My game crashes with an error in pbcl.dll or a General Protection Fault. Why?
This issue can be from a program that conflicts with PB. There are a few known program that cause this:
* Get Right
* DU Super Controler
* Macro Toolsworks
* Girder 3.2
* PRTG Traffic Grapher
* CyberCorder: cybrcrdr.exe
* Paessler Router Traffic Grapher: prtg4.exe
* 3dnasys.exe
* mIRCStats
Closing those programs, or any like them that contain user or kernel level debuggers should stop the problem.
How come I never get a reply to emails I send to Even Balance?
Because of the spam and junk email problem that has proliferated over
the Internet, more and more mail systems try to automatically filter
out email based on where each email originates. Unfortunately, some of
these filtering schemes are imperfect. Our support staff makes every
effort to answer every single email (we get hundreds per day), usually
the same day an email is received. If you have sent us an email and you
do not receive a reply within 48 hours, that is almost certainly
because your incoming mail server is not reachable from our outgoing
mail server. Often this is a DNS problem that prevents our mail server
from "finding" other mail servers. However, we have also learned that
some "blacklist" services have blacklisted the whole subnet which
contains our mail server's IP Address. Not because of anything we have
done (we have never sent out spam and we do not allow our mail server
to act as an open relay). If you do not get a reply from us, we
recommend that you use our new web based support system. Follow this
link to create a new trouble ticket here.(https://ssl.evenbalance.com/troubleticket)
How do I get PunkBuster to work on an SE or GRSecurity enhanced Linux system?
WARNING: Modifying your Linux security settings may increase the
vulnerability of your system and lead to an increased likelihood of
exploitation. Before following these suggestions, please fully
understand their impact and proceed if and only if you are completely
aware of the consequences.
* If you are running SELinux, you
can either disable SE Linux all together by modifying SELinux's config
file (typically /etc/selinux/config) or removing any extended
restrictions from the pb .so files by typing "setfacl -b *.so" in your
pb sub-folder.
* If you are running a Linux system with the
GRSecurity patches, you need to tell your system to not protect the
PunkBuster shared-object files. To do this, type "chpax -m *" in your
pb sub-folder. This will allow the pb .so files to run properly.
NOTE: You may have to re-apply these changes after updating
automatically or manually as newly created files will inherit the base
permissions.
I keep getting kicked off of servers and I see
messages about INIT FAILURE or technical errors about pbcl.dll or
pbag.dll, or messages about DISTRESS or Update timeout ... what is
wrong?
These problems are almost always caused when your
PunkBuster can't keep itself updated for some reason. Sometimes they
are caused when the server you are trying to play on is running an old
version of PunkBuster. If this problem happens only on one or a few PB
Servers, then the cause is likely that those servers are outdated; in
that case, you should avoid those servers. If this happens to you on
every PB server you try to play on, then please click here (http://www.evenbalance.com/index.php?page=pbsetup.php) for help on getting your PunkBuster updated.
Why does PB spam "PB Server running Old Version" on some servers and how do I make it stop?
Some PB Server admins are not able or willing to fix their firewall so
that their PunkBuster server can keep itself always auto-updated to the
latest version. Therefore, when a new PB update comes out, their
server(s) will continue running the old version until updated manually.
When players join a PB Server that is running an old version, that old
PB will try to 'downgrade' each player's PB to match the old version
running at that server and the "PB Server running Old Version" message
is generated every few seconds during this process. We encourage
players to avoid servers like this as PB often does not work
efficiently nor catch the latest cheats when old versions are running.
If the attempts to 'downgrade' your PB fail, then you will be kicked.
If you trust the server admin, you can enter "pb_security 0" into your
console to allow your PB to be downgraded. If you know how to get in
touch with the admin, please let him/her know of the problems caused by
not having a properly functioning / auto-updating PB Server.
My computer locks up or "chugs" sometimes while I'm playing with PunkBuster Enabled, what can cause this?
