Quote from: harry62 on October 21, 2016, 07:07:19 AM
No problem. I'm not familiar with the state of the SWBF series on PS2. Is DNAS currently an issue for the players or does the DNAS emulation servers work?

Thanks Harry, how did you find us here?

Everything is okay on PlayStation 2. SWBFSpy redirects to the new DNAS servers and they work just fine. I played SWBF2 a couple days ago on my PS2, and as far as I know the first SWBF works too.

This is awesome guys. I am happy he at least mentioned PS2 in the video, and I thank you guys for informing people that PlayStation 2 is still working in the comments.


When GameSpy was rumored to be going down in 2014, I thought it was a shame that a lot of popular websites released articles talking about GameRanger as a possible workaround. In my opinion GameMaster was an all around better solution for SWBF2. Also GameRanger simply couldn't work on PS2. I have always thought that essentially changing one number is a much cleaner and more elegant solution than LAN tunneling. I believe the 2014 articles promoting GameRanger are kind of what made it so popular for SWBF2.

Phobos, I believe this post I found is relevant to the work you have done so far. I'm putting it here in case you are interested or if we ever need to actually do this for SWBF1 or SWBF2. Things are mostly fine at the moment though.

http://ps2onlinegaming.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=1999

Hey Led, I think something has changed on Sony's end with the games on PS2 and we might need to change some values in your DNS server.

I am hearing that DNAS is down now and when I tired to play on my PS2 earlier today I was getting a DNAS authentication error.

I think these need to be changed:
gate1.jp.dnas.playstation.org 203.105.78.162
gate1.us.dnas.playstation.org 203.105.78.163
gate1.eu.dnas.playstation.org 203.105.78.164

To these new addresses:
gate1.jp.dnas.playstation.org 149.56.101.45
gate1.us.dnas.playstation.org 167.114.40.5
gate1.eu.dnas.playstation.org 167.114.40.4

From my understanding 203.105.78.16x was a Sony DNAS server that recently stopped responding to requests from the DNS. Someone has made a workaround thing we can use for now. We might need to change these 3 numbers agains at some point. I'll keep an eye on the ps2onlinegaming website.

You can read about it here:
http://ps2onlinegaming.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=1990
http://ps2onlinegaming.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=1976


EDIT: Everything is working fine again after these changes were made. Thanks so much as usual Led.

Hey Led, I tried it just now and it is working, whatever you changed most recently that made it work. Great job to everyone who helped figure this out, it was a good team effort.

SWBF1 is also working on PS2 with your DNS, I see 3 servers up.

The buddies list and leaderboards are not working, however this is not a big deal in the grand scheme of things, also you can login to GameSpy on SWB2 just fine, but not SWBF1.

I will begin to spread the word, so we should use Snake's file to host servers then? Maybe include that in the post with the other .exes you have for PC.

Led, I will be home tomorrow and I think I can test out the changes you made late tomorrow night.

I am happy you found Christian to contact him, I wasn't able to find him because of all the symbols in his name so good job on that.

That link you posted is superrrrr interesting. It looks like he was aware of the work you guys were doing and he keeps up with other GameSpy workarounds too, even ones I was not aware existed! There was a third server up on the SWBF2 server list the other day, it was called something like "PS2online Comunidad". Judging by Chritsian's website and the Facebook group he links on it, I think that was his server.

@Drunken Master, yes the capture I did most recently (the one on this page with the orange text) is just me getting the server list and joining a server via Christians DNS, it did not include the login process because I thought that section in particular is what you had wanted to take a look at, my bad if I got confused. I can do more if needed but I think we're making progress now.

Okay, it might not be happening, but it was just a thought. He did say on this site too that he would:

Quote from: kalle on May 22, 2016, 10:13:34 AM
At least we had the following agreements:
[..]
- i will redirect all the hostnames (d.gameshare.me, u.gameshare.me, gamespy.onl) for at least one month to the new IP address so that the games will still work. Only PS2 / hosts file will get a change at all [...]

In terms of ps2 emulators, I think snake is the expert on that. The one you will want is called PCSX2. I think getting that and the Battlefront 2 .iso would be easy, but getting it to do online, we might need snakes help or a guide, I remember getting past DNAS on an emulator to be complicated.

When I get back to my PS2 (tomorrow night or the day after) I will try 74.91.125.138 again after the changes you made.

Yea I know Jackdaniels, I told him that if he really wanted to play in the test server he could use 186.34.189.167. He also that he would like it if you guys lowered the number of AI.

I have another theory for what could possibly be going on but its based on just me thinking about it, nothing confirmed.

