Server Authentication

(Aristotle) #181

Are you going to pay the money required for them to make a mod or patch the game?

(DrFunkenstein) #182

[QUOTE=BaggerMan;398954]Has anyone had any luck re-using the serverlicensecode.dat files off their unranked servers on new servers brought up with the same config files pre-failure? Is this something that will definitely not work?

  • SnatchBagger[/QUOTE]

Several people have tried that already with no success as far I know. Tried to launch a local server with someone else’s serverlicence.dat, added the Demonware servers to my hosts file in the hope that it would fool the game, but alas.

An alternative might be to tell us how to create a valid file ourselves. Just a thought.

Dr. Funkenstein

(taw_m0nsta) #183

I seriously don’t care about pub servers since these days the difference between ranked/unranked is very minimal. If a mod (or patch for QWTA) can ignore the server authentication checks, i am willing to pay for that mod. I want my custom servers back online!

(Donnovan) #184

I would pay one rugos and some blatalis!

(timestart) #185

[QUOTE=BaggerMan;398953]Badman,

It seems as though that even if Id is reaching out to Activision, they are turning a blind-eye to the situation.
What would it take for SD or Id to possibly make a patch to either get rid of server authentication for unranked servers, or re-direct to a sever like the one for ET:Wolfenstien? It basically uses the same setup, and once authenticated, the server could be directed to the MasterServer for whitelisting. It could probably even be hosted on that same ET:W authentication server.

  • SnatchBagger[/QUOTE]

You mean this that was posted a few pages back?

(BaggerMan) #186

Does starting your server as a LAN server populate it on the MasterServer though, or do you need to use Direct connect?

(BaggerMan) #187

Does starting your server as a LAN server populate it on the MasterServer though, or do you need to use Direct connect?

(timestart) #188

You’d have to use direct connect.

(darth_balls) #189

Decided to finally post something on here. Didn’t realize that I have an account otherwise would’ve wrote sooner.

Completely agree with all the stuff that other people have been saying. And would like to add a few thoughts of my own. Sucky to hear that Bulletstopper, after reading your post it made me feel compelled to share. Ended up talking to snatchbagger and your situation sounds just as frustrating as mine. If snatch’s information was accurate it appears TAW also has been paying for servers that haven’t been getting used on the order of several hundred dollars a month. Complete and total waste. Thank you whoever is responsible.

Definitely doesn’t sound like leetservers will not be hosting even after they fix this which is pretty sad. Seeing how they were one of 2 companies that would still host QW ranked in US and leet was one of them. I know this because within the past 8 months to a year I contacted literally every company that at some point offered ranked servers trying to find an old ranked IP in NYC and very few maybe 3 could still host in bad locations for me( 2 US). Hopefully branzone wont follow suit and kill it completely, would be 0 ranked servers left in US. That’s one of the reasons I hosted with them to continue supporting the game whether or not it gets used. My logic was hopefully they are making enough money they wont pull the plug. I considered hosting however many more they had left at one point to help keep the game alive. Recently saw that gameservers isn’t even hosting unranked servers anymore, last I contacted them in December they were still hosting unranked, so something must have changed.

I have a funny feeling that this behavior is one the reasons why other companies stopped hosting QW servers all together, possibly the reason most stopped offering ranked servers years ago. I understand that they aren’t making any money off of the game, but tough luck, come up with a creative way to make money off of it, its not the players problem that the game isn’t profitable. Its completely obvious that’s why there has been 0 attention given to the game. I myself would spend 50$ for a frigging map pack expansion, and I buy 3 copies for friends usually. This behavior looks horrible to anyone that would be interested in buying your games in the future, its just terrible business. If you were going to completely not support it or shut down authentication server why not tell the community and offer a solution. Because a game isn’t making you any profit you pull the plug?? I don’t know anything about who owns the rights to the game(alot of speculation lately) or what they legally could to generate new revenue, but I’m sure if it was my business I would figure out a way. So until we get some kind of explanation I blame all this junk on them. Worst part is this just happened with ET, so 2 times the same thing happens looks pretty dumb.

I’m extremely frustrated with all of the issues we are having. So I recently decided to write some lengthy email describing in detail why I’m so annoyed and pissed off pleading for them to do something. In the real world software companies do not do whatever the hell it is that they did here. Completely unacceptable way of conducting business. For anyone who wants to read it… After already talking to a few people who work in IT they cannot believe this. I did my best not to be a total jerk in my email. But without some kind of explanation from them I would assume that they are completely responsible and are just a terrible company who could care less.

Heres my email

Hi business team,

I did not know the best place to send this email. I thought the business team would be a good place to get some attention or forward it to the appropriate people. I have been a loyal supporter of your games for years. I’m writing this email on behalf of myself and the rest of the ETQW community in regards to the server authentication issues. I am hoping that maybe this issue has not yet been brought to the attention of the right people and this email will perk some ears. I myself am extremely frustrated along with many other server admins.

