Win7, punkbuster, and BF2142

[[BB]Mort]

Greetings all,

I'm hoping someone around here might be able to help. I've just installed all my BF games onto a Win7 machine after over 2 years of not playing.

I've found that 2142 loads and plays fine in single player mode, but I get punkbuster issues when I try to play online.

I noticed your server had a few people connected and I was hoping a few might be running Win7 and could give me some ideas on what is needed to get it working.

I've already tried uninstallin and re-installin PB, running pupdate, tried tweaking the services to be interactive, but nothing works. I still get kicked after 1 minute on the server.

Hoping someone has some suggestions:

Mort

[Mysterio3]

run the game in compatibility mode for XP:SP2+ and with admin privileges.

oh and make sure you've updated/installed PB for 2142 using the Add Game drop down in pupdate.

[blacksok]

Hey mate, try this

Originally Posted by Darkd0c

Try this after you have installed everything.

Open Services from Administrative Tools
Find the PnkBstrA service
Right click Properties
Click the Log On tab
Check the "Allow service to interact with desktop" checkbox
Restart the service
Navigate to C:\Windows\SysWOW64...
Find PnkBstrA.exe and PnkBstrB.exe
Right click each one.. one at a time
Click the Compatibility tab and check "Run as Administrator"
Open the properties for your desktop Bf2142 icon
Click the Compatibility tab and check "Run as Administrator"

That has fixed a ot of problems for the guys (and girls) in our div running Win7.
If not mate, post back let us know.

[[BB]Mort]

Thanks,

I thought I had already tried the compat mode settings and the interactive setting, but it was very late so I was probably half asleep

*** The compat mode settings seem to have done the trick. ***

Now I just need to figure out why BF2 keeps doing a CTD after I applied the 1.50 patch I'd forgotten how much I hate EA/Dice BF patches and punkbuster.

[IndianScout]

Mort

if you find you're still having problems I'd be more than happy to take some time in TS or Vent to get you back up and running..

IndianScout - Punkbuster Support..

[[BB]Mort]

Originally Posted by IndianScout

Mort
IndianScout - Punkbuster Support..

Is that "official" PB support or just "I've been assigned the role of support" support? PB has been a pain in the butt for me and quite a few of my clan members, and the couple of us trying to now re-install on Win7 are really getting annoyed.

If you are prepared to go through the issues with me that would be fantastic. So how do I arrange a time/place?

There are *a lot* of people (google search) reporting the same issues and many of the suggestions being made are just plain stupid or even dangerous, so a proper fix would be brilliant.

My current list of woes is that after getting 2142 working, I then started trying to get BF2 working. After no luck there it appears I have managed to now break 2142 as well! In both game I get kicked after about 20 seconds by punkbuster and none of the fixes, updates, reinstalls, run in compat, run as admin, press ctrl-home-insert, or anything has worked

[Ned]

Have you tried submitting a support ticket?
Even Balance Technical Support - End User License Agreement

[[BB]Mort]

Originally Posted by Ned

Have you tried submitting a support ticket?
Even Balance Technical Support - End User License Agreement

Not this time around.
I have logged tickets in the past, and after never receiving a response I have not seen the point in trying again. I had pretty much resigned myself to relying on whatever discoveries had been made in the wider community.

If things have changed and they are actually responding to issues then I'll give it another go, but considering the number of people I've found reporting the same issue and the lack of any FAQ type solution to "common" problems it doesn't lead to to think things have improved. I'm more than happy to be wrong though.

[Coddie]

Hey Mate,

Not sure if you've fixed this yet but I was having similar troubles with Vista. My problem was you need to check if Punkbuster A and B are running. Before I started an online game I would run the little installer / checker and it will re-start the service. After testing I found the PB-A service was not starting with windows. If you press "Windows Ket + R" and type services.msc, click OK and look for punkbstr a or similar (can't remember not on my gaming machine), make sure it's set to Automatically start, I think mine was stuck on manual. If the service isn't running just right click and say start then test it out. Make sure it's on automatically start before you get too excited, the problem should go away.

Like I said, that was my problem even after 400 re-installs of PB and BF2142.

[[BB]Mort]

Nah, both services are running, and both keep running while the game plays, then when I get kicked I check and they are still running.

I have a support ticket open with Even Balance that they are responding to, unfortunately they are just asking me to do the same things that *I've already told them* that I have tried. :sigh:

Hopefully it turns out to be something simple, but it's damn hard getting any useful debug info to work out just what the problem is. If I ever get it working I'll be sure to post the fix here.