Kalle did tell me when I emailed him before I started posting here that he would forward certain addresses he had for GameMaster over to you guys for an additional month after he shut down. He said that PC players would still be able to use the GameMaster .exe for the time period of this additional month, but PS2 players would have the downtime hit right on June 1st.

GameMaster was a service that was up for about 2 years. It is possible that this Christian person knew about them and configured his DNS server to point towards GameMaster, which is currently having certain addresses forwarded it you guys. This seems logical because Christians DNS is used for multiple different games, as I saw on the PS2onlinegaming forums. We would know for sure that this was what was going on if 1 month passed, and it stopped working then.

I still have not had any luck tracking down Christian.

All done, again my setup is Wireshark version 1.10.6; ethernet wire (not a crossover cable) going from my PS2 to my Macbook; Macbook uses internet sharing option to bridge connections; Macbook uses wifi; PS2 gets access to the outside internet via Macbook ethernet port. My PS2 is set to 186.34.189.167 for Primary DNS for this whole thing.

This time I got a .pcapng I hope that's okay.

Christians DNS Getting Server List Packets
DOWNLOAD PACKET FILE HERE--> https://mega.nz/#!yFwQQByD!OFiP8xxKE7amAYK8fMcNWDvqoD0PBz42L5BXk_HsFCk

This is what I did, in order, right before capturing and during the capture:

• Turned on PS2, got past the connection, DNAS, and the GameSpy Login Screen, I hit "enter without logging in"
  
• Started Wireshark packet capture PACKETS START FROM HERE
  
• Hit X on the Join button to bring up the server list search parameters
  
• Left the server list search parameters at ANY for al the options (thats the default), pressed X
  
• Loading server list
  
• Observed 100%
  
• There are 3 servers on the list, SWBFgamers, Foxhound Fast Spawn, and PS2 Online Comunidad
  
• Joined Foxhound Fast Spawn (This is OldSnake's server)
  
• Played two lives on Naboo, about 2 minutes
  
• Left the Server
  
• Stopped recording on Wireshark
  

Here's my untrained eye looking at the capture while I do it:

• Packets 1- 4 seems to be something basic that my computer just does now and then
  
• Packets 5  ~ approx 30 seems to be what happens when you hit X to get the server list and then join a server
  
• Packets 31 ~ 1137 seems to just be the repetitive communication between the server and the PS2 that happens while I'm playing for a couple minutes
  
• Around Packet number 1138 I quit the server
  
• This is smaller than the 2014 GameSpy one I made because I did not capture the intial connection process, authentication, or the login screen

Anything else I need to do or if I messed something up let me know. I can do more from tonight until tomorrow afternoon, and then more on Sunday night when I'm home. I can join and play in the server that Oldsnake has up now too.

Random idea: Is *.*.gamespy.com included in the DNS server addresses list Led? And is it possible to do that, or does it not work like that? I see some addresses like that like swbfront2ps2.ms4.gamespy.com inside of the packet captures.
There's some addresses like that with three dots in them, I'm not sure if using * twice in an address is possible though.

Yea I can capture that right now. So you only want it from hitting the get server list button to until I spawn in on the server?

That would exclude the initial connecting process and log in screen SWBFspy is having issues with just to clarify. But it would cover the empty server list issue.

Quote from: {Alpha}Drunken_Master on June 09, 2016, 06:10:15 PM
Christian's DNS server can point to the SWBFspy server just like Led's DNS server does. 

Right, but I was assuming that these guys are unaware of what you guys were working on. I suppose its possible they configure it off of the work here, but I still think that would be weird. The JamesCableCar user just mentioned the DNS number changed, and I don't see anyone with a username of Christian on the same site. I figured they would have their own forum or something but I don't have anything yet. 

I remember back when GameMaster first started, it was gaining servers that were only listed on the old default GameSpy somehow, and I didn't understand that either. This was between May and July 2014 when both services were up and running at the same time. I think Kalle perhaps manually added GameSpy servers to his master server list so the hosts didn't need to edit them for some time.

Quote from: {Alpha}Drunken_Master on June 09, 2016, 06:10:15 PM
AFAI can tell, confirmed failure of DNS A record query for rgprd.us.playstation.com from Mike's older working capture (I think it was working) did not seem to cause a problem; but the capture didn't go on long enough to look at the game initiation.  I don't see this DNS query in the stuck capture from Old Snake.

I searched for this last packet from the client in the stuck captures from the PC game and didn't find it yet.  I don't have a longer capture from a working PS2 to see what it is supposed to look like on a working game.

