GC Patch Batch

The Decoction Patch is out now. This patch lets you reset your consumed materials (except HP/TP) by using a Decoction. You can buy a Decoction for one Photon Drop from Paganini on Altimira if you have the patch. After you reset your materials, your stats will decrease as if you had never used any materials before, and you'll be able to use materials again. Unlike older material reset methods, this method has no side effects.

Note that since this patch makes significant changes to your character, I recommend backing up your save file before you use it. In addition, you might want to reset your materials on a level multiple of 5, so you can check your base stats against PSO-World. I've tested the patch on every disc to make sure it resets your materials correctly, but caution is advisable until a larger pool of people have tried it.

Code:

Phantasy Star Online GC
Decoction Patch
Patcher by: Aleron Ives
Patch by: Ralf
http://psopalace.funurl.com

----------------
Introduction:
----------------

Welcome to the Decoction Patch for PSO GC. The purpose of this patch is to let you reset the materials you've used, so that using too many of one material type doesn't permanently prevent your character from reaching its full potential. Unlike most patches, this patch is tied to a specific item. In order to make use of the patch, you must bring one Photon Drop to Paganini in Garon's Shop on the Sylverant ship Altimira. If you have the patch, you will be able to purchase a Decoction. When you use the Decoction, all of your material counters will be reset, except for HP and TP Materials. These materials have their own counters that are separate from the other material types, so it makes sense to exclude them from the reset.

After you reset your materials, your stats will be adjusted as if you had never used any materials before, and you'll be able to use materials again according to your new material plan. You can reset your materials as many times as you want by buying multiple Decoctions. Unlike material resets of the past, this reset method has no side effects.

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Installation:
--------------

After downloading and unzipping the PSO_GC_Decoction_Patch.zip archive, you should have this README.txt file, as well as eight different patching programs. Each patching program is meant for one of the eight possible PSO GC releases that you might have:

NTSC-J 1.02 (JP regular disc)
NTSC-J 1.03 (JP regular disc)
NTSC-J 1.04 (JP Plus disc)
NTSC-J 1.05 (JP Plus disc)
NTSC-U 1.00 (US regular disc)
NTSC-U 1.01 (US regular disc)
NTSC-U 1.02 (US Plus disc)
PAL 1.00 (EU regular disc)

If you're not sure which version of the game you have, look at the inner ring on the bottom of your disc, and you should see one of these product numbers:

DOL-GPOJ-0-02 (JP 1.02)
DOL-GPOJ-0-03 (JP 1.03)
DOL-GPOJ-0-04 (JP 1.04 Plus)
DOL-GPOJ-0-05 (JP 1.05 Plus)
DOL-GPOE-0-00 (US 1.00)
DOL-GPOE-0-01 (US 1.01)
DOL-GPOE-0-02 (US 1.02 Plus)
DOL-GPOP-0-00 (EU 1.00)

You only need to use the patching program that matches the ISO dump of the disc you have.

Always be sure to keep a clean backup copy of your ISO, so that you don't have to dump your game again if you make a mistake!

In order to patch your ISO, you will need to use GCRebuilder to extract the game's main exectuable file, "PsoV3.dol". If you don't have GCRebuilder, you can find it in the GC downloads section of the main site. If you want a tutorial with pictures, you can find one in the GC guides section of the main site; otherwise, follow these steps:

1) Open GCRebuilder, select the "Image" option at the top, then select "Open". GCRebuilder will ask you to select an image to open. Navigate to the location of your PSO ISO file, select it, then click the "Open" button.

2) You will now see information about your PSO disc on the left side of the main GCRebuilder window, as well as a list of all the files on the disc on the right side of the main GCRebuilder window. The files are shown in alphabetical order by default, so use the scrollbar to scroll down until you find the file "PsoV3.dol".

Right click on the filename, and you'll get a small popup with the options "Import..." and "Export...". Click the "Export..." option, and then GCRebuilder will ask where you want to export this file. For simplicity, I suggest exporting it to C:\. Click the "Save" button to export PsoV3.dol to the folder you selected. We're done with GCRebuilder for the moment, but don't close it yet.

