Having trouble connecting (same old story) with PC->DC modem

And here I go.
Just bought the Rev. A modem that was being sold on eBay.
Now to wait two weeks until it arrives to my door.
One week to Miami, and one week to Colombia.

And then, most probably, with all the luck, I'll join you on Sylverant!

And here I went! Sorry to bump and double post in this 3 weeks old thread, but I told you I needed 2 weeks to get my "brand new" Rev. A modem.
And I did log into Altimira just about now! (albeit I got weirdly disconnected while I was walking around)
I had to jump thru hoops with this one situation, first the DNS wasn't resolving, the game screen stood in the same place as always, the connection wasn't getting routed properly, it was a total mess.
Now that it's kinda working, I want to test my B modem again and, do you think I should try to do a tutorial for those unlucky as myself?

YES PLEASE!!!!!!

So effusive, Moopthehedgehog!

And just when I thought I had it, and I was happily writing the tutorial, I found out the connection is rather (very) unstable.
And both the Rev. A and B modems work perfectly with my "new" setup, so... What the hell is going on here?
I think I just bought a surplus modem.
I want to see why the connection is having problems, but I don't have a way to determine it, other than logging the TCP transactions in WinRoute Lite.
Everything goes well, until I go down to Ragol (to see the eternal Forest 1), and then suddenly, black screen and coloured bubblegum pieces, and after a while "the line was disconnected". I even lost my weapon because I got KOd, and then when I just returned to Pioneer 2 I got the message. I was weaponless for a while!
And it occurs in Lobby also, Pioneer 2... It must be something odd going on here.

I want to find out what's going on, so until then, the tutorial is in a halt (and I was half way thru it!)

In the good old days i made a tutorial myself to connect a DC using its standard modem to a PC to use its broadband internet.

It worked all perfectly, the only thing i would have to add in is the redirection to Sylverant / DNS stuff...

Some things i encountered when trying all other tutorials and writing my own:

1st: Be carefull when tweaking Registrey-settings in Windows. I did it exactly like shown in a tutorial which was ment to be a good one. The result was a ticking in my notebook with peaks of 100% system usage making it useless / freezing on startup making the windoews installation useless. (I know what to do and what not to do in windows Registry as I do IT-support in my Job)

2nd: Better not use Voltage induders. I made one along a tutorial using the exact parts. Playing was pretty unstable. (Disconnects, lags, problems stated above...) After trying for like 6,7 hours nonstop my pc modem overheated (before i had broadband it ran all day, nonstop). I'm glad i used an external one.


My way:

Requirements:
-Windows XP or higher (I recommend XP, as Vista sucks and its not easy to find all this "old-school" things in W7)
-Dreamcast Browser (enclosed Dreamkey from PSO.ver2, XDP, whatever lets you choose own isp for dialup)
-2 phone cords
-dialup modem for pc
- external ISDN modem or compareable (NO!!! ISDN required, only the modem)
- NO Winroute required
- NO selfmade voltage inducer needed
- NO tweaking of core-system settings needed

The ISDN modem:

In Germany you can get a Teledat x120 or x130 which I usewd pretty much and which are extremely reliable for the starting bit of 1 euro on ebay, well I expect you try to find something compareable in your country or let someone ship it to you...

This modem does 2 thing:

- Line voltage: the way it has to be, safe, secure and when needed
- Support of a dialtone and a dial-in phone-number (as it supports 2 seperate phone lines which can make internal calls between each other, which is what we need here)

Setup - Hardware:

- Plug 1 phonecord into dc, other end into the ISDN thingy, lets say to port A or Line 1, however its labeled
- Plug the other phonecord into port B or line 2 in the ISDN Box and the other end into your pc modem
- connect the power cord of the ISDN modem to power suply

setup - DC:

- insert browser disc
- goto isp setup
- enter phone number: !2 (the ! is used most the times as a pre-dial for internal calls, check for the option "hook flash" for further information or what to use as predial for internal calls, 2 is for port 2 were we plugged in the pc) Better not put the ! into the pre-dial field, put it all in the phone number field.
- enter a username and a password for the isp. Lets choose User: Dreamcast and Pass: online
- save it and quit.

setup - PC:

Some expression could be slightly different as i try to remember all the steps and how it could be called in english Windows, I hope you get a clue, if not ask me and I will try to help, offer my tutorial with step by step screenies)

