RoadWarrior

If DICE cared about PC gamers, like they supposedly did when AV/IW screwed up in the first place(and they sure sucked onto the coat-tails of it to begin with) they'd release public server files. Since they do NOT CARE, and are only concerned with the ranking issues of the game, I say who cares? Really, if this is what it comes down to, with PC-gaming, and what we do for the dev of it. See any modder who has access to mod/dev files for any given game that has them(see MW2 for supreme rip-off's they never accredited the dev comummuity for!?) and so on, and the NF guys think what? They can do this all by themselves? See the issues that cropped up in the last several versions of any BF series game, even more locked down in more recent versions. This is a plan? A plan for destruction, as far as keeping the game secure, for sure. A plan for making sure that no real dev ever happens to it, to be sure, as well. Best dev comes from the gaming community, not the dev's, themselves. Lock it down, keep it up, and see an end to it. Yes, some might play the game, because it's new, but in the end, you'll suffer your own fate, with all the hacks you allowed in. BF2 is a poster-child of that. You've learned NOTHING, DICE, when it comes to how that end of things works. Perhaps it's time DICE started re-thinking what is precious, and what is not, but that's just my take. I could care less for a ranking system anyways, it is and always was, the demise of PC-gaming. That won't change. It's an acceptable plat-form to accept the console-based "retards are us" concept into a gaming world where having skill mattered, rather than a level, or points. Anyone that refutes that should go play consoles. No one who is a REAL PC GAMER would give a crap to begin with. Ranking systems killed PC-Gaming back in it's earliest conception, and made it a lot worse as things progressed. It's now in it's final stages. Death to ranking, or death to PC-Gaming. You have no other choices. Let the ranking be for the console-nubs, they need all the help they can get. Us PC-guys can manage just fine without it. Create something for us that doesn't have the issue, and has more fun involved, with publically available server files, and a reason to contribute to the gaming community, once again. RW

GSP's can't release the server files to us for private testing. That would be in breach of their contracts with DICE/EA and as such, they would lose their right to host servers for the game, and the revenue it would create for them. That simply WILL NOT HAPPEN. The punkbuster side of things we already have full access too. It's the server files to run a local test server and actually be able to see what's going on up close and personal, for debugging purposes that are needed. MaydaX asked. No response. That was over a month ago. Very unlikely that a response will be given beyond what's already on twitter. I too, wish they would respond in a manner positive towards the anti-cheat communities out there. But it is not likely, given they're more concerned with protecting the ranking system than actually slowing the cheating community down from ruining the game before it has a chance to be a success. RW

If your server wasn't showing a "distress" error, that's likely a load of crap.... You'll notice that even with 64x operating systems, by default games install themselves into the x86 folder, INCLUDING punkbuster. I can't see it being any different on the server-side of things, tbh. Glad it's working for you now, though. That's the important part. :) RW

You may need to ask them for permissions to view and read/write to the pb folder. If they've locked that folder down with the same permissions as the rest of the game, no amount of fiddling will fix it until they change the permissions. RW

I'd bet a dollar of donations from every one of your clan mates that you do, regardless of last statement. ;) You'll do what they ask you too, and if you're willing too buck up, so will I, over and atop any donations I make as staff already. When the time comes, your clan will be like so many with MW2, and I play COD4, was looking forward to it, until it's demise. I actually spoke up, and so did my clan. We wanted to run servers, and could not, due to no server files, and very few bought the game. Some did, sure, but not the masses. No public server files for a new game is it's demise, with anti-cheat! End of the day, speak with your dollar, not just your voice. If they want your voice, it comes in one direction only. Let them run that crap on the consoles, and give us PC gamers what we want, with publicly available dedicated servers. Period. Or don't buy the game! AND DON'T rent a server for it from ANY GSP? The day you see 0 GSP's renting a server for this game, they might listen, but that's not gonna be the factual situation, is it? I can already guarantee that most of you running BF2 and 2142 servers here will crash them, and move on to the new game, just because it is new, and even with your plight, do so in blind-ness, and not care, really, in the end. No stand. No rights. No caring. Period! ;) You will call me on that, but come release day, of the game, and just past it, come post on it, or do what's right, and prove me wrong, to get what needs to be done, done. And post a link to DICE regarding it, not that it will make a lick of difference anyways. Apparently they know best, and locked down server code/files is best for them, even though it won't help at all. Good luck Dice. This is one customer who would have dragged in more, checking out. Not gonna buy the game, not gonna run a server for it, not gonna sell it to my clan, and I'm gonna do the NOT SELL IT to other clans, as well, thanks to the lack of support on the server files! My take, if DICE read it, or if someone wants to copy it, feel free, maybe someone from DICE would balls up and enter this forum, and try to understand, from an inner pov, for a change, rather than us constantly explaining it to them..... If gaming keeps up like this, and all game dev's take the approach DICE did, you'll see anti-cheat die, and there will be no reason to game anymore, the simple things like pb alone can't hold them all back! I'd rather quit gaming than bother with just what the likes of DICE want. DICE are a bunch of mental midgets, if they haven't looked into it that far. Get your head's out of your ass's! RW