3) Now that we have extracted PsoV3.dol from the ISO, it's time to patch it. Run the patching program that matches the PSO disc you have, and then click the "..." button. A window will open asking you to select the "PsoV3.dol" file you want to patch. Navigate to C:\, and you should see the "PsoV3.dol" file you just extracted from your ISO. Select it, then click the "Open" button. I recommend unchecking the "Make a backup when possible" option, as you don't need a backup copy of "PsoV3.dol". Now press the "Start" button, and you should get confirmation that the file was successfully patched. When you close this message, the patching program will automatically close, too. You have now applied the patch, so it's time for the final step.

Before you begin the final step, you may want to apply other patches to your "PsoV3.dol" file. Once you've applied all of the patches you want to use, it's time to put the modified "PsoV3.dol" back into your ISO.

4) You should still have GCRebuilder open at this point, so this step is easy. Right click on "PsoV3.dol" in the GCRebuilder file list again, but this time, select the "Import..." option. A window will open asking you to select the file you want to import. Navigate to C:\ and select the "PsoV3.dol" file you patched in step 3. Click the "Open" button, and then you should get a confirmation window to indicate that the file import was successful.

That's it! You can now close GCRebuilder and use your patched PSO ISO file to play with Wii or Dolphin (or GC, if you have the necessary homebrew).

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Troubleshooting:
--------------------

If the patching program gives an error that says:

"PsoV3.dol - File size/version missmatch!"

then that means you tried to use a patching program that doesn't match your PSO disc. Double check which version of PSO GC you have and then select the patching program that matches your disc.

---------
Credits:
---------

Huge thanks go out to Ralf for making this patch, as previous material reset methods would delete all of your items, Techniques, Challenge records, and other things, thus making the process of resetting your materials incredibly tedious. Now you no longer have to fear messing up your character by using the wrong kinds of materials without a plan: for one Photon Drop, you can start over.

That's the end of this README; I hope everyone enjoys being able to fix the materials they used on their first characters. Don't forget to visit PSO Palace, the home of this patch.

http://psopalace.funurl.com

Shop Patch is a amazing

I'm glad you like it.

After nearly three years of work, I'm proud to announce the release of the Bugfix Patch (again?!). The initial release fixes 36 different bugs of varying levels of severity.

NOTE: If you downloaded the faulty release from two days ago, you'll need to roll back your ISO before you apply the updated patch. Sorry for the inconvenience!

Code:

Phantasy Star Online GC
Bugfix Patch
Patcher by: Aleron Ives
Patch by: Ralf & Aleron Ives
http://psopalace.funurl.com

----------------
Introduction:
----------------

Welcome to the Bugfix Patch for PSO GC. The purpose of this patch is to fix many of the bugs that Sega left in the game and is the result of nearly three years' worth of work by Ralf and myself. Below is a list of the various bugs fixed by this patch. For more detailed information on some of the more interesting bug fixes, see the end of this README.

1) Barriers no longer get their variable DFP capped incorrectly.
2) VR Spaceship no longer has rooms where the enemies can't drop any items.
3) Weapon attributes now correctly add extra damage to minibosses and Olga Flow form 2.
4) Minibosses and Rangers now correctly bleed when they get hit.
5) Gi Gue and Ill Gill no longer incorrectly emit Altered Beast blood when they get hit.
6) S-Rank Psychogun, Windmill, and Knuckle can now have any special attack.
7) The Dark and Hell specials now have visible effects when they successfully kill an enemy.
 Slimes no longer incorrectly split from Techniques other than Gibarta and Rabarta, nor do they sometimes split twice when using Gibarta and Rabarta.
9) Bulclaw's current HP is correctly divided among the Bulk and four child Claws, rather than having the Claws incorrectly spawn with full HP.
10) Dark Bringer's dash no longer incorrectly unequips your weapon when you don't take damage from the attack.
11) Gol Dragon no longer has a strange camera angle after the fight.
12) Morfos' laser no longer instantly kills you when you're frozen.
13) Barta no longer hurts you when Olga Flow turns orange and picks ice as his Technique weakness.
14) Item crates and laser fence switches no longer fade in, then out, then in again when you approach them under some circumstances.
15) Mags can now use Reverser on dead players with the correct success rate in offline freeplay and quests.
16) You no longer get prematurely sent back to Pioneer 2 while your Mag is trying to use Reverser under some circumstances.
17) Baby Mags no longer incorrectly drop with the colour grey on some discs.
18) Presents are no longer forced to be white/pink on some discs.
19) Unwrapping a wrapped unit no longer causes the unit to be deleted.
20) Invalid frames, barriers, units, and Mags are now correctly shown as ???? items that you can't equip.
21) The Check Room now handles stackable items correctly.
22) Downloaded quests are now filtered by episode so that you always get the correct item drops.
23) Technique targetting angles have been corrected so that you no longer attack random enemies and boxes behind you for no reason.
24) Grass Assassins produce offspring when they die in any area, rather than making the assassin babies SFX for no reason in Spaceship, Palace, and VR Temple.
25) Ruins laser fences now hum when on and are silent when off.
26) Delbiter's death SFX is fixed in Control Tower.
27) Technique SFX pitches have been corrected so that high-level Techniques are deeper than low-level ones.
28) The character selection screen's playtime counter is no longer capped at 9999:59.
29) Item boxes no longer appear underwater in Seabed.
30) The star garlands on Pioneer 2 Christmas trees are no longer invisible.
31) Android and area traps are again able to spin before they detonate.
32) Reverser and Moon Atomizer again target the dead player's soul, rather than empty air.
33) The TP bar colour has been adjusted to make the fill animation visible again.
34) Forest 2, Mountain, and Gal Gryphon raindrops are no longer yellow.
35) Monkey King Bar and Black King Bar no longer have incorrect textures when both weapons are being used by different players at the same time.
36) Equipping Zanba before the Barba Ray fight no longer corrupts the textures on the dock.

