Hi everyone. I've been working on getting Dolphin Emulator to connect to the server for a little while and thought I'd share my progress, in hopes that maybe someone can figure something out that I'm not. I started out with it not working in any way, and not even trying to connect.




 




Currently I've been somewhat following instructions here, and I've found a way to create a Virtual Network Interface on my mac(which has no ethernet port anyway). I achieved this by downloading tuntap, a .pkg that is suppose to install the tap interface. Then, I followed instructions here to actually create the interface(keep in mind I had to achieve root access on my mac for those instructions to work). I also created a bridge by following the linked instructions here(Mac wouldn't let me normally create a bridge including Wifi and Virtual Interface in system preferences). In PSO, I adjusted my network settings to Manual IP, adding in the IP, Subnet, and Gateway that I saw coming in on my Wifi, similar to what you would do before using MrDNS(which doesnt exist for mac) Except I used the server DNS since I don't have anything to convert it. After that, I had a small victory. In Dolphin, I was actually connecting up until it was checking DNS settings, in which I'd get error no.102.




 




So to summarize I have:

1. downloaded tuntap to be able to create virtual interface that comes up auto on Windows.
2. followed link instructions to create interface that would show in my Network settings list.
3. Turned on BBA in Dolphin, and setup network settings manually to my IP address, with the server DNS(104.243.43.26) in primary and other blank.
4. Connection started working up until error no.102 screen(not sure what that exactly means)

 




Things I'm working on:

• I can't figure out if a VPN needs to be involved at all. I'm probably going to try bridging my VPN setup in Network settings to my Virtual Interface to see if it shares the connection.
• It could be I don't have this servers DNS in the right location. I'm going to try it on the VPN, the Virtual Interface, and in PSO itself to see if I get any different results.
• I have a ethernet/USB adapter to create an ethernet port. I haven't tested trying it on its own or anything yet, so maybe that's an easier way than the virtual. If it works(who knows lol)

 




If anyone has any ideas for me to try, or you're trying this out yourself, please let me know your results, and I'll do the same.




 

Edit: The wiki says you can't connect online on MacOS




https://wiki.dolphin-emu.org/index.php?title=Broadband_Adapter




Despite this I found a branch of the emulator that claims to have added BBA support for OS X
https://github.com/dolphin-emu/dolphin/pull/262




All of those posts say 2014... I wonder if Dolphin 5.0 already supports BBA emulation for OS X? The wiki might be outdated...



[align=center]---[/align]



I am connecting through dolphin in windows, and in PSO I selected IP settings to automatic! You don't need to setup manual IP! You only have to setup the DNS.




Unlike PSO2JP, you don't need an actual VPN. Just install the software and bridge it. I honestly have no idea how these things work, so I might have to read about VPNs and stuff.




 




What I did  to get this working was I installed OpenVPN which created a second "network hardware" icon on the control panel. Then "bridged" it to my real network adapter so it has internet access or something.




It looks a bit scary so I disable it when I'm not using it.




Each time OpenVPN opens up it shows some warning about not having a settings file or something. In the OpenVPN "settings..." menu I selected "use system proxy settings" because I had a hunch that this would mean that it would use the windows' bridge I set up.




 




Dolphin seems to recognize this second network adapter automatically... When I connect to the server in PSO I can see how the icons flash and change from "disconnected" to "connected" in windows control panel.

Maybe Dolphin was specifically coded to detect OpenVPN? I have no idea, but it works.




I think there is a Mac version of OpenVPN. Maybe try luck with that.




 




The first time I connect, the control panel icons change to connected, and the game errors out and resets. The game usually doesn't connect until the second or third attempt. There's a rumor that holding tab to speed up the game increases the chances of connecting, and the chances of downloading quests successfully. The game could also get stuck at the lobby screen. Usually it freezes at the lobby screen for 20 seconds and then shows the Ship Select screen; but if it freezes for more than that you might have to reset and re-connect.