Configuring Your Client

This guide is NOT intended for people with buddypass, or illegally downloaded versions of FFXI. We have the bought and paid for the game, and will never recommend that you use anything different. If you somehow managed to get it to work using the buddypass or an illegal version of FFXI then keep it to yourself. Discussion of obtaining software through illegal means is not tolerated.

Installing FFXI

In this section we will install and update Final Fantasy XI from Retail Discs.

For users on Windows Vista or newer, download the Vista PlayOnline client from the PlayOnline Support Site and install that instead of the version on the retail discs.

Install PlayOnline, Final Fantasy XI, and then ALL of the expansions up to and including Wings of the Goddess. You do not need to have the mini-addon packs installed.

Run PlayOnline and let it update.

Close PlayOnline viewer.

Download the following file: FFXI Patch

Extract its contents to your PlayOnline/Squareenix/Final Fantasy XI directory.

Run PlayOnline again and choose For PlayOnline Members

At the Add Member page enter anything you like for the Member Name.

Enter ABCD1234 for the PlayOnline ID

Select Register, Yes, OK.

Select Check Files on the left of the screen.

Updating FFXI via the PlayOnline Viewer

This option is safer and is the one supported by Dark Star Project

Go back to your Check Files screen and select Final Fantasy XI from the drop-down menu.

After 7 hours or so of updating, FFXI should be up to date.

Close the PlayOnline Viewer.

Updating FFXI via manual patch download

This option isn't supported by Dark Star Project, but may be faster than updating through PlayOnline

If you don't have something that can extract RAR archives, download and install 7zip.

Close the PlayOnline Viewer

Go to tehkrizz's FFXI Patch Download Page

Download the MOV, ROM, and Sound archives. Extract the files into your FFXI install folder. Usually C:\Program Files (x86)\PlayOnline\SquareEnix\FINAL FANTASY XI on 64-bit Windows or C:\Program Files\PlayOnline\SquareEnix\FINAL FANTASY XI on 32-bit Windows Extract the contents of the FFXI Patch you downloaded earlier into the FFXI install folder again, overwriting all files. If you skip this step, your client probably will not update properly.

Run the PlayOnline Viewer

Select Check Files on the left of the screen.

Click on PlayOnline Viewer then select Final Fantasy XI from the drop down, then Check Files. If there have been any updates since the archives posted on tehkrizz's site, this may take an hour or more.

Close the PlayOnline Viewer

After updating

Copy the data folder at PlayOnline\SquareEnix\PlayOnlineViewer\data to the Final Fantasy XI directory at PlayOnline\SquareEnix\FINAL FANTASY XI.

Afterwards you should have the directory PlayOnline\SquareEnix\FINAL FANTASY XI\data.

Setting up the Launcher

In this section you will configure FFXI to connect to a DarkStar Server

You can use either FFXI-Boot or mXI to connect to a Dark Star server. mXI has more features, but is harder to configure. FFXI-Boot usually works with minimal configuration. Both can co-exist on your system, so if in doubt, try both!

FFXI-Boot

Download FFXI-Boot

Extract the FFXI-Boot files (ffxi-boot.exe & ffxi-boot.ini) into the PlayOnline\SquareEnix\FINAL FANTASY XI directory.

Open ffxi-boot.ini in a text editor.

Change SERVIP to the IP address of the DarkStar server you wish to use. See the DarkStar Servers page for this info, or put in 127.0.0.1 if you are hosting your own server on the same system.

An example ffxi-boot.ini is below.

SERVIP = 67.41.45.115
AUTOLOGIN = 1
USERNAME    = username
PASSWORD = password

mXI Boot

If you prefer the MXI FFXI Loader, this should be compatible with DarkStar servers as well. mXI windower features (light luggage, distance, etc.) can potentially cause you problems while playing. If you have issues, this is the first thing to disable. Windower itself seams to work fine on Dark Star.

Download mXI 0.91_Darkstar version

Extract the contents of the archive into the PlayOnline\SquareEnix\FINAL FANTASY XI directory.

Open Client.ini in a text editor.

Change SERVIP to the IP address of the DarkStar server you wish to use. See the DarkStar Servers page for this info, or put in 127.0.0.1 if you are hosting your own server on the same system.

You will also need to set X_RES and Y_RES to the resolution your game will be running at or it will look streteched or squashed.

If you have any problems, set WINDOWERMODE to 2, which will disable all of the windower plugins. If it works, try disabling all of your windower plugins in scripts/init.txt and then re-enable them one at a time to determine which one is causing a crash. It may also help to DISABLE windowed mode the the FFXI configuration utility.

An example Client.ini is below.

[SERVER]
SERVIP 		=  67.41.45.115
AUTOLOGIN  	=  1
USERNAME	=  username
PASSWORD	=  password
[CLIENT]
LANGUAGE 	= 1
## VERSION can be NA,EU or JP. This needs to reflect the POL version you have.
VERSION 	= NA
## MODE 0 = no windower, 1 = normal windower, 2 = windower light
WINDOWERMODE	= 1
X_RES 		= 1024
Y_RES 		= 768

Create an Account and Login

Run ffxi-boot.exe or mXI.exe and choose option 2; Create a new account.

The username and password should be at least 6 alphanumeric characters long.

You can now save the username and password into the ffxi-boot.ini or Client.ini if you wish to use auto-login.

Choose option 1; Login using existing account

Login with username and password.

FFXI should load and be on the splash screen. Choose Accept.

Create a Character, Select a Country, then choose Yes to Register and begin play.

Note: It usually takes three login attempts before a new character will load into the game.

The progress bar should get stuck at "Acquiring PlayOnline character list". Let it sit till it errors out.

After Error code: POL-0260 or something similar, Select OK then OK and the game will crash.

Run ffxi-boot or mXI again, this time choosing Select Character.

Select the newly created character then login.

This time the screen should get stuck at .o0O Downloading Data O0o. Let it sit until it errors out.

After a different Error code(Usually 3100, but occasionally 3305), Select OK, press Escape to go to the previous screen, and choose Back, which will close out of FFXI.

Run ffxi-boot or mXI one more time, again selecting the new character. This time it should login all the way to the Country you selected.