Is it just me?

[Edge100x]

I tried to run ranked with pb off but control panel won't letme do it and it says I must rub pb if I want ranked.

Yes, with R6 they claim that PB works again, so it can be used with ranked.

Are others still seeing this frequency in server crashes?

Overall, R6 seems about the same as R4 and R5, in terms of crash frequency. Which makes sense, because each build only fixed one thing, and there are a lot of crash bugs in the game right now.

[Johnny]

Got the R6 patch in yesterday i think it is worse now as our server managed to stay up only an 2 hours before it crashed again this morning ,Are others still seeing this frequency in server crashes?

To confirm this and John's post. We are seeing about the same. The R6 patch fixed the PB init failure, but apparently nothing else. I am running the R6 patch with PB enabled, so far so good. The server seems to crash/clear all players etc about every 2-4 hours. When I come home and am able to check and see that no servers are on, I restart the server and players join again, albeit after some time passes.

At least they are working on the problems, even if it is one at a time. I let go of the rage I was feeling towards EA/DICE but the frustration remains the same.

While it is of little consolation, know that all you guys out there with server problems are not alone.

[Edge100x]

This morning, I turned back off the requirement for PB to be enabled on ranked servers, since I haven't heard guidance from DICE that it is actually required, and some customers have said that it might still be causing problems.

[Johnny]

Thanks for the update. Server had been empty again since last crash. After reading your message about another possible PB problem and the ranked servers, I took PB off, restarted and bam...people started joining again.

I am wondering if the issue of the server being empty is either another PB issue, people not joining PB servers due to them expecting a problem, or both?

Who the heck knows. I will keep PB disabled for the time being.

[Edge100x]

I think you're right that PB might be causing problems itself, that clients realize this and search for servers without it, and also that the client is kind of confusing on whether checking the box searches for servers with or without PB.

[Jack the Smack]

Server with punkbuster disabled for over 24 hours:

[Johnny]

Precisely the same results that I am seeing.

[Dashit]

I too just tested this.

My server has been empty the whole freakin day.

As soon as I turned off PB and rebooted the server around 11:00pm... 10-15 minutes later my Server was full 32/32....

PB will stay off for a VERY long time until this is fixed.

[Mike Rowe]

I was skeptical but with my server empty all day yesterday i turned off pb this morning and its instantly full

[IcEWoLF]

Same thing here too. Pb off and few minutes after my server became full.

[Dashit]

With the new R7. I still think im getting a few issues with PB.

LAst night I can PB all night long, it was doing pretty good. then around 4-5am. I noticed it was around 15 people and no one was joining. So I turned off PB, and about 2-3 minutes after disabling PB, about 10 people joined at the same time....very odd indeed.

So can we keep PB off, and still be a ranked server?..

Thanks
Dashit

[Edge100x]

Right now you can either run with PB on or off, and the server will still be ranked -- it's your call. DICE won't be requiring PB again until some of the other crashing problems are resolved in BC2.

[Johnny]

Here are my findings/results with R7.

After the release, I finally decided to give Punkbuster a go again. I restarted after making sure it was updated. I monitored the server from work for about 2 hours....nobody was joining. I then changed the server name to include the line [RANKED/PUNKBUSTER ON]. Within about 15 minutes or so, people began to join. That was roughly around 3pm yesterday afternoon PST. We have been full or at the lowest 75 percent load since then.

While I am not saying this will solve everyone's problems, I think the issue still remains that people think they are joining a Punkbusted server, however with the filters being problematic right now, it may not be a bad idea to show the status temporarily in the server name to make sure the players know. We have experienced no crashes or problems since this last revision.

I hope this information is useful. I will continue to update with my findings/experiences.

[IcEWoLF]

PB for me still a server killer...will keep it off until EA gets their act together.

[Chenzo]

I've been running our with PB on, server's been full once a couple people join...

I'd rather not run without it. (And I don't personally don't experience any PB wonkiness anymore.)