--------------
Installation:
--------------

After downloading and unzipping the PSO_GC_Bugfix_Patch.zip archive, you should have this README.txt file, eight different patching programs, and a folder named "Textures" with one extra patching program. Unlike most patches, this patch requires two different actions:

1) Use the patching program that matches your disc to patch PsoV3.dol, as usual.

2) Extract the file "ItemTexture.afs" from your ISO and use the PSO_GC_Texture_Bug_Patch.exe program to patch it, too.

Each patching program is meant for one of the eight possible PSO GC releases that you might have:

NTSC-J 1.02 (JP regular disc)
NTSC-J 1.03 (JP regular disc)
NTSC-J 1.04 (JP Plus disc)
NTSC-J 1.05 (JP Plus disc)
NTSC-U 1.00 (US regular disc)
NTSC-U 1.01 (US regular disc)
NTSC-U 1.02 (US Plus disc)
PAL 1.00 (EU regular disc)

If you're not sure which version of the game you have, look at the inner ring on the bottom of your disc, and you should see one of these product numbers:

DOL-GPOJ-0-02 (JP 1.02)
DOL-GPOJ-0-03 (JP 1.03)
DOL-GPOJ-0-04 (JP 1.04 Plus)
DOL-GPOJ-0-05 (JP 1.05 Plus)
DOL-GPOE-0-00 (US 1.00)
DOL-GPOE-0-01 (US 1.01)
DOL-GPOE-0-02 (US 1.02 Plus)
DOL-GPOP-0-00 (EU 1.00)

You only need to use the patching program that matches the ISO dump of the disc you have.

Always be sure to keep a clean backup copy of your ISO, so that you don't have to dump your game again if you make a mistake!

In order to patch your ISO, you will need to use GCRebuilder to extract the game's main exectuable file, "PsoV3.dol". If you don't have GCRebuilder, you can find it in the GC downloads section of the main site. If you want a tutorial with pictures, you can find one in the GC guides section of the main site; otherwise, follow these steps:

1) Open GCRebuilder, select the "Image" option at the top, then select "Open". GCRebuilder will ask you to select an image to open. Navigate to the location of your PSO ISO file, select it, then click the "Open" button.

2) You will now see information about your PSO disc on the left side of the main GCRebuilder window, as well as a list of all the files on the disc on the right side of the main GCRebuilder window. The files are shown in alphabetical order by default, so use the scrollbar to scroll down until you find the file "PsoV3.dol".

Right click on the filename, and you'll get a small popup with the options "Import..." and "Export...". Click the "Export..." option, and then GCRebuilder will ask where you want to export this file. For simplicity, I suggest exporting it to C:\. Click the "Save" button to export PsoV3.dol to the folder you selected. We're done with GCRebuilder for the moment, but don't close it yet.