- go into the network environment
- show network connections (in the left panel)
- network tasks / make new connection (left panel)
- network wizzard pops up
- choose the last ratio button, extended connection
- choose 1st option: allow incomming calls
- choose the modem which is connected to the isdn box (which is connected to the DC)
- choose DON'T allow VPN (not 100% sure, will prove it and update this post)
- Now you see a list of the users which exist on your pc, klick on the [Add...] button
- Remember the settings we used for the DC browser? Add a new User with the name "Dreamcast" and the password "online" (without the " )
- ensure to un-check all other users
- The next step shows the installed softwar, protocols, ... used by windows for connections
- select TCP / IP and hit the [properties] button
- make sure the checkmark is set on the option above aloowing a dial-in and access to local network
- enter 2 ascending IP numbers which are NOT used in your LAN and out of the range of the DHCP settings of your router. If single PC without router just use 192.168.0.4 and .5
- uncheck the option below allowing the pc to pick the IP on its own
- now finish the wizzard and return to the network connection window
- pick your "LAN connection" used for broadband internet and go into it's properties
- switch to 2nd tab "extended"
- check the 1st option allowing other users to use this connection
- you can leave the other checkbox unchecked

well that's it, last thing to do would be the DNS redirect. I've never done it but I suppose it would help running a DNS server on that PC...

Hope I could help, sharing my experiences.

Wow, that's really comprehensive!
Does it matter if the pc uses a hardware or software modem?
Also, would this work if I plugged my DC into a telephone instead of a modem, in line 2 (or 1, I guess it doesn't matter), and then plugged in the part that would go into the wall into my pc?

Hi moop,

I'm not completely sure what you mean by hardware or software-modem. Your PC or Laptop needs a physical (Hardware) 56k dial-up modem, no matter if its external or internal.

Im unsure about the telephone you like to use to plug the DC in. I never saw a phone were it could be possible apart of special system-phones.

The hook-up is:

(DC) <-Phonecord-> (ISDN Modem) <-Phonecord-> (external or internal PC Dial-up modem)

As I am unsure about the availability of old ISDN modems in your region (I know they exist in UK and US) you could try to find sth. which does the same:

You dont need ISDN to use it, just this Modem as it has 2 phone lines (a and b or Line 1 and 2) which can make "internal calls" making it possible that the DC "calls" the PC which has its own "ISP" phone number and a dialtone.

In the USA you could use a used one of these

In the UK you could use a used one of these (as you can see on the picture it has 2 lines, rj11 phone plugs or stripped wires)

On any further questions, i am willing to help.

I'm in the US, and i do have a bba, already, just fyi.

The phone is a panasonic kx-3175 (B), and it's the only one I can use conveniently.
I don't have an ISDN modem, and I don't think I'll ever be getting one, so... I mean, I'll try it with this phone and post the result.

Edit: I get the no dialtone error... After it dials !2, it hangs for a while and gives me that error.
Also, the phone manual doesn't say anything about !2, just that the phone has a "flash" button that is the same as the hookswitch feature on other phones...

You got a BBA for your DC?

Then you dont need to use the PC or any other tools, just get yoursel a broadband router if you don't already have one (i expect you have one).

Plug in the PC and the DC to the routers LAN ports and the modem (which would be connected to the ethernet port of your pc if you don't have a router) to it's WAN port, enter the DNS Server used for sylverant in the DC using XDP 3.0 which is freeware to DL at dcisozone and thats all.

If you need a good suggestion fpr a router, i use the Netgear WNDR 3700 which has the highest internal data rate and everything you would ever dreamm about, fast and reliable.

I know all the bba stuff, I'm actually my network's administrator, so I know all the things I need to do and whatnot. The bba is working fine.

It's just that I'd like to use the dialup connection for things that do NOT support the BBA, and I don't have a dialup ISP. That's all.

If you want, we can continue this through PMs so as to not clutter up this thread.

(almost crossposted on Sylverant forum)
Hello everyone,

Sorry to bump this old topic, but I've had is a major breakthru, in my case.
I have been successful in connecting to Sylverant via the DC/PC cable + Virtual PC 2007 + Windows 98 + Winroute Lite, using both a Rev. A and a Rev B. modem!
My problem it seems, was either the length of my phone cable or port forwarding in my router. Now, I was able to play the whole Forest 1 without a single delay or lag (except the normal game disc loading time).
The real test (doing the whole Forest) comes later tonight, but I'm really thrilled about it!
I was able to play with the revision B modem for one hour and 20 minutes straight, without any problems (except my character's inability (Lv 6) to fight the forest's dragon) or lag (there was one lone instance where an item took 3 seconds to spawn).

I wrote part of the process I used on my website: http://vmu.tam.x10.mx/connect.php
However, I want to revamp that page using images, screenshots and other stuff, so, please stay tuned to a next post very soon.

Cheers!