Things to be aware of in the online world

[Jason]

The online world of PSO have gotten worse, every now and then we have to be more careful than we had to in the past. I've created this topic for all of you and especially to those who are having trouble in the online world.

In case you don't know what a FSOD is, it stands for Frozen Screen Of Death. Basically, it is a game that got frozen with a buzzing sound. When and if that happened to you, you'll have to turn off your system and back on to continue playing. Hopefully, you won't get corrupted from it that stands for FSOD-X. That very rarely happens, haven't happened to me yet after hundreds of FSODs I've got altogether.

These may be common sense to the some of you here, but there are some who have yet to know this that would help them in the online world. I'm providing you my knowledge to help you all from the experience I had.

1. If you are joining a crowded block mainly for looking for a team to join, enter that block but to be safe from the crowd teleport to another lobby. Being safe and alone, you can check out or create a team of that block without a sweat running down your forehead. Or try out blocks that aren't as crowded as much, as joining a block of a high number may increase your chance to get a FSOD.

2. If you got a FSOD before you join any team when you got online, your items won't be lost unless you have joined a team. So before you exit any team, deposit your valuable items. Including the items that you've got unequipped even if you got it back equipped. But a weapon can be lost from a FSOD in leaving a team even if you didn't unequipped it and left it equipped the whole time.

3. Planning on doing Challenge Mode with your friends? Have their guild cards and contact them to get to you in a lobby that isn't crowded. Otherwise, the higher chances are if you have completed a stage and return to the lobby you can get a FSOD and lose your well-earned rank.

4. Looking for new friends? You can try from the EU ships. JP ships too even, some Japanese players know a bit of English and there's the Language Barrier that helps a bit. You can even come across players who aren't Japanese. It is really risky to try out from the US ships though that's where I've been making friends because of the population that tempted me to try there. If you are in a crowd of these ships, be alert for External X being one of them (or so I've been told) and players of AIM-ish names. I've made several friends from less crowded lobbies. It takes time.

5. Sometimes, a FSOD can happen not only from joining a crowded lobby or from a FSODer. Sometimes and very rarely it happen by itself in-game. So be careful with what you have that are taken out of the deposit box, they will all be gone if a FSOD have happened except for your armor, items equipped in your slots, and a mag that you haven't got unequipped at least once. It can even happen from offline mode but very, very very rarely. That haven't happened to me yet.

6. Being in a crowed lobby, or even in one that is not with much players there, be careful if you are going to accept any guild cards from them. And that includes in a team. As if you have accepted a guild card, that triggers the game to save for a bit. If you got a FSOD while the game is saving, your character is or most likely corrupted. As like the saving message says, do not touch the memory card or turn off your system. With a FSOD triggered while saving, that basically makes the game think the game is off.
There may or may not be a way to get out of this, but I believe that Kef here have suggested that pulling out the memory card when a FSOD happened tends to work to escape the corruption though maybe not all of the time. I should had done that, but I didn't when the game freezes when I had join a team during the game saving. So I've got corrupted in the past. Also be careful with what team you are joining. A player may FSOD you when you've joined that the game triggers to save, or from bad luck you got a FSOD that very rarely happens by itself in-game.


Have a good time online, with caution. Anything you want to say or add, please post. http://pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_smile.gif

[Tycho]

Very nice, hope people that are planning to go online soon will read this.

I have something to add myself too. I do still exchange guildcards with people that want to, but I know accepting a guildcard will trigger a save, making you really vulnerable, just in case they would want to FSOD you immediately afterwards. So I would recommend not accepting the card immediately, but waiting for a bit, because if someone were to FSOD you, they would do it 1.5 seconds after they send their card, or something like that. In the meanwhile, before accepting or declining the card, it's still possible to talk and mail, so it would be less suspicious.

