server population after last client patch

maelstrom
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server population after last client patch

Post by maelstrom »

hi,

my bfbc2 server used to be full all the time, but right after the last client patch, i've literally had a server pop of about 1 or 2 people every couple of hours.

is this related to all the crashes and stuff? it's crazy how my server was full all the time but now nobody can either find it or stay on it (i don't know which one is the culprit)

anyone know what gives?
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Re: server population after last client patch

Post by PowersGaming »

I don't believe so.. R8 looks good so far. It's 8:15am and we've got 30/30 in our server.

It stays full pretty much 24/7, but we spend a lot of time in there playing and thus populating it. I think players get comfortable playing in certain servers and return to those in their "favorites".

We also run PB, which imo helps out with attendance. I think players that are serious about this game want to play in servers w/o hackers. I see a lot of clans that continue to frequent our server.

Hope this helps...
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Re: server population after last client patch

Post by maelstrom »

i turned off autobalance and people seem to be coming back in. might that be the reason why? i also read something about PB being enabled making the server not show up in the server browser or something?
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Re: server population after last client patch

Post by Johnny »

I had the same problem after the patch. Nobody in the server. I have punkbuster on and auto-balance off. Just wacky. I think it might have something to do with not showing up on the server screen or not showing pings? Gosh I have no idea, but we've been empty also.

I sure cannot wait until we find out exactly what is the cause of this.
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Re: server population after last client patch

Post by Edge100x »

DICE told me this morning that nothing about "Play now" has changed since at least version R6, so that isn't it. We also aren't seeing lower player numbers overall.

My bet would simply be that the servers are highly watered down now and therefore harder to fill, because there are simply so many suddenly out there. When DICE removed the new server ban a few days ago, that really opened the floodgates.

In early versions, server uptime played a part in how visible servers were in the browser, and that still might be the case. If you've been restarting your server occasionally for any reason, I'd recommend avoiding that (though it's often unavoidable due to game crashes).

PB off still results in a more popular server because of the browser bug; if a client checks the PB search filter, it actually looks for PB _off_ servers.
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Re: server population after last client patch

Post by maelstrom »

can you check something for me please, edge?

on my control panel, my server shows up as being online

ingame, however, i cannot find my server through the browser and in my "favorite servers" tab, my server is grayed out like it's offline.

perhaps that is why i have nobody on my server ever since the update, whereas before, it was constantly filled.
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Re: server population after last client patch

Post by Johnny »

maelstrom wrote:can you check something for me please, edge?

on my control panel, my server shows up as being online

ingame, however, i cannot find my server through the browser and in my "favorite servers" tab, my server is grayed out like it's offline.

perhaps that is why i have nobody on my server ever since the update, whereas before, it was constantly filled.

Same thing happened to me tonight around 6pm pst. I restarted server and it was there again. I had the same exact problem with it being "grayed out" in favorites.

I was thinking more and more about the server population. I guess whatever decision we make, it's best to decide on one and stick with it. Anything is better than switching things around each day. Good luck all:)
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Re: server population after last client patch

Post by maelstrom »

also, my client keeps crashing to desktop constantly now. i was lucky during beta and up until now...i had only the most minor of issues up until now.

is this a new bug? has EA/DICE mentioned anything about this?
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Re: server population after last client patch

Post by Edge100x »

ingame, however, i cannot find my server through the browser and in my "favorite servers" tab, my server is grayed out like it's offline.
There are two main possibilities for why this could be occurring for you tonight.

1. You may have your search filter set in such a way that it does not match the server -- such as by looking for a server with players in it, or searching for a server without PB (that is, with the PB option checked in the search block).

2. A current bug with the EA back-end might be affecting you: http://twitter.com/OfficialBFBC2
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Re: server population after last client patch

Post by maelstrom »

Johnny wrote:
maelstrom wrote:can you check something for me please, edge?

on my control panel, my server shows up as being online

ingame, however, i cannot find my server through the browser and in my "favorite servers" tab, my server is grayed out like it's offline.

perhaps that is why i have nobody on my server ever since the update, whereas before, it was constantly filled.

Same thing happened to me tonight around 6pm pst. I restarted server and it was there again. I had the same exact problem with it being "grayed out" in favorites.

I was thinking more and more about the server population. I guess whatever decision we make, it's best to decide on one and stick with it. Anything is better than switching things around each day. Good luck all:)
yeah johnny...i can't even play on my own server lol. NFO has provided superlative service in terms of server hardware/stability/and support, but they are as powerless as we are when the company that makes the game releases it with so many bugs. i have my server canceled for the time being. can't justify paying for a server that nobody else plays on when i myself can't even see that it's up (when the control panel is telling me that it is up and running just fine). whatever EA did with the server browser, they just completely broken the game for me when i had no problems playing before.
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Re: server population after last client patch

Post by Edge100x »

maelstrom wrote:also, my client keeps crashing to desktop constantly now. i was lucky during beta and up until now...i had only the most minor of issues up until now.

is this a new bug? has EA/DICE mentioned anything about this?
There are a number of CTD bugs in the client right now. One of these has to do with the server banner -- make sure that your banner URL is valid and meets the requirements.
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Re: server population after last client patch

Post by Edge100x »

maelstrom, I think you're mainly seeing the EA back-end bug that I linked to. They've been struggling with that one (server ghosts) since this morning and will be restarting their back-end systems at 5:30am PDT on 3/26 to address it.
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Re: server population after last client patch

Post by Edge100x »

They bumped that maintenance up to 1am PDT now.
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Re: server population after last client patch

Post by maelstrom »

Edge100x wrote:
maelstrom wrote:also, my client keeps crashing to desktop constantly now. i was lucky during beta and up until now...i had only the most minor of issues up until now.

is this a new bug? has EA/DICE mentioned anything about this?
There are a number of CTD bugs in the client right now. One of these has to do with the server banner -- make sure that your banner URL is valid and meets the requirements.
i just CTD'd looking up my stats in the lobby screen...not even actively in a game that could possibly show a banner. whatever EA/DICE did with their client patch, it certainly was not an improvement. bottom line is that nothing with my computer has changed between the client patch day and today, so i am completely confident that whatever issues i am having stems from their poorly conceptualized and ineffectively executed patch.

this frustration, of course, is not directed towards the NFO team. i loved my awesome server...when EA/DICE didn't screw me out of playing the game.
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Re: server population after last client patch

Post by Johnny »

maelstrom wrote:
Edge100x wrote:
maelstrom wrote:also, my client keeps crashing to desktop constantly now. i was lucky during beta and up until now...i had only the most minor of issues up until now.

is this a new bug? has EA/DICE mentioned anything about this?
There are a number of CTD bugs in the client right now. One of these has to do with the server banner -- make sure that your banner URL is valid and meets the requirements.
i just CTD'd looking up my stats in the lobby screen...not even actively in a game that could possibly show a banner. whatever EA/DICE did with their client patch, it certainly was not an improvement. bottom line is that nothing with my computer has changed between the client patch day and today, so i am completely confident that whatever issues i am having stems from their poorly conceptualized and ineffectively executed patch.

this frustration, of course, is not directed towards the NFO team. i loved my awesome server...when EA/DICE didn't screw me out of playing the game.



I agree wholeheartedly Maelstrom on every point as it's easier to identify when you are having the same problem. I also feel the pain of paying for a server that's empty.

Here's to seeing you back when things are stable my friend.
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