RoadWarrior

Personally, I'd try removing the overclock on the CPU and RAM and then test it again. Overclocking generates more heat, as a result, often causes detrimental performance degradation as opposed to stock speeds under load. ET is one game that will suck up as much CPU as you can throw at it, and it will push the heat up a fair bit all on it's own. Likely more of a heat issue on your end, as the game isn't that graphically intense. I'd also consider updating those video card drivers and perhaps your chipset driver at www.nvidia.com. Thirdly, when running ET, try right-clicking the icon, and select "Run as administrator" when gaming.

This error is common on new server installs. It happens simply because the game is installed with the default pb version included with the install files. The original version is usually to old to be able to update on it's own. Simple solution. Head over to www.evenbalance.com click on your game, and then proceed to download all the htm files for the server-side (Downloads for Admin link). You'll also need the required pbsvnew.dll(windows servers) or pbsvnew.so(linux servers). Then simply upload these files to the appropriate section of your gameserver's pb install. pbsvnew.so or .dll goes in the main pb folder. htm files go in the htm folder within the pb folder. Now, either issue a pb_sv_update command from rcon, and then pb_sv_restart from rcon, or simply reboot your server from your control panel. New and updated version of pb will be installed on your server, and it then update on it's own.

In ET, try opening your console with the tilde key (~) and enter in /com_maxpackets 100 and /cl_maxfps 125 at the same time. Might need to fine-tun them, to work. Depends on specs, but those settings should lock them in well enough. If you have a lower-end graphics card, you won't be able to hold 125fps in ET properly.

My only curiousity....why hasn't your buddy signed up for our forums, and asked these questions himself?

There are many, many sites on the net that post forth "truths" that can easily be de-bunked. Can't believe everything you read, to be sure. Most of the sites that make certain claims like that are also usually full of posts about how punkbuster sucks and how they could "write a better anti-cheat" program. Now, if that were actually true, it'd have been done by now. That alone, is usually proof in the pudding that they're just posting random bs because they want something to complain about. Not saying you are, either, btw. You took the time to make a post with a question you wanted answered, and that is always a good thing, around here. A person won't always find a previous post, or may have other questions that are not always answered to begin with, or perhaps the answer is buried in some random-titled thread. No stupid questions, just un-asked ones.

Can't see why that is to much trouble, really. Streaming is easy, btw, and for the work it would take, to get this all working for you, not a lot to ask on our part. Sorry you feel the way you do.

Try my "best performance" tweak listed above, the next time. It puts things back to what you're used to, with XP/2K. It mainly removes the glam and such. I ran XP the same way, fyi.

I wouldn't go back to XP, tbh. I'm currently sitting at 0% cpu-useage with the odd spike to 3% and at 38% memory useage, which is nothing to worry about, with 4GB installed. Could reduce it a bit if I didn't have multiple programs and multiple web browsers opened all at once. :P

Celebrated in Canada last month, but same holiday. Hope all of you are enjoying the day, the food, and the fun with family.

It's not just a Vista issue, but I think, rather, a combination of hardware, and drivers, as a whole. Added to which, if alt-tabbed out of a game, pbss will come up black, if having things like xfire opened above the game(making the game the non-primary program) can cause black ss, and the list goes on. I get them with one driver revision, and then get clean ones the next. Sometimes, reverting a revision doesn't fix the issue, so I've learned to just live with it.

Thing is, it's one thing to post some useful info, but if there's a need for a warning for a change made, it should also be posted. I've tried many, many tweaks for Vista, and I run the 64x Ultimate version. Many of those tweaks include registry edits, and would not be something I would post up without a disclaimer/warning so that at least an average computer user has the knowledge that things may be affected in a manner other than desired, and that they need to know what they changed, in order to regain what they had prior to such a change. Best advice, to anyone attempting tweaks found posted around the internet, is to make one change at a time, and then make sure you can also reverse it with a system backup and registry backup, so that returning to the previous state is possible for your personal install and needs. Second thing I have to say, is that there's no reason to get "in someone's face" with threats, on these or other forums.

No reason to be getting offensive. In actual fact, i inadvertently called BS on the initial post, and believe it or not, you're not the first person to post on these forums that knows a thing or two about computers. The difference is, that the tweaks I posted actually work to reduce cpu and memory useage, as well as decrease boot-times and improve over-all performance. By no means an inclusive list, but amongst the easier ones for an average user to do. I just didn't call BS with text, but rather posted something useful behind your dribble. Not saying all of your initial post was un-useable either, which is why I chose not to go that route, but to add to it. Just make sure, that when you post something like this, that you also add a warning about potential effects. See my hard drive tweak warning. Turning off UAC does nothing, other than open a large number of vulnerabilities up to the operating system. It's an option for experienced users, not for an average user. That needs to be stated, and really, it's only annoying for a little while, you get used to it over time.