But that's just one way of triggering corruption, the lobby corruption is far worse. :disapprove:

[RadiantLegend]

Looking for new friends? You can try from the EU ships. JP ships too even, some Japanese players know a bit of English and there's the Language Barrier that helps a bit. You can even come across players who aren't Japanese. It is really risky to try out from the US ships though that's where I've been making friends because of the population that tempted me to try there. If you are in a crowd of these ships, be alert for External X being one of them (or so I've been told) and players of AIM-ish names. I've made several friends from less crowded lobbies. It takes time.

*_* what kinda AIM names? .... >.<



<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Ragolismine on 2005-03-25 14:13 ]</font>

[Tycho]

On 2005-03-25 14:12, Ragolismine wrote:
*_* what kinda AIM names? .... >.<


tgr-aim, Aimee or Lordaim? http://pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_wacko.gif

I don't get that part either. <_<

[Jason]

Nothing specific but something like HaxorXing, Ghost51, Lyle789, JuiceBox11, etc. You know that many have numbers, and some have theirs with more than 1 word with no space in between.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Jason on 2005-03-25 14:27 ]</font>

[RadiantLegend]

http://pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/anime2.gif hai.... hai.....

[Jason]

Its okay for you to have asked, no question is stupid and maybe my answer is lol. Because you've asked that, that will be cleared up for some. ^_^

[Hunter_X]

my friend's file got corrupted from one of those fsod ppl and he knew the guy in real life so we jumped him http://pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_smile.gif

[slimer1231]

On 2005-03-25 17:15, Hunter_X wrote:
my friend's file got corrupted from one of those fsod ppl and he knew the guy in real life so we jumped him http://pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_smile.gif



Good job. I probably would have done the same to him too.... and smash his gamecube http://pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_smile.gif

[Hunter_X]

i have a question. Is it possible to buy stuff from ppl online or do u have to trade them items for it?

[RedSchwar]

Or you could do what any self-respecting person would do: boycott a poorly maintained product.

[Bawless]

good idea's on how to avoid having your game ruined, basically storeing all items, and arranging to meet friends on empty servers ( as there are plenty) is a good idea... finding those friends can be difficult without going into crouded area's (unless they are real life friends of course).

[trypticon]

On 2005-03-27 16:49, Bawless wrote:
good idea's on how to avoid having your game ruined, basically storeing all items, and arranging to meet friends on empty servers ( as there are plenty) is a good idea... finding those friends can be difficult without going into crouded area's (unless they are real life friends of course).



You're missing the point though. The people who hang out in the crowded areas are NOT going to be good friends for anybody. Trouble will follow them anywhere they go, most likely.

To be quite honest, this is not a good time to join the online world of PSO. I'm sorry to say it, but if you haven't built up a list of friendly people in your guild card storage, you have missed the boat completely. Newer players are no longer trusted, tolerated, nor accepted. The same goes with high level characters that nobody knows, sadly. Unless you are known by a large portion of the community, a high level only spells AR user to legits. You won't be getting a game with them. Take my word for it, even if you ARE known by just about everyone, you will still find it very very difficult to ever get a game going with more than a few people, ever.

This is just what the world of PSO has turned into. Blame the AR users, blame the hackers that came up with the codes and the streams, blame the dupers, the recoboxers, the n00bs, and heck, even blame all spectrums of the legitimate players, as well as Sonic Team themselves, and every PSO forum or website that has brought users onto the game. They are all at fault, every single one of them. The hackers and regular AR users are to blame for the downfall of some portions of the gaming experience, as well as the mass paranoia that a lot of the legits feel. The legits are to blame for the insults, the degradation, the harassment, and THE MASS PARANOIA THAT THE HACKERS FEEL that eventually pushed the majority of the AR users to go to the lengths that they did just so they could fit in. Unless you can go online and honestly have no bias against any type of player, which I know for a fact that nobody here is able to do, although there will be the expected detractors of this who are trying to gain some attention, then you have been part of the problem. That's all there is to it, everybody is to blame.

