How to Play .hack//fragment in 2020

[Erroneous]

This guide was written with what was available and known for it's time, since then new and easier methods have became available. Some of these steps will work, but you should check the latest guides here for the latest setup and options now available.

➡️ https://www.dothack.org/articles/fragment/

 

Have you seen people on YouTube and Twitch playing .hack//fragment for the PlayStation 2 and wondered how you can play the game for yourself? What if I told you that you could play the game online with friends? And that you could do so today, September in the year 2020. It's all true!

Table of Contents

• History
• Preparation for PC Emulator Play on PCSX2
• PCSX2 Setup Guide
• Playing On A Real Physical Playstation 2
• Getting The Word Out There!
• Creating a Character
• Setting up the Area Server
• Port Forwarding
• Setting up Keyboard Controllers Shortcuts and Overlays
• Getting from Main Menu to Root Town online, Adding Friends, Trading
• Troubleshoot Support
• Japanese to English Patch Plus New IP

History

This old PS2 game released back on November 22nd 2005. The game itself offered 2 modes, an offline mode and an online mode. The offline mode had a short story that let you and your customer character meet up with the characters from the .hack//Infection, Mutation, Outbreak, and Quarantine games including some of the character's from .hack//SIGN. The most notable piece of the offline mode was to acquire the Data Drain ability for your custom character. This character could be any reskin, coloring, height, weight, altered form of Kite, Blackrose, Balmung, Piros, Sanjuro, Marlo, Nuke, Subaru, Elk, Tsukasa, Sora, Terajima, and so much more!

In the online mode, it connected to a central Lobby Server. This was the main hub that connected you to all the online players waiting in the lobby to join an individual private server called Area Server.

The lobby server was hosted by CyberConnect2 at their static IP address j5q.channel.or.jp and operated between November 23rd 2005, a day after the game's initial release, and lasted longer than anticipated due to popularity in Japan and ceased operations on January 18th 2007. Without the main lobby server hub, the game was no longer playable online regardless if people continued operating their area servers.

The area server, were self hosted private servers run through a windows executable file hosted by Cyber Connect 2 on their website during that time. You'd launch this file, it would take you to a mock desktop. There were 4 icons on the left of the desktop in Japanese that read Area Server, Map Editor, Display, and Exit. By choosing Area Server in the program, a smaller window called Local Server popped up with nothing on it, because you'd need to either Publish an existing area server your named and abbreviated or create a new one then published. After you've port forward your router/firewall for port 20000, you were set to receive players on your area server.

So what does the lobby server offer that is different from the area server? The lobby server remember is the main hub that all players must access first before being put into the actual game i.e. the root towns, the fields, and the dungeons. The lobby server manages the online mode's leaderboards, mailer, BBS, and guild functions. And the area server is where you the players could create custom dungeons and custom fields for your friends to login and enjoy by creating custom words that would be selected at the warp gate.

Fan Community

But without the lobby server, people all over the world could only access the offline mode only. And since the PS2 was region locked, chances are anyone with an American, Canadian, European, South American, Australian, Indonesian, or wherever PS2; you could not out of the box play the game. You would either need a Japanese PS2, soft mod or hard mod your own region's PS2, or use a PS2 emulator such as PCSX2. This not sit well with the community, and work to reverse engineer the lobby server began with the Coldbird team; a group consisting of Coldbird, NCDyson, Mugi, Belldandu and a few others. Each had a hand in the project including emulating the old lobby server, translating parts of the game, replacing the UI, patching the game to point to their new static IP fragment.coldbird.net and working on building a website that would display area servers that connected to the lobby server as well as players online. This ran for a time from December 24th 2013 to August 12th 2016, due to complications between the developers and the player base at the time.

Thankfully the lobby server emulator was open source and a community known as .hack//fragment Netslum Server led by Alkalime and Bison stepped in to continue the basics of the emulated lobby server on a new static IP at a.dothackers.org. And soon later a community known as Fragment Resurgence led by Slyestral brought the player base back to the game. On August 13th 2016, the lobby server emulator was back online and continues to operate to this date!

A few things from Area Server are not functional i.e. password required servers, for the most part both the Area Server and the Lobby Server currently are fully functional. Alternatively, our reach and your reach is also extended on Discord chat, social media platforms, and the webpage hosted by the current lobby server host.

Conclusion

Even though this game originally operated with the intent of selling only in Japan and keeping it's online service up for 1 year after release. The fan community has done amazing work throughout the last 13 years making this game accessible to the general public who still have an interest in this cult classic. A game that enabled those who played the original quadrilogy of Infection, Mutation, Outbreak, and Quarantine to play with their own custom characters, hours spent grinding levels, and obtaining rare items and even building custom fields and dungeons for their friends to play to this day. Hours have spent doing the unthinkable so that everyone world wide can gather and play .hack//fragment

[Erroneous]

Now that you have brief history of what led from the game's debut in 2005 to today 15 years later, let's discuss how you can play this game right now at home.

Preparation for PC Emulator Play on PCSX2

First off, you'll need the base game, obviously. There are several methods you can go about this, the simplist would be to purchase the game from a reseller, local game store, or on an auction site. eBay for example normally has this game listed currently between $15 USD to $25 USD, not including shipping.
https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=hack+fragment&_sop=10&_oac=1&_ipg=200
a. This is the norm and has been for the past few years, the price hasn't really fluctuated much. You might try your hand at Buyee.jp, Yahoo Japan Auctions, Mercari, and Rakuten.
b. Might try local game stores that sell import titles.
c. If you choose to go the way of piracy, note that we do not support or condone the use of pirated content. However one does exist out there often referred to as "Build 8". This was created by Team Coldbird as a pre-patched copy of the game that introduced various translations and user interface changes to resemble more .hack//G.U. This will still require needed to point to the current static IP for the lobby server.

Second you will need the original PS2 network adapter disc. The original fat PS2 had a hard drive bay but no network connection port. They released an addon that let you connect a hard drive and ethernet cord to your fat PS2. This later on the slim PS2 models removed the HDD bay and had the ethernet port built in standard. However you need the network disc to format your PS2 memory card proper to connect online. Thankfully archive.org has preserved this DVD disc image, file size at 1.3 GB. https://archive.org/details/PlayStation_2_Network_Adaptor_Start-Up_Disc_SCUS_97097_Sony_Computer_Entertainment

Third, you will need to decide if you want to play on your PC or your PS2. There are a few benefits for each and difficulties on whichever you choose. If you go the PC route, you will need the PS2 emulator PCSX2 to handle everything here on out. There is support for Linux for PCSX2, however the network plugin is currently not compatible, thus limiting you to just offline mode. But for you window's user, see step 4 for the next item necessary to get online. https://pcsx2.net/download/releases.html

If you wish to use your physical console, you will need to either soft mod with OPL or FreeMCBoot, or hard mod your PS2. FMCB is the easiest and cheapest method, you just put it into your PS2 memory card port. Whatever method you choose, as long as you can bypass region lock on your non Japanese PS2, and run ELF files which will be necessary in step 5, you can play online. Also PCSX2 requires a valid PS2 bios to work, because of legal issues, you can get one from your real PS2.