Ask them with informed posts. Not just that punkbuster needs.... Personally, as a side-note. Any game that does not offer me direct and personal access to PUBLIC server files is not a game I'll run a server for, so DICE just lost out on my money. I want to be able to change my server config and so on directly, not using some third-party control center program. I figure if I'm going to pay that much a slot, and most will notice that BF-series games cost a fair bit more than servers like COD4 do, to run per slot, I want full access. I have that with COD4, and have with previous games I've run. All those games that allow public server files also end up being better protected, in the long run, with private anti-cheat sites. DICE has done this wrong, rather than right, imo. But again, not up to me, I'm sure there'll be plenty of suckers willing to move over to it, and run it, and speak with the dollar the wrong way again. Mine won't be behind it, at all.

Dice has too. If a GSP provided them, they would be in breach of contract and lose their right to host servers. We simply cannot and will not ask that of any GSP, ever.

Not if you do not have access to all the server files. The same model used on BF2 etc is being used here, so only access to the pb folder is allowed, and limited, at that. Keep in mind, it's not the pb folder where most cheat files get installed, and as such, no way to work with MD5's and so on, if a local test server can't be run. It isn't the pb folder that we need access too, we actually need the game's server files themselves to run tests. No publicly available server files means no streaming. Period.

Sadly, they're under the impression that DICE has to release the right files to pb in order for this to happen, from that poll-link. It's public access to the dedicated server files that is needed. If a test server can't be set up locally on PBBan's part (not a rented server) the necessary testing can't be done to provide support. Access to the pb files isn't an issue at all.

Take your bickering to the clan-forums pertaining to this issue. It doesn't belong here. Thread closed!

If he's got a big enough hard drive, or perhaps a second hard drive, install Vista in a seperate partition/drive and dual-boot.

In other words, you didn't build that. You are just looking at nothing, really, when it comes to what others have, we already have a post your specs thread, going. Search-able, but here it is, for you. No need for a new one. RW http://www.pbbans.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=28003

One thing BF-series game admin really REALLY REALLY need to quit doing is mis-interpreting how the MPi works, and don't click the associated GUID option without an idea how it works, and same with the option for alias's. Aliases in the game can be spoofed. Related GUID's get related to IP only. IP's can be handed out, randomly, if a player is on an ISP that has today's generic and random dynamic IP's, which most European ISP's seem to hand out, and as well, various North American ISP's, it really depends on which one you're assigned too, given the day and time. Those latter options are addition information ONLY, and NOT MEANT TO BE SOLID PROOF OF CHEATING!!!!! If you do not search a player by his given PB assigned GUID(not hash, as given in BF-series games in the BF control panels you may use, you need the actual GUID, not HASH, big difference) you will get varying results. Hash is not searchable, or will give negative results in the MPi search. To use the extra functions on first-run, will also give you false-positives, as an IP assigned to someone else on that player's given ISP may show a hacker, but it may also not be the person you're suspecting. Use GUID, with no boxes ticked off, first, and search. If clean, leave it alone, and interpret the second search, with boxes ticked, based on several things, not just IP. Names used, when first and last seen(search each individually for both) and keep working the research back to the initial player, rather than just see one small part of the information and ban. What you do with this information, up to you, as server admin. I can't/won't try to lead a horse to water and make him drink. I'm sure others may have something to add to this thread, but to look at info in one way, only, is not how it works here. RW