3) Now that we have extracted PsoV3.dol from the ISO, it's time to patch it. Run the patching program that matches the PSO disc you have, and then click the "..." button. A window will open asking you to select the "PsoV3.dol" file you want to patch. Navigate to C:\, and you should see the "PsoV3.dol" file you just extracted from your ISO. Select it, then click the "Open" button. I recommend unchecking the "Make a backup when possible" option, as you don't need a backup copy of "PsoV3.dol". Now press the "Start" button, and you should get confirmation that the file was successfully patched. When you close this message, the patching program will automatically close, too. You have now applied the patch, so it's time for the final step.

Before you begin the final step, you may want to apply other patches to your "PsoV3.dol" file. Once you've applied all of the patches you want to use, it's time to put the modified "PsoV3.dol" back into your ISO.

4) You should still have GCRebuilder open at this point, so this step is easy. Right click on "PsoV3.dol" in the GCRebuilder file list again, but this time, select the "Import..." option. A window will open asking you to select the file you want to import. Navigate to C:\ and select the "PsoV3.dol" file you patched in step 3. Click the "Open" button, and then you should get a confirmation window to indicate that the file import was successful.

5) Use the GCRebuilder scrollbar to scroll up until you find the file "ItemTexture.afs". Right click on "ItemTexture.afs" and select the "Export..." option to export the file to the C:\ folder, just as you did for "PsoV3.dol" in step 2.

6) Use the PSO_GC_Texture_Bug_Patch.exe program to patch "ItemTexture.afs", then import it back into your ISO, just as you did for "PsoV3.dol" in steps 3 and 4.

That's it! You can now close GCRebuilder and use your patched PSO ISO file to play with Wii or Dolphin (or GC, if you have the necessary homebrew).

--------------------
Troubleshooting:
--------------------

If the patching program gives an error that says:

"PsoV3.dol - File size/version missmatch!"

then that means you tried to use a patching program that doesn't match your PSO disc. Double check which version of PSO GC you have and then select the patching program that matches your disc.

--------
Details
--------

1) This bug is caused by a mistake in the game's legitimacy checker. The game compares the barrier's maximum allowed EVP bonus against the actual DFP bonus, and it compares the barrier's maximum allowed DFP bonus against the actual EVP bonus. Since rare barriers usually allow up to +50 extra DFP and +15 extra EVP, any barrier that drops with > 15 extra DFP violates the faulty legit check, so the game sets the DFP boost to 0, mistakenly thinking that you hacked the barrier with too much DFP. Since the real EVP range of 15 is much less than the DFP range of 50, the EVP never gets erased. Comparing the barrier's real DFP and EVP to the maximum allowed DFP and EVP solves the problem.

Be warned that this patch must ALWAYS be in effect in order to prevent the bug. If you find a rare shield with > 15 extra DFP (or > 25, depending on the shield) and load your character without the patch even one time, the barrier's DFP will be permanently ruined by the faulty legit check. You can never play without this patch again if you want this fix to be effective.

2) This bug is caused by a faulty item validity check. The game checks the elevation of dropped items to make sure they're within the map boundaries, and it deletes the items if they're not. Any item that drops with an elevation above 100.0 is deleted as invalid, and while this threshold is fine for Episode I (and thus the Dreamcast version), Sega forgot to update the cap for Episode II. VR Spaceship has many rooms with an elevation greater than 100.0, so all the monster drops in those rooms get deleted. The solution is simply to raise the elevation cap to accommodate these rooms.

3) This is one of the more interesting bugs. The game compares the attributes of your weapon to the attribute of the enemy to see if you should do extra damage, but Mericarol, Merikle, Mericus, Gibbles, and Gi Gue have a special "Miniboss" attribute in addition to their Native and A.Beast attributes that prevents them from being affected by the confusion status. The game checks specifically for the enemy to be Native or A.Beast, so "Native + Miniboss" and "A.Beast + Miniboss" fail the check and cause the game to think that your weapon's attributes do not match the attribute of the enemy.

The same problem happens with Olga Flow form 2: Olga Flow has a special "Olga Flow" attribute that tells the game to display ???? in the lock-on window, instead of the actual attribute. As with minibosses, this causes your weapon to not match Olga Flow's attribute, so you don't deal any extra damage when your weapon has the correct percentages.

