Giving up on PR - PB wins

[spybaz]

What kinda of exact PB problems are you having? any sample of a few would help.

OK - I'll document them going forward but here are some examples (paraphrased cuz I don't know exactly what they say):

MD5 Shader, Packet Loss, Corrupted Packet Flow and one or two more that I will post if/when they happen again.

(73% defragged)

Could it be a modem issue? Affecting the transmission to/from PB and therefore PB thinks the packets are being f*cked with (for want of a better term)?

[CodeRedFox]

MD5 Shader has to do with bf2, might need a reinstall.

Corrupted Packet Flow - Might be you need to manually update PB

[GeZe]

spybaz, I had your problem before, and not to sound pessimistic or anything, but nothing worked (until a .85 came out and it magically fixed itself).

[charliegrs]

i hear about these pb issues alot but i can never understand what they stem from. i think those who were saying that tons of apps running in the background are probably on the right track. i never ever have problems with pb, but i think its because my computer as a whole is run very bare bones. i did an entire reformat of xp about 2 weeks ago. literally the only programs i have on my pc are xp, bf2+pr, firefox, a couple instant messangers, and thats about it. i have no crazy firewall or antivirus programs. i also have nothing running in the background when i play pr. no teamspeak or xfire or anything like that. i never have pb issues.
now i realize not everyone has the luxury of basically having a computer dedicated to pr but my point is that i think its no coincedince the lack of pb issues and the fact that im not running any other programs and my computer isnt filled with garbage.
ive had my share of problems getting pr to run the way i want, ive always seemed to have mic issues when a new version comes out, but one thing ive learned about pr is that if you spend enough time trying to fix a problem you will get it fixed and in my opinion pr is very much worth the trouble.

[smee]

Maybe PB going nuts and your pc cant handle it. Suggest turn PB down

1. Load up the game and join any server
2. Spawn at any spawn point and any kit
3. Hit the ` key (unless you changed the console key)
4. Type "PB_sleep 500", then hit enter
5. Type "PB_writecfg", then hit enter

PD_sleep sets the value of how long PB waits to check again (I'm not sure exactly what it checks/scans). PB_writecfg saves the PB file you just edited.

[Rhino]

it helps if you turn off your hacks (j/k)

there is very little we can do about these punkbuster problems, they are out of our hands and its not as simple as just asking the PB ppl to fix them as they dont give a sh*t + I dunno how much they could do even if they wanted to. the PB system is all in all, pretty ****.

[Warpig-]

Indeed it is. I don't know which I hate more, hackers or PB.

I dread playing games that have pb because I know I'm going to have to **** around manually installing updates because heaven forbid they should update themselves. Then I have to make sure the exe has admin rights, because PB has a sook if they don't. Then it's really up to a higher power to see wether you get kicked or not.

SoF II was notorious for PB problems

[Ace42]

OK - I'll document them going forward but here are some examples (paraphrased cuz I don't know exactly what they say):

MD5 Shader, Packet Loss, Corrupted Packet Flow and one or two more that I will post if/when they happen again.

Packet Loss and Corrupted Packet Flow are down to connection problems. If I get a lag-spike, or my router loses connection briefly and has to RC and renegotiate, that's the error I get. If you're downloading in the background, or some chat app or something is adwaring your bandwidth, or you have a trojan - those would all cause that error. Ditto if your router's using the wrong MTU (malforming packets and causing a desync with your ISP), or if your PC is over-stretched and the CPU is bottlenecking, causing your latency to go up.

MD5 shader's a checksum graphics glitch. I had that when my 3D card was behaving strangely with some driver problems. Do a FULL video driver update (IE remove every trace of your existing drivers before installing the new / current ones!!!) and see if that helps. Doing that should also reset your BF2 video options, which will force BF2 to recache and reoptimise your shader data. This is good, as having just one corrupt texture shader in the cache (which may be totally unnoticeable, even on the off change you actually see the one texture that's causing the problem) will trigger this error. Although, a full reinstall of BF2 should fix this too.

As for the other errors, let me know and we might be able to track them down.

[spybaz]

Well, I managed to play on a server last night for 4 hrs without a PB kick. I'll update when I play some more to see if I get kicked again. I have been able to play for hours before without a kick. That is what is so annoying - the randomness of it.

So this is with a complete fresh install of BF2 (+1.41 patch) and just PR (core+maps). I now have no other mods installed of BF2 (who needs 'em!). I have not reformatted my drive.

Thanks for your time and your tips. Maybe, just maybe THIS fresh install with no other mods installed might just work!

[xxFrankRizzoxx]

i hear about these pb issues alot but i can never understand what they stem from. i think those who were saying that tons of apps running in the background are probably on the right track. i never ever have problems with pb, but i think its because my computer as a whole is run very bare bones. i did an entire reformat of xp about 2 weeks ago. literally the only programs i have on my pc are xp, bf2+pr, firefox, a couple instant messangers, and thats about it. i have no crazy firewall or antivirus programs. i also have nothing running in the background when i play pr. no teamspeak or xfire or anything like that. i never have pb issues.
now i realize not everyone has the luxury of basically having a computer dedicated to pr but my point is that i think its no coincedince the lack of pb issues and the fact that im not running any other programs and my computer isnt filled with garbage.
ive had my share of problems getting pr to run the way i want, ive always seemed to have mic issues when a new version comes out, but one thing ive learned about pr is that if you spend enough time trying to fix a problem you will get it fixed and in my opinion pr is very much worth the trouble.