Why do I play this game? To be truthful, I was about to give it up when my last HL ran out. I was sick of the environment online, which I know I helped create. The only safe place on the US server seemingly was my normal spot. I don't know why it was still safe there, but it became a corner I backed myself into. While it was always empty there, I had a few invited friends come in to visit with me. As time went on, the friends grew less and less. It doesn't help that I'm so completely strapped for cash that my bills overwhelmed me for a time, forcing me to take a five or six month break from online. That just allowed me to lose contact with the few friends I had online, which were in truth about the only friends I had in my current life. They signed off, which was expected, and moved to better things.

The online world in which I left during my second forced break, my most recent one, was bad enough. With the biggest problems being AR codes which were pretty much just file swaps, duping, and some word select fsods going on. When I returned in January though, the situatioin had gotten much much worse. For starters. pretty much everybody was gone, and a lot of my guild card list had been gone for well over a year by that time. I had kept the people's cards to remind me of the better days and adventures online. The good news, and about the only good news, was that duping was basically a thing of the past. Heck, why dupe when you can AR yourself to infinite items? But that was just the beginning.

Some people have informed me that I have personally found the greatest drop in PSO history. But it is a worthless find, in the face of what hackers can make for themselves in a few minutes time. I look at my thousands of hours spread out over three corrupted semi legit characters, to the final legit character. Altogether, it's more than 3500 hours on four characters, the latest one having over 2000 on him alone. This is months of my life gone forever, and in light of what is made possible by a simple Action Replay, it is deemed worthless. But I still stay. Though there is now a concentrated effort by the hackers to get rid of every last legitimate player still willing to pay the price for the online game, I stay.

Yes, every day I run the chance of Sanjuro and his associates in crime corrupting me. They know where they can find me, my safe spot on the US servers is no mystery to anyone, and Dark Milly and a few others have stolen my guild card already, which I understand I may never be able to reverse. My only good finds, the Milla, and the 90 hit guld were combined a long time ago, and the most recent, the Sealed J Sword, but I dare not make a backup of them. Once the cobined items or the sword are gone, either to fsod, which has taken maybe as many as seven or eight frozen shooters from me in the last two months, or corruption, which Sanjuro still tries to pull off frequently, despite perhaps being reported several times, they are gone for good.

So why do I stay then? Why risk losing what some people call the best find in PSO history? Well, despite having recently found the Sealed J Sword, and trying to unseal it online as there are higher enemy counts, mostly, it's the few people that still make me smile. Ryan, David, Brian, Sharky, and Tycho. These few communicate with me more than anybody else in my life, even more than my wife, though I hate to draw a comparison between them all. These are literally the only friends I have, and it's why I prefer listing them by their first names. Of course, neither Sharky or Tycho will give their first names up, which is just fine. I understand a persons boundaries. Everybody else online is a veritable stranger to me, even though they may know of me, even though I may know of them. That is really just what they have become.

PSO on the gamecube has changed so dramatically over the past year that it's pointless to debate about it. In one instance, you will see AR users who are trying to get along with other more established players. In another, you will see hackers making up their own great items to brag about. In yet another, you will have the players who like to label themselves as Dreamcast veterans. Mostly, all they do is bitch about how different the gamecube version is compared to the dreamcast, and how much more fun we'd all be having if only we could go back in time to that old system. Then you will also have the newer players, seduced by the promises of the large crowds in some lobbies, only to be disenchanted when they realize that all the friends they just made are outcasts by the minority of online society that considers themselves to be real players. And the paranoid legits will be there also, heck I'll probably be in the forefront of the paranoia, not wanting to lose the few great items I've found, but at the same time, feeling like I need to see the few friends I have online just so I can claim to have a social life.

In all, perhaps less than one percent of the original purchasers of PSO GC still play online. The depression, as I have reported several times before, keeps us coming back for more, keeps us clinging to a program that is well beyond its prime. Sega knows exactly what they are doing in their manipulation, and SNK was entirely correct in his observation of it. Dragged along by promises and offers that are given from the larger company, the seduction will corrupt us all.