The one I gave from 2014 was working yes. I do remember it having some red packets in the entires that didn't work, but on that capture I did actually get to the server list, join a server, and spawn in. My action log is was here: http://www.swbfgamers.com/index.php?topic=10608.msg106038#msg106038
So somehow those packets didn't matter, according to me 2 years ago I did play 1 life on Mustafar.

If you need me to do any capture just let me know what actions to capture on what DNS and I can do it, my PS2 is all set up, and I can play on the SWBFgamers server now.

EDIT: Found this information which may or may not be useful http://www.ps2onlinegaming.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1874&start=20#p11566
It looks like its using some combination of other workarounds?

I'll try to track down the owner yea, haven't found anything yet, will post when I do.

Major update guys, I was testing all other workarounds so we could get some comparison points. Someone on the PS2 online gaming forums posted, "just a quick mention, Christians DNS has changed once again, it is now 186.34.189.167

Use this for Area 51, COD 3 etc etc etc etc etc etc etc"

I tried 186.34.189.167 for primary DNS and somehow someway I am able to see the "SWBFgamers.com-PS2-server" and also join and play on it.

In my head this makes zero sense but I am happy it works. How is it possible for a random DNS to somehow point to the master server list you guys have set up and retrieve the server list correctly? I feel like every DNS number should supply its own different master list. I don't know anything about Christians DNS but I will attempt to find out some more. For now I can see a server list, that happens to have your guys' server on it. How that's possible I have no idea.

Also Led, if I could have a link to that .exe you are using to host the PS2 server for further testing that would be good. Is it the one OldSnake posted on page 1?

What is the next step that we should do guys?

I am still getting Patch Screen -> hit Yes many times to get past it -> enter without logging in -> empty server list for join, and host registration failed for create. This is on 74.91.125.138 and it happens on SWF2.

On SWBF1 I actually can't get past the patch screen right now, if I keep hitting yes it black screens and the game seemingly reboots.

EDIT: I have tested out qtracker now with another PS2 player. Qtracker is Primary DNS to 63.239.170.150 
We don't get the patch screen which is good. But the server list is still empty with busy 0%. We can put up 4 mans from the create button and we usually do not get the host registration failed error. I tried to see if I could see the other players 4 man or if he could see mine, but it seems the PS2 was not receiving the server list properly.
Would a wireshark capture of what qtracker is doing as a point of comparison be helpful? It does not get stuck on the patch screen so maybe we can compare and fix that at least?

Quote from: {Alpha}Drunken_Master on June 02, 2016, 11:25:51 AM
By default it does not filter captures which is good so we don't lose anything.  You can apply filters later to the view if needed to remove unnecessary packets from what you are looking at after the capture.

Okay, I am pretty sure I used the default settings when I made this capture and I am still using them now I think.

Quote from: {Alpha}Drunken_Master on June 02, 2016, 11:25:51 AMFor a start, 1 task at a time is probably better unless we have side remarks for at what time stamp what activity was happening, but the clue could be in what you have now. 

Okay for the one I did for GameSpy in 2014, I did everything, so its a bit bigger. However this was back when I was testing out OpenSpy (before GameMaster was a thing) so I did actually write out exactly what I did in a forum post for them. I will put that here. For the newer captures I can try to go one step at a time.

-------------------------2014 post incoming-------------------------

Alright onto what I did, basically I followed this guide:
http://www.ps2onlinegaming.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=1256

I downloaded the Mac version of Wireshark from http://www.wireshark.org/download.html

I then used Wireshark version 1.10.6 and I was able to play SWBF2 from my PS2 hooked up to my Macbook using a regular ethernet wire (not a crossover cable). While I was doing this I had the Wireshark program record a list of all the information that my PS2 sent to DNAS and Gamespy.

GameSpy Joining a Server Packets
DOWNLOAD PACKET FILE HERE--> https://mega.nz/#!aNQmELYJ!oD-_nf2WLGQ_E2sQ2b8H5lr0buaLDz0vUyXZhQkjTi8

• Started Wireshark packet capture
  
• Turned on PS2
  
• Started up Star Wars Battlefront 2 and went into online mode
  
• Selected my default DNS network settings
  
• Got to the GameSpy login screen
  
• Entered without logging in
  
• Loading server list
  
• Observed 100%
  
• Refreshed the server list once
  
• Observed 100% again
  
• Joined SWBFII Official Server (it was empty)
  
• Played one life on Mustafar
  
• Left Server
  
• Logged out of online mode
  
• Shut off PS2
  
• Stopped recording on Wireshark
  

-------------------------End of 2014 Post-------------------------

I can also upload the one from OpenSpy I got from back then but I think doing a SWBFspy one or a Qtracker one would be more useful.