PunkBuster Issues

[Specialist]

This thread contains PB info that might be outdated now, check out this tread if you are installing BF fresh on your computer - viewtopic.php?f=11&t=845



Some people have been getting kicked for issues with PB, if you are getting a message that your PB was not able to update or any other message.. then you will probably need to visit PunkBuster's website.



Below I have listed the page for Battlefield with PB.

http://www.punkbuster.com/index.php?pag ... bf1942.php -- This site will let you know when an update patch to PB comes out for Battlefield.


If there is a patch and you don't have it, you can download the automatic updater at this site: http://www.evenbalance.com/index.php?page=pbsetup.php
Just follow the instructions on the website and you will be able to update you PB to the correct version.

[hoppin bob]

I had the issue some time back, PB kicking me. Manually updated PB and the problem went away for awhile. Now I keep getting kicked for PB-B handshaking failed. Is this something that can be fixed by doing the manual update again? Its a minor irritation. it doesnt always kick and when it does I jump right back in with no problem. Any thoughts?

[Specialist]

I found this on the PunkBusted website,

Users that are getting kicked for "Service Communication Failure" (including the handshake failure type) have some other software that is blocking the PunkBuster services.

Some users have previously disabled the PnkBstrA.exe and PnkBsrtB.exe services in the past, and these services are now mandatory.

If the services are stopped/disabled, then PB will kick from this point forward.

Sometimes it is an anti-virus program (like an old version of McAfee Security Center), sometimes it is a personal firewall that are blocking the services. Any user who is getting kicked for this will have to stop whatever is blocking PB or configure the program to allow the two services.

The below link is a tool provided by PunkBuster that will help users who need to reinstall the services:

http://www.evenbalance.com/downloads/pbsvc/pbsvc.exe

If the above PBSVC program does not pass all the tests, please ensure that any installed firewalls or other programs are not blocking the PnkBstrA/B services.

If that still does not do the trick, please open a ticket with PunkBuster here:
http://www.evenbalance.com/index.php?page=support.php and be sure to paste the log from the PBSVC program within the ticket, and EvenBalance support should be able to help you in identifying what programs are blocking the services.

[MOJORyder]

I finally cured my whoas..which many here will attest to some sympathy (after the many laughs I surely gave you all lol) to my many boots from PB..

I had to disable the firewall in OneCare in order to stop PB from booting me.

[Swanny-CG]

If you have a firewall that blocks both incoming and outgoing traffic you'll either need to disable the firewall or find a place in the configuration to add an exception for the PB executables.

[nomuck]

i don't know if this helps ....
I installed pb from my disc on setup and updated it and was getting booted
once i installed the pbsetup.exe in my EA GAMES\Battlefield 1942\
that i downloaded from there site.... I've had no prob w/pb booting....
hope it helps somone cause it helped me stay in the game :)

[MOJORyder]

Horrendous night with PB last night.. researching fixes, PB suggest one of the problems may be the server not being updated manually and PB failing me because it won't downgrade my updated PB files.

To correct this, PB suggest typing "pb_security 0" *UPDATE: This didn't work for me* into console. PB says this will allow my PB to be downgraded by the 117 server..if infact, this is the issue.

Will try this tonight.

[MOJORyder]

**While the below may work for some or most(??), it only worked for me 75% of the time. What did seemingly completely work was disabling Windows Firewall. I still get kicked like, 1 in 15 maps, but it is FAR better than being kicked 15 times per map. So disable Windows Firewall if all else fails.**

more "new to me" PB tips:

Make sure you are using the latest version of PunkBuster (the latest version is always on our Download page) - also this link may help manually update your PB to the latest version when necessary

From the game's main screen, press the tilde key (the ~ key) to bring down the console and enter the following line (without the quotes): "/pb_system 1". **This seems to have worked. needs more proof time, but it looks good so far**

Never close other programs from your Windows Task Manager before playing the game, either leave them running or close them through the proper interface - killing a process doesn't always work completely even if it stops showing in the Task Manager and renegade threads seem to conflict with PB more than other programs that may be running in memory. There is a free utility that some players use called EndItAll to close all extra programs before they play to avoid software conflicts, crashes and lockups.

Check the add/remove programs list in your Control Panel and uninstall any programs that you don't use or that you don't know what they are.

One program that seems to conflict with PB more than others is Norton Anti-Virus. If you have it installed, try uninstalling it to see if the lockups go away. Some players have reported that when this is the culprit, they can reinstall Norton Anti-Virus and the lockups don't come back.

Other background programs that seem to conflict with PB for some users are Sound Blaster Live software and helper programs that come with video cards (especially ATI keyboard shortcut programs).

Some players discovered that they had a computer virus and that the lockups vanished after it was fully removed.