Forth in our process is if you chose the PC emulator PCSX2 route, you'll need the plugin to make the emulator go online. For Windows users, you'll want CLR_DEV9 from Github, they do have a Linux option in .so format however reports from users say it does not appear on your plugins list on PCSX2. Version 0.8.8 released on July 23rd 2020 works fine. https://github.com/TheLastRar/CLR-DEV9/releases

Option A: Fifth tool necessary is to point the game to the newest static IP hosted by the .hack//fragment Netslum Server team. There is a ELF patcher created by 1UP on Github. https://github.com/Zero1UP/dot-Hack-Fragment-Patcher/releases
Option B: Download Alice's English+Online ELF patch combo, will require more steps outlined in the post below.

Optional Tools

If you are using the PCSX2 emulator route, you have additional tools at your disposal. Right off the bat, later/recent versions of PCSX2 fully support modern controllers such as PS3, PS4, Xbox360, and XboxOne controllers. Earlier/older versions of PCSX2 do not.

While playing with a controller is preferred, you can also use your keyboard to type, but PCSX2 will require a plugin. https://github.com/TheLastRar/CLR-USB

Remember this is for typing, not playing. If you wish to use a keyboard to play and control with, just go to Config, Controllers (PAD), Plugin Settings, Pad 1 and here type what keyboard key you want to be used to play what controller button you like. Do note you can not and should not use the CLR_USB and keyboard controller pad at the same time. Otherwise you'll be playing the game and randomly typing at the same time.

Conclusion

These are the necessary tools to get the game running on your prefer device and to get the game online. Next we'll discuss how to start from A to Z now that you are prepared.

[Erroneous]

Below we are going to discuss how to get your PS2 memory card formatted for online play, get the emulator installed and ready, mounting the game's disc image to the emulator, and running the ELF file (alternatively use the Telli English patcher below without the ELF file) to play the game to the latest online server. For this setup, we'll be using PCSX2 1.4.0 on Windows 10. You can alternatively do so on Linux and Mac through a Wine wrapper.

PCSX2 Setup Guide for PC

From the PCSX2 downloads page, choose either Windows installer, Windows binary, Linux binary, or Mac using the windows binaries on a Wine wrapper. The installer uses a traditional Windows installation step-by-step screen, whereas the binaries are a zip file you just extract to your choice. So extract or install your PCSX2 to your PC where you choose. Load the PCSX2 executable file and you'll have two windows. The smaller blue screen choose Config then BIOS/Plugin Selector. This will display your directory where your bios and plugin's will be read from, write it down. Possible locations will be:

C:\Program Files (x86)\PCSX2\Plugins
C:\Users\Documents\PCSX2\bios

If on Linux, it would look like this.

/usr/lib32/pcsx2
/usr/lib/games/pcsx2/

Best way to be certain, go to Config from the top menu on the blue screen, and choose Plugins\BIOS Selector. And at the bottom you will see which and where your directory is looking at.

Copy your BIOS files from step 3 in preparations to the bios directory and the plugins in step 4 in preparations to the plugins directory mention in the last step.
The default settings for the DEV9 plugin CLR_DEV9 should be fine, but if you accidentally change them, here are the defaults.

From the top bar, choose CDVD then ISO selector and browse, look for the .iso file for that PS2 Network Adapter in step 2 of preparations. Then choose System then Boot CDVD (fast).

Further below in this guide will explain what controllers are compatible with PCSX2; it is HIGHLY encouraged to play with a controller and not your keyboard but it is not impossible. The plugin CLR-USB is intended for typing messages only, not for playing with a keyboard. By default you will have to map out your keyboard if you want to play with a keyboard with the default plugin LilyPad found under Config, Controllers (PAD), Plugin Configuration.

At the to, click on Pad 1.

You will now see a blank list on the left and buttons on the right. Click on a button and press a button on your keyboard to map that button for that key. Alternatively if your controller was not plug and play, you will have to come here and do the same to map out your controller. Press the button on the screen and press the button on your controller to map it to that button. When done press OK.

Select ISP Setup from the menu, select format, follow the instructions of the disc i.e. enter age, first name, last name, DOB, and email; does not matter what you type here, use fake info if you like. But make sure the email has an @ and a dot com, even if it is this@that.com, literally. Same goes for the next set of questions, enter whatever or gibberish.
a. Please name your ISP setting. This name should represent where or how you will be using this connection. Whatever
b. Do you currently subscribe to an ISP service? If so, select YES and press the X button. If you do not, select NO and press the X button. Yes
c. Choose a connection type: High Speed Connection (Cable or DSL)
d. Choose settings: Automatic Settings
e. Does your ISP require a User ID and Password? NO
f. Does your Internet Service Provide require you to input a DHCP Host Name before giving you internet access? NO
g. You are online, but your registration data could not be sent to SCEA Consumer Services. Please do not remove the memory card (PS2) while your ISP setting is being saved.
Press the X button to save.
Congratulations! The ISP setting has been saved to your network configuration file. Your Playstation@2 is now network ready.
Press the X button to return to the main menu.

At this point, you can close the window and you are done with the PS2 network adapter disc indefinitely.

From the PCSX2 menu bar, choose CDVD then ISO selector, browse and look for your .hack//fragment ISO file or CDVD and choose the disc in the last menu drop down item if your DVD plugins are configured properly.

Now normally you would go to System and Boot CDVD (fast), however going forward you will always choose the next option System then Run Elf... And choose the following file name fragmentPatcher1.0.6-packed.elf You will need to do this EVERY TIME! you play the game to go online, if you are not using the Telli English Patcher.

Press the Start button to continue at this screen.

Once your game loads you will see 3 menus Offline, Online, and Area Server.

Conclusion

You will only need to setup your BIOS, plugins, and format your memory card once. You will never have to complete steps 1 through 4 ever again.

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Playing On A Real Physical Playstation 2

Below we are going to discuss how to get the game running on a physical PS2 console, get your PS2 memory card formatted for playing the game online, and actually playing the game. Out of the box, your American PS2 Phat and Slim will unable to play this game from the disc itself. Instead we will be using OPL which stands for Open PS2 Loader to play an ISO, or disc image, made from a PC DVD player. And putting this disc image onto a USB to play the game off the USB.

