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There's a bit of a process to get down into the games files to find the ones responsible for all the game's sounds and spoken lines. First you'll need to extract the ISO from the game's UMD disc through a custom firmware Sony PSP. Then open that ISO with a file archiver such as 7zip. Next locate data.cpk in the PSP_GAME\USRDIR\ folder. Copy this file onto your desktop. Download CriPakGUI from Github and launch the program. Go to File > Open CPK and locate the data.cpk file from your desktop. Then click on Extract Files and pick a folder to extract all these files to. The audio files are in the sound/ directory that you just extracted and each .afs is an archive of even more archived .afs files. For this, we'll be extracting the evvoice.afs and the plvoice.afs from the sound/ directory. Download PuyoTools from Github and launch the program. Go to Archive > Explorer, a new window will popup and go to File > Open. Choose the plvoice.afs from the sound/ directory. Go to Extract > Extract All and choose a location where to put the next set of files; or you can double-click an .afs file to see the contents from here. In the end you'll want to get down to the .ahx files, the .ahx files are the actual sound files we need. All the .afs files up until now have been archives of files. Download either ADX Tools if you just want to hear the .ahx files or download ahx2wav from Github if you want to convert the .ahx files to a .wave audio format. Using ADX Tools, click on the folder icon on the right to find the .ahx files you want to play. You can load multiple files, but click on the file in the filelist and press Play below to listen to the audio. Remember, .hack//LINK is a Japanese name and all it's spoken lines are recorded in Japanese. But there you have it, your chance to load and listen to any of the audio from .hack//LINK!

Happy Birthday Moonstone (月長石), proposed real name Kenzo Saeki (佐伯謙三), was born on May 4th 1982. Source page 271 from .hack//Archives_03 #dothack #ドットハック

Knucklemaster and Werewolf the 7th & 8th Character Class from The World R:1 #dothack #ドットハック

Happy Birthday Natsume!, real name Natsume Saito, born on May 2nd 1995. Source page 270 from .hack//Archives_03 #dothack #ドットハック

Right now what .hack//fragment needs is more players and more area servers, an area server is where up to 3 players can play online together in a town/field/dungeon. There is only need for 1 lobby server at all times, this is the central point where all area servers and players connect to. It handle's the handshake process of going online, to an area server, others to join to you on the area server, and return back to the lobby server. Basically it's a mall, the area servers are shops, and the players are the shoppers. This picture here is a simple way of seeing how and where these three work in tandem. Throwing more lobby servers out there can make this process more complex than it needs to be. Hosting the lobby server doesn't give your player any special items or abilities. All player data is stored on your memory card only and can be manipulated locally on your PC through CheatEngine. Right now the areaserver.exe and the Tellipatcher both use the same IP to connect to the main lobby server in use right now. So again, we do NOT need anyone setting up any competing lobby server, what we really need is just more area servers and players. That being said, academically some of you might want to host your own lobby server to better understand the game and the servers themselves to hopefully one day discover more secrets buried in the software. If people hadn't been poking around the lobby server, we wouldn't have those like Zackmon who discovered restoring the Guild, BBS, Web News, Rankings part of the lobby server. We wouldn't have formlesstree4 who discovered better ways to optimize and prevent unexpected crashes of the lobby server. And of course NCDyson who reversed engineered the lobby server to begin with from nothing. But there are still some unexplained things out there that someday may be discovered, such as what actually triggers the date when the area server communicates with the lobby and players when an area server online NPC event is available. Or how to password protect an area server. And perhaps the additional multiple lobby chatroom, guild chatroom, or private chatroom functionality. Whatever your reason may be, you first need to acquire some programs to get started. Lobby Server Emulator: https://github.com/Zackmon/FragmentNetslumServer Area Server Tools: https://github.com/Zero1UP/AreaServerTools (modifies Area Server to point to new lobbyserver) Area Server Explorer: https://github.com/Zackmon/AreaServerExplorerWV (has the option to create .pnach files for PCSX2, see screenshot below) First you'll need download the Lobby Server Emulator and to setup a database for the lobby server Second you will need to use the Area Server Tools to modify your areaserver.exe to point to your new IP. Typically something like "http://yourip.com:49000", no quotes, with the port at the end or without. Thirdly while you can use your Tellipatched .hack//fragment ISO, to hop on your own lobby server you'll need to Enable Cheats in PCSX2 and add a .pnach file to your /cheats/ folder from your PCSX2 directory. Using Area Server Explorer you can go to AreaServerExplorer\bin\x86\Release\AreaServerExplorer.exe and go File > Create PNACH File for IP and enter your IP on this screen. In PCSX2 1.4/1.6 make sure to go to System > Enable Cheats is checked yes before running the ISO rom. In PCSX2 1.7 you'll need to go into Settings > Emulation to find the check box for Enble Cheats. For all versions, make sure the file is named 9C9D549D.pnach and place this in your cheats folder before running the ISO rom. This will override the IP address in which your game will connect to while maintaining the English patch. And by disabling enable cheats, you can hop back onto the main public lobby server. After everything is done here, you are pretty much logging into your own private lobby server that only you can connect to. Unless others repeat steps 2 and 3 with your IP to connect to your services.

