Soldier of Fortune II Authentication Server Disabled

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Soldier of Fortune II Authentication Server Disabled

#21 goody

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Posted Jan 03, 2007 - 04:16 AM

well as i said before the long quote up there is from a email discussion between activion and me. this is the latest reply form them.

------------------
Discussion Thread
---------------------------------------------------------------
Response (Kirk McNesby) - 01/02/2007 09:34 AM
Hi,

Ravensoft developed the game Activision Publishing published the game so the end
user license agreement is ours. If you would like to talk to someone with
Activision regarding it you would need to contact our legal department (call our
main number 310-255-2000, press 0 to talk to the receptionist and ask to be
transferred to someone in legal).

You should be aware, however, that everything punkbuster related would likely
fall under the evenbalance's (developer of punkbuster) EULA.

Customer - 12/29/2006 03:20 PM
thank you.
should i take this up with ravensoft or is there a governing body that deals
with breaches of end user license agrements.

--------
read from the bottom.
basicly there saying they have nothing to do with pb wich means they probably never gave it a seconds thought when they issued the 1 key for all. and it sounds like there also blaming evenbalance for the pb issue which is bs.
ah well it its all dependent on evenbalance now. i will forward the whole email to them and see what they say.

This post has been edited by goody: Jan 03, 2007 - 04:23 AM

#22 fozzer

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Posted Jan 03, 2007 - 04:53 AM

I think the crux of the matter is dependent on getting an honest answer to one simple question.

Did Activision deliberately issue, worldwide, a new release of sof2 all with the same cd key,or was it an administrative foul up ?

Either way it looks like Activision are passing the buck to PB, which is akin to stripping a soldier naked and asking him to disable a tank :blink:
I guess as long as Activision are prepared to pay the retainer then PB will carry on supporting sof2 in some form or another but any guidrelax setting other than 0 kind of defeats the object of what PB is all about, and that is narrowing the playing field drastically for anyone who has cheated.

#23 goody

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Posted Jan 03, 2007 - 11:51 AM

they have deliberatly distributed it with one key. hopefully pb support will not be dropped for a long time yet.
btw i have replied asking how activisions choice to use 1 key is part of evenbalances eula. evenbalance are not at fault here and inplying that its there responsability is out of order.

This post has been edited by goody: Jan 03, 2007 - 11:55 AM

#24 .:BoS:.Gringo

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Posted Jan 04, 2007 - 05:52 PM

fozzer, on Jan 3 2007, 04:53 AM, said:

Either way it looks like Activision are passing the buck to PB, which is akin to stripping a soldier naked and asking him to disable a tank :blink:

Sorry, i know its off topic, but i gotta say that, Fozzer, that was good man, right there man. U hit the target with that one,damn ;)

This post has been edited by BoS Gringo: Jan 04, 2007 - 05:53 PM

#25 fozzer

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Posted Jan 05, 2007 - 02:36 AM

goody, on Jan 3 2007, 04:51 PM, said:

hey goody :)
Thanks for keeping us updated m8, appreciated. :)
The point I was trying to get across was, any game dev with the slightest idea of how PB works would never issue a game release that used the same cd key.
All past issues of sof2 have had a unique cd key and I lean towards an administrative cock up as to why this latest issue has the same cd key.
The decision to turn off the auth master server was probably made by Activision as a form of damage limitation and whoever made that decision was probably unaware of how PB works and how important it is that each genuine game cd has its own unique cd key.

#26 goody

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Posted Jan 05, 2007 - 03:44 AM

your welcome m8.
i havent heard back from them. yet not sure i will to be honest. i have asked them your direct question was it a mistake or was the decided that the cd key would all be the same.
even if they do i dont think it will be a definative answer as thats leaves them open.
ah well at least we all know whats happening and that its not just a rumour.