The solution is to compare only the weapon attribute with the enemy attribute and ignore these special flags, so the game can tell whether your weapon's attribute matches that of the enemy.

4) This bug is closely related to the weapon attribute bug. The game looks at the monster's attribute to determine what kind of blood it should spurt when it gets hit, but the miniboss flag causes Mericarol, Merikle, Mericus, Gibbles, and Gi Gue to not register as A.Beast or Native, so they don't bleed when you hit them. The solution is to ignore the miniboss flag when checking the attribute, so that minibosses will display the correct blood particle when you hit them.

This also happens with Olga Flow form 2, but it is not desirable to make the blood particle visible on him, or else it instantly tells you what his attribute is, thus defeating the purpose of hiding his attribute in the lock-on window.

7) This is a peculiar bug. The Dark and Hell specials have complete code for displaying a particle when they activate, but the particles Sega chose don't actually work. It appears that Sega wanted the Hell particle to be the same as the Dark particle, except 2x bigger, but I have substituded my own particle choice to make Hell look better when it activates.

10) Dark Bringer is infamously broken on V2, because if it dashes at you and unequips your Mechgun while you're firing it, you get stuck in an infinite loop of firing an invisible Mechgun and can't escape except by taking damage when your invincibility wears off -- or quitting the game. Sega fixed this bug with weapons in GC, but sadly they forgot to fix Techniques, so you can get stuck permanently casting a Technique if Dark Bringer takes your weapon while you're casting it.

The best solution for this bug is to prevent Dark Bringer from unequipping your weapon at all unless you actually take damage from the dash attack, as Chaos Bringer can't confuse you unless you get hit, and Sinow Spigell/Zele can't disarm you unless you get hit, either. Sega simply forgot to check whether you're invincible before letting Dark Bringer unequip your weapon. Oops.

11) Gol Dragon has three different camera angles to choose from -- the fight camera, the regular player camera, and some kind of beta fight camera. Unfortunately, Sega mistakenly uses the beta fight camera before Gol Dragon spawns and after it dies, rather than the regular player camera. Thankfully, it's easy to enable the regular player camera to correct the problem.

12) Morfos has a piercing laser that works by comparing the laser collision hitbox with the player hitbox. Unfortunately, when a player is frozen, the ice block gets counted as part of the player hitbox and effectively makes the player 3x bigger! As the Morfos laser passes through, it checks for collision with the player hitbox and usually hits once as it enters the ice block, once as it hits the actual player, and once as it exits the ice block.

Getting hit 3x increases the laser damage from 420 to 1260 in online Ultimate, which usually proves fatal, since you must have already taken damage when you got frozen by Sinow Zoa or Deldepth Rabarta. The solution is to reduce the laser's hitbox size when you're frozen, so the laser will only hit your jumbo hitbox one time as it passes through.

13) This bug is caused by a simple Sega oversight: Barta has a different element than Gibarta and Rabarta. Gibarta and Rabarta are classified as "ice that can freeze", while Barta is classified as "ice that can't freeze". When Olga Flow picks his random elemental weakness as either fire, ice, lightning, or light, he picks "ice that can freeze" as his element, and thus Barta doesn't qualify and causes you to take damage, even though it's an ice Technique. Allowing Barta to qualify for this check solves the problem.

15) This bug is caused by a problem with the way the game evaluates Mag special slots. The 1/10 HP slot has higher priority than the death slot, so when you die, your Mag mistakenly rolls the 1/10 HP slot success rate. If the roll succeeds, your Mag tries to use its 1/10 HP ability, but it can't, since you're dead. The game does not evaluate subsequent slots after the first one rolls success, so the death slot is skipped entirely. The only way to get your Mag to use Reverser is therefore to fail the roll for the 1/10 HP slot and then succeed at the roll for the death slot. This makes it extremely difficult to get revived, so the solution is to ignore the 1/10 HP slot when you're dead, so that the death slot can do its random roll first. This way, you get the full chance for your Mag to use Reverser.

16) This bug was particularly annoying to figure out. Mags have a 3 second timer before they use Shifta/Deband, Resta, or Reverser, but male characters have a slightly faster animation than females if they fall down when they die. As a result, if you have a Scape Doll, it would get used at the same time your Mag used Reverser, thus defeating the point of the Mag revival. If you didn't have a Scape Doll, you'd end up getting sent back to Pioneer 2, even though your Mag was about to revive you. The solution is to make the Reverser timer slightly shorter so that your Mag uses Reverser sooner and prevents the bugs.