In The World (.hack//SIGN & .hack//IMOQ) there were originally 6 character classes Twinblade, Heavyblade, Blademaster, Longarm, Heavyaxeman, and Wavemaster from 2010 and prior. It wasn't till four years later in 2014 during .hack//Legend of the Twilight two new classes were introduced. Starting with Knucklemaster on the far right. (Source .hack//Archives 3 page 223) Translation for Knucklemaster as follows (Source .hack//Archives 3 page 223) Unlike the other 6 classes, the 7th class has a class change option, translation as follows: "A rare class that appeared as an advanced class of the Knucklemaster due to the class change system implemented in 2014. It has various features not found in the normal classes. Such as the need for a job change item for the firs time to transform into a non-human race and change class." (Source .hack//Archives 3 page 223) But this wasn't the first time we've heard of Knucklemaster, in the 2003-2004 Comptiq magazines .hack//The World Vol. 2 and Vol. 3 we are introduced to Knucklemasters as a playable class in the TTRPG or tabletop roleplaying game .hack//Infinite Generation. (source page 97 .hack//The World Vol. 2 magazine) In the 2012 doujinshi by Rei Izumi in celebration of the 10th anniversary of .hack//Legend of the Twilight manga, from pages 27-48 we see a story of Ouka, Crim, and Luke. In this story they are all helping Knucklemaster Ouka get the item needed to change class. This is what Ouka looks like as a Knucklemaster, her first class before upgrading to the Werewolf class. These two rings overlapping each other tied with a ribbon and a tail dangling, is the item needed to transform. After which obtaining it, Ouka uses it to transform from Knucklemaster class to the Werewolf class The hands change, removing the spiked bracelets and palm gloves for a fur sleeve with brass spiked knuckles. Body starts to change, real emphasis on the boa. End of the transformation This being the Ouka we all know and love (if you are a manga design lover since the anime design is different). .hack//Archives Vol. 3 on BookWalker https://bookwalker.jp/de51b97bf4-fd6e-4b2a-8ece-0e3beb15fe8e/ More on Ouka's origin's transcribed here https://www.pixiv.net/novel/show.php?id=7850995 Original written work here https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/61564877 Short video on the 10th Anniversary book by Rei Izumi

Gardenia (ガルデニア), real name Mika Tachibana (橘美香), was born on April 29th 1992. Source page 271 of .hack//Archives_03 #dothack #ドットハック

I have time, but I can only write, so the only thing I can contribute to the dothack fandom is to continue following and supporting newcomers, while gradually perfecting my work. Anyways, thanks for your article, sir Erroneous~ 😶

