PSO Questions & Answers

Sylverant is a homebrew open source server for Phantasy Star Online. Dreamcast users still play PSO online with this server even today! This is the official forum for both the online game server as well as the open source project itself. Feel free to post and get a gathering started online! We can also show you how to get connected!

Moderators: BlueCrab, Aleron Ives

Post Reply
User avatar
BlueCrab
The Crabby Overlord
The Crabby Overlord
Posts: 5652
https://www.artistsworkshop.eu/meble-kuchenne-na-wymiar-warszawa-gdzie-zamowic/
Joined: Mon May 27, 2002 11:31 am
Location: Sailing the Skies of Arcadia
Has thanked: 9 times
Been thanked: 69 times
Contact:

Re: PSO Questions & Answers

Post by BlueCrab »

By an Easter event you mean a monster kill tracking event? I do intend to have one, yes. I don't know when yet.

Longer version:
I'm working on some code in relation to kill tracking events. I've planned a few new and interesting wrinkles for this next event, but they require some new features to be added to the server first. So, assuming I have these new features completed before Easter, there'll be an Easter event, otherwise I'll probably skip Easter and instead have an event sometime in April or May.
User avatar
Aleron Ives
DCEmu Nutter
DCEmu Nutter
Posts: 870
Joined: Wed Jan 05, 2011 2:15 pm
Location: California
Has thanked: 0
Been thanked: 25 times
Contact:

Re: PSO Questions & Answers

Post by Aleron Ives »

Also, if you were just asking about the Easter decorations, we will definitely be doing that, even if the kill tracking event isn't ready in time for Easter. ;)
"Fear the HUnewearl."
Image
halibabica
DCEmu Newbie
DCEmu Newbie
Posts: 8
Joined: Sun Dec 06, 2015 9:57 pm
Has thanked: 0
Been thanked: 0

Re: PSO Questions & Answers

Post by halibabica »

Full disclosure, the Egg Rappies are my true end-goal. I'm looking to round out my Easter egg weapon collection, so the if/when/how long they will appear is important to me.

Not to say these other things don't sound fun, too. I'd actually like to play more often and get to know some other players here, but my life is very busy because I have too many hobbies and not nearly enough time for them all.

But yeah, that's the nature of my curiosity here.
User avatar
Aleron Ives
DCEmu Nutter
DCEmu Nutter
Posts: 870
Joined: Wed Jan 05, 2011 2:15 pm
Location: California
Has thanked: 0
Been thanked: 25 times
Contact:

Re: PSO Questions & Answers

Post by Aleron Ives »

Altimira will have Easter from March 27 - May 1 this year IIRC. I'm not sure if BlueCrab is going to adjust Iselia's calendar for 2016's Easter dates or do his usual mid-March - mid-April event.
"Fear the HUnewearl."
Image
halibabica
DCEmu Newbie
DCEmu Newbie
Posts: 8
Joined: Sun Dec 06, 2015 9:57 pm
Has thanked: 0
Been thanked: 0

Re: PSO Questions & Answers

Post by halibabica »

Ah, good to know. Thank you! That'll be plenty of time to find what I need, too. :D
User avatar
Otto Baus
DCEmu Freak
DCEmu Freak
Posts: 50
Joined: Sun Jan 10, 2016 8:39 am
Has thanked: 0
Been thanked: 0

Re: PSO Questions & Answers

Post by Otto Baus »

halibabica wrote:Full disclosure, the Egg Rappies are my true end-goal. I'm looking to round out my Easter egg weapon collection, so the if/when/how long they will appear is important to me.
Awww, yiss! Marina's Bag get!
HotteLunch - HUcast
Gaijin - RAcast
MintChip - FOnewearl
MAGz - extra bank storage character; RAmarl currently
User avatar
kevlarAK
DCEmu Fast Newbie
DCEmu Fast Newbie
Posts: 19
Joined: Fri May 29, 2015 7:44 am
Has thanked: 0
Been thanked: 0

Re: Lobby Commands

Post by kevlarAK »

Is there a link so the commands you can use in the lobby? So sorry if I missed it.

- Kevin
User avatar
BlueCrab
The Crabby Overlord
The Crabby Overlord
Posts: 5652
Joined: Mon May 27, 2002 11:31 am
Location: Sailing the Skies of Arcadia
Has thanked: 9 times
Been thanked: 69 times
Contact:

Re: Lobby Commands

Post by BlueCrab »

kevlarAK wrote:Is there a link so the commands you can use in the lobby? So sorry if I missed it.