Skeptical? Watch my video recorded on Oct 17th 2020.

What will you need?

A Sony PlayStation 2, either Phat or Slim model.
PS2 "Phat PS2 "Slim"
A USB flash memory stick at least 4 GB in size.
A PlayStation 2 memory card, off-brand name brand doesn't matter. (or a pre-formatted FMCB memory card bought on Amazon or eBay)
An ethernet cable connected to a router and to your PS2.
The Sony Network Adapter disc ISO.
The Sony Network Adapter device (only if using the PS2 Phat) Also do NOT use the SATA Adapter by Gamestar, this does not have a network port on the back, it's just a hole)
A blank DVD-R, sometimes DVD+R works. But DVD+RW and DVD-RW will NOT WORK! (only needed if you don't have a FMCB card)

FMCB Installation Guide

We are going to start from the very beginning assuming you do not have a FMCB memory card already but own a PS2 memory card. You can skip ahead if you already have one. This step will require you to have a PS2 Slim model that does NOT begin with SCPH-90000. The model number must be less to work. If you only have a PS2 Phat model or Slim model that is model number 90000 or more, you will need to buy a pre-formatted FMCB online. (Skip to next section)

Download FreeDVDBoot. It's only 1.3 MB in size.

Download ImgBurn or CDBurnerXP, about 4 and 7 MB each respectively. You only need one, but if one does not work, switch to the other.

Using only a DVD-R, sometimes DVD+R will work, burn the FreeDVDBoot onto your disc. Using 1x speed and finalize are both required.

Insert the FreeDVDBoot disc into your PS2. This will automatically load up LaunchELF v4.43a when you turn your PS2 on.

Download FreeMCBoot "newbie pack" from PS2-Home.com

Make sure your USB flash memory is formatted in FAT or FAT32, this will not work on any other format i.e. exFAT, NTFS, etc...

Extract the files onto your computer, then move the contents of the folder onto your USB flash memory drive.

Insert the USB flash memory device into the USB1.0 ports on the front of the PS2.

With the PS2 still on and loaded with FreeDVDBoot showing LaunchELF, press O, then move down to mass:/ and press O.

You are now on the USB, locate where you copied over the FreeMCBoot files to, and locate file FMCBInstaller.elf and press O.

You'll be taken to a main menu for the FMCB installer, press R1 twice to Format MC. Choose the slot you have the memory card plugged in.

When it says Format Complete, navigate back to the main menu of this installer, and click on Install and choose which memory card spot.

Now you can install FMCB for just this console only i.e. Normal, or you can do Cross-Regional for all PS2's of this model i.e. NTSC and PAL, or you can choose Cross-model to install it for all your region's versions i.e. Phat and Slim. (I'd recommend Normal or Cross-model) Wait for install to complete and quit this program.

Remove the DVD and toss it, you will never need it again unless you accidentally format your memory card.

Preparing Your ISO Files

Welcome to FreeMcBoot version 1.966, you will only ever need your memory card and you'll never have to install anything again. On any 4+ GB USB formatted in FAT or FAT32, create a new folder on the root of your USB named DVD and a second new folder named CD. Most clear bottom PS2 discs are DVD's, and most blue or other colored PS2 discs are CD's.

Insert your PS2 .hack//fragment DVD into your PC.

Using ImgBurn, click on Create image file from disc option.

From this screen, you will see your disc drive at the top. The destination should be ending in .ISO, if not then click on the folder and choose Save As and select ISO from the options. Be sure to save to your hard drive, not on your USB. The lower the read speed the better, but don't read at the lowest otherwise you'll be here a long time. Once done, click on the picture on the bottom left.

From here, you will want to use the latest methods from the translation team to patch your ISO, using the ISO file as is right now will only get you as far as Offline mode in Japanese. To be able to play Online and in English, you you need to patch it using the TelliPatcher down below in on the topic of translation. As this is continues to be in-progress, always check back for the latest version. At the time of this post 0.5 is out now and the file size is about 1.5 MB.

After you've patched the game, move the new ISO file into the \DVD\ directory on your USB that was formatted as FAT or FAT32 in step 1.

Also toss in the Sony PlayStation 2 Network Adapter Startup Disc ISO file, from archive.org, into the \DVD\ directory as well.

Plug in your USB into your PS2 console, make sure your FMCB memory card is plugged in, remove any discs from your PS2, turn on the PS2.

Once FMCB is loaded, move down to Open PS2 Loader.

At the top, choose Settings.

Use the D-Pad and go down to "Check USB Game Fragmentation", press X, use the D-Pad and press Up to set to On then press X.

Move down to "USB Device Start Mode" press X, move up to On, then press X.

Move down to "Default Menu", press X, press Up till you see USB Games, press X, go down to OK and press X.

Scroll down to Save Changes, press X to save. It should say Settings saved to mc0:

Press O to open up the Games List, in the future you shouldn't have to do this as the default will now land on the USB Games upon loading this program now.

Network Adapter Configuration

Before you can go online, you need to save a network save configuration file onto your memory card. This is what that ISO from archive.org will achieve.

While in the USB Games of Games List on Open PS2 Loader app, you should see a list of titles on the left, select Network Adaptor Start-Up Disc that says PBPX_955.17 on the right under the box and CD icon. Press X to run.

Once the loading screens and video play, you'll see 3 blue orbs, the one in the middle says ISP Setup, press X.

Most of this will be self explanation, but here's the run down. Press X to continue 3 times till you see enter your age.

When you see Please enter your age, put in 33. Move down to enter and press X. Press X again for privacy policy.

When you see First Name, Last Name DOB, Email, enter anything. Enter lol for First Name, enter lol for Last Name, enter 11/11/1988 for Birth Date, enter lol@lol.com for Email Address. You'll have to select Shift to find the @ icon for email. Move to Enter and press X.

Registration data will be saved to memory card, press X to continue.

ISP Setup process, press X to continue. Setup Process will begin, press X to continue.

Found network adapter, press X to continue. SCEA not affiliated with ISP, press X to continue.

Please name your ISP setting, type in lol for Name, move to Enter and press X.

Do you subscribe to an ISP service, select Yes and press X.

Choose a connection type, select High Speed Connection (Cable or DSL) and press X.

Choose settings, select Automatic Settings, press X.

Does your ISP require input DHCP Host Name, select No, press X.

You are now online but data could not be sent to SCEA Consumer Services, press X to save.

Congratulations! The ISP  setting saved to network configuration file. Press X to return to main menu.

Restart the console.

