I tested all the available FH2 maps on the new BF2 server and found a few that still cause server crashes, so I removed them from the rotation. Some of these are maps that worked before the move to the Linux server, and others worked before patch B. I'll be working with the FH2 developers to try to resolve these issues.

Maps removed:

• Battle of Keren: server crashes about five minutes in, consistently.
• Operation Hyacinth: server crashes immediately after first spawn.
• Mareth Line: server crashes about five minutes in.
• Port En Bessin: client crashes on join; server sometimes crashes during map load.
• Eppeldorf: server crashes on join if playing Allied side.
• Meuse River: server crashes about 20 minutes in.

If you notice any more problems, let me know.

A couple of notes on BG42: first, the change I made to prevent the map from restarting when the second player joins wasn't working for BG42. I finally realized that the file I modified to fix the regular BF42 maps is different for BG42, so I changed that one as well and it should be fine now.

Second, I noticed that the BG42 map 4302-faid_pass was crashing the server repeatedly, so I removed it from the rotation.

The Battlefield 2 server is now running on the new Linux server PC.

The server name has been changed, to distinguish it from the Battlefield 1942 server (TPU). The BF2 server was previously named "[TPU]BF2_AIX2_FH2_COOP". The new name is "[JDR] FH 2.45 COOP Patch B". The server's IP address has not changed.

Anyone who was previously an admin on the BF2 server should still have the same admin permissions on the new server.

The BF2 server is still running Forgotten Hope 2 (version 2.45), but it has been patched with a special, semi-official set of fixes for co-op play, provided by the co-op gamers on the FH2 forums. This patch is usually referred to as the "Singleplayer Patch B for Forgotten Hope 2.45". Here's a link to the announcement on the FH2 forum.

To join the BF2 server, you need to install patch B on your BF2 client. The patch B installer is in the Files and links section of this web site. WARNING: once you install this patch, you won't be able to join any servers running FH 2.45 unless they have also been patched. Since only co-op servers are likely to be running patch B, that means you likely won't be able to join any non-coop servers. If that's a problem for you, just copy your /mods/fh2 folder to a safe location before you install patch B. Then, if you want to join a non-coop FH2 server, rename the patched /mods/fh2 folder to something else (e.g. fh2b), and copy your backed up fh2 folder back to /mods. You can flip back and forth this way.

When you run the patch B installer, you need to install on top of your existing FH2 mod folder (e.g. C:\Battlefield 2\mods\fh2). This will overwrite some existing files and add some new ones. This is not a full installer; if you install it to an empty or nonexistent folder, FH2 will not work.

In the ongoing comedy that is Ubisoft's utterly pointless attempt to protect its games from 'piracy' (free promotion), the latest news is that Ubisoft's uPlay DRM has been hacked. And apparently it was trivially simple. As a bonus that is sure to add to Ubisoft's enemy list, the hack uses uPlay to provide DRM-free access not only to Ubisoft games, but also to games from other companies. Hilarious.

In case you missed it, Microsoft Studios creative director Adam Orth recently shoved his own head way up his ass, very publicly. Responding to negative comments on the possibility of the next XBox console having an always-connected-to-the-Internet requirement, he posted a series of Tweets that clearly showed his utter lack of comprehension and callousness toward gamers. Backlash ensued, on Twitter and elsewhere.

Orth's response? He made his Twitter feed private. Microsoft's response? A vague apology and a 'no further comment'. Long-term fallout? How about this huge catalog of Adam Orth 'always connected' meme images?

Update: Aaaaaaaaand, he's gone. Microsoft fired him, or he quit in advance of a possible firing.

---

Thanks to some help from the awesome folks at bfmods.com, I was able to modify the main BF1942 objects archive, adding 'game.setMinNrOfPlayers 0' to the 'objects\Soldiers\common\CommonSoldierData.inc' file. This stops the unwanted restart behaviour in all maps, since the modified file is loaded on every map load.

Please check it out and let me know if it's working as expected.

I posted about EA's Origin service when they first announced it. At the time, the big concern with the service was that running it would effectively allow EA to access your computer and do whatever they want with whatever they find there.

Now comes a report that running Origin exposes your PC to being hacked remotely. Thankfully, it's easy to avoid this problem: don't buy EA games. Or, if you simply must run some EA game, don't ever leave Origin running.

I discovered a typo in the orientation parameters for one of the willyspawners in the map's ObjectSpawns file. Once I fixed it, the map stopped messing up the server. So Gazala is back in the rotation.

I've made a couple of changes to the TPU schedule. These changes are not necessarily permanent. It all depends on the kind of feedback I get. Desert Combat Tuesdays have been suspended, and wildcard Wednesdays will run regular BF1942. That means the TPU-modded BF1942 maps will run from Tuesday through Saturday, and TPU-modded BG42 maps will run on Sundays and Mondays. Go ahead and let me know how you feel about these changes in the comments here, or in the related topic in the forum: http://jdrgaming.com/geeklog/forum/vi...topic=432.

One of the more annoying things about playing with bots in Battlefield 1942 is that they tend to hog vehicles. Sometimes, if you get lucky, pressing 'E' to enter a bot-occupied vehicle is enough to get them to exit. But usually that doesn't work.

This problem was resolved in Battlefield 2: in that game, pressing 'E' to enter an occupied vehicle always forces the bot to exit. But back to Battlefield 1942: you can sometimes get a bot to leave a vehicle by pressing F6, F7 (ALARMS, BAIL OUT). But again, that usually doesn't work, especially if the bot is engaging the enemy.

Recently, I discovered (at long last) a combination of commands that actually works: press F6 (ALARMS), then F3 (HOLD YOUR FIRE), then F6 (ALARMS), then F7 (BAIL OUT). The first command pair tells the bot to stop engaging the enemy, and the second tells the bot to get out of the vehicle. This seems to work reliably for vehicles, but unfortunately it doesn't seem to work for emplacements (AA, artillery, defguns, MGs). Still, this makes playing alongside bots a lot less frustrating!