Welcome to jdrgaming.com Friday, March 29 2024 @ 02:04 AM PDT

TPU (Tanks n Planes Unlimited)

TPU stats reset

The stats for TPU have been reset for the new year. As usual, the previous year's stats have been archived and can still be accessed by clicking the '2014' link in the left sidebar.

TPU stats formula changed

Several days ago I once again tweaked the formula used to calculate points in the TPU stats.

Note that you can ignore the points column completely and simply sort the stats by Score, Kills, Score per Round (S/R), Kill/Death Ratio (K/D), gold/silver/bronze stars - just click the associated heading.

The new formula places less emphasis on number of attacks and now includes team kills. Here's the formula:

(((attacks*1)-tks+(heals/10)+(otherrepairs/100))/rounds_played)+kdrate

Gamespy master finally offline

I just received an alert that the computer at 69.10.30.248 (where the Gamespy master server resided until today) has stopped responding. That probably means that the Gamespy master server is gone for good. Originally slated to go offline on June 30, the server has stayed up and working until today, leading some to speculate that it would be rescued from oblivion somehow. Those speculations seem to have been incorrect.

TPU has been using a replacement master server since June 14.

TPU stats outage

The TPU stats pages were out of action for a few days this week. First, the WAN IP change caused the update process to fail. I asked A Small Orange support to whitelist the new IP, which fixed that problem. Second, A Small Orange upgraded the shared host's version of PHP, and this messed up selectbf, the BF42 stats software. Fixing that problem involved upgrading a PHP library. The stats pages should now be working. Unfortunately, the admin functions are still not working, but that's not a problem for most users.

Game servers down for maintenance

All JDRGaming game servers will be down this morning for up to an hour, starting immediately (6:45am PST).

Things will hopefully be back up and running normally by 8am PST.

UPDATE 2014Jun22 8:29am PST: having problems with the router. Still hoping to have things back up within the next few hours.

UPDATE 2014Jun22 2:15pm PST: Had to replace the router. Things should be basically working again, but the server IP address changed, from 24.86.121.160 to 96.49.173.236.

New Twitter account for JDRGaming status updates

I've created a Twitter account for status updates for all JDRGaming systems. My plan is to use this account to provide basic information regarding status changes to JDRGaming game servers and related services. Tweets will include planned and unplanned outages, version updates, and so on.

TPU server moved to new master browser

This morning I modified the TPU server, so that it uses the new master browser at master.bf1942.sk (94.23.196.155). The new master browser is a replacement for the Gamespy master browser master.gamespy.com (69.10.30.248).

When the Gamespy master server stops functioning on June 30, 2014, TPU will still be listed on the new master server, so you should have no trouble seeing TPU in the in-game server browser, as long as you have also updated your client computer's HOSTS file.

(Click 'read more' below for instructions.)

EA Games must enjoy being despised

In a move that should surprise nobody but infuriate many, EA Games has announced that they will shut down server browser support for several games in the coming months, including Battlefield 1942 and Battlefield 2.

You may already have noticed that Gamespy - the company that provides the service underlying server support for these games - has been gradually winding down in recent months. Apparently Gamespy services will cease to exist in the near future. EA could have taken over these servers or provided a workaround, but they chose not to do that.

What does this mean for BF1942 players? Mainly that you will no longer be able to find servers using the in-game browser server. If you know the IP address of a server, you will still be able to connect to it. Other web-based server browsers like GameTracker may continue to operate normally, but that's not a certainty at this point.

BF1942 fans are working on possible solutions, including setting up their own master server browser, which would effectively replace the original servers. But this requires changes to the BF1942 client software, which may create other problems.

BF2 players face a similar situation, with one additional obstacle: it's currently not possible to play BF2 online without a Gamespy account. When Gamespy shuts down, will it even be possible to play online, even if you know the IP address of a server?

Battlefield 2 mod developers for Forgotten Hope 2 and Project Reality are apparently working on their own master server.

I'll post more information here as I find it. In the meantime, let's think positive thoughts. We gamers are resourceful and stubborn, so I'm sure we'll find a way to keep things rolling.

Mysterious tank rain in Tobruk

No, it's not your imagination. Last night I finally witnessed a bizarre phenomenon previously reported by a couple of players: tanks falling from the sky on the bf1942/Tobruk map.

Next time you're playing bf1942/Tobruk on TPU, watch the skies. Eventually, you may see one or more tanks appear way up in the sky and fall to the ground. The falling tanks often contain bots. Usually these tanks are destroyed when they hit the ground, but sometimes they survive, and rejoin the fight.

So far I've been unable to determine a specific set of circumstances in which this occurs.

My assumption at this point is that there's a bug in the map source for Tobruk, possibly introduced along with the vehicle spawning changes made for TPU. Either that, or there are simply too many units on the map now.

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