Starting the Game

Well you come this far, why not go further? By now you got FMCB on your console. You got a USB will the game patched which gave the game it's current English translation, DNAS bypasser, and points the game to the latest server IP. And your memory card has a network configuration saved. You are ready to finally get into the game!

On FMCB page, select Open PS2 Loader. If you completed the steps earlier in step 9 of Preparing Your ISO files, you should see a list with Hack Fragment on your list of USB Games in OPL.

Select Hack Fragment and press X to run.

If you see the Bandai logo, consider yourself nearly there. You can press X to skip all the logos.

You'll see a green background with .hack//frägment online x offline logo with 3 buttons that say OFFLINE, ONLINE, AREA SERVER.

Select ONLINE and follow our guide below How to Get From Main Menu to Online In-Game, ignore the elf launcher step at the start, that only applies to emulators running PCSX2.

Congrats! you did it! You are now playing .hack//fragment on a PS2 console as the way it should be.

Conclusion

Phew, that was a lot! Keep in mind there's a lot of Free___Boot acronyms being thrown around. Basically means the SOURCE of what the software is stored on. For example

FMCB - FreeMCBoot - MC meaning memory card

FHDB - FreeHDBoot - HD meaning hard drive, only applies to Phat PS2 models

FreeDVDBoot - DVD being the DVD-R or DVD+R used to only be able to launch LaunchELF 4.43a

Where as FMCB and FHDB is meant to be a permanent installation option. Without any of the options above, you can not launch, load, or install files from a USB. After using the USB as a base to get the permanent installations on, the USB should be wiped and used a storage device for your games. I would also recommend organizing your games with OPL Manager from your computer.

[Erroneous]

Getting The Word Out There!

However you managed to get the game running and online, remember that most of the game is still in Japanese. There are basic bits that are in English that will help you through. Though English may not be your first language, or the parts in Japanese may be confusing. Most of the dialogue for the offline mode is in Japanese. The menus, items, status, skills, etc... are semi-translated in English. It's enough to get around in the game. However there may be parts where you need help, finding a community is your best bet to getting the help you need be it things you don't understand, stuck on a step above setting up the game to play, finding a group to play with. If you watched our video playlists on YouTube and Twitch, you will see the grind is REAL! Here are ways you can get involved with the community.

Fan Community

There are some prominent ways you can connect with the community when it comes to .hack//fragment, the chat app/program for games called Discord is your best bet!

We have our own Dothack Discord server with over 2,000 people online. This Discord chat is an all-round chatroom for everything dothack, not just Fragment.

YouTube, Twitch, and Livestreaming

If you like to stream your gameplay, please be sure to enter ".hack//fragment" for the game title, this makes sure your game appears on the platforms game categories.

YouTube, edit your video, choose the More Options tab, and the selection that says Game Title (optional), type in .hack//fragment and one should popup from the list. Choose that one then save.

Twitch, you can edit existing videos by choosing Category from your edit page and typing in .hack//fragment and one will popup, choose that and then save changes.

Also, tags are your friend. Be sure to use the following

#ドットハック #dothack #dothackfragment #hackfragment #fragment #ps2 #playstation2

Check the online status page

Thanks to .hack//fragment Netslums Server's hosting  abilities, they also are able to obtain real time information of what area servers are being hosted online, and see which players are in the lobby server, and how many players are on each server.

https://fragment.dothackers.org/status.php

The area servers are dependent on whoever is hosting the game. Therefore you may not always see the same servers online each time or day. Check with the fan communities to ask someone to host an area server, and if you can't find one, you can host one yourself, more on that later. There's a tool here on DHN that lets you install a Windows notification whenever someone logs onto the lobby server found here.

Fan Translations

While Build 8 of Coldbird's team led a deal of translations into the game itself, it had two problems. First issue is that it was a pre-patched disc, which means whatever changes they made to the game itself, you had to keep whether you liked it or not. Which leads to the second issue, during their translations, they made efforts to change the games user-interface to look more like .hack//GU's user-interface. For the purists out there, this was visually disturbing. So rather continue using that copy of the game, efforts are being made to make a standalone patcher that strictly does a translation change to the game only, one that does not pre-patch the game and lets you decide to have the changes added or not. Work on this project can be viewed on a Google Docs here:
Latest:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1yrb9UMbpFrXdvhPop0sn5g5-HrcFt6-SRylXnb9ZfhA/edit?usp=sharing
Previous:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Yzn-jAOmvv_CjwGedGI2L0hjGp6bvek96Dgo7XQMf7U/edit?usp=sharing
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1fMiI7LYCT3fb1z9NujlfC-HVtV9zobsXBJU3cBc2EHA/edit?usp=sharing
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1C4vOkUKB_xA_J1aK-N21avaSP5AkyHPyq4Vyo2I0Zi0/edit?usp=sharing

Fragment Friday™

Every Friday of every week, we try to build awareness by announcing Fragment Friday™, a term coined on July 27 2017, as a day dedicated to playing the game all hours of the day regardless of timezone. This is to help people find groups to play with and people engaged in the game. Always look forward to Fridays as a day to play .hack//fragment or help build awareness yourself by sharing, tweeting your friends, or finding a streamer to watch on Fridays.

Conclusion

There are many ways of being part of the community be it inclusion and participation, the only way this game will become more active is if you make it more active and thinking outside the box to find inventive ways to get people to be aware this game even exists. There are many turn offs to playing this game, outdated graphics; grinding game play, region lock PS2's, lack of online players, difficult understanding how to setup to play, or just an unwillingness to set it up for yourself. Understandably there may be challenges, but at this time this is the only way to play a .hack// game online with other people in the world.

[Erroneous]

Setting up the Area Server

Here we will discuss the program that is used to host your own private server for .hack//fragment. Remember, the lobby server is the main hub. Once there, players can be waiting to find a host to be hosting a server for you and others to play on. And each Area Server only allows for 3 people to play, first come, first served. Therefore if 15 people area waiting in the lobby server and only 1 Area Server is up, that means only 3 can join and 12 people will still be waiting in the lobby server. But if there were 5 Area Servers up, then all 15 players waiting in Lobby Server can all join in a server equally. Therefore the ratio of Area Server's hosted versus the people who are online playing is always preferred. And people who are kind enough to host an Area Server must keep the program running and port-forwarded for people to play .hack//fragment, online.

What do you need?