Iridium Based was a dothack fan site that was working to create a 3D MMORPG for .hack's fictional game The World. It came off the heels of Joe Stacko's (jstacko) The World 2D which they called their site Cyberconnects LLC. Some of the staff and players from Cyberconnects LLC would be the heads of Iridium Based (not joe). They built a whole community through word of mouth, advertising, and asking other communities for exposure. A community built on a website, a message board, and social media pages. https://www.iridiumbased.com https://forum.iridiumbased.com https://www.facebook.com/IridiumBased https://www.twitter.com/IridiumBased https://www.youtube.com/IridiumBased Their site ran roughly from 2012 to about 2018, but most of their leaders had already began leaving prior to 2017. Only leaving a handful of people not in charge behind to manage a sinking ship, notably the forum moderators. By then the cracks on the infrastructure was already showing with spotty uptime for their site and forum till it's eventual constant database not found messages and later the domain name renewal going expired. When the project was active, the goal was to crowdfund money to build their online game in additional to receiving donations from fans and followers. One of the crowdfunding sites they used would be Indiegogo from 2013-2015 raising $6,855 dollars from fans. Plans for a Kickstarter campaign was planned but never went into fruition far as I know. But overall between crowdfunding and PayPal donations (or wherever else) they claimed to raised almost $24,000 dollars. And as thanks they would make what they created Open Source; meaning the software and programming making the game would be made available to the public to view and use. They didn't have to do this, this was something they wanted to give back for their donations from the community. But originally that never came to fruition. What was really frustrating was that the leaders left prior to 2017 without explaining anything. It wasn't till someone happened to find the owner on a Skyrim discord server called Tamriel Online and called them out on it. The owner gave a response called "Budgetary/Financial Breakdown and Open Source" as follows from February 6th 2018: (The Unity3D scripts above is no longer available, you can download them here.) But the question comes, had not someone found and called the owner out on this years later, would we ever have received a response to the game and it's crowdfunding spending? From what we were told prior and what we now know, seem their plan was executed poorly. (from prior to 2015) The four key members of this project was lead by Lee (keramory), Gato (Siegfre), Axl (Axlsjolund), and Brian. And their roles were as follows: From their own FAQ from their webpage shows they required $40 donation to join their closed alpha. But that's mostly it, a few people from a 2D game wanting to build their own 3D, getting hype and the word out there gathering followers only to extort them $40 for alpha access (not even beta), raising $24k in supporter funds, then quietly leaving the fans and their own moderators behind holding the bag, then finally letting what remains to break and expire. This doesn't give me the confidence to support any other current or future .hack fan project whatsoever, but that's my opinion. A lesson learned through experience.

The smile was no longer in his face anymore :0

.hack//G.U. Last Recode for Steam is currently on sale at 90% off for $4.99 USD till May 6th 2024. https://store.steampowered.com/app/525480/hackGU_Last_Recode/ .hack//G.U. Last Recode for PSN is currently on sale at 90% off for $4.99 USD till May 8th 2024. https://store.playstation.com/en-us/product/UP0700-CUSA07559_00-HACKGURECODE0000

Gaspard (ガスパー) was born on April 21st 2004 real name Kouta Maki (牧康太) Source from .hack//Archives_06 page 175. #dothack #ドットハック

Blackrose (ブラックローズ) was born on April 21st 1994 real name Akira Hayami (速水晶良). Source from .hack//Archives_03 page 266. #dothack #ドットハック

For those unaware or are new to .hack, the whole franchise revolves around VR headsets as a major (but not required) part of the game that everyone plays with in the .hack series. You see headsets of all kinds throughout the series from 2002's .hack//SIGN and .hack//Infection's "Neuro Goggles". Being described either as a "HMD" or head mount display, and as the term "FMD" or face mount display. The franchise was pitched by CyberConnect as a PS2 videogame where the players wear these VR devices, and their consciousness gets trapped in the game all the way back in 1999, as a game pitch to Bandai Inc. And in later installments would evolve into 2006's .hack//Roots and .hack//GU with M2D or Micro Monocle Display, which is a visor type. And in 2010's .hack//LINK changed the formula with the M3D which did away with the visor part and was purely headphones only. Then got back on VR with 2012's .hack//Beyond the World's ALGOS FMD, which looked more like a pair of sunglasses or prescription glasses. Kinda a less bulky version of the Google Glasses or Snapchat Spectacles. But what if I told you VR for the Sony Playstation 2 existed as a product as early back as 2002, and those familiar with 2016's PlayStation VR, there was another Sony branded product between the 2002 PUD-J5A and the 2016 PlayStation VR; and that was the 2012's Prototype-SR, aka the HMZ-T2. First, starting with the Sony PUD-J5A for the PlayStation 2. It was only specifically made for 6 PlayStation 2 games, none of which was the .hack// PS2 games; which is a shame. Sadly I have no sources or citation of CyberConnect2 or it's staff using/testing this device. Second was the Sony PROTOTYPE-SR (HMZ-T2). It was shown off at Tokyo Game Show in September 2012. President of CC2 Hiroshi Matsuyama attended and was able to test out the device being tested with Resident Evil V Tribulation demo. There was another predecessor to this device, the Sony HMZ-T1 "3d viewer" in the prior year. And even further back from 1996-1998, which these devices were based on was the Sony Glasstron and it's 5 different models, most notably the PLM-S700E. Then there was Sony's big breakout, all chips in finally, the Sony PlayStation VR. Which was meant to be a strong contender to it's competitors like the Occulus Rift and HTC Vive. Being a companion for PS4 and PS5 consoles for PSVR compatible games. But even Hiroshi Matsuyama has been seen playing with the competitor devices.

