New method for connecting Dreamcast!

[atreyu187]

Well we have had troubles with setting up Starlancer games as well. I don't use this method for PSO or Q3 as I have a BBA for those as it is just a more solid connection and easy switch between the two but for the life of me I can't connect in Starlancer and neither can a buddy of mine. I just bought 4x4 EVO and made a disc with the new DLC maker for it and got a nice selfboot version working with full CDDA in a WinCE game, something I am proud of but haven't tested online yet as I don't know anyone with the game other then myself. So you can't play at all with your setup? I may have to give it a try and report back from my Motorolla modem.

[brourke228]

Sorry I should probably clarify more on this. Any errors indicating failed to dial, or I think StarLancer shows error connecting, should be taken in this regard

With 4x4 Evolution, Max Pool and StarLancer it sometimes takes a couple tries for it to connect. If the Netopia router does fail to answer a call, wait for the Channel and Ready LEDs to go out before attempting to redial. Once the game is connected you should not have any issues.

The WinCE games appear to just have bad dialing programs. I have had trouble connecting sometimes even with regular dial-up.

The problem with the DIR-655 I am referring to occurs after both games are connected and the game tries to contact either gamespy (starlancer) or 4x4 evolution server and fails to do so. In starlancer you would never get to page showing games if this occured. Starlancer however is known for having issues with a lot of connections when setting up games and is not specific to this setup. After i get a new router i can test it out with you if you like.

Also once i get the new router I should be able to set up 4x4evo server so it should be easier to find people online (wont have to direct connect). Evo also works cross-platform with PC.

[WildCard]

ARRGHHH !!!

This is madness !

I cannot for the life of me figure out how to get 4x4 or starlancer to connect with this, though PSO and web browsing work perfect.

4x4 Evo: failure
06/14/12 17:11:41 Link 1 down: Remote clearing
06/14/12 17:11:41 Issued Clear Response to DN: (not supplied)
06/14/12 17:11:41 Received Clear Ind. from DN: (not supplied), Cause: 0
06/14/12 17:11:40 >>WAN: 56K Modem 1 deactivated
06/14/12 17:11:20 >>WAN: 56K Modem 1 activated at 115 Kbps
06/14/12 17:11:20 ASYNC: Modem carrier detected (more)
Modem reports: 33600
06/14/12 17:11:01 Requested Connect to our DN: (not supplied)
06/14/12 17:11:01 >>Received Speech Setup Ind. from DN: 102



PSO: success
06/14/12 17:18:09 PPP: IPCP down, session 1
06/14/12 17:18:09 Link 1 down: Remote clearing
06/14/12 17:18:09 Issued Clear Response to DN: (not supplied)
06/14/12 17:18:09 Received Clear Ind. from DN: (not supplied), Cause: 0
06/14/12 17:18:08 >>WAN: 56K Modem 1 deactivated
06/14/12 17:14:49 PPP: IPCP negotiated, session 1, rem: 192.168.2.10
local: 192.168.2.2
06/14/12 17:14:49 PPP: PAP we accepted remote, Channel 1
Remote name: dreamcast
06/14/12 17:14:49 PPP: NCP up, session 1, Channel 1
Final (fallback) negotiated auth: Local PAP , Remote NONE
06/14/12 17:14:46 PPP: Channel 1 up, Answer
Profile name: Default Profile
06/14/12 17:14:46 Connect Confirmed to our DN: (not supplied)
06/14/12 17:14:45 >>WAN: 56K Modem 1 activated at 115 Kbps
06/14/12 17:14:45 ASYNC: Modem carrier detected (more)
Modem reports: 33600
06/14/12 17:14:25 Requested Connect to our DN: (not supplied)
06/14/12 17:14:25 >>Received Speech Setup Ind. from DN: 102

[brourke228]

Can you be more specific to what your problem is? These are all the exact same routers running the same software so if the problem is with your netopia its likely covered in the guide. Is the issue dialing in, or contacting the servers for those games? If you are having trouble contacting servers then this is likely an issue with your broadband router and not the Netopia.

[WildCard]

4x4 and starlancer don't even seem to connect with the netopia. The modems do their handshake and all the wonky noises and then the game immediately says it could not connect to the internet.