Same here..Only not a new install...quite a few games installed. I just end task everything im not using before playing (processes) and only time i have PB issues is "sometimes" i get a PB kick for PB not responding or something. Other than that...very rarely any PB issues

[Hotrod525]

I have contacted PB, there is nothing we can do.

Pretty sure is cause they dont care about you. If E.A. or USArmy would had contact them due to issue in they're game (BF2-AA) you could be sure they would had fix it =)

[kingkoolkoobyak]

i hear about these pb issues alot but i can never understand what they stem from. i think those who were saying that tons of apps running in the background are probably on the right track. i never ever have problems with pb, but i think its because my computer as a whole is run very bare bones. i did an entire reformat of xp about 2 weeks ago. literally the only programs i have on my pc are xp, bf2+pr, firefox, a couple instant messangers, and thats about it. i have no crazy firewall or antivirus programs. i also have nothing running in the background when i play pr. no teamspeak or xfire or anything like that. i never have pb issues.
now i realize not everyone has the luxury of basically having a computer dedicated to pr but my point is that i think its no coincedince the lack of pb issues and the fact that im not running any other programs and my computer isnt filled with garbage.
ive had my share of problems getting pr to run the way i want, ive always seemed to have mic issues when a new version comes out, but one thing ive learned about pr is that if you spend enough time trying to fix a problem you will get it fixed and in my opinion pr is very much worth the trouble.

u dont need a whole new machine to have a clean fresh system dedicated to PR....just get urself a cheap secondhand hard disk...operating system, drivers, bf2 + pr is all u need...20 gigabyte is enuff....nothing else, maybe antivir, firefox and communication tools...but NO toys u dont need....u have all the toys to play around with on the other hdd...yes u must shut down, plug in the hdd and reboot everytime u wanna play....but it is woooorking! no bandwidth peaks, no lags, no pb suxx no more! here some experiences:
- sometimes older driver versions work better with older hardware (gpu/chipset)
- older operating systems work more stable
- keep ur system clean from useless toys, use crapcleaner to uninstall useless software/kill processes/get rid of spyware
- keep ur system free from virus/trojans/worms
- keep ur system defragmented
- search the forums for troubleshooting guides and read all of them carefully
- once your system runs well and u are not getting kicked no more DO NOT CHANGE ANYTHING...no more installations, no more tweaking, no more nothing! there is some backup tools around, they can write your whole partition to an imagefile...with that image u can restore ur system completely to the point it was running...once u got that image file put it in a safe, it is pure gold when things start bugging again
- dont lose patience my young padawan, since u might cause harm to yourself and to people around you when in rage! and rage is not the path of jedi...pb was, is and ever will be battlefields most horryfing nightmare...accept that and u will live a little longer

[fuzzhead]

logitech G15 keyboard definitely causes constant PB kicks (without a proper error message)

[bloodthirsty_viking]

Pretty sure is cause they dont care about you. If E.A. or USArmy would had contact them due to issue in they're game (BF2-AA) you could be sure they would had fix it =)

mabey they could try to have bf2 contact them=P

[Drakenberg]

I dont get why punkbuster is given up, ea and dice doesnt have a chance against the hackers, punkbuster is doing more harm than fun, it would be better if they disabled the "search for hack" and activated actvice hash key streaming between all bf2 servers, this way a player that has been caught cheating would be kicked and banned from every server he tries to enter.

Punkbuster is worse in pr than bf2v btw, dont know why it is like this. I Guess the pr code is more "dirty" than bf2v.

[Ace42]

and activated actvice hash key streaming between all bf2 servers, this way a player that has been caught cheating would be kicked and banned from every server he tries to enter.

Which is great when one over-zealous tit can't understand that a proficient sniper in a good location can plausibly headshot the crud out of his side, and incorrectly bans a skilled play for "teh hakz!", which then gets him blacklisted from all the servers.

[Gaz]

Which is great when one over-zealous tit can't understand that a proficient sniper in a good location can plausibly headshot the crud out of his side, and incorrectly bans a skilled play for "teh hakz!", which then gets him blacklisted from all the servers.

orly?

You do know that server admins cannot globally ban a player's ID from all servers? They can ban you from their own for whatever reason. Only EvenBalance via PunkBuster, (and the additional PunksBusted.com auto-mbl) system ban you globally (the latter has the facility for trusted and knowledgable server admins to vote on PB screenshots).

PR has the facility where server admins are provided with a private area to ensure that the 'cluster' of PR servers are aware of the current server issues/updates/cheaters. If someone has placed a thread there regarding you (I don't know if there is) they tend to post proof of the request to ban your GUID from all servers. It's still each server admin's decision to add your ID to their ban list. If there's sufficient grounds, then don't come here to complain.

If you're globally banned by punkbuster, your GUID has been used in conjunction with a 3rd party application to gain an unfair advantage. Maybe it was you, your friend, your brother, or someone using a keygen. Take it up with Evenbalance please, because you'll end up being ridiculed here if you're on the mbl.

[Ace42]

orly?

You do know that server admins cannot globally ban a player's ID from all servers?

Yes, I am well aware of that, which I why I was pointing out that ONE admin banning you automatically resulting in a global ban is a bad idea...

[Swe_Olsson]

I've got a Logitech G15 II, it's very rare that i get PB kicked

[spybaz]

Nooooooooooo!
Approx 20hrs of trouble free gaming and just now:


By spybaz