- Kevin
https://sourceforge.net/p/sylverant/wiki/FAQs/

Look at the second part of that page (the "What commands are available to users on Sylverant?" part). There are some parts of that that are very old, but it is still pretty much correct. Also, it's written from my programmer's perspective, so some things (like "default lobby" and "game lobby" -- which mean lobby and team respectively) might seem a bit odd. :wink:
User avatar
kevlarAK
DCEmu Fast Newbie
DCEmu Fast Newbie
Posts: 19
Joined: Fri May 29, 2015 7:44 am
Has thanked: 0
Been thanked: 0

Re: Lobby Commands

Post by kevlarAK »

BlueCrab wrote:
kevlarAK wrote:Is there a link so the commands you can use in the lobby? So sorry if I missed it.

- Kevin
https://sourceforge.net/p/sylverant/wiki/FAQs/

Look at the second part of that page (the "What commands are available to users on Sylverant?" part). There are some parts of that that are very old, but it is still pretty much correct. Also, it's written from my programmer's perspective, so some things (like "default lobby" and "game lobby" -- which mean lobby and team respectively) might seem a bit odd. :wink:
Thanks. As the commish of a Madden league, I get all kinds of questions that I have already answered. I'll be sure to bookmark this, so I don't ask it again. haha
User avatar
Aleron Ives
DCEmu Nutter
DCEmu Nutter
Posts: 870
Joined: Wed Jan 05, 2011 2:15 pm
Location: California
Has thanked: 0
Been thanked: 25 times
Contact:

Re: PSO Questions & Answers

Post by Aleron Ives »

By the way, regarding Technique Disk drops, it turns out that PSO-W has charts that at least seem reasonable for both episodes:

http://www.pso-world.com/sections.php?o ... &artid=790

http://www.pso-world.com/sections.php?o ... &artid=792

For Episode I, it's possible to find level 30 disks in Cave 3 - Ruins 3, depending upon which Technique you want to get. Notice how the drop rate is terrible on the floors where a level 30 disk can drop: on floors where level 29 is the maximum, disks drop at 0.072, but if level 30 is the maximum, that particular Technique will only drop at 0.001 (over 10x less often).

That's why I said that if you find level 29 of a particular Technique on a particular floor, then you can't find level 30 of that Technique on that particular floor, because level 30 disks only drop on floors where that Technique almost never appears at all. If level 28 and 29 are dropping frequently, then you know hunting level 30 is useless in that area.
"Fear the HUnewearl."
Image
User avatar
Otto Baus
DCEmu Freak
DCEmu Freak
Posts: 50
Joined: Sun Jan 10, 2016 8:39 am
Has thanked: 0
Been thanked: 0

Re: PSO Questions & Answers

Post by Otto Baus »

Does damage dealt to Gael & Giel during form 2 count towards Flow's total HP? Offline maybe, if not online?

I have been running a lot of him lately because I'm still doing beds runs for the stingy Zoas. And frankly, I find it hard to pass up the easy extra experience since he's so damned easy with FOnl. The basis for my question is that while he goes down fast using simple techs, I recently noticed that he drops like a sack of potatoes if I can spam Giz (common), Raf (rare), or Rab (most common). I can usually finish him off by the time he gets through a single attack cycle, and he never even gets a chance to soul steal. Whereas using only simple techs which do more damage while attempting to target Flow exclusively take enough time that he usually has a chance to soul steal and often prolong the battle by changing his tech resistances, too. I also often have to use at least one trifluid if using simple techs, whereas using the others I do not even though the damage is only about 2/3 comparatively.

I suppose that this could come down to the targeting issue with simple techs, in that it is easy to miss targeting Flow and hit both mines and MAGs inadvertently. But I tend to stick to his feet as much as I can, and only run when he screams, indicating he's using God's Punishment. I'm fairly certain that he's taking the brunt of the simple techs in my testing.
HotteLunch - HUcast
Gaijin - RAcast
MintChip - FOnewearl
MAGz - extra bank storage character; RAmarl currently
User avatar
Aleron Ives
DCEmu Nutter
DCEmu Nutter
Posts: 870
Joined: Wed Jan 05, 2011 2:15 pm
Location: California
Has thanked: 0
Been thanked: 25 times
Contact:

Re: PSO Questions & Answers

Post by Aleron Ives »

What's the purpose of the RAcast class?
Spoiler!
Image

As a mecha suit for a HUnewearl, of course! 8-)
"Fear the HUnewearl."
Image
User avatar
BlueCrab
The Crabby Overlord
The Crabby Overlord
Posts: 5652
Joined: Mon May 27, 2002 11:31 am
Location: Sailing the Skies of Arcadia
Has thanked: 9 times
Been thanked: 69 times
Contact:

Re: PSO Questions & Answers

Post by BlueCrab »

Aleron Ives wrote:What's the purpose of the RAcast class?
Spoiler!
Image

As a mecha suit for a HUnewearl, of course! 8-)
:lol:
tueidj
Insane DCEmu
Insane DCEmu
Posts: 115
Joined: Wed Aug 15, 2012 12:05 pm
Has thanked: 0
Been thanked: 0

Re: PSO Questions & Answers

Post by tueidj »

I had a weird glitch today playing EN#1, roughly half-way through the first area all drops ceased - nothing from boxes, enemies, even rappys. I disconnected and started the quest again, finished it without a problem. There's nothing server-side that can cause the "drop item" client requests to be discarded, is there?
User avatar
Aleron Ives
DCEmu Nutter
DCEmu Nutter
Posts: 870
Joined: Wed Jan 05, 2011 2:15 pm
Location: California
Has thanked: 0
Been thanked: 25 times
Contact:

Re: PSO Questions & Answers

Post by Aleron Ives »

The only reason for you to get no drops on GC would be that you're lagging and thus can't answer your own drop requests. This would also prevent you from talking or even returning to the lobby, though. I'm not sure why, but GC rarely seems to bother disconnecting you when you're lagging; it just lets you keep playing without any connectivity until you do something that requires server intervention, at which point the game stops responding and you have to soft reset to escape.
"Fear the HUnewearl."
Image
tueidj
Insane DCEmu
Insane DCEmu
Posts: 115
Joined: Wed Aug 15, 2012 12:05 pm
Has thanked: 0
Been thanked: 0

Re: PSO Questions & Answers

Post by tueidj »

That may be the case for Dolphin with its shoddy timebase implementation but the game is coded so that it will disconnect the session (i.e. save and return to the menu) if an expected response takes too long, and that is indeed what happens when the connection dies/lags excessively.
User avatar
BlueCrab
The Crabby Overlord
The Crabby Overlord
Posts: 5652
Joined: Mon May 27, 2002 11:31 am
Location: Sailing the Skies of Arcadia
Has thanked: 9 times
Been thanked: 69 times
Contact:

Re: PSO Questions & Answers

Post by BlueCrab »

tueidj wrote:That may be the case for Dolphin with its shoddy timebase implementation but the game is coded so that it will disconnect the session (i.e. save and return to the menu) if an expected response takes too long, and that is indeed what happens when the connection dies/lags excessively.
There's nothing server-side that would've stopped you from dropping things.

Also, I've seen the GC version lag quite a bit on the actual Gamecube without disconnecting me...
tueidj
Insane DCEmu
Insane DCEmu
Posts: 115
Joined: Wed Aug 15, 2012 12:05 pm
Has thanked: 0
Been thanked: 0

Re: PSO Questions & Answers

Post by tueidj »

Well as far as I could tell, the drop requests were going out but they weren't echoing back. Hence no drops. They stopped some time during Forest 1 and I played up until the central dome warp in Forest 2 before bailing out. It was as if the server somehow forgot that I was the host and that those requests should be coming back to me.

It's a looong timeout in networking standards but the point is the game never stops responding nor requires a reset, it always recovers. Given it was the first ever online game for a Nintendo console, I'm sure somebody at some point thought to check how it handled a dropped connection - a non-responsive game requiring a reset would not have been acceptable.
User avatar
Aleron Ives
DCEmu Nutter
DCEmu Nutter
Posts: 870
Joined: Wed Jan 05, 2011 2:15 pm
Location: California
Has thanked: 0
Been thanked: 25 times
Contact:

Re: PSO Questions & Answers

Post by Aleron Ives »

tueidj wrote:I'm sure somebody at some point thought to check how it handled a dropped connection - a non-responsive game requiring a reset would not have been acceptable.
...nor would a game that randomly crashed when loading certain areas, but that slipped past Nintendo's QC, too. :roll: PSO has shoddy coding and tons of random bugs. It's just part of the PSO "experience". :lol:
"Fear the HUnewearl."
Image
tueidj
Insane DCEmu
Insane DCEmu
Posts: 115
Joined: Wed Aug 15, 2012 12:05 pm
Has thanked: 0
Been thanked: 0

Re: PSO Questions & Answers

Post by tueidj »

Maybe their QC never experienced that because they were using original copies of the game, on real physical gamecubes, on SEGA's official servers. Not some dodgy downloaded ISO, on a crappy emulator, on an unofficial server pieced together from packet captures.
Post Reply