Since this looks like a student project, you might only need to get it working for a few days.
The first thing I would do is attempt to install RSLinx Classic 2.58 onto a fresh computer (preferably a Virtual Machine) so that it goes into "Grace Mode" as RSLinx Classic Gateway and will serve local and remote OPC Clients.
The other thing you could try is to use a "virtual COM port mirror" to connect an RSView32 Direct Driver node to the RSEmulate 500 emulated controller's serial port.
Do you have the ability to install RSLinx Classic onto a fresh computer, or to attempt to use a COM Port Mirror utility ?