Looking at the logs, Evo and SL the modem activates then deactivates 20 seconds later, where when PSO connects the following happens :

06/14/12 17:14:49 PPP: IPCP negotiated, session 1, rem: 192.168.2.10
local: 192.168.2.2
06/14/12 17:14:49 PPP: PAP we accepted remote, Channel 1
Remote name: dreamcast
06/14/12 17:14:49 PPP: NCP up, session 1, Channel 1
Final (fallback) negotiated auth: Local PAP , Remote NONE
06/14/12 17:14:46 PPP: Channel 1 up, Answer
Profile name: Default Profile
06/14/12 17:14:46 Connect Confirmed to our DN: (not supplied)

?????

[brourke228]

Yeah that's normal, unfortunately. All the WinCE based games seem to have really crappy dialing software. I have had 4x4 fail to connect even using regular dial up occasionally. The netopia fails more often than a regular dial up connection would though. I think it has to do with it answering on the second ring. There doesn't seem to be any options for changing that. It seems like those games sometimes give up on the call after awhile. Sometimes it will connect on the 1st try, other times it might take 15 tries to connect. I know it is kind of annoying. I think one solution might be to attach an external serial modem to the back of it instead of using the internal ones because in that case you can set the modem commands and set s0=1 (answer on the first ring). This would be something extra to purchase though and you'd also have to follow the wiring diagram in the user manual because the rs232 port uses an HD-15 connector. I was planning on trying this out myself at some point.

Anyway, this what i meant when I mentioned this part of the guide:

With 4x4 Evolution, Max Pool and StarLancer it sometimes takes a couple tries for it to connect. If the Netopia router does fail to answer a call, wait for the Channel and Ready LEDs to go out before attempting to redial. Once the game is connected you should not have any issues.

I said "it sometimes takes a couple tries". How long it takes to connect for me seems fairly inconsistent though. Once the dialing is negotiated there aren't any issues with the games.

[WildCard]

hmm... so even though the two modems have connected and done the handshake action the game has basically already given up on the connection ? Who the hell programmed the connection codes for that ?

Guess its time to start looking for a serial modem.


*edit* I see DB9 to hd15 cables available, would that not work ?

Thanks for all your help.

[brourke228]

Well every time I have gone to play the games i have gotten it to connect properly, just not always on the first try.

Its too bad there aren't too many analog routers like this too choose from though. This netopia router isn't perfect, but it just happens to work. I mentioned a long time ago in this thread that I had previously been trying to use a 3Com 56k LAN Modem for this type of setup before i tried the netopia r2020. That thing does actually let you set what ring to answer on, and it seems to answer calls much better than the netopia does. It also has a web interface like a normal broadband router which is nice. I still have it, its been a long time since ive tried anything with it though. I should see if changing the ring # makes a difference using that. Basically the reason I couldn't get that working though is because in the LAN network settings there is nowhere to set a default gateway. So once DC connects it has no network activity outside of your LAN (ie no internet). I tried messing around with static routes on my main router to see if i could force it to see the WAN, but I wasn't able to get that working properly and pretty much gave up with it. I'm not a network specialist or anything, and at that point it is getting complicated. It would also require your broadband router to have static routes which is a feature not all have. That is if it were even possible to route that thing to the internet. This is pretty much the extent of the progress I made with that way back... http://dreamcast-talk.com/forum/viewtop ... f=3&t=3061

But yeah, I mentioned i think somewhere if anyone wants to test out any other routers like this be sure to post the results. It would be good to have some more selection if anything else would work.

[brourke228]

*edit* I see DB9 to hd15 cables available, would that not work ?

No, because its non-standard pinout. HD-15 cable is normally used for a vga (monitor) cable. Page 289 of the user manual shows the wiring diagram of an HD-15 to DB-25 cable for rs232 if you are interested. You could use two cables and splice them together, but make sure the cable with hd-15 connector has 15pins, because not all of them do. This is the modem I was looking to possibly get at some point http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6825134002

[WildCard]

*edit* I see DB9 to hd15 cables available, would that not work ?

No, because its non-standard pinout. HD-15 cable is normally used for a vga (monitor) cable. Page 289 of the user manual shows the wiring diagram of an HD-15 to DB-25 cable for rs232 if you are interested.

Not sure i'm following you, the serial modems i looked at had a db-9 connector, the netopia has a hd-15. what does a db-25 have to do with anything ?