No issues with the latest Beta drivers. I chose not to include the part of the download that offered the cross-hairs and occlusion(optional). No heat issues, my 285GTX runs cool at under 70F under load. How you download is the same, what you install, pay attention too, and install accordingly. Don't just keep hitting the next button. RW

You're welcome. We like to work with people. End results, regardless, will depend on you in this situation. Good luck! :)

You should be able to change your login name in your profile. GUID would have to changed in your account request, or added to your re-application when you choose to do so. As an fyi, GUID relation had nothing to do with Las Vegas or San Fran, and neither are close. Your choice to enter the wrong one would be an initial issue, and can be corrected with a re-application for streaming, your forum account would remain the same, only you can alter the forum account details, unless you ask(pm) one of the red-named forum admins to make changes not in your grasp. I hope that will lead you to the path you desire, and thanks for being patient and willing to ask questions. Ask more if you need more help, we like that approach, here. :)

Makes two of us. ;)

Just another reason they'll quit supporting PC-gaming, really. Mind you, if they'd released a game with the PC-player in mind, most of those downloaders would have likely bought it. Release a pile of steaming crap like they did, those numbers are not astounding at all.

The detection belongs to EvenBalance, not us. You would also need to appeal your ban with us, and in that appeal, link us to your trouble-ticket for monitoring purposes. Also, fyi, you should really start your own thread regarding an issue such as this, so that it gets it's own attention rather than getting lost in the attention we've devoted to the initial poster, who's query may already be resolved. RW

No, the problem is the GUID you supplied is tied to a player in a southern US state. Unless you fly back and forth on a regular basis, your key is leaked. Perhaps best advice here would be to suggest that you run a root-kit scan for malware/spyware. Could be you have a key-logger trojan or similar running on your pc and unknown to you. Once a key is in the wild, they have a tendancy to end up in key-gen programs, and then get spread rapidly around the world. Anyone using a key-gen is obviously not interested or concerned with who's key they're using, nor what they do with it.

A leaked GUID means that other people out there in the world are using your cd-key. You should never share your cd-key with friends or family, never enter it on a website, and as a worst-case scenario, should be scanning your computer for malware/spyware to be sure you don't have a key-logger trojan installed on it. This doesn't say that YOU did something wrong, the problem with leaked keys is, sooner or later, the GUID ends up on the ban-list as a result of one of the users "in the wild" using that GUID to cheat in an online game.

Willing to link to you, on my personal site, as a gamer. PM me the link code, I'll put it on my homepage and forum. I'm not doing it for the free server, as Chicago is not ideal for my clan, but I may use it for a test-server of sorts for personal use if you're so-inclined.

By sponsor, do you mean the clan has to spend money? Or simply link to you? You should clarify the terms of service with such a request. Bear in mind, PBBans is not an advertisement site nor a promotional site. While we don't discourage it, we're here for anti-cheat purposes. Not to be your venue into the gaming world to quick-start your business. RW

Sadly, there are some server admins out there who, regardless of well publicized and easy to attain information regarding black pbss, still insist it's the player that has to fix the issue. Since the advent of Windows Vista, the issue could be related to virtually anything, and it's up to evenbalance, the creators of the punkbuster software, to fix the black pbss issue. That being said, server admins are allowed to run their servers the way they feel fit. If they choose to kick or to local-ban for black screen shots, there's nothing we can do about it. They're the ones paying for their servers. You can rest assured, though, that you won't end up on the master ban list here as a result of black screen shots.

It still won't out-do Vent, imo. I've read about it, not tested it. Just reading results here and a few other forums has me convinced that Ventrilo is the way to go, as usual. Ventrilo works best for voice sound, major codec's and best connection. TS never has, and likely, never will, even with dedicated servers, it's antiquated, at best. My opinion, only. RW