17) This bug is simple. Sega set the colour of dropped Mags to "grey" instead of "costume colour" on JP 1.02, US 1.0, and US 1.01 discs. With the fix, dropped Mags will again receive the colour tied to whichever costume the first person to equip them is wearing.

18) As with the grey Mags bug, this bug only applies to JP 1.02, US 1.0, and US 1.01 discs. Sega added an extra check for whether an item is a present on these discs, except... Sega checked the wrong variable. As a result, all presents fail the "Is this a present?" test, and the game does not save the present colour, mistakenly thinking the item is not a present at all. Disabling the bogus check allows the wrapping paper type to be saved properly.

23) This bug is particularly bizarre. PSO uses two different formats for calculating angles: one format is a standard angle on a scale of 0 - 360 degrees, while the other format is a special PSO angle stored as a number from 0 - 65535 to represent 0 - 360 degrees. Sega attempted to implement a system where the targetting angle of Foie, Rafoie, Barta, Gibarta, and Megid rises as the Technique level increases, but they made a critical mistake: they used both of these angle formats without converting between them. As a result, Techniques end up with ludicrously large targetting angles in excess of 5000 degrees!

Foie 30 has an effective targetting angle of ~211 degrees, and this angle is so wide that you have no control over which enemy you target. The solution is to fix the unit conversions and adjust the angles of each Technique to give you back control over what you want to attack. The new angles are based on Sega's fixes for this problem in PSOBB.

25) In typical Sega fashion, the code to play the humming SFX is missing from the active laser fence function, because Sega put it in the inactive laser fence function, instead. Sigh.

26) This bug is caused by SFX having different IDs depending upon which area you're in. Control Tower has the correct Delbiter SFX, but the game doesn't play it, since the Control Tower ID differs from the ID used in Seabed. The sad thing is Sega actually wrote a function to pick the correct howling SFX depending upon whether you're in Seabed or Control Tower... and then they added more code to disable the Control Tower check. Even with the Control Tower check enabled again to fix the howling SFX, Sega completely forgot to fix the black smoke whoosh SFX that all Dark enemies make when they die.

28) This is a curious problem. The game always tracks your total playtime, but the character selection screen arbitrarily caps your playtime to 9999:59, even if you've played longer than that. Disabling the cap allows you to see your true playtime if you've played more than 10000 hours.

29) Much like the Delbiter SFX problem, Sega already created a function to adjust the position of item boxes depending upon the terrain type. Unfortunately, Sega didn't bother to set the flag to adjust item boxes that drop in Seabed water, so items end up underwater, where they're difficult to see. Enabling the Seabed water flag causes items to drop above the water, which looks much better.

30) This bug has a silly cause: the game draws the garland first and then the tree, so the tree appears on top of the stars. Drawing the tree first and then the stars fixes the problem.

31) Traps animate before they go off in V2, but it seems Sega forgot to implement this in GC, and traps instead have a placeholder effect where a second trap appears on top of the original trap before it goes off. Implementing the spinning animation again demonstrates when the trap has entered its active phase and is counting down to detonation.

33) The Dreamcast HUD is dark blue, so Sega made the TP bar bright cyan. This TP bar clashes with the green GC HUD, so Sega made the TP bar foreground much darker on GC. Unfortunately, they forgot that doing this made the TP bar foreground and background almost exactly the same colour, so the filling animation is almost invisible. Adjusting the TP bar foreground and background colours to match the GC HUD better fixes the problem.

34) With exquisite Sega finesse, they read the colour values of the raindrops backwards, and thus the raindrops appear yellow, instead of grey. Poor Sega.

---------
Credits:
---------

Huge thanks go out to Ralf for working on these fixes with me for nearly three years now, as there were so many, many problems in need of correcting with PSO.

That's the end of this README; I hope everyone enjoys the refined experience. Don't forget to visit PSO Palace, the home of this patch.

http://psopalace.funurl.com

There are a few other things to note:

• Once again, remember that the shield DFP fix only works if you use the Bugfix patch at all times. If you find a shield that would normally be affected by the bug, you can never play without the patch again. If you load your character without the patch even one time, your shield's DFP will be permanently ruined. You have been warned.
  