<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: trypticon on 2005-03-30 13:38 ]</font>


<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: trypticon on 2005-03-30 13:47 ]</font>

[Calx]

I was going to type out a long reply to Trypticon, but instead I'll just say this:

I stopped playing last spring. I started playing again just over one month ago. None of my friends from back then are still on. During the one month I've been back, I've amassed over 20 guild cards from people who are in no way associated with fsod'ers and who are fun to play with. I rarely go online without finding someone on my list to play with and, through those people, the list is constantly expanding.

Do I think Sega is sitting on their asses in regards to PSO GC? Yes. Have I been FSOD'd? Yes. Has it still been worth it getting back online. Most definitely.

I met the Trypticon bunch recently, cowering in their corner, and it wasn't a particularly attractive sight. I do understand the background for their way of behaving, but man, if you're going to be that scared, where's the enjoyment?

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Calx on 2005-03-30 13:40 ]</font>

[Meaky]

Get an xbox? >_>

Seriously, I've had the xbox version for over a month now, and only been fsoded once, and that was offline, so um, yeah..

[Char]

The problem about trading for legit items is that you dont know if they are legit or not. But some have unreal %s which may give them away.

Does anyone know how the fsod code works?
Because mabye if they figured it out they could fix it.

[PJ]

On 2005-03-30 13:52, Meaky wrote:
Seriously, I've had the xbox version for over a month now, and only been fsoded once, and that was offline, so um, yeah..



You realise, that's not an FSOD, but a hardware problem.

Real answers, please. -_-

[trypticon]

On 2005-03-30 13:34, Calx wrote:

I met the Trypticon bunch recently, cowering in their corner, and it wasn't a particularly attractive sight. I do understand the background for their way of behaving, but man, if you're going to be that scared, where's the enjoyment?

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Calx on 2005-03-30 13:40 ]</font>


I have a bunch now? Neat, that's news to me. It's not so much being scared as just not wanting to deal with assholes online. When it gets to the point of everywhere you go, people try to fuck you up, then you know there is a serious problem with the online society as it is.

[Saiffy]

On 2005-03-30 15:47, trypticon wrote:


On 2005-03-30 13:34, Calx wrote:

I met the Trypticon bunch recently, cowering in their corner, and it wasn't a particularly attractive sight. I do understand the background for their way of behaving, but man, if you're going to be that scared, where's the enjoyment?

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Calx on 2005-03-30 13:40 ]</font>


I have a bunch now? Neat, that's news to me. It's not so much being scared as just not wanting to deal with assholes online. When it gets to the point of everywhere you go, people try to fuck you up, then you know there is a serious problem with the online society as it is.


Amen. http://pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_yes.gif

And really, there are usually only one or two people there that do cower as you say. And although I may just be repeating Adam, we "cower" because it as gotten to the point where we have to. If you stay in lobby 1 or 2 of a block, a populated block at that. Don't call yourself brave, you're just stupid really.

And like Adam, I have few friends in real life, I resort to PSO to see and talk to some people that can understand me. You may think that I am saying PSO has become a chat room for me, well more power to you then. I couldn't care less what you think.

PSO has gone downhill, fast, blame whatever or whoever you want. I still have fun doing what I do everyday in this cursed program.



<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Saiffwin on 2005-03-30 16:13 ]</font>

[Meaky]

On 2005-03-30 15:22, SUPAH_CHAO wrote:


On 2005-03-30 13:52, Meaky wrote:
Seriously, I've had the xbox version for over a month now, and only been fsoded once, and that was offline, so um, yeah..



You realise, that's not an FSOD, but a hardware problem.

Real answers, please. -_-



Hence the "so um, yeah..." and I wasn't answering anything...

[Calx]

PSO IS in large part a chatroom. Nothing wrong with that. My point wasn't to make anyone look pathetic, either. It's more that it bothers me to no end to see people cowering in fear of some snotty little kids with an AR. It upsets me because that means they have won. I avoid crowded US lobbies and I am always on guard when not in a game, but I would sooner not play at all than lock myself up.

That said, I understand the draw of PSO, and why it's not easy to just quit for another game or talk on MSN instead. I hope PSU ends up being a place where we can all play and chat freely and without any fear.