WSC#070 Kite bust ¥12,343 (tax included) ■ 商品解説 そのモデリングネームからもわかる人にはわかるように、蒼炎の人形師は『.hack//』（ゲームを主軸としたメディアミックスプロジェクト）と、同ゲームプレイヤーの分身たるカイトの極度のファン。 プロ原型師への道を歩み出しつつも、「大好きなキャラクター以外の造形にはなかなか興味が抱けない」というレベルでのキャラフェチ問題を抱える彼女が、カイトへの愛情を「これでもかっ！」とばかりに大量注入して造形されたのがプレゼンテーション作品の『カイト胸像』です。 男性キャラというだけでスルーしてしまう人が多いかもしれませんが、最大の注目点は、とにもかくにも秀逸すぎる顔面の造形。昨今の均一化された「お面顔」によるフィギュア造形とは明らかに一線を画す、360度ぐるっと1周させながら眺めてもまったく破綻しない立体感に溢れる造形は、第一線で活躍しているプロの原型師にこそ凝視し驚愕してほしいポイントです。 さらに、どこか寂しげな雰囲気を醸し出す抜群の表情と、髪の毛などに見られるスピード感に溢れるシャープな造形にも着目してみてください。 【ご注意】 本商品はお客様で組み立てが必要な未塗装、組み立てキットです。 製作には、レジンキット組立て経験と道具、接着剤、塗料等を必要といたしますので、ご注意ください。 「2014年7月26日までの期間限定販売商品です。」 詳細 商品名（ふりがな） WSC#070 カイト胸像 メーカー 海洋堂 原型制作 蒼炎の人形師 作品 from ゲームを主軸としたメディアミックスプロジェクト『.hack//』 仕様 ノンスケール（全高150mm）/レジンキャスト 案内日 2014/02/06 Link to the original page here: https://kaiyodo.ecq.sc/c/wsc/kyd-wsc76.html

On January 25th 2013, Inside Games Japan wrote an article with the director Akihiro Anai, artist Tetsuya Sugigami, and technical artist Takashi Matsuo about the development of the smart phone game. Article can be found here: https://www.inside-games.jp/article/2013/01/25/63261.html

From the December 2002 issue of Newtype USA was a spread on pages 10 11 and 12 where Daisuke Uchiyama, Tatsuya Hamazaki, and Koichi Mashimo. Link to a transcript here: https://liminalepitaph.neocities.org/transcripts/newtypeUSA200212

During the .hack//20th Anniversary Special Live event with special performance by LieN, there was an interview with Hiroshi Matsuyama here he made a bad joke that news outlets over the internet misunderstood and thought it was an announcement of a new .hack game coming soon. But the bad joke was what he said immediately after "...is what I would like to say". Reminding viewers that if they do want a new .hack game, they'd need support by fans contacting BandaiNamco and requesting more .hack games. Article by esuteru: http://blog.esuteru.com/archives/10018384.html

On November 8th 2017, Otaku USA Magazine interviews Hiroshi Matsuyama, president/CEO of CyberConnect2. Link to article here: https://otakuusamagazine.com/dot-hack-interview-hiroshi-matsuyama/

A second doujinshi by Megane Kikuya being teased from their blog here: http://xyz-p.com/?p=3256 That doujinshi would end up being .Ripon//

This article was from Megane Kikuya's blog for the June 2010 .hack//LINK launch event in Japan. Link to the blog entry here: http://xyz-p.com/?p=2860

Prior to Megane Kikuya going to COMIC1 event in April 2010, she shared info about her upcoming book "Hakkurinku no Moto". Link to the blog entry here: http://xyz-p.com/?p=2510 In relation to this doujinshi book here