• If you load Garon's Shop with the patch, you'll be able to add any special you want to S-Rank Psychogun, Windmill, and Knuckle. Be aware that the specials will stop working if you play without the patch, though. The next time you play with the patch, the specials will start working again.
  
• If you load Garon's Shop with the patch, you'll be able to wrap units. Be warned that the person who unwraps the unit MUST ALSO HAVE THE PATCH in order to unwrap it. If you give a wrapped unit to somebody who doesn't have the fix, the unit will be destroyed when he tries to unwrap it. Garon's Shop will remind you of this fact whenever you try to wrap a unit.
  

The Chat Patch has been updated to version 1.1. The update adds the ability to skip over NPC dialogue by holding the B button. Not only does this let you skip tiresome dialogue very quickly, but it also spares your A button from extra wear and tear. Naturally, you can still use the A button to advance the text one message at a time if you're unfamiliar with the quest.

The Keyboard Patch is out now. This patch remaps the Japanese keyboard layout to a standard US QWERTY layout. Note that there is a different patch depending upon whether you use a keyboard controller, Devolution, Nintendont, or Dolphin. Make sure you select the correct patch version to get the best results.

Code:

Phantasy Star Online GC
Keyboard Patch
Patcher by: Aleron Ives
Patch by: Aleron Ives & FIX94
http://psopalace.funurl.com

----------------
Introduction:
----------------

Welcome to the Keyboard Patch for PSO GC. The purpose of this patch is to fix the game's keyboard layout to match a standard US QWERTY keyboard. Unfortunately, there is no standard way to handle keyboards across the various methods for playing PSO GC, so there are four versions of this patch. You only need to use the version that matches the way you're playing:

1) Use the PS/2 patch if you're playing on a real GameCube or Wii with a keyboard controller or PS/2 keyboard adapter.

2) Use the Devolution patch if you're playing on Wii or Wii U with Devolution and a USB keyboard.

3) Use the Nintendont patch if you're playing on Wii or Wii U with Nintendont and a USB keyboard.

4) Use the Dolphin patch if you're playing on Dolphin.

Note that on Dolphin you will want to click the "Default" button in the keyboard configuration menu to automatically populate the keys with their default values.

Each version of this patch is interchangeable with the others, so you can apply one version on top of another without any problems, if you so desire.

--------------
Installation:
--------------

After downloading and unzipping the PSO_GC_Keyboard_Patch.zip archive, you should have this README.txt file, as well as eight different patching programs for each of the four patch versions. Each patching program is meant for one of the eight possible PSO GC releases that you might have:

NTSC-J 1.02 (JP regular disc)
NTSC-J 1.03 (JP regular disc)
NTSC-J 1.04 (JP Plus disc)
NTSC-J 1.05 (JP Plus disc)
NTSC-U 1.00 (US regular disc)
NTSC-U 1.01 (US regular disc)
NTSC-U 1.02 (US Plus disc)
PAL 1.00 (EU regular disc)

If you're not sure which version of the game you have, look at the inner ring on the bottom of your disc, and you should see one of these product numbers:

DOL-GPOJ-0-02 (JP 1.02)
DOL-GPOJ-0-03 (JP 1.03)
DOL-GPOJ-0-04 (JP 1.04 Plus)
DOL-GPOJ-0-05 (JP 1.05 Plus)
DOL-GPOE-0-00 (US 1.00)
DOL-GPOE-0-01 (US 1.01)
DOL-GPOE-0-02 (US 1.02 Plus)
DOL-GPOP-0-00 (EU 1.00)

You only need to use the patching program that matches the ISO dump of the disc you have.

Always be sure to keep a clean backup copy of your ISO, so that you don't have to dump your game again if you make a mistake!

In order to patch your ISO, you will need to use GCRebuilder to extract the game's main exectuable file, "PsoV3.dol". If you don't have GCRebuilder, you can find it in the GC downloads section of the main site. If you want a tutorial with pictures, you can find one in the GC guides section of the main site; otherwise, follow these steps:

1) Open GCRebuilder, select the "Image" option at the top, then select "Open". GCRebuilder will ask you to select an image to open. Navigate to the location of your PSO ISO file, select it, then click the "Open" button.