#27 DS-Dennis

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Posted Jan 07, 2007 - 08:11 PM

fozzer, on Jan 5 2007, 08:36 AM, said:

The decision to turn off the auth master server was probably made by Activision as a form of damage limitation and whoever made that decision was probably unaware of how PB works and how important it is that each genuine game cd has its own unique cd key.

I doubt that the decision will be made by just one person who is not aware of how PB works. I also doubt it would be only one person who thought about and finaly contracted with Even Balance, Inc. to integrate punkbusterâ„¢ Anti-Cheat software into the game.
I would think that it goes through several steps to finalize and workout, as well their last action.

Either way, it does not look like they are going to revert their "mistake", that might be too expensive.

#28 Yourself4

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Posted Jan 08, 2007 - 09:24 PM

Keep in mind there is very little incentive to do anything but continue what already exists for the game. They are not selling new copies and, thus, are not making more money. So no more money = no more features, plus the fact that there are so many new games out there, why would you want to change anything in sof?

Also it makes perfect sense that PBBans would dump support once PB does. The entire thing revolves around the ability to attain, without any doubt, unedited log data. That coupled with the fact that PB GUIDs are different from Raven GUIDs, means the ban list would be worthless, and there would be no way to add more bans to the system. The only thing that might be useful (I don't really know about the internals of what goes on in the PBBans software, just making guesses) is the Master Player Index (MPI) 3, and that would be limited because of the inability to gather PB generated GUIDs. As for the Cvar checks, it is way to impractical to go through all the checks with the /adm cvarcheck command, and the md5 checks, a mod would have to be coded for those to be of any value.

This post has been edited by Yourself4: Jan 08, 2007 - 09:38 PM

#29 goody

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Posted Jan 10, 2007 - 01:42 PM

Quote

Customer 01/10/2007 10:38 AM
thanks for the straight answer kirk.
its a shame for new players coming to the game but whats done is done. thanks for all your time and patience in this matter. as there is little that can be done for ne players in pb servers i will accept this as finished.

Response (Kirk McNesby) 01/10/2007 10:28 AM
Hi,

The decision was deliberate. Anything beyond that, however, I do not have information regarding.

Customer 01/10/2007 09:42 AM
it is not solved. by using 1 key and turning the auth server off does not solve the issue of 1 player getting a ban and they will all be banned using that key. it does not solve the issue of duplicated keys on pb enabled servers.
evenbalance run pb for sof2 how they were contracted to do. no blame or responsability lies with evenbalance. this falls firmly on activision.
so i will ask again wad the decision to release new copies of sof2 a mistake or deliberate. if you still cannot give me a definative answer can you point to someone who can.

Response (Kirk McNesby) 01/03/2007 09:31 AM
Hi,

I do not have a definitive answer to either of those questions.

Customer 01/03/2007 09:08 AM
i dont understand how the issueing of sof2 with 1 cd key is the responsability of evenbalance.
evenbalance do a great job of keeping our servers free from cheats. but the action taken by activision has tighed there hands considerably.
in conclusion would you provide 2 straight answers to 2 questions.
1 was the mass distribution of sof2 with 1 key a mistake or planned.
2 will you be continueing to support evenbalance with pb for sof2.
these are just questions the comunity are asking.
this whole issue has people worried that there game is no longer going to be supported by pb and that the cheating will become wide spread.
no legal action is planned. but i think some damage limitation and a assurance from you guys will put this matter to rest. and hopefully restore some confidence back in you from the sof2 comunity.

this is i think the final chapter. it was not a mistake it was a decision they took.
edit there is a bit missing were they emailed me to say the discussion was set to solved.

This post has been edited by goody: Jan 10, 2007 - 01:44 PM

#30 DS-Dennis

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Posted Jan 11, 2007 - 06:22 PM

:lol: It's pretty clear that Kirk McNesby got a bit tired of the whole situation. I would have hoped he could clarify this a bit more in detail:

Quote

evenbalance run pb for sof2 how they were contracted to do. no blame or responsability lies with evenbalance. this falls firmly on activision.

