I feel like I screwwed myself

[Xevioso]

I had just gotten my copy of PSO for the cube, but then I started reading about the high chances of corruption. And then I heard that a "plus" version actually fixes that problem. I could hear nothing but profanity from my mouth when I actually found out about a plus version.

So now I am living in fear of even playing the game! I want to know, is there any ways to reduce the chances of corrupting your saves/cards?

Also, 2 additional questions

Is it possible to move characters over to another memory card?

Why don't you get any quests for Episode 2!? Is it online only!?

[blace]

My cousin owns the non plus copy and he never had any problems. I thinl the problems may have refered to the online with the NOL problem.

You can move characters to another memory card as guest characters, but as guests you can't do single player and are limited to multiplayer. Don't forget to move the characters used as guest back to the original memory card or you will lose your storage items.

Episode 2 had quests that were downloadable if I recall, and those were limited to online only. For PSO+ you get a few extra missions like the control tower missions that were originally online only but added to the offline portion of the game.

[Xevioso]

My cousin owns the non plus copy and he never had any problems. I thinl the problems may have refered to the online with the NOL problem.

If that's true, then happy days!


You can move characters to another memory card as guest characters, but as guests you can't do single player and are limited to multiplayer. Don't forget to move the characters used as guest back to the original memory card or you will lose your storage items.

Oh. That does sound like a hassle.


Episode 2 had quests that were downloadable if I recall, and those were limited to online only. For PSO+ you get a few extra missions like the control tower missions that were originally online only but added to the offline portion of the game.

So... there's officially nothing special about Episode 2 as I have it now? I can't do anything besides some VR training? :rant:

[blace]

Following the story for episode 2, you go through the VR training areas before you are allowed to go to Gal De Val(?) isle and the Seabed ruins.

For episode 2 with PSO+ you get an extra mission that continues off Elly Person's story from episode 1 and allows you to explore inside the towers.

[Xevioso]

Oh. My bad. So I really have to clear that area first. I guess the only real benefit of PSO+ is data protection.

I thought there were 7 areas in Episode 2?

[blace]

The island is split into several areas and you have to explore those areas to unlock the massive gate to access the major boss of the area, Gal Griffin and to access the Seabed area.

[Xevioso]

I see. Well, that's good to know.

Say, do these corruptions ever occur to the hunter's license needed to go online? I heard from somewhere that these licenses have a trial for up to 30 days.

[blace]

Those aren't needed anymore to be quite honest, since the official servers closed years ago.

On some certain servers that still do GC may need it.

[Xevioso]

Well yeah. I mean if the license's trial (if any) expires, does it increase the chances of a corruption?

[blace]

The only license that was needed was what I said earlier, it's for online play. Otherwise, I have no idea what you mean.

[Xevioso]

Well, I had read somewhere that the Hunter's license you get when start the game had some 30 day trial, and after that, you had to pay money to go online. If the trial expired, I was wondering if that had anything to do with corrupting your memory cards.

I had heard it was some anti-duping method, I was thinking that maybe playing offline multiplayer made the anti-duping method... go haywire and attack the wrong people?

I'm sorry, I don't know how to explain it.

[blace]

If that was the case my game would have been corrupted years ago. I have never heard of a game that would intentionally put in a feature to corrupt your data for not playing online.

That would be the online license trial, but as I've said official servers are gone and the other servers out there don't ask for payment, but for donations.

[Xevioso]

Yeah, that did kinda sound silly. :P

Well, if corruption only occurs from online, I guess I can assume I'm safe? For now at least?

[Kroniedon]

Corruption doesn't only occur online. It can happen at any time, anywhere, any game. The fastest sure fire way to corrupt your PSO save data is to turn off your system while saving the game. Other than that, the only corruption you'll find is natural memory card failure. Of course, this also goes for any other gamecube game.

Just to summarize some other points I saw in this thread:

- If you intend to go online, PSO Non-Plus is a more efficient route to go, as it does offer a useful glitch for backing up your gear in the case of a fsod or EW (Frozen Screen of death and Endless warp). The bonus quests included in PSO+ can be downloaded from various servers as well, so you're not missing out on anything if you plan to go online.

- PSO+ is better for offline only play as it has bonus quests you could normally only get online. It removes all useful glitches, and the malicious protection on the disk is virtually useless today as most servers have some form of hack protection.... that and no one in the gc community today is malicious.

- Your registration info has no affect on your character whatsoever. It's more or less just a way for the server to recognize your character upon log in. As stated earlier, the 30 day trial no longer exists as the official servers were taken down years ago. As for registration on the server you choose to play on, just follow their directions and you'll be fine.

[Mystic_Nessly]

I never had any problems with my 2 official nintendo memory cards used for 1000+ hours of PSO gameplay nor my 2 3rd party gamestop/madcatz memory cards which were used a few hundred hours of play.

If you really want to make sure your memory card is secure, you can always get one of the GC USB Memory Adaptor's here:
http://www.hkems.com/m_main.htm

I've had one for years and it still works perfectly. You can backup your whole memory card (or individual game saves) onto your computer and reload the memory card any time you want. [To make it work with PSO, you MUST backup the entire card. If you try to backup the 3 files guild card, system, and character individually, the backup won't work when you try to reload it onto the memory card. Backing up the entire card will work.)

And yes, you can dupe individual items (really, entire banks) using this as well.

[trypticon]

I have to disagree with the idea that PSO non plus is better than PSO plus for getting online.

The reason that the game would corrupt from time to time online is because of the big honking STATUS bar that is always up in the corner of the screen. Having it up all the time apparently took a toll on the system, and could cause it to freeze up. I'd like to point out that the game is classic for freezing up, anyway, when commands were sent that the program had no end to, or something. The result is a frozen screen of death, or something along those lines. Due to the constant saving online, though, the freeze from the status bar, or any other freeze, for that matter, could cause you to corrupt if it happened during a save. In particular, the double save that would happen when you entered a game could cause a heap of trouble, since it would save, and save again, and the game could freeze up at any time during the two of them.

PSO non plus had no way to protect a user against this crap happening.

PSO Plus, on the other hand, does. In PSO plus, the double save is built into the game for online play. However, the screen remains dark upon entering a game online until both saves are over. This means that the big status bar in the corner of the screen doesn't start taking a toll on the cube until after the saves happen, translating into not chancing a fsod during the entrance time. I can't tell you how many times PSO plus has saved my character from being lost over the years, but I can say that I am very happy to have jumped over from regular Episode 1 and 2 to Plus as soon as it was available in the stores. Before I switched over, I'd corrupted three times. Since then, not once. I've FSOD as soon as the saves are over and the status bar came up a few times, but due to the screen staying dark during the save points, I've been safe,

In terms of backing up your stuff, there are still ways to do that on PSO plus, so it isn't an issue. Unlike the PSO non plus method, it also doesn't run the risk of fsoding you in the middle of a backup, so yeah, helpful.

[Xevioso]

Well, I have a program to backup my files from my memory cards so hopefully, if anything happens, I"ll have something to make up for it.

I've been noticing some slight lag with the game while I'm on Pioneer 2 where it would lag for a split second. Thats starting to cause me some worry.

It's so depressing. I already spent $40 on a used copy, but plus goes up to $63 dollars used. Other versions (including the DC version) go for as little as 5 bucks! I don't get it!