Well simply, just the software Area Server. However there are quite a few different versions out there available online. The original from CyberConnect2's own website. The original requires you to set up the program with the game disc, meaning that option from the main menu that shows Offline Online and Area Server; this is the purpose of that last option, to setup the Area Server program on your PC. Later a version removed this step and did a few other quality of life changes called the Netslum server. This became the basis of all future versions of Area Servers. There was even an alternative that allowed the option of hosting more than one Area Server from your PC called multi-Netslum server. The problem with these is the obvious glarring issue, all are in Japanese! Therefore it is our recommendation that you start and only use @Kuskus English Area Server that we will refer to as the Kuskus server.

Now this version as you can see has English in most areas, the exception being the area keywords.

When you first launch the program in a Window's machine or Window's emulated machine, you'll see quite a few splash screens.

And eventually land on the main page that has a blue ALTIMIT desktop background with the animated logo and 4 icons to the left. Area Server, Map Editor, Display, and Exit.

The first thing you will want to do is click on the computer icon that says Map Editor. This will open a window with a static map box.

You can click and drag the window "Map Editor" wherever you like on this simulated desktop. I place mine over the animated ALTIMIT logo.

Next you'll want to click on File, then New Area.

On this window in the middle, you'll see Server Name, Symbol, and Root Town. This will allow you to create your first Area Server by entering a Server Name of your choice, only limited to 20 characters long in name. Along with a Symbol that is limited to 8 characters only. This can be an abbreviation if you like of your servers name. Then from the drop down menu, choose whatever Root Town you want associated with your Area Server. For this scenario we will use .hack//Network, DHN, and Highland City Dun Loireag.

Next go back to File, then press Save.

Choose a slot that is not currently in use/occupied. For this purpose we will click on 2 and press the Save button. Then a popup says Data saved. From here you can close the map editor window.

Now click on the Area Server icon on the top left. Click on Area at the top, then Publish Area Server.

Select your Area Server you created, in this instance we will select no 2 .hack//Network, it will turn red. Click on the Publish button.

A bunch of popups will appear temporarily and when it's all said and done the static screen will have a map of the Root Town you picked in the Map Editor setup and the last line in the Message Window should say Area Server is now open.

Whenever someone log's onto your Area Server, you will see their name appear on the Status window along with their activity and position on the Message Window and Map. If the players on your Area Server gate out to a field or dungeon, your Map screen will change and continue to show you their position.

Shutting Down

When people are done with your Area Server and no one is logged on, it is customary to wait for everyone to leave before you shut down. Otherwise you could end someone's progress or transaction. On the Local Server window inside the Area Server program, click on Area, then Shutdown Area Server.

Then click on Yes. The Local Server window will have the static map and show the status of Closed. From here you can click the Door icon Exit from the bottom left of the program.

Then you can click on Yes. This will finally terminate the program properly.

Random Events

Believe it or not, the Area Server is capable of throwing players a random event. It is currently still unknown of what triggers these events. So should you encounter one, let us know in our Discord chatroom. You can also force trigger an event, such as The One Sin event. This will force the infamous monster that Balmung of the Azure Sea and Orca of the Azure Sky once fought. You can trigger it by adding this save file to your Area Server installation.

What we know about some of the events from old articles are as follows.

2006/2/10 Valentine's Day (previous day) event
The event will be held on February 13th.
Get a fine chocolate for Valentine's Day. And how about giving it to your precious PC on February 14th? Again, in root town, please find a certain PC. In the dungeon, Black Rose is waiting for you.

2006/1/17 Setsubun event
The turning point of the season, "Setsubun," is here.
On February 3rd, we will hold a setsubun event to get rid of evil from "The World".
Please find a certain PC in Root Town.
Then, we are waiting for you on the day of "Old Kiyoki", "Far East" and "Customs".

December 28, 2005 New Year's Day event
To celebrate the new year, we will hold a New Year's Day event on January 1st.
Please discover a certain PC in the root town of the area server. There is a New Year greeting from the legendary PC. Enjoy your new year's first adventure.
We hope that you will continue to play an active part in "The World" in 2006.

December 27, 2005 Event held on New Year's Eve
This year, it’s almost gone!Therefore, we will hold a New Year's Eve event on December 31st.
If you find a PC that is in the root town of the area server, ask for the area word. You may get a perfect present gift for the new year.
I pray that all of you will have a good year next year.

March 13, 2006 Cherry blossom viewing event
A cherry blossom viewing event will be held on March 15.
We will hold a cherry blossom viewing at The World prior to the real world.
The event organizer for this event is that "Fiana's descendants".
What kind of adventure is waiting for you this time?
Again, in root town, find a certain PC and get an area word.

2006/10/2 Physical Education Day event
October 9th is Physical Education Day. However, it seems that an event will be held for people who are not good at exercise. Let's find and talk to "Coach Apprentice" in Route Town.

We obviously believed it was triggered based off your machine's internal clock, however that does not seem to be the case. If you somehow triggered one of these events, we'd like to hear about it. So please share and take lot's of screen shots!

Area Server Name Colors

You may have come across someone's Area Server name shown as a different color. Other than the default grayed out when a server reaches max players (3), you can change them to blue, green, red, and yellow. This trick requires work on your part, by adding the prefix #B, #G, #R, and #Y before your Server Name, simply is not enough. You will need the program CheatEngine to do more. Watch this Youtube video on how to use CheatEngine to make the prefix actually change your Area Server's name a different color.

Leveling Up an Area Server

All Area Server's created start at level 1. This applies to the Area Server itself, not the players on it, or restrict players from accessing it. However the higher the server level, will determine the highest level field your server can have, for that server level. To trigger an Area Server to level up it's server, you need to kill monsters and complete the Gott Statue's found at the end of dungeons. The calculations is deeper than just that, but those are the basics. The real calculation includes server element type and a hidden exp value for each type.

Conclusion

For your part in all this, you're practically done. However one more major step is needed on your end, port-forwarding. Be sure to check out our next guide below to learn how to set a port-forwarding on your internet connection. Without it, people may not be able to connect to your Area Server and play.

The Area Server is a useful tool, allowing you to create custom maps and dungeons with the Map Editor by creating custom keywords. Currently the ones pre-saved are in Japanese, but you can setup your own new English keywords.

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Port Forwarding

This only applies if you are hosting an Area Server from the Area Server program on your Windows PC. Or emulated on your Mac and Linux machine, even a Raspberry Pi.

What is port forwarding? Your PC, router, and internet connection has many ports from various programs to connect internally and externally from your network. When you would like for an external or remote connection to be allowed access to a program on your machine, the program is listening for a particular port, and if access is allowed in through that port number, the connection can be made. If your PC or router denies that remote connection, the person on the other end will be denied access.

Basically, Area Server is listening on port 20000, and we want to allow people to join in through that port and have access to your program Area Server to have their character be seen in game. If you are unfamiliar or uncomfortable with this process, then DON'T DO IT!