Either way, it's an closed case. Lets see what other games will be developed and if they contract evenbalance for those games in the next future again.

#31 fozzer

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Posted Jan 11, 2007 - 06:48 PM

I dont quite understand Yourself4's post.
Streamed info that is sent to the PBBans EvenBalance repository is "live" thus 100% true and definitely not edited in any shape or form..
That same statement goes for any Anti Cheat repository.
As stated before, the smelly stuff will hit the fan when that single pbguid that is generated by this world wide distributed cd key picks up a ban violation.
Server admins will be placed in the position of keeping their current guidrelax setting of 0 or setting guidrelax 7 .. its the change in guidrelax settings that will effectively neuter PB and create open house for the real cheaters.
Like any self repecting AC site, PBBans strives to keep innocent players off our Master Ban Index .. if this new cd key picks up a ban violation it will make that position untenable imo.
Lets play the waiting game and see how things pan out .. some hard decisions will be faced by all sof2 admins in the near future but as long as PB supports sof2 we here at PBBans will continue to do our best to support the game at our end. :)

#32 Yourself4

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Posted Jan 11, 2007 - 10:53 PM

err I am referring to what would happen if PB support were no longer to exist for SOF II in my above post. Sorry for not clarifying that <_<.

This post has been edited by Yourself4: Jan 11, 2007 - 10:54 PM

#33 fozzer

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Posted Jan 12, 2007 - 12:29 AM

Yourself4, on Jan 12 2007, 03:53 AM, said:

err I am referring to what would happen if PB support were no longer to exist for SOF II in my above post. Sorry for not clarifying that <_<.

:) np .. if PB did drop sof2 support streaming becomes a moot point because we would follow suit immediately after :P
This was posted on the PsB forum:

Quote

Response (Jon An) - 12/22/2006 10:59 AM
Hi,

Thanks for contacting customer support. Unfortunately, newer copies of the game have the same CD key, so you will not be able to play on punkbuster servers. Sorry for your inconvenience.

Thank you and contact us again

Doesn't look good for new cd owners :(

#34 -=Garbage DinGo=-

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Posted Jan 13, 2007 - 04:34 PM

omg I can see my life as a SoF2 server admin becoming harder.
Currently as well as running my own Jolt SoF2 Gold server I'm also admin on a SoF2 version 1 server (no PB) where I spend more time speccing suspect players than actually gaming myself.
I'm just hoping EvenBalance supports SoF2 until another game comes out with the same great playability of SoF2.

#35 fozzer

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Posted Jan 23, 2007 - 08:57 AM

**update**

Quote

Hi.
I am a senior staff member of www.PBBans.com and it has been brought to our attention that Activision have closed down the sof2 auth master server.
I am reliably informed that this is due to Activision releasing an issue of sof2 with the same cd key for all.
This effectively kills the game for online play, as cheating is rife for this game and only an effective anti cheat system such as PunkBuster can effect any kind of control.
I'm sure you are aware that PB bans are enforced by pbguid which is based on the unique cd key that comes with the game and all players who want to play on pb enabled servers have to auth via your master server.
If the master server is closed down then enforcing bans via pbguid becomes an impossible task forcing PBBans and other anti cheat support sites to withdraw from sof2, this will have a knock on effect as most present sof2 players only play the mp side of the game so sales of any new sof2 issues will plummet because no one wants to play servers were anyone with a key generator can cheat / get banned / and within a couple of minutes be back again playing.
There are also quite a few leagues and cup competitions in progress at the moment and I would ask for a rethink for a short grace period to enable these competitions to come to a close.
It's pretty sad that an administrative cock up has effectively killed a quite popular online game which I am sure your sales will reflect once word gets around, but any help with at least a small grace period would be appreciated.

john foster
aka fozzer
PBBans staff

finally ... a reply

Quote

Date 23 January 2007

Further to your correspondence of 29 December 2006

Evenbalance's GUIDs (and related bans) are tied ONLY to the cdkey and NEVER to the DHCP/IP address.

