TPU (Tanks n Planes Unlimited)

Thanks once again to DarkRyda, we have a new version of the Midway map for BG42. Read more for the details.

I just watched the TPU BF1942 server crash and restart several times on the BG42 Battle of Britain map. I restarted the server at the top of the BG42 map list and removed Battle of Britain from the BG42 rotation. I'm not sure what's going on there, so if anyone has any ideas, please let me know.

Also, if there are any other BG42 maps that are causing problems, please let me know in the comments here or by email. Thanks!

UPDATE 2011Mar14: The BG42 map 4411-towards_budapest is apparently causing the server to crash repeatedly, so I have removed it from the BG42 map rotation.

New information has surfaced regarding the apparent DDoS attacks involving TPU. As I suspected, TPU was not being targeted specifically. Rather, all known BF42 servers were being used to propagate an attack against one or more other servers. Because of the distributed nature of the attack, and the fact that BF42 servers were involved, many of the systems appearing to attack TPU were in fact just other BF42 servers being used by the attackers.

Unfortunately, given the nature of the Gamespy network protocols, we're unlikely to see an effective fix for this problem. The best we can do is to block the offending IP addresses as soon as we see them, so that's what I will continue to do.

According to the original source, the actual originating IP address of these attacks is 66.150.214.18.

Here's a link to the article:
http://www.redditgadgetguide.com/r/ba..._attacked/

UPDATE 2011Feb17: A small glitch in the placement of one machine gun has been fixed. Thanks to Mitch for reporting it.

Kharkov and Battle of the Bulge have been given the DarkRyda touch. Here's a rundown of the improvements to these two maps (now live on TPU):

Kharkov: added a few more cars in various places; gave both sides artillery at their main bases, instead of just on the hill; added machine guns and AA in strategic locations.

Battle of the Bulge: added planes (Mustang, Ilyushin, BF109 and Stuka); added Katyushas, some at the flags but mostly in empty areas); added more cars; added a heavy tank at the Allied main base; added AA guns to all sandbag rings and a few other strategic locations; added machine guns to defend bridges and strongholds; added new spawning locations for tanks and cars so players don't get stuck walking long distances.

DarkRyda has tweaked the Bocage map, adding some cars at the main bases, and to the farm houses along the roads; reorganizing equipment at the center flag (sawmill); adding a B17 at the Allied main base (low spawn rate); and adding one more fighter to the Axis base. Thanks, Ryda!

UPDATE 2011Apr26: Shaw plans to go ahead with UBB and expects to announce pricing changes in May/June 2011.
http://openmedia.ca/news/shaw-revive-...d-internet

UPDATE 2011Feb10: Shaw has responded to the anti-UBB outcry by posting a new page on their web site. They don't say anything definite about their plans, but clearly they are looking at UBB and I can only assume that if they think they can get away with it, they will lower their caps or take some similar action that will result in higher bandwidth costs for TPU. On a positive note, they are planning to host public meetings on the subject. Stay tuned.

UPDATE 2011Feb04: I've posted a new page outlining the costs of running TPU: click the 'TPU costs' link in the TPU Stuff section of the left sidebar.

UPDATE 2011Feb03: the federal government has said it will reverse the CRTC ruling if the CRTC doesn't reverse it themselves. So far this is just talk, so the fight is not yet over. (Also note that I've cleaned up some inaccuracies in my original post below.)

The TPU game server is located in Canada. It uses Shaw cable for its connection to the Internet. A ruling by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), scheduled to take effect across Canada on March 1, 2011, will initiate Usage Based Billing (UBB), whereby providers will be required to bill customers by the gigabyte when certain traffic limits are reached.

If nothing is done to stop this from happening, Shaw may choose to adjust their billing accordingly, which could raise broadband costs to the point where I have to shut down TPU. I'm currently analyzing the bandwidth used by TPU and will compare it with the limits that we're likely to see. If the result means I will have to pay more for hosting TPU, I will almost certainly shut it down. I run TPU as a hobby - I don't make any money from it, so there's a limit to how much I'm willing to spend on it.

The good news is that we are fighting this idiotic cash grab. You can read all about it and find ways to help at these web sites:
* http://www.stopthemeter.ca/
* http://stopusagebasedbilling.wordpress.com/

Some interesting perspectives on this issue:
* http://i.imgur.com/LJCKv.png
* http://www.michaelgeist.ca/content/view/5620/125/
* http://opinion.financialpost.com/2011...eal-myths/

Thank you for your support.

Judging from comments I've seen in the TPU chat log, some people are having trouble playing the maps in the DR map pack. I've put together some basic instructions for running the maps (click 'read more' below). If you are still having trouble, let me know: you can either post a comment in response to this blog post, or participate in the new forum I set up in the Discussion area just for the DR map pack. You'll need to register separately in the discussion area before you can post anything there.

Trying another game server monitor site, since Game-Monitor and TheCLQ are apparently dead: GameTracker.com.

TPU's entry on GameTracker.com:
http://www.gametracker.com/server_inf...147:14567/

UPDATE: GameTracker looks like a winner! Thanks to Mitch for the tip.

UPDATE 2011Feb06: It looks like Game-Monitor is back.

Neither of these two game server monitoring sites seems to be up at the moment. If anyone has any additional information, please let me know.

The CLQ:
http://www.theclq.com/

Game-Monitor:
http://www.game-monitor.com/

I don't like problems that I can't fix. I've bashed my head against everything on this list and come up empty. If anyone out there can help, please do. I'll be eternally grateful.

[1] Eliminate Battle of Britain annoyances: first, get rid of that damned siren at the British bases. Second, stop bots from getting into jeeps at the British bases and just sitting there. This must be done so that no client map download is required, like all the other mods on TPU. I was able to remove the siren but the modded map had to be on client computers to work.

[2] BFSM source code: I use the excellent BattleField Server Manager (BFSM) by Kevin Lockitt to manage the TPU server. Kevin stopped development of BFSM years ago and his web site is long gone. There are a few bugs I'd like to fix, and a few changes I'd like to make, but I can't do that without the source code. I've tried to contact Kevin a few times but he has not responded. If anyone out there knows how to reach him, let me know.

[3] Changes to BFSM. An option to force human players to one side would be nice, although that may be difficult without modifying the BF1942 server itself. A fix for the January 1 scheduler bug would be great. I'd like to see more robust Gamespy protocol handling.

[4] A fix for the 'even teams' problem. Occasionally, a TPU map starts with an Allied:Axis ratio of 1:1. TPU should always run with an uneven ratio, typically 2:1 or 1:2. This one is a mystery.

[5] A way to prevent the map from restarting when the second player joins. I think this one is buried deep in the BF1942 server code, so we're probably stuck with it.

[6] Figure out what's going on with the apparent Gamespy DDoS attacks and deal with them permanently. Every few days (or sometimes weeks), TPU starts seeing floods of Gamespy server queries from one or two IP addresses. Alarm bells go off here and I block the offending addresses. The IP addresses are usually different each time, although there have been some repeat offenders. Some of them are game servers, some are gaming web sites and others are just ordinary users. It doesn't appear to be a coordinated attack against TPU. My hunch is that it's just misconfigured software. On the other hand, the Gamespy protocol is often used as a tool in DDoS attacks, so perhaps TPU is just seeing collateral damage.

[7] An alternative to the increasingly-flaky Game-Monitor.com.

That's it for now.