You assume all risks whenever you allow a port opened on your PC and router. Malicious users or programs can in deed take advantage of this opening for nefarious reasons such as malware, spyware, keylogging, etc... the list goes on. So be prepared, take extra precautions and ensure it is run the way you want it. So without further ado, where to begin?

First place is to get access to your router, this can be done a myriad of ways depending on what brand router you may have, the most common being.

192.168.0.1
192.168.1.1
192.168.2.1

Or simply going to https://router/ Depends on the brand really.

Next you will want to know what your LAN IP address is, not the one the internet sees, but rather the one your router assigned to your machine regardless if you are connected with an ethernet or wifi, everything get's an assigned number. Best way to learn that is simply pressing the start button on your task bar, pressing the Windows button + Q to bring up search and type in "cmd" then press enter. You'll see a black window with a flashing line. Here type in ipconfig

You'll see a lot of info, but what's really important is this line here.

IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.11

The 11 at the end denotes what number that machine was assigned. It'll be important in the next step.

Enter the one of the IP's above to access the router, preferably 192.168.1.1 should work. You may be prompted for a username and password, unless you know it, the default is always admin for password, no username is needed. This will take you to a webpage with your router's brand in the top corner. Somewhere on this page you may see Port Forward, if you don't, it may be in a tab or screen labeled firewall, forwarding, ports, application & gaming, or advanced.

You'll come across a screen that has a check mark, an empty spot for a description, a space labeled ports with a - dash between the two boxes, something that says type with the abbreviation TCP UDP or Both, and IP address.

Example of a NetGear router below.

You will  need to check the box to enable, enter whatever description you like such as Fragment Area Server, something to remember. And you must enter port 20000 twice in both spaces, this means you are allowing external connections to look at ports between 20000 and 20000, if you type in any other number in either space, you may be opening up a whole million of ports to look at. And the last space is the IP address where in the case above you would be entering 11, but your case will be different. Do not enter 11 unless your IPv4 Address says .11 at the end. The drop menu for type, TCP is fine for what we are doing.

Conclusion

Everyone will be seeing things differently during these steps, depending on your brands and setup. Remember to consider the risks before choosing to host an Area Server. And should you change your mind, you can always erase everything you filled out and uncheck the enable box. Or just uncheck the enable box. Also if you really screwed things up with your router, a last resort would be to push the tiny pin button on the back of the router, this will factory reset all the settings done. And I do mean ALL, including wifi name, wifi password, etc... But remember, by not doing this step, people can see that your Area Server is online because you are broadcasting that you are up, but nobody will ever be allowed to get on your Area Server because the bouncer at the port is saying no entry.

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Setting Up Controllers

You can play PCSX2 emulator on your PC with real console controllers, it's highly recommended. Most are plug and play, while others may require additional hardware and plugin's to work. Just make sure your plugin's are configured correctly. For this we will be using the LilyPad plugin for PAD.

The default settings are fair enough, but should they be different, please ensure the highlighted area is unchanged.

Here are your options for plug and play, meaning you take the included USB charging cable for these controllers, and plug them into your PC USB2.0 or USB3.0 slots.

Playstation 3, Playstation 4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One controllers and their PRO controller variants all work.

However, legacy controllers like the Playstation 2 will require additional hardware such as this USB to PS2 Adapter.

Really you could use anything, so long as it's configured correct and connected. Even with the right Bluetooth USB receiver adapter, you can make use of the Bluetooth wireless functions of your controllers as well.

Could even use a certain JoyCon, with the proper drivers of course.

Keyboard

By default if you have no controllers, you can play via the PC emulator PCSX2 by only using your keyboard. However this will prove difficult if you are trying to walk and rotate the camera. A physical twin joystick controller would be much recommended. But if you can't, here's how you can do so. First off you'll have heard above about CLR-USB, this is a plugin that let's you type in-game for chatting and filling out information. This is NOT for pressing the buttons or moving your character around.

From the menu above go to Config, Controllers (PAD), and select Plugin Settings..

At the top there are 3 tabs; General, Pad 1, and Pad 2.

Click on the Pad 1 and you should see a screen like this.

The space on the left is for keeping tabs on what controller is assigned to what keyboard key. Just click on the button on the right, and the program will wait for you to press a key on your keyboard to assign that button. For example, press the Up button in the outline Left Analog Stick area, and on your key board press the W key. Click on right and press D, press the down button and press S, and press the left button and press A. So now while in game if you use the WASD keys, this will imitate the left analog stick. Complete the rest for all the other buttons to have a full controller assigned to keys on your keyboard.

But as mentioned, now certain buttons are assigned as a controller input. It's recommended not to use CLR-USB at this point as doing so will now type in random letters in the in-game's chat, as you play.

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How to Get From Main Menu to Online In-Game

So you did the steps to get what you needed and the tools to point the game in the right direction. Depending on what version you have, you may be staring at Japanese and have no idea what you're looking at. Here we will discuss getting you from start to finish by looking at the screen's you will be encountering along the way.

First thing to remember, regardless of what controller you are using; Xbox, Playstation, Switch, etc... these are the patterns of the game's controls, remember them and the position they are in and will be on the right side of the controller. In addition O means Yes/Confirm and X means No/Cancel.

Once you load the game however you do, as long as you got the .ELF patcher (example fragmentPatcher1.0.6-packed.elf) running, you'll see this screen. Press Enter on your controller.

This is the game's main menu. You will see Offline, Online, and Area Server. The green texture in the background is from the base game, if you by chance are playing on Coldbird's Build 8 copy, this background color will be red and not green, in addition all the game's UI colors will be black instead of blue. From here you can go into Offline to play with NPC's level 50-70 and get skills like Data Drain; the Area Server is used to setup the original Area Server program which is not necessary if you use one of the newer ones, and Offline is where we will be going next. Select that with O.

Next you will see a series of screens basically telling loading memory card and do not take out your memory card or unplug your PS2. So don't do that.

Here you can choose whichever memory card slot you wish, port 1 or port 2. Choose the one your memory card is stored in and press O to continue, you'll very briefly see this info text at the bottom.

And here we will see the blue ALTIMIT desktop background for the Online mode, the Offline mode has an orange ALTIMIT desktop background. There will be a prompt in the middle of the screen, this is the old Netslums message of the day box, press O to continue.

By default your cursor is on Mailer, move your cursor up one to select The World! Press O to continue.

Before you can get into The World, you must first choose a character, or in this case, create one. Pressing O will prompt you this message choice, basically Yes or No with Yes being the option on top. You can also slide right to choose other characters you have stored on your memory card. Max 3 character per memory card. Want more characters? Insert more memory cards or format ones on PCSX2.