Do you mean by country flags? Perhaps expand on this idea a bit.

UAC is annoying, but something you get used too, over time. Personally, I've been running Vista for about 7 months now, and wouldn't go back to XP.

It's part of a security measure, here. You need a functioning clan-roster, and forums, to get you started.

If you want to free up RAM and CPU useage, simply right click your My Computer icon, select properties, click on Advanced System Settings, and then click on the performance tab of the new box that opens up. Then click on the first (top) settings tab, and choose the Best Performance option. This will make Vista look like Windows 2000, fyi, but it turns off that stupid clock and all the performance-eating glam that comes with the operating system. Other tweaks of interest. Click start/run type in msconfig. In the box that opens up, click on the Boot tab, then click the Advanced Options tab in the center. In the Processors box, you'll notice only a 1 is present. If you have a multi-core processor, such as I do, you'll want to change that value to = the number of cores you have. In my case, changed to 4. This is the number of cores used to load Windows on boot-up. Click ok, but don't close the main box, as yet. Now, you'll see a box that has a setting of 30 seconds in it, labelled Timeout, change the value to 3 seconds(lowest possible value) and put a check in the box right below it labelled Make all boot settings permanent. Now click apply and ok on your way out, and restart your PC. You'll notice a much quicker boot-time. :) Enjoy! For those looking to get every last ounce of performance from their hard drives, here's another option you may want to try. Double click on My Computer, then Right click your C drive, select properties and in the box that pops up, click the Hardware tab, then the Properties tab at the bottom. Now click the Change Settings tab at the bottom of the box in the General section(General tab at top of new box). Another box will pop up, click the Policies tab at the top, and select the Optimize Performance option, along with write-caching and enable advanced performance below it. These are off, by default, and make for slower hard drive performance. One warning, with this last option, is that your system may become un-recoverable, in the event of a hard drive crash. Up to you, don't say the warning was not stated. ;) Click apply and ok on your way out, and enjoy less hard-drive thrashing in Vista. :)

I run Vista 64x Ultimate, and run the game as admin(right-click icon and choose from drop-down menu) and have no such issues. Might want to ask those players(x-fire, or what-ever) what OS they are using, if you have contact with them. It may be different for different versions of Windows.

What version of PB is the server you're playing on running? Perhaps post the IP here, and I'll pop on and check. Seems some servers are not updating automatically, and your server admin may have to do a manual update via the files at evenbalance.com

Saturday 11.22.2008 [11:45AM] Version 1.727 of the PB Server for ET has been released to our PB Master Servers for auto-update and to our website download page. This is a maintenance release. Snipped from the evenbalance.com website. I would start with updating the pb version on your server, and then work from there. From rcon, issue a /pb_sv_update command. Alternately, visit evenbalance.com and download the htm files and the lastest pbsvsec as well as pbsvnew.so file(linux servers) and upload them manually. Issue a /pb_sv_restart command from rcon, once the uploads are done.

Server IP and game please?

If you don't give what I've suggested a try, you'll never know if it works. By default, the game is installed with an old version of the pb files, as is the case with any game. Trying what I've mentioned may just be your solution, as it creates completely brand new, current pb files within your game's directory. This is also a solution that works for many players when running into such issues. It only takes a few seconds to accomplish, as well.

If you're using Windows Vista, try right-click game icon, and run as administrator, as opposed to simply double-clicking the icon. Many games require this option, and will often fix that particular problem.

I'd like to welcome you here, William, and would also ask that perhaps you tone your language down a bit. We are a privately run anti-cheat site, not evenbalance themselves, who are the creators of PB. Here's something you can try, to fix your problem. Open your game's install folder, and locate the pb folder. Right-click, and rename it to pb_old. Now, create a new folder named pb, and download the latest version of pbsetup.exe from www.evenbalance.com and put it in the new folder. Run it, and create all new pb files from scratch. Try connectiong to a server, and see if your error still exists. If it does, you may need to open a trouble ticket with evenbalance directly, as it's their software you're having the issue with. The link for trouble tickets is on their website as well.

The above command, as listed, and the feedback it gives, from the game's console function. It's really that simple. I can check it on anyone's server. as can you, on your own. Perhaps re-read this entire thread, in case you missed it, but it's there. /pb_cvarval authname Read posts 6 and 8.

He's probably using a script to change his name mid-stride, simple key-click, if bound.