Planet Ring is an online dreamcast game which features 4 multiplayer minigames,a messenger
and a simple HTML like website system (TEML) to show the user pages about anything the
server admin could imagine, including images. This was the first console game that had
multiplayer gaming while voice chatting people all over the world. It was given away by
the Official Dreamcast Magazine number 15 in the UK, also it was sold in stores. Some
other countries like Spain got it for free with the microphone upon getting the dc to
connect to a certain ISP (Telefonica).
FEATURES
Minigames:
-Dorobo 2Players(voice chat) -> Trease hunt, guide the other player through a maze with your voice
-Splash 2Players(voice chat) -> Battleship like game, sink all of your opponent ships while chatting
-Ball Bubble 4Players -> Get as many bubbles as possible and boycott the rest
-Soar 32Players! -> Different race types using an air pod/ship
Other:
-Messenger
-TEML
-Online Rankings
What is The EarthCall Server?
Earthcall is an open-source Planet Ring server written for use in multiple Operating Systems. It is developed using the SDL.net library, so it should work fine in Windows, Unix and Mac Os X. It has been mostly tested on FreeBSD, but also runs successfully on Ubuntu and Windows XP/7/8. It should run on any Unix environment as well.
Project website : https://code.google.com/p/earthcall-project/
Features list
Full-functional server for Planet Ring (users, profiles, games).
Internal Messenger system that includes Profiles and Messages.
TEML support in Info Center.
Ranking Leaderboards in Ranking info counter.
All 4 games work: Soar, Ball Bubble, Dreamdorobo and Splash.
VoIP games supported with our additional tool for PC-DC users (coming very soon).
TODO list
Implement Game Exit command.
Implement User search filters.
Implement Ranking stats screen at the end of a game.
Finish Ranking for Splash in TEML boards.
Implement 8-player games in Soar!
Add admin commands: message to players, and option to kick/ban.
Implement a Webserver query status.
HOW CAN I CONNECT?
This game is dial up only so no bba's are gonna work here folks
In order to connect you will need one of the following methods:
- A working dc-pc server like this one here
- A netopia setup with a line simulator, like this one
- A regular dial up connection plus the sylverant pso/planet ring patcher, that you can get here and here.
Plus (obviously) a planet ring game, and if you don't have any other way to do the redirection to our server, the planet ring patcher.
Router Ports
First, check that your router doesn't block any connections, so you will need to open the following ports in your router's NAT configuration:
PORTS -> USAGE IN THE GAME
7641 TCP -> Main server
7648-7654 UDP -> Attraction, users and other data handling
8001 TCP -> TEML requests
1285 UDP -> VoIP Negotiation
1028 UDP -> VoIP Messages
DNS Redirection
If you want to connect without using the Planet Ring boot server, please redirect DNS petition "master.ring.dream-key.com" to our server "dctalk.no-ip.info"
VoIP issues
Back in 2000, Planet Ring connections were using dial-up through PPP protocol. Nowadays, most PC are working under a NAT network, and that's the main problem with VoIP.
Planet Rings tries to obtain the other player's external IP from the UDP packets when it is doing the VoIP negociation (Splash and Dreamdorobo games). The problem is that PR gets the local internal IP, instead of the route external IP. So, when it starts sending messages, it sends them to a wrong IP (the other player's local IP).
A workaround we have developed is the 'VoIPEarth' program that does two things:
Capture VoIP packets in promiscous mode.
Craft a new packet with the same content, and the correct address.
If you plan to use VoIP functionality:
Compile VoIPEarth program (you will need 'libpcap' devel library in your system).
Create a config.ini file at same place as the program, replacing the text with your values:
the.dreamcast.ip
the.internal.pc.ip
the.destination.ip
the:pc:mac
the:router:mac
On Linux systems, you might need to run with sudo powers.
Input device must be set in promiscous mode, but you can use the same device to read and write
-CURRENT VERSION: 1.0b
-AUTHORS: IberDC Dev Team 2013 -> Neoblast & Indiket http://WWW.DREAMCAST.ES
-SPECIAL THANKS: DCTM, Impulse, BlueCrab, Kohle, Chui, Mekanaizer, and some more people...
You know who you are!!!
