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As I understand it, Sega shut down the Hunters License server. But why was this an issue? Wasn't everything hacked/emulated anyway? I never had to pay to play PSO on schthack...

You are exactly right. They shut down the hunters license authentication server that US v.2 needs to connect. You don't need to pay to play on schthack. The hunters license server couldn't make you pay.

When the HL was up, it was run by Sega. No one could figure out how emulate it. They took it own for their own reasons.

So how did people play with the same shared serial if the Hunters License server authenticated every person playing the game?

Sega abandoned us...