Flip the screen to the character you want to use and press O, you will be prompted a Yes and No option again, pick the top option for Yes and press O.

And welcome to Za Waurdo! I mean The World. From here you see the options for Lobby, Guild, BBS, Ranking, and Quit. Choose Lobby and press O.

Welcome to the Lobby Server, remember that because things are about to get confusing. This page above is "Lobby Server", you'll see from the menu options "Lobby Chat". This is the only option you can choose. It will also display in real time on the right how many players are sitting in the lobby chat, the screen above shows 2 people. Press O to continue.

Now you are seeing the Lobby Chat. On the right is a list of characters who are currently viewing this page as well. This does not list people are already in-game. You can use the text space below to write message for everyone to see publicly. Check the picture below to see an example of people talking. Press △ to get to the Area Server list.

Once again very important here because the lack of obviousness, PRESS △ TO GET THE AREA SERVER LIST.

You'll see 3 options, choose the top one to move to the next screen. Press O to continue.

Choose the only option available to you, Servers. Press O to continue.

Now this is the heart of the online play. This is a list of Area Servers that are being hosted by real people around the world. This requires you to have the Windows program Area Server installed and running for them to appear. Even though your server or someone's server is listed, if it is not port-forwarded correctly for port 20000, nobody will be able to actually connect.

There is some good information from this screen we can see. First is the area server's name. For those who are publishing a server, you can name the server whatever you like. We are hosting Dothack Network. Beside the server name you can see the server's level. Dothack Network is currently a level 12 server. Azure Twilight is a level 13 server, and Vi's Place is a level 17 server. All Area Servers start at level 1. And the more people run dungeons and fields on your server, that server levels up. Allowing for more difficult fields and dungeons.

The red dot represents a busy server, this means not only is the server at max capacity, 3 players per server, but they are no longer in the root town and are in a field or dungeon. It will also be greyed out a opposed to being white. Choose a server that has enough space for you to join, with the people on the right being 0-2. Press O to continue.

You'll be given a confirmation prompt, move your cursor to the left to accept and the default on the right is decline. Move left and press O to continue.

You'll see this screen with the server's name in the middle with the servers host chosen abbreviation at the top right.

And you'll land near the Chaos Gate in Mac Anu. Move closer to the Chaos Gate and press O to continue.

This is the warp gate menu. The second option will allow you to choose 3 different keywords that you may use in combination to create a field or dungeon.

The list on the left is the available words for that Area Server, the options on the right display different features each keyword will offer. From the following options:

• Field Type
• Dungeon
• Weather
• Ground Level
• Structures
• Area Level
• Monsters
• Items
• Magic Portals

The more the gems on each keyword overlap, the better the chances are that field will have that option available.

Press O to confirm then poof! off you go to sudden danger! And quite literally as most times you will be dropped near a magic portal or a free roaming monster.

As you slowly appear on the field, check your surroundings quickly. You may have only moments before you will see this next message across your screen.

You have entered a battle, that means one or more monsters are now after you and probably using spells or debuffs on you. You can go and fight them or move quickly out of range, avoiding other monsters on the horizon and magic portals.

Whatever you decide, once you see this blue message, the battle has ended.

After you've completed the field, or raided the dungeon and used a sprite ocarina to return back to the top field, you have two options to leave this area. You can either return to the root town or quit the game.

Press △ to bring up your character menu, this will have things such as items, equipment skills, status, etc... The last option is Gate Out. This will return you back to the Root Town with your party so that you can do things in the Root Town or pick a new field/dungeon to explore.

You will be prompted if you wish to confirm. Press O to continue.

Alternatively if you are done and don't wish to return and quit the game, press the start button.

The last option is quit the game, this will take you back to the main menu of the game that shows you the Offline, Online, Area Server options.

Move the cursor up and press the O button to continue.

Conclusion

These are just the basics for getting into the game online. If you done everything correctly, you'll be well on your way grinding your character to level 99 max. This process will take time so switch back between online and offline for a time. Your offline NPC's are at a high level to carry you for awhile. After about level 50 your online friends will need to support you. Check out our Discord to meet new friends to join you in your adventures and make use of our voice chat to talk while you play as opposed to typing everything out while you are in battle. And you are still stuck anywhere, ask on our Discord server for any questions you have, no matter how small or silly it may be we are here to help you! Also a translation patch is still under way so keep an eye out for that. But by far the biggest issue people have is pressing △ Triangle on the Lobby Chat to see the list of Area Servers to join. Don't get stuck there!

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Error Codes

While playing the game, if certain conditions are met or the lack thereof, you will see on screen some error codes. These numbers range from 3 to 4 digit numbers and usually mean one of two main categories, something did not go as expected or something timed out (disconnected). Below area list of common error codes throughout the game and common reasons why the code is issued. Do note however, some of these codes are generic and not specific, i.e. you can get error 1001 for a time out, but it can also be used for other various reasons unrelated to timing out.

• 402 - DNAS Stating Invalid Disc
• 611 - DNAS Host Not Found
• 1001 - Unexpected Time Out
• 3002 - Area Server Already In-use
• 6000 - Disconnected
• 6061 - Lobby Server BBS Fetch Error
• 6043 - Unable to Retrieve Data
• 6053 - Area Server Issue
• 7005 - Character data corrupted

These are just some of the common codes and the common times you'll encounter them. Should you see a code not listed here, let us know in the comments below or contact us on our Discord servers.

Conclusion

Unfortunately the most common issue you'll ever come across is 1001, this is almost always encountered if you attempt to go online and one of few reasons. You console is not connected to the internet, your emulator does not have the plugin CLR_DEV9, the plugin was modified and not configured properly, you are using the original game disc and it is pointing to the original lobby server that is non existent, you have a Coldbird ISO and did not modify it to connect to the new lobby server, you patched your game incorrectly to point to the new lobby server, you did not enable the ELF patch file to superseded your game's internal lobby server connection.

Your best bet is to stop what you are doing, trouble shooting the error code you are given, start from the beginning, perhaps with the guides above on PCSX2 or for the PS2. Ensure you hit everything on the mark, and try again. And if it continue to persists, hit up our Discord servers and ask the community but be prepared to answer a lot of questions and potentially provide screenshots.

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Japanese to English Patch Plus New IP

Community member Alice has been working on a standalone patch that would change the in-game's Japanese text into English. This process has obviously been slow and steady, but as of now an early version is available for you to use on your copy of your game. It will require more steps on your part, but the added beneficiary is that it will include the swapping of the IP address from the original cyberconnect2 domain to the current one in use, so consider this step shaving some time. But don't forget the process is still early, so any notable errors, please report them in our Discord server so they may be updated in a next release.