Experiment with the pb_sleep setting ... try setting it to 20, 250, or 500 to see if that affects your game performance. A few players have reported that all the problems go away when they "tweak" this setting.

In extreme cases, a few users have reported that replacing their RAM (memory) or video/sound cards fixed the problem.

[Specialist]

On Feb 3, 2010, EA quietly discontinued PunkBuster support for BF1942. We recently looked for BF1942 support on Evenbalance and could not find the pages. PBsetup.exe, on a fresh install, does not list BF1942. We sent a ticket to Evenbalance and were told that EA has discontinued support for BF1942. A ticket has been sent to EA to confirm, and to see if there is anything we can do to continue support for the game. No response has been received, but it was only sent earlier today.

What does this mean to the average player? If you're playing and you're not having issues with PB, it doesn't mean anything...yet. If you're a new player, or an older player who has had to reinstall on a freshly formatted hard drive, you will have much difficulty trying to get past the ubiquitous PunkBuster failure gray text.

If you are currently playing without any PB issues, stop here. You do not need to update anything, just keep playing...for now.

If you are a current player and have recently reinstalled the game and still have PBsetup.exe installed, check to see if BF1942 is on the list. If it is, you are fine and should be able to continue using PBsetup.exe for BF1942 updates...for now.

If you are a new player, or are reinstalling on a freshly formatted hard drive, you will need to follow the steps below to reinstall a working PB for BF1942.


Download the following files for 1942; do not start your game until all steps have been completed:
[url]http://www.moongamer...les/pbsetup.zip[/url]
- install this app; it will self-update, and you will not see 1942 in the game list at this time. Once it has updated, choose Add Game, and choose BFV (Vietnam) from the drop down list. Then click browse and point to your BF1942 folder, then run the Update.

Once this step has been completed, continue with the following:
- Download this and put it into the pb folder under your Battlefield 1942 game folder.
[url]http://www.moongamer...files/pbweb.exe[/url]

Place this into your BF1942 pb folder which is most likely:
C:\Program Files\EA GAMES\Battlefield 1942\pb

Your BF1942 game folder may be different if it was installed in a custom location.

and execute pbweb.exe from that folder.

Allow it to complete the update, be patient. When it is completed you should now be able to get into game and play without being kicked for PB errors.

If you do have any PB errors, please post in our forum for assistance.

Thanks go out to Lin and our friends at http://www.MoonGamers.com for this info.

[nahrah]

I've had this game since it came out and and missed playing it, been quite sometime and just found out ea discontinues pb support. I just did a fresh install and followed the direction above to update pb and its giving me an "error from web server:302 found. Any advice?

[Nightstalker]

Hey Spec .. what does this mean for the future of the game .. Will you see the availability of servers going down or will it remain the same with an abundance of cheaters popping up. I for one considere this one of the best multiplayer games ever to come out. I have not played BF2 so I cannot comment on it but I love this game. Only other game that i played alot was the DoD mod for halflife.

[Specialist]

I've had this game since it came out and and missed playing it, been quite sometime and just found out ea discontinues pb support. I just did a fresh install and followed the direction above to update pb and its giving me an "error from web server:302 found. Any advice?

nahrah, I suggest posting the exact error message that you are getting on here - http://www.moongamers.com/forum/index.p ... ntry594906.

Hey Spec .. what does this mean for the future of the game .. Will you see the availability of servers going down or will it remain the same with an abundance of cheaters popping up. I for one considere this one of the best multiplayer games ever to come out. I have not played BF2 so I cannot comment on it but I love this game. Only other game that i played alot was the DoD mod for halflife.

It's hard to say.... from what I have heard, the servers that are currently running PB will still be actively streaming and checking for cheats/hacks etc. How long will that last? Your guess is as good a mine.

When/if PB goes down, we will have to just do more of manually checking of players with screen shots and other stuff. As you said, there might be "an abundance of cheaters popping up", but our admins know what to look for and how to run checks on players so I don't really see this as a big issue.

Just remember, these are just my 2 cents

[Swanny-CG]

It seems to me that the scanning and checking will still be going on, it will just be with the last/latest definition files ONLY.

[Lin]

The problem right now is that they have made it very difficult for new players or reinstalls to be able to get PB working at all.

Evenbalance has moved the pbweb files and that fix no longer works. We updated the post with information from some of our players with something that so far, is working for them. Please revisit:
http://www.moongamers.com/forum/index.p ... t&p=594906
for updated downloads and information. While we have not been able to test this for ourselves, our players have indicated this is working for them. Good luck and please let us know if this is working for you!

[Specialist]

Since this thread contains a lot of outdated PB info, I created a new thread which should make it easier for new members to find a fix for their PB issues.