How can I recover PSO access key with original save and dreamcast in hand, but no original case?

[Aleron Ives]

If you never went online, then you don't have an access key in the save file at all, so you either need to find the original case or make a new character on the new DC.

[SMiTH]

If you never went online, then you don't have an access key in the save file at all, so you either need to find the original case or make a new character on the new DC.

easiest thing to do would be make a new character.
but i think they have nostalgia for their original character.
like i said you can recreate or completely clone that old character (i listed multiple ways to do this in previous response)
aleron, bluecrab both know all of that stuff i described in previous post and it can all be done.
its just a matter of how much time do you want to spend or is it even worth messing with at all?
to top it off it is not "legit" to do.

[BlueCrab]

This seems contradictory. Presumably, each Dreamcast would have a unique console ID, right? So wouldn't each Dreamcast create a different guild card?

Let's say I hooked up 4 consoles together. Each one used the same serial number/access key, but each having a different Console ID. Each member of the family creates a new character on their respective consoles, each having ther own unique guild card. Would they be able to play together online on Sylverant?

If the key is registered on the website, the server ignores the console ID sent as part of the process when determining your guild card number. This way, you can use the same character on multiple consoles (but only one can be online at a time). This way, you can use the same key on multiple consoles if you so desire and use your character on any of them without any problem (which is something Sega didn't let you do back in the day).

So as long as I make sure that each person plays on the respective console they started on this issue wouldn't crop up? If I understand correctly, it seems like that's a lesser issue than using a separate key on each console. If each console has the same key they could still play offline on any one, and just have to be on the correct one when playing online, and only if they want to bother with using guild cards. On the other hand, if each has it's own key they'd only ever be able to play on one console no matter what. Is that about right?

Even if I find my original key, I still need to me a choice on that.

The thing is, guild cards are kinda the way other people you play with can find you. Ensuring your guild card doesn't change can be quite a big deal if in-game is the only way you communicate with people. It's probably not as big of a deal if you're a part of the Sylverant discord or something like that to find people to play with, of course.

There's also the fact that some features of the server do require you to register your serial number/access key on the website (participating in the server events, automatic (partial) character data backups, and a few other things that hopefully will be available sometime soonish).

How would I get that? Although, at this point, I am not sure I can do much more. The original Dreamcast's video is getting worse. I think it's on it's last legs.

You would need to obtain a copy of the contents of the flashrom of the console. At which point, you just need to find the correct block and you'll be able to read your key out of it with just a hex editor. I actually made a homebrew tool to do this without having to get a dump of your flashrom (assuming of course that you can run a CD-R of homebrew on the console), however I've never cleaned it up to release it... I'd be happy to help you further with that if you can obtain a copy of the flashrom contents from your console, but that is easier said than done if you don't have some way to run homebrew code on the console (like a Broadband Adapter, SD Card adapter, or a coder's cable).

I was able to get DreamConn+ to pair to my PC properly and was able to extract my PSO saves which incidentally removed the copy protections. Since restrictions were lifted I got my hopes up thinking it would let me play, but no, it didn't. Are there no editors to at least try and access the save file, even for offline play? Or even some modified ROM that won't check for the access key so that I can just load up my character?

Removing copy protection on the file is just changing one bit in the header. Unfortunately, the saves themselves are encrypted and I'm not aware of any tool that can decrypt them. Developing such a tool has been on my todo list for a LONG time, but alas I haven't had the time/patience to do so (and nobody else has either from what I can tell).

[protivakid]

Darn, I too have some old PSO saves but no disc. I'll buy the game again but the new key wouldn't work with them. Was hoping I could decrypt the save and get the original serial / key from them that way but doesn't seem like a tool exists.

[RazorX]

Darn, I too have some old PSO saves but no disc. I'll buy the game again but the new key wouldn't work with them. Was hoping I could decrypt the save and get the original serial / key from them that way but doesn't seem like a tool exists.

that is now possible with my app, it will let you recover your serial and possibly access number or simply decrypt your save and re-encrypt it with another.
it also has a built in keygen for you to create a new serial and access number




Here

[PacketShepard]

Darn, I too have some old PSO saves but no disc. I'll buy the game again but the new key wouldn't work with them. Was hoping I could decrypt the save and get the original serial / key from them that way but doesn't seem like a tool exists.

that is now possible with my app, it will let you recover your serial and possibly access number or simply decrypt your save and re-encrypt it with another.
it also has a built in keygen for you to create a new serial and access number

Here

The app above throws all sorts of virus alerts with Windows Security / Antivirus (AV can open the 7z instantly and detect the EXE) and also matches about 20+ signatures on virustotal. That being said, I tried it in a VM and it does work correctly after making an exception in Chrome and Windows Security Center.

Appreciate the work here RazorX on a GUI, but not sure what build chain was used that's causing all the virus alerts. It seems it could be built with something a little more benign like Visual C, Visual Studio, etc. Multiplatform with Mac/Linux would be even nicer with something like Qt/Go.

The core of this is psotool, an open source save editor on github. I can assist anyone that needs to recover a SNAK and PSO character using this tool. Just PM or email me and we can coordinate by email / Discord. Always open to meeting new PSO / Dreamcast enthusiasts.

Open Source psotool save recovery/editor:
https://github.com/p1pkin/psotool

[RazorX]

Darn, I too have some old PSO saves but no disc. I'll buy the game again but the new key wouldn't work with them. Was hoping I could decrypt the save and get the original serial / key from them that way but doesn't seem like a tool exists.

that is now possible with my app, it will let you recover your serial and possibly access number or simply decrypt your save and re-encrypt it with another.
it also has a built in keygen for you to create a new serial and access number

Here

The app above throws all sorts of virus alerts with Windows Security / Antivirus (AV can open the 7z instantly and detect the EXE) and also matches about 20+ signatures on virustotal. That being said, I tried it in a VM and it does work correctly after making an exception in Chrome and Windows Security Center.

Appreciate the work here RazorX on a GUI, but not sure what build chain was used that's causing all the virus alerts. It seems it could be built with something a little more benign like Visual C, Visual Studio, etc. Multiplatform with Mac/Linux would be even nicer with something like Qt/Go.

The core of this is psotool, an open source save editor on github. I can assist anyone that needs to recover a SNAK and PSO character using this tool. Just PM or email me and we can coordinate by email / Discord. Always open to meeting new PSO / Dreamcast enthusiasts.

Open Source psotool save recovery/editor:
https://github.com/p1pkin/psotool

they're false flags because of the nature of the app and because it's unsigned as it was created by me, it has been tested by many people successfully and downloaded hundreds of times, you have nothing to worry about.