This new step will require you to patch your own disc image (the Build 8 copy online will not work) and will require ImgBurn.

For the latest steps, be sure to check the official documentation here: https://bbs.dothackers.org/viewtopic.php?f=6&p=262

The section below is if you are unable to access the link above. To quote vector:

This patcher (named "tellipatch") will fit a Japanese .hack//Fragment ISO with the latest (work-in-progress) .hack//Fragment translation!

You should only use this patcher with an ORIGINAL .hack//Fragment ISO.
You may receive checksum errors if you try to use it with a modified ISO.

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Prerequisites:
ImgBurn: https://www.imgburn.com/index.php?act=download

(Windows) Download Version 0.8: https://mega.nz/file/wVsgQBZY#fr-43QpyWJ54mYnPi--tl1Gs2MJCW0On2AWOHhez-m4
this currently supports the .hack//frägment Definitive Translation v2.7

----------------------------------------------------------------

How to use this patcher:
1. Place your (unmodified) Japanese .hack//Fragment ISO in the same directory as the batch script (Apply Patch.bat). Rename this ISO "fragment.iso".
2. Run the "Apply Patch" batch script. This does a few things, all automatically:
- mounts the ISO to your PC
- copies all the data from the ISO to a local directory
- patches the local directory with the translations
- rebuilds the ISO using ImgBurn

Video Guide: https://streamable.com/8dlig5

Please follow each prompt very closely until you reach the end.
Once the patcher is finished doing it's thing, you can find your new game client named "dotHack Fragment (0.8).iso".

As progress is made on our Google Sheet, the updates are automatically pushed directly to you. You can routinely run Apply Patch.bat to make sure you have the latest translations applied to your game client.

----------------------------------------------------------------

F.A.Q.
ImgBurn fails to run when I'm patching!
Chances are you have installed ImgBurn in a location other than C:\Program Files (x86)\. You can change this line in the batch script:

"PATH TO IMGBURN\ImgBurn.exe" /MODE BUILD /SRC "fragment_eng\" /DEST "%CD%\dotHack Fragment (0.5).iso" /START /OVERWRITE YES /ROOTFOLDER YES /CLOSESUCCESS

The patcher errors out saying "The file or dictionary is corrupted and unreadable."
Your ISO is already modified, this is a common error if you accidentally try to patch the Coldbird version. The only thing I can legally tell you is to try ripping your own copy directly from the game disc.

The patcher closes unexpectedly before completing and I can't read the error message!
Your Antivirus is blocking one of either xdelta.exe or fragmentpatcher.exe. Either disable your AV temporarily or add these exe's to your exceptions.

----------------------------------------------------------------

Credit to PLM, Princess Alice (Telli), Nyao, and Vector.
Special thanks to 1UP, Enlike, Erroneous, Esor, Falions, Harrito, Xithyl, and Robert Coldbird.

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Versions and Iterations

Throughout .hack//fragment's lifetime and today, there has been many versions and iterations of the game officially and by fans.

Early Release Version

The very first iteration was called the "pre-release" version. This was given out ahead of schedule to allow a select few to obtain and play the game much like a beta tester to ensure the network was ready for people to play. This version lacks an Offline mode and was exclusively meant to be played on Online mode only. On the cover there is a red-stripe at the bottom left, there is no UPC bar code on the back, and the game's disc is a purple color. This is a full game, but will not connect to an online server. This game is fully in Japanese only and attempts to connect to j5q.channel.or.jp

• Serial: SLPM-68521
• Sectors: 670656
• Size: 1,373,503,488
• MD5: 23235b733e0695939a5fdfb093e68ba1

Retail Release

The first public release also known as the "retail release" was the main vanilla copy of the game. This version does not have the red-stripe, and the game disc is green and not purple. Also this version does have a bar code on the back. This is a full game, but will not connect to an online server. This game is fully in Japanese only and attempts to connect to j5q.channel.or.jp

• Serial: SLPS-25527
• Barcode: 4543112 37879 8
• Sectors: 600400
• Size: 1,229,619,200
• MD5: 94c82040bf4bb99500eb557a3c0fbb15

Coldbird Team Build 7

After the game server's went offline in 2007, sometime after work from a different fan community began to develop work on a new emulated server for the game to connect to. And with that, they began work on modifying the retail copy to point to the new server. After some time, work began on translating the game. However the bare minimum was only ever completed, but at some point a release was made available known as "Build 7". This has the appearance of the original retail copy, but in English and could be played online. Mainly the menus, items, equipment, and status screen's are translated. This is a full game, but will not connect to an online server. Beyond that, not much else. This was released by the Coldbird team and attempts to connect to fragment.coldbird.net

• Size: 1,229,623,296
• MD5: 710EA1C129341BFB8F593554365789DC

Coldbird Team Build 8

After the success of the Coldbird team's Build 7 release, more improvements and changes were attempted. That went as far as replacing the entire GUI, or graphical user interface. The original retail copy and Build 7 had the same menu style as you would see from the .hack//Infection, Mutation, Outbreak, and Quarantine games. The next iteration, known as "Build 8" would change all that for simplicity, and would become the basis for further customization. This is a full game, but will not connect to an online server. Build 8 swapped out the blue GUI with a theme akin to .hack//G.U.'s black and red theme. The overhead in field/dungeon's was much smaller and attempts to connect to fragment.coldbird.net

• Size: 1,235,132,416
• MD5: 3D045C8C8BF6F3874EF2AABF6CE1385E

Telli-Patcher

Currently the best iteration out there to-date is the "Telli-Patcher" version. This one unlike Build 7/8, will require that you own the original disc, as it's only meant and intended to work with the original retail copy. Build 7/8 was prepackaged and would have to be rebuilt anytime a new or smaller change is needed. What Telli-patcher does is takes the base game, and applies changes that are live online based on the communities updates. It's goal just does 2 changes, finds the location on the disc where the game connected to the old IP and puts in it's place the current IP. And it finds the location of all the Japanese text and swaps it for an English text. Because it just finds the location and has ready what it wants to replace it with, any attempt to use another version like the Pre-release, Build 7, Build 8, or other customized version will result in a failure as the locations do not match the Retail versions location. This is the only version that is not a full game, making this the ideal and light version. Roughly 1.5 megabytes file and connects to a.dothackers.org

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This guide was written with what was available and known for it's time, since then new and easier methods have became available. Some of these steps will work, but you should check the latest guides here for the latest setup and options now available.

➡️ https://www.dothack.org/articles/fragment/