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!

The JDRGaming Minecraft server, which had been down since December 2012, is back up. IP address is the same as the other game servers here: 24.86.121.160.

Anyone who previously played on the server should find their old constructions intact.

Update 2013Mar16: The TPU schedule is working again. Stats are running, and should be up to date. The modded Road To Rome and Secret Weapons maps are now running instead of the stock maps. There's a problem with the modded bf1942 Gazala map: it causes a CPU to max out while it's running, so I've removed it from the rotation until I can figure out what's going on. The server is currently restarting the running map when the second player joins, but I'm working with http://bfmods.com to get a patch for this.

When EA announced that their new version of SimCity would require an always-on Internet connection, the response from the Internet was practically audible. Why should a single-player game be required to connect to the Internet? You may have guessed the answer: greed.

Yes, game producers have been salivating at the big profits and piracy-proof models of successful online games like World of Warcraft, and are now busily adding phony and/or worthless online-only features to even single player games. In response to the uproar, EA claimed that the game couldn't be played without a connection to their servers, since a lot of the game processing would be done there. They also played up the 'social' aspect of the game - essentially tacked-on multi-player features that don't really add much to the game. They claimed it would be impossible to make the game work without a connection to their servers.

And then the game launched. EA's servers promptly fell over, and haven't gotten back up since. The uproar increased markedly. Many players are only able to play about 10% of the time. When they can play, gameplay is often extremely sluggish. Refunds are being demanded. Reviews are scathing; there were so many terrible reviews for the download-only version on Amazon, that the retailer pulled the game from its web store.

Here's a random selection of posts on this debacle from around the web:

• Techdirt: Launch Day Punishment: SimCity's Online-Only DRM Locking Purchasers Out Of Servers, Purchases
• Geek.com: Following 800 poor reviews, Amazon stops selling download copies of SimCity
• Techdirt: SimCity: The Backlash
• IGN: SimCity Burning: A Warning to Microsoft, Sony, and All Publishers on The Dangers of Always-Online DRM
• Business Insider: NFL Punter Chris Kluwe: The New SimCity Has One Huge Problem That Makes It Utterly Useless
• Rock, Paper, Shotgun: Maxis Insider Tells RPS: SimCity Servers Not Necessary
• Consumerist: Using The EECB Gets Me A SimCity Refund, But What About Everyone Else?

Update #1: SimCity modder proves that the game can run indefinitely without being connected to EA Servers.

Update #2: EA Admits SimCity Could Have Run Offline. So now EA is back-pedaling like crazy, although they will never, ever admit that the real reason for the single-player Internet connection requirement was DRM (copy protection). Meanwhile, hobby hackers are engaged in a worldwide race to produce a fully-functional, single-player, no-Internet-required, cracked version of the game. These people love a challenge. Still think it was a good idea, EA?

On March 5, 2013, I received email from the company that does the web hosting for this site, A Small Orange, announcing that they have discontinued support for the donation system that previously allowed some of you to make donations toward jdrgaming.com's hosting costs.

ASO suggested setting up a PayPal donation button instead, but I've heard some terrible nightmare stories about people using PayPal's donation system, so I doubt I'll be doing that any time soon.

Anyone wishing to donate money to help offset the costs associated with running TPU and this web site will now have to do so by cheque. Send email to me at jrivett@jdrgaming.com and I'll provide the details (mailing address, etc.)

Windows is throwing BSODs all over the place on Hubie, the PC that hosts TPU. I'm looking into it. Until I can fix the problem or migrate TPU to another PC, TPU is down.

Update #1: Looks like it's bad RAM. If I can get replacement RAM for not too much money, I'll do that. Otherwise, I'll be buying new server hardware. Meanwhile, why not try the TPU BF2 server?

Update #2: Hubie (the computer that TPU ran on since day one) is deceased. The motherboard has a row of bad capacitors. Maybe they've been flaky for a while, which might explain some of the BF1942 server crashes. Anyway, rest in peace, little buddy. I'm ordering new server hardware.

Update #3: Server hardware has arrived. I hope to have the server built and TPU back up and running some time tomorrow (March 6th).

EA is offering most of the Battlefield games at greatly reduced prices on the Origin site until February 27, 2013. That includes the Battlefield 2 Complete Collection for $5. Anyone who doesn't already have it and wants to play on the TPU BF2 server should grab it fast.

I was tempted to buy Battlefield 3 for $10, but then I remembered that Battlefield 3 sucks. Also, you can't run the game without using EA's crappy Origin service.