As you are aware , due to the fact that Soldier of Fortune 2 is a legacy title, the game was redistributed using the same CD key. Punkbuster software has been adjusted our system to allow for the specific GUID that was duplicated. Hence players will not get banned for duplicating that CD key.

However, almost every single server admin who enables PB will ban based on the GUID and there is nothing we can do about that. So unfortunately, users with the widespread GUID are going to find it increasingly hard to find PB enabled servers that will let them play.

There is not much we can do on this matter.

Please do not hesitate to get back in touch if we can be of further assistance.

Your customer number is 300879336

If you need further assistance in Europe, please call our technical support staff at
0870 241 2148 or contact us by e-mail at support@activision.co.uk . Also be sure to include all previous replies when/if responding to this message.

Best Regards,
Iain M. at Activision Technical Support

#36 Tim

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Posted Jan 23, 2007 - 09:12 AM

we're doomed....... :( Fozz, any way to re-write the stages to make it an IP check\ban instead of key\guid or is that way to much work ? {comp illiterate here} I was talkin to a friend last night , I was tryin to explain how the guid ban operates and whats going on w\ same key output from the game co. itsself,,,,his idea was put guidrelax on 7 ,keep streaming for md5\cvar checks and ban IP based on what the scan finds ... maybe ?

#37 DS-Dennis

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Posted Jan 23, 2007 - 09:22 PM

Duplicate key is not the real issue, it's an issue once the key is used to cheat at an streaming server.
That will eliminate all users with this new GUID to play on any streaming server. I dont have any statics about current sales but my guess is that the game is not sold that much anymore. I would say, this is what Activition does to their new customers for this game but I would leave the system as it is. Also in the hope the game isn't sold that much anymore so it won't affect too much new players.

The database of all current players is just too big to just drop the whole streaming support ..... unless PB drops their support for this game.

At each reply that Activition gives I have the feeling they go around the issue. They answer things that is not being asked.

Quote

Evenbalance's GUIDs (and related bans) are tied ONLY to the cdkey and NEVER to the DHCP/IP address.

Sure, we knew already :wacko:

Quote

Hence players will not get banned for duplicating that CD key.

We already had control whether to ban or not for duplicate guid's ..... the issue is about fighting cheaters :wacko:
Let us watch their next actions (will Call of Duty be the next game?).

#38 shoo

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Posted Jun 15, 2007 - 07:05 AM

I dont see a real issue with the single as much as the problem I have with keygen GUID's now being able to play on our servers. We have more hackers than ever because we cannot authenticate the GUID's created.

Can someone not run the master server on a different IP and Port and ask PB to configure pb to check cdkeyver again.

shoo

#39 fozzer

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Posted Jul 31, 2007 - 06:33 AM

shoo, on Jun 15 2007, 01:05 PM, said:

Because a world wide release of sof2 game cd's with the same cd key was issued, no matter if the master server was up again, all it would do is stop innocent players who have recently bought the game not being able to play on most pb enabled servers because some tool decided to try a cheat and had the same pbguid (which is uniquely generated by the cd key)

Best solution all round is to drop the game altogether imo, but as long as Raven/Activision have paid up for PB support I guess PB will keep their end of the bargain regardless.

#40 -=Garbage DinGo=-

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Posted Aug 02, 2007 - 03:04 PM

I recently emailed Evenbalance on the Vista black pbss problem and status of their current level of support for SOF2.

Their comment on the support question:

"As for SoF2 support, yes, we are still supporting it. Don't mistake the lack of a PB client update as a lack in us adding detections, as most detections only require changing things on our end, and not a change of the client."

So only a brief comment and to me a bit non commital.

This post has been edited by -=Garbage DinGo=-: Aug 02, 2007 - 03:05 PM