Apparently there is a new crash exploit targeting Battlefield 1942 servers. So far I have not seen any evidence that it has been used against TPU, but it's probably only a matter of time. Please let me know if you witness any unusual crashes or anyone claiming to to able to crash the server. There is an unofficial patch that I will apply if TPU gets hit.

Details are here: http://www.bfmods.com/viewtopic.php?t=1204

Sisko has been hard at work putting together showcase videos for TPU. I've posted his first one on the 'Files and links' page under the 'Videos and other media' heading. This video shows off some of the fun changes DarkRyda has been making to his Race Track map. Check it out!

Here's a quick link:
http://jrc-core.com/files/Sisko_TPU_video_01.flv

The Internet connection here has been intermittent in the past couple of days. It's up right now, but there's no way to know how long that will last. I'm posting this while I can, just to let you all know that if you're having trouble connecting to TPU or the TPU BF2 server, that's why.

We got a bunch of snow on Thursday and everything outside is alternately frozen and wet, so the problem is almost certainly related. Just now I went outside and hammered on the main cable junction box on the outside of the house, and that brought the connection back. For those of you scoring at home, that's called "percussive maintenance".

Anyway, I hope it lasts. The cable company can't be here until Monday afternoon.

The CRTC has reversed their earlier decision and rejected UBB. This is a win for consumers, but the full range of implications won't be known for some time. Meanwhile, Shaw Cable has been subtly changing their billing system, although so far those changes have been reasonable. On the other hand, here in Canada we pay more for Internet access that most other countries, so we still have room for improvement. You can read all the details on Michael Geist's blog.

As any of you who have played on the BF2 server are probably aware, any attempt to enter an A10 Warthog was causing immediate server crashes.

It turns out this is a known problem with the Hard Justice mod (version 1.3) that was introduced with the Battlefield 2 version 1.5 update. That update placed a new restriction on the maximum number of rounds for a weapon at 1000. The HJ mod had the A10 set up by default to have 1350 rounds.

I found a fix and applied it to the server, so the A10 crashing problem should be resolved.

Please let me know (details, please!) if you run into any more problems like this. Now that I know what to look for, I might be able to fix them. So far, I am aware of a possible problem with the third position in one of the desert vehicles (but I may have that wrong), and a possible problem with the A203 grenade launcher.

I guess I should have expected this. I noticed that the new BF2 server I'm running seems to crash a lot. In fact, it crashes in such a way as to prevent automatic restart, which is a separate problem. Anyway, in researching this, I discovered that - just as with BF42 - there are well-known ways to remotely crash BF2 servers.

It's difficult to know for sure that the BF2 server is being crashed intentionally, unless someone takes credit for it. The BF2 server software has always been a bit crash-prone. But these crashes feel different, and they're happening way too often. Combine that with the fact that this is the first time I've run a public, Internet BF2 server; that the BF42 server running at the same IP address has most definitely been attacked; that there are known ways to crash BF2 servers remotely; and that the Internet is full of [expletives deleted] jerks, and I'm thinking it's likely.

If anyone has any ideas about dealing with this please let me know. The people doing the crashing apparently use proxies, so simply blocking their IP address won't help. As I see it, there are only five ways to resolve this:

1. EA/DICE fixes the bug that allows for remote server crashing. Unlikely, given the age of the game. Still, maybe if we make enough noise?

2. Someone else comes up with a patch to prevent these hacks from working. This may well happen; the TPU BF42 server is running with just such a patch.

3. I may be able to use packet inspection to look for and block packets containing the known hack sequences. I have the technology to do this, but it would be a huge pain to set up.

4. Change the BF2 server to require a password to join it. I'm seriously considering this. The password would be provided to people I know through TPU and anyone those people feel they can trust.

5. Finally, and least likely to occur, I somehow find out who's doing this and beat them to death with their own keyboard. Actually, this one is my favourite.

Now that Google is allowing non-person entities to have Google+ pages, I've created one for TPU. There's not much there right now, but I'll be adding to it soon. There's a link to it in the right side column of this web site.

https://plus.google.com/u/0/109146339717465223830

Update 2019Feb07: Google+ is shutting down, so the TPU Google+ page will disappear soon.

Those of you with Battlefield 2 may be interested to know that I'm now running a BF2 server. Like the TPU BF1942 server, it's co-op only, with a skewed ratio. But the sides don't swap, so humans should always play on the smaller (blue) team.

The name of the server is [TPU]BF_1.5_HJ_1.3_FH2_Coop. The IP address is the same as the TPU BF1942 server: 174.6.225.213. The Gamespy 'join' port is the standard 16567 and the Gamespy 'status' port is also the standard 29900.

The server currently runs the Hard Justice (version 1.3) mod all the time, but it can run standard BF2 as well as Forgotten Hope 2, although FH2 is somewhat crash-prone.

If any of you are interested, I'd appreciate some feedback. Are you able to connect to the BF2 server? Does it appear in your in-game server lists? Does it appear in server monitor software and on server monitor web sites that you use? Has your ability to connect to the TPU BF1942 server been affected?

Thanks in advance for any and all help!

UPDATE #1: I've removed from the rotation all the maps that are not part of the official Hard Justice 1.3 or its three map packs. I will gradually add back some of the removed maps later, and I'll post download links for them on jdrgaming.com.

UPDATE #2: The server is up to date with the latest Hard Justice version (1.3 + hotfix #1) and its three map packs. Links to the required downloads are on the Files and Links page. Let me know if you have any trouble connecting with any of the maps.

UPDATE #3: I increased the ticket ratio from 200% to 300% to extend the rounds a bit as they were too short. I also adjusted the team ratio from 2:1 to 3:2 as it was just about impossible to win as US/EU at 2:1 - at least without lots of help.

UPDATE #4: I increased the number of players from 24 to 32 since the server seems to be able to handle it easily. I also evened out the teams; it was just about impossible to win otherwise.

Next Wildcard Wednesday (October 19) TPU will be running a new mod: Battlefield 1918. This World War I mod has been on the TPU request list for a while. None of the maps have been tweaked for TPU, so you can't count on getting a ride when you need one, but then WWI was less about tanks and planes than it was about trenches and machine guns, right?

You'll find download links for the Battlefield 1918 client files (there are three of them) on the Files and links page.

Over the top, boys!

UPDATE: Vitry Classic and Midway maps removed from the cycle due to reported problems.

The DarkRyda map pack's version of The Race Track is set up to run for a long time, but it turns out to be too long for TPU. We've adjusted the ticket count and countdown rate so that it eventually ends. Some of you may also have noticed that The Race Track is now available for voting on regular BF42 and BG42 days on TPU.

The ticket countdown rate for both Wake and Tobruk have also been tweaked so that they are somewhat less epic. Both maps were running very long, which is both awesome and somewhat tiring. The current rates on those maps are a compromise.

As always, let me know if you see any issues with the changed maps.