PunkBuster "pushes" hardware and the Windows Operating System more than
most software and uses functions in the Windows API (low level
functions) that aren't used by most other programs. As such, there are
a few cases where using PB can actually expose flaky hardware or other
situations that don't cause problems for other software. Here are a few
things that have helped other users make these problems get better or
go away completely:
* Make sure you are using the latest
version of PunkBuster (the latest version is always on our Download
page) - also this link (http://www.evenbalance.com/index.php?page=pbsetup.php) 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".
* 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. You can get it from here.http://home.ptd.net/~don5408/toolbox/enditall/
* 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.
How do I know if I am PunkBuster Authenticated?
Old versions of PunkBuster went through "Authentication" procedures
every few minutes and announced when each player had been
Authenticated. The newer, integrated version is constantly
Authenticating players during gameplay. To check your current status,
press the tilde key (~) to bring down the Game Console. Enter
"pb_plist" into the Game console (without the quotes) and then press
the Tab key so the Game knows you are entering a command, then press
the Enter key. The current PunkBuster status of all players will be
displayed - use the PageUp / PageDown keys if necessary to scroll the
console text up and down. There are 3 modes of PunkBuster status: INIT,
UPDT, and OK. If it says OK next to a player's name, then that player
is currently Authenticated.
What is a guid?
In
general, GUID is an acronym that stands for �globally unique
identifier�. The guid inside PunkBuster is used to identify players
with something more solid than their playing name or IP address. Your
guid is loosely based on the cdkey that was used to install the game on
your computer. When Server Admins kick or ban a player from their
server(s), PunkBuster uses the player's guid to enforce the kick/ban.
Since it is based on the game installation, it is a better way to
identify individual players than by looking at their IP address or
playing name. For those concerned about privacy, PunkBuster uses a
128-bit one-way hash (a mathematical function) to generate the guid
from the cdkey so that no one can figure out or compute your cdkey by
knowing your guid.
What do the AuthRate and RecentSS columns mean in the pb_plist output?
The AuthRate column shows how many times per minute PunkBuster has
successfully Authenticated each Player. This value should normally
settle to between 2 and 3 for all players after they have a status of
"OK". The RecentSS column indicates how many screenshots the PunkBuster
Server has requested from each player during the past few minutes. This
value is available to all players so that "home team" Server Admins
don't abuse the screenshot facility, for example by only capturing
screenshots of opponents.
Why do I get a message on some servers asking me to change my name and how do I do that while playing?
PunkBuster includes a "BadName" Facility that some Server Admins use to
prevent players from including "bad" words (such as racial slurs or
profanity) in their playing names. If you wish to play on such servers
and you get a message asking you to change your name, then you will
need to change your name quickly to avoid being removed from the
Server. Depending on the game, changing your name may be as easy as
dropping the console and using the /name command or for some games you
may need to make a new account.
What does "Received Master Security Information" mean?
During gameplay, the PunkBuster Client will be contacting the Master
PunkBuster Servers about new PunkBuster system, database and data files
(see section PB Subdirectory and File Information for more information
about these file types) as well as other crucial information. This
message states that the new information has been received successfully
from the Master PunkBuster Servers. If new versions of PunkBuster are
transferred to the PunkBuster Client from the PunkBuster Server to
which the player is connected, the received files will be validated for
integrity based on this Security Information. PunkBuster Server
software also confirms the integrity of newly obtained files based on
similar Security Information. This is all part of a complicated system
designed to prevent Server Admins (and other people) from sending
viruses or other unwanted files to your computer using the PunkBuster
auto-update system.
How do I uninstall PunkBuster?
If you do not wish to use PunkBuster any longer, you may remove the
entire "pb" folder inside your game folder. By removing this folder,
the PunkBuster software will no longer be available. PunkBuster does
not save information to other locations of your hard drive, nor does it
change your system registry. *NOTICE* Starting with PunkBuster client
version 1.300, our new Service components are kept in the Windows
folder of the hard drive and they do store information in the registry.
We offer a separate program called PBSVC with an uninstall option for
our service components, it may be downloaded from here. http://www.evenbalance.com/downloads/pbsvc/pbsvc.exe
