The Sega Saturn NetLink League

is it possible to get the irc server for the original netlink chat? if so, would it then be possible to revive that area? I'm kind of a newbie to netlink, so please let me know if this is possible or not and why.

I've never really looked into those areas, as I knew getting into the NetLink that the services had been down for years. I also don't have access to my Saturn stuff at the moment, being away at school. So, was it really connecting to an IRC server, or was it using something proprietary? Either way, my guess is that the server IPs/URLs were hard-coded into the software, and unless we happened to get ahold of the correct domain and configure the correct type of server on it... it's not likely.

Even if we did get it running, what would be the point? Very few people use the NetLink these days, and even those still paying attention to the scene aren't usually very active. This is the same problem that the XBAND 2 faced - there was a surge of interest for a few weeks, and then everyone lost interest. :/

It will be fun to enter in a chat in the Net Link for some hours in the weekends.

But imo, chat is not a thing so cool for a console... We can always use a PC for that, even and old one with Windows 95 or 98.

The NetLink is still capable of connecting to a user-specified IRC server. Type "pwchat://*yourservername*:*port* into the URL bar.

I don't see any reason why it wouldn't still work.

yes but i mean if you were to connect through the netlink zone when you load up a game.

Ah, the NetLink Zone. In 2006 someone had contacted Sega, and it looked like Sega was willing to put up something at the URL again. The original Zone contained a directory of NetLink users and their area codes to facilitate contact with other users and playing games. The original chat server would have been irc.sega.com, if I remember correctly.

Xranger60 wrote:The original chat server would have been irc.sega.com, if I remember correctly.

Which there's no way we could run, as we won't be able to get ahold of a subdomain of Sega's. They would have to do it.

I can think of one way around this, but it would be so much work that it wouldn't be worth it to anyone.

Are you thinking of DNS redirection? That's all I can really think of at the moment.

Xranger60 wrote:Are you thinking of DNS redirection? That's all I can really think of at the moment.

Yeah. Every person would have to have a system in place to do the redirection. Very much not worth it.

Well... maybe through the use of a proxy or specific DNS settings to point to a single server with a static IP that could provide the necessary redirection... but I don't have my Saturn with me here at school, so I can't look over the settings in order to see what might be possible.

I actually managed to modify the contents of browser disc (4.0 maybe...) to allow autoloading of a custom page upon connecting to the internet. this page could enter into irc chat room or whatnot which anyone these days can host.

I could probably dig up that stuff and get a few things working if you guys are interested. You would have to burn a modified copy of the browser on to a CD and be able to either do the swap trick or have a mod switch to utilize it.

rush6432 wrote:I actually managed to modify the contents of browser disc (4.0 maybe...) to allow autoloading of a custom page upon connecting to the internet. this page could enter into irc chat room or whatnot which anyone these days can host.

I could probably dig up that stuff and get a few things working if you guys are interested. You would have to burn a modified copy of the browser on to a CD and be able to either do the swap trick or have a mod switch to utilize it.

The question was for the NetLink Zone on the game discs, not the browser discs. Getting IRC or some other communication system to happen on the unmodified browser is easy enough - it's trying to get the NetLink Zone to work again on unmodified discs that would be an issue.


That being said, there are still those of us (hint: I'm one of them) who would still be interested in getting hold of a copy of the 4.0 browser in an easily-burnable form.

Netlink 4.0 Browser bin/cue http://www.njunstudios.com/Browser40.zip

As for the game disc... only way would be a cdr with modified version of some files and the user would have to use the swap trick...

I definately think its possible... could just do a backup of the game on your pc to a bin/cue format and then go in side the bin file and modify whatever files, create an IPS patch for the modified data in the bin file and voila.

User would only have to rip the cd to their computer, apply the patch, then reburn to a CDR.

So if we are talking about the netlink zone icon below traditional and quickplay modes when you boot up any netlink game then the NETLINK.htm file on the disc is what you want and you can just change that to link to an irc server instead of the sega website. or our own netlink city kinda thing hosted somewhere which would be easy...

If anyone has an idea for a custom image to put on the menu like "Saturn League Chat" or Whatever, or more options let me know This gives me an excuse to get a land line again so i can play some netlink games again

Possible, yes. But we still get back to the issue of audience. XBAND 2.0 took no special hardware and cost nothing, yet it died off after a matter of weeks. I'm a member of another forum (Nintendo-themed) with a group slightly larger and more active than this one, and their IRC channel has been dead for a long time. :/

I mean, if someone wants to take the initiative and do it, that's all well and good, but I suspect that the usage will be extremely low.

One of the advantages that that Nintendo forum has is most of the members are in the Eastern or Central time zone in the US. We at the NetLink League are all over the world, so our schedules don't align well, which is bound to be another issue. A forum is probably the best form of communication for us.

It would be nice to get everyone back in the same place talking again, I'm open for suggestions

Ok guys, this got me intrigued and i copied all the netlink games i had to my Computer and modified a few files and made a patch for each one.

While this is a niche community here and pretty small, atleast its a step twords trying to keep it alive as much as possible.

This should allow people to get on via their saturn with a keyboard and chat away and exchange phone numbers via chat (private irc msg) to their opponent and play a game.

Ive also added a few commands to the chat room itself such as !lastseen !rules and will add more later (possibly trivia bot, or small chat room games, score keeping for netlink games.)

Id like to even add ranking so that when users come back from a game into the chat room they can post results and the bot keeps track and people can query or check stats... Obviously this is on the honor system as there is no direct way to get scores from games unfortunately.