phone line simulator without DC even connected the Netopia attempts to answer, so it is likely that dialtone is the problem.

[pcwzrd13]

Alright, thanks. I guess I'll just have to keep an eye out for a new one then.

[WildCard]

Got all my parts sourced and on the way, hopefully be back to PSO online again after nearly a 4 year hiatus


Just a heads up for those who might be looking a Teltone TLS-3B up for grabs at a pretty reasonable price, shipping is a bit absurd though - http://www.ebay.com/itm/221038255095?ss ... 1952.l2649

[atreyu187]

Wow you weren't joking as my whole setup wasn't but $80 shipped total. Hope to see you online and thanks to your last post I can go online with my USA v2 disc now and stop looking for a PAL v2 so cheers to you!!!


Edit

Also to the OP thanks for this setup as now I can get my old laptop I use with my coders cable online since it only has a 56k modem and it is surprisingly quick. Just plug it in and click my TLS and bam online!!

[WildCard]

Wow you weren't joking as my whole setup wasn't but $80 shipped total. Hope to see you online and thanks to your last post I can go online with my USA v2 disc now and stop looking for a PAL v2 so cheers to you!!!

Yeah i paid a bit more than i wanted on my stuff at around $100 for my Netopia and Teltone TLS-3B with shipping but still cheaper than a BBA. BUT that Teltone i posted has been one of the cheapest complete units i've seen in the last few weeks of looking so i figured i would post it up and maybe help out a fellow DC'er.

Hopefully i'll be online by this weekend for some PSO glory !!

[brourke228]

Well the teltone TLS-3B is a newer and likely better phone line simulator than the rest of us are using. So that is probably why it cost you more.


BTW I'm gonna add two things to this guide which is certain routers that have caused problems with my network setup in regards to this connection. I believe they are both isolated cases though as I haven't had issues with any others.

So the two routers I have had issues with are D-Link DIR-615 and D-Link DIR-655.

The issue with the DIR-615 is a pretty major one and it appears to be specific to this setup (ie dialing into the netopia on your LAN). I noticed this when i bought one to replace a Netgear router about 6 months ago. Essentially what happens is every time something dials into your Netopia router the D-Link DIR-615 acting as primary router on your network instantly crashes and reboots, disconnecting all clients on your LAN including PCs and such. This happened using the latest firmware version for the router which I believe is 3.13NA. The fact that this router can crash from certain network activity is alone reason for me to advise anyone not to use this router if it is an option. However there is a solution to this problem if you already own one. Instead of returning the router I decided to install DD-WRT( http://www.dd-wrt.com/site/index ) on it which is a custom router firmware and this completely resolved the issue I was having which is purely software-related.

The problem with the D-Link DIR-655 should actually be an issue for anyone using a dial-in server on their LAN (whether PC-DC server or this setup) when using this as their primary router. As far as I can tell it effects only 2 Dreamcast games, that is 4x4 Evolution and StarLancer. This problem occurs with the latest firmware version 1.35NA. So the problem with this router is it blocks both incoming and outgoing TCP packets with 4x4 EVO and Starlancer, preventing either game from connecting. In the router logs it shows an error message indicating that it sees the TCP packets from both games as being invalid. This is the exact error message:

Code: Select all

Blocked TCP packet from 192.168.1.10:6898 to 69.15.25.124:80 as control SYN:PSH in not valid

I have tried disabling disabling the router firewall, disabling packet filtering, putting dreamcast in DMZ, all to no avail. Incidentally this has also prevented me from getting a 4x4 evolution server set up which is how I discovered this issue, just recently. I don't know of any solution for this atm if there even is one and unfortunately this router seems to be incompatible with custom router firmwares so it is not an easy fix like the DIR-615. I will most-likely be replacing this router for this reason. This issue however does NOT effect PSO, the web browser, Max Pool, or Quake III Arena for whatever reason.