a. Using your router's DNS server
This method may only pertain to a limited number of users, but if your router offers a DNS server, using it to define the obsrv entries will be very convenient as it is already present and can be configured via easy UI. An added benefit is if you ever want to change the DNS entries (i.e. connect to someone else's open source server), any changes can be made at the router config level and will be used by any PS2s or emulator users on your network that are set to use your router as DNS via DHCP or manually set their DNS setting to your router address.
If you're unsure whether your router has a DNS server, a quick way to find out is to open a CMD prompt in windows and type:
ipconfig /all
Take a look at Default Gateway and DNS Servers. If the Default Gateway matches the DNS Servers IPv4 address (ignore the address with letters, that's IPv6), then your router is acting as the DNS server for your network, and is likely setting computers up this way via DHCP.
- Add the DNS entries to your router's configuration page
- Set up the game to use your router as the DNS server:
- If your router provides its own address as the DNS server via DHCP, then simply set your game connection settings to all automatic, and the PCSX2 network settings should be left on automatic, including DNS1. If not;
- Follow the PCSX2 or PS2 Setup Guides but use your router IP as the DNS instead of the obsrv DNS.
b. Rolling your own DNS server
If your router does not have a server, it is not hard to set up your own. There are many options available, but for the purposes of this page, we will use Acrylic DNS Server. Acrylic can be used for many things, but we will strip it down to a super simple configuration that we will only use for Outbreak.
- Download the "Portable for Windows" version from the Acrylic Site
- Extract the files to anywhere you would like.
- Within the Acrylic-Portable folder, open
AcrylicConfiguration.ini file.
- Delete all values, and set to this:
[GlobalSection]
LocalIPv4BindingAddress=0.0.0.0
LocalIPv4BindingPort=53
[AllowedAddressesSection]
IP1=*
Note: the value of *, wildcard, for IP1 in the example, theoretically, lets clients with any IP address, even people external to your network, use your DNS server for requests. This isn't a big deal, as your router firewall won't let DNS queries reach your computer unless you explicitly open the port in your firewall, or if you disabled all incoming firewall rules, or set your computer IP to be in a DMZ. When you're done using Outbreak, close Acrylic DNS just to be sure. If you'd like to be a bit more restrictive, you can set the value to restrict answers to only your own internal network subnet (i.e. if your IP address is 192.168.100.32, your subnet is 192.168.100.0, so you would let 192.168.100.* as the value for IP=1. If you know you will only be using your own computer to play Outbreak and not any other devices on the network, you can set the IP1 value to be your own computer's IP address. You'll know if you set it too restrictive if the Acrylic console reports "Unexpected packet received from..." when any of your Outbreak consoles/emulators try to connect.
- Open the
AcrylicHosts file and add the following lines to the bottom, making sure the file doesn't end with an empty line:
208.72.237.15 kddi-mmbb.jp www01.kddi-mmbb.jp
153.121.44.150 gate1.jp.dnas.playstation.org
- Start
AcrylicConsole.exe and check to make sure there are no errors in the console window. Windows Firewall will ask if you would like to allow the program to listen on your network. If you will be using the DNS server for your PS2 or for any other computers running emulators on the network, allow it. If you will only be using PCSX2 on the computer you are using, you can uncheck the allow boxes, and close this Window. If you later change your mind, you can simply add AcrylicConsole.exe to your Windows Firewall allow list or add incoming UDP port 53 to the Windows Firewall allow list manually, but be sure to disable the allow rule when not using Acrylic.
- Set up PS2/PCSX2 clients:
- If you're not sure of the IP address of the computer running Acrylic, open up a
CMD prompt and type ipconfig. Your computer's local IP address is the value of IPv4 Address.
- On PS2, follow the PS2 guide but define Primary DNS to be the IP address of the computer you are running AcrylicConsole from. PCSX2 can also use this method, but then be sure to make sure the DNS1/DNS2 boxes are cleared/set to auto in PCSX2 net setup
- On PCSX2, use all auto settings in the game while setting DNS1 in PCSX2 net settings to be the IP address of the computer running Acrylic.
Note: If you are running PCSX2 and trying to connect use Acrylic running on the same computer for DNS, don't try to get fancy and use 127.0.0.1. PCSX2 won't use it. Just type in your computer's IPv4 network address.