2) You will now see information about your PSO disc on the left side of the main GCRebuilder window, as well as a list of all the files on the disc on the right side of the main GCRebuilder window. The files are shown in alphabetical order by default, so use the scrollbar to scroll down until you find the file "PsoV3.dol".

Right click on the filename, and you'll get a small popup with the options "Import..." and "Export...". Click the "Export..." option, and then GCRebuilder will ask where you want to export this file. For simplicity, I suggest exporting it to C:\. Click the "Save" button to export PsoV3.dol to the folder you selected. We're done with GCRebuilder for the moment, but don't close it yet.

3) Now that we have extracted PsoV3.dol from the ISO, it's time to patch it. Run the patching program that matches the PSO disc you have, and then click the "..." button. A window will open asking you to select the "PsoV3.dol" file you want to patch. Navigate to C:\, and you should see the "PsoV3.dol" file you just extracted from your ISO. Select it, then click the "Open" button. I recommend unchecking the "Make a backup when possible" option, as you don't need a backup copy of "PsoV3.dol". Now press the "Start" button, and you should get confirmation that the file was successfully patched. When you close this message, the patching program will automatically close, too. You have now applied the patch, so it's time for the final step.

Before you begin the final step, you may want to apply other patches to your "PsoV3.dol" file. Once you've applied all of the patches you want to use, it's time to put the modified "PsoV3.dol" back into your ISO.

4) You should still have GCRebuilder open at this point, so this step is easy. Right click on "PsoV3.dol" in the GCRebuilder file list again, but this time, select the "Import..." option. A window will open asking you to select the file you want to import. Navigate to C:\ and select the "PsoV3.dol" file you patched in step 3. Click the "Open" button, and then you should get a confirmation window to indicate that the file import was successful.

That's it! You can now close GCRebuilder and use your patched PSO ISO file to play with Wii or Dolphin (or GC, if you have the necessary homebrew).

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Troubleshooting:
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If the patching program gives an error that says:

"PsoV3.dol - File size/version missmatch!"

then that means you tried to use a patching program that doesn't match your PSO disc. Double check which version of PSO GC you have and then select the patching program that matches your disc.

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Credits:
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Thanks go out to FIX94 for finding the game's keyboard layout tables.

That's the end of this README; I hope everyone enjoys having a more familiar keyboard layout. Don't forget to visit PSO Palace, the home of this patch.

http://psopalace.funurl.com

Can I make a "Download Quests: Disable Language Filter" patch?

The game can't parse Japanese text unless the language is set to Japanese, which is why the filter exists. Sylverant already offers downloadable quests in English, so there's no need to remove the language filter. Even people who don't speak English as a first language tend to set PSO to English, since the other translations are notoriously bad.

I recently noticed an issue when using the bugfix patch for Plus. Thought I should report it. Would you have a look?

When breakable boxes are in a certain close range, Zonde seems to be targeting boxes over on-screen enemies, even when the enemies are closer. Interestingly, this is not happening with Grants which uses similar lock-on mechanics.

I tested multiple clean and patched images and I could only reproduce this this behavior on any copy using the Bugfix patch for Plus. I used the same character with Lv28 Zonde, so I don't know if affects all Zonde levels.

- Vanilla GC US 1.0: Zonde and Grants prioritize on-screen enemies over boxes, even at close range. If boxes are close enough, targets on-screen boxes over off-screen enemies.

- Vanilla GC US 1.02 (Plus): Same as vanilla GC 1.0

- GC US 1.02 (Plus) with Ralf's Technique autotargeting AR code: Same as vanilla GC 1.0

- GC US 1.02 (Plus) with PSOv3.dol patched with PSO_GC_Bugix_Patch_US_1.02_Plus.exe and no further changes: Zonde targets nearby boxes over on-screen enemies. Grants unaffected.

I know the patch notes don't mention Zonde, but it's the only way I was able to reproduce the odd change in behavior. I did not test the US 1.0 patch but could if you'd like me to. That and Plus are the only ones I own to be able to check, though.

Edit: With no discernible pattern I've found some rooms and boxes never have this issue, while I can always reproduce in others when patched. For example, the 2nd room of Fake in Yellow will never yields the problem on any version, while I can always reproduce in the 3rd room (the big one with 3 doors) on a patched copy. I've also had the issue in various free play rooms across the maps, but not all of them.

Thank you.

- Ice