I recently decided to host another dedicated server to replace the slightly outdated dedicated server I already host for the unranked side of ETQW. Unfortunately I did not foresee having an issue like this. So I went ahead and hosted my new dedicated server and was planning on switching over from my old provider all by the end of the month so that I wouldn’t have to continue hosting both which would be close to 700$ a month. I had only planned on paying for two for just one month. Now no thanks to whatever caused this issue I’m stuck paying 700$ and change a month waiting for you to fix the issue. Extremely irritating to say the least.

With any normal operating business I would not even have to think twice about checking to see if there was some kind of major issue like this before hosting another server that’s costing me over 375$ a month. I never thought a software company could allow an issue like this to happen. I have no idea what the situation is over there but hopefully you can get the attention of whoever it needs to get fixed asap. It appears to me like somebody made a huge mistake. I simply do not understand how any successful business could continue to operate such as yourselves with this situation. This is completely unacceptable. From my perspective it would appear either something went horribly wrong during a change over to a new server infrastructure, or someone didn’t do their job testing it beforehand. Regardless this isn’t the type of problem that should ever happen with software development or IT. Normally you would run tests to determine whether or not you were ready to change over in some kind of staging environment. I don’t know what the issue is, but I would like some kind of explanation. If the server is not back up my midweek I’m stuck hosting two dedicated servers that will be costing me close to 700$. Instead of the the 375$ I planned on.

It makes absolutely no sense to me how such a big company like yours or whoever is responsible lets this happen. Considering even for what I’m doing I planned a few months in advance. Then gave myself one full month to address any issues that might come up. I also did in house testing just to be safe beforehand. Leaving plenty of time to spare just in case things went wrong because sometimes unforeseen issues come up. Even if they did that’s when you revert back to the old system temporarily while diagnosing what went wrong and a solution. For whatever reason your company is not aware of how the rest of the world does business or maybe its just whoever is in charge of this particular project. These types of business practices are commonplace even in small businesses. Frankly I would be embarrassed if I was responsible for allowing something that seems so trivial to remain an ongoing issue for months in the public eye. I should not be surprised, lack of support for years pretty much killed the game. Its sad because this game had enormous potential, but I have long since given up on that belief.

Whatever the issue is with the authentication server for dedicated servers, its ridiculous please fix it. Hopefully I’m getting the attention of whoever is able to get things accomplished over there. In the future whether it be with new games or this one hopefully my bringing this to your attention will allow you to take precautions and prevent unnecessary issues like this from happening again. It would be a shame because this is already the second time within only a few months. Seeing how it was just recently with ET and now with ETQW. I hope whoever reads this feels compelled to get this sorted out. Also please understand how difficult it is for someone like myself to continue supporting this game and spend alot of time and money in the process.

My sincere thanks for your time and consideration,
my real name

It would appear that there is no hope for getting any kind of support from the people in charge. If I myself was better at programming and knew a way to get around this issue legally I would. Seems like all we would need to do is have somebody host an authentication server for the entire community. I would be willing to provide the server for however long people play the game. Lets see what other more experience mod guys have to say. On the Et forums they seemed to have come up with a temporary fix for this problem, only they said it took months to do. Need to find the guy that programmed it for the ET master server.

Also I dont know if this guy already sent petition in, but people should go sign it if havent already
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dDNHdHQ1aDEwMmI1SGZwa0twZk54Q0E6MQ#gid=0

(taw_m0nsta) #190

We (TAW) did a successful quick test last night by hosting this game by a VPN network (LAN > direct connect). This week we hope to do a second test with 32 players on it.

(millerq3) #191

dart_balls

Wishing for a response here from the authorities but me thinks it will be a long time coming.

Going of at a tangent but somewhat related did anyone see this http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-17920644

What i found interesting was the the last paragraph

“Ultimately, the real future of the first-person shooter won’t lie in the trenches of conflicts past or present, but in other settings with stronger narratives.”

ET:QW 2 & Brink II are surely these games?

(TAW_OldWolf) #192

darth_balls, woul love to hear the answer you (eventually) get.

Good (and longterm) business is to care about , and support, your customers.
Bad (and shortlived) business is just to care about how much money you get.

The problem is that most companys in gaming just cares about money and have no moral responibility (at least they think so themselves) as soon as the game goes for sale .

(Setlec) #193

[QUOTE=millerq3;399030]
ET:QW 2 & Brink II are surely these games?[/QUOTE]

ET:QW 2, surely! Brink 2 far from it! Brink was far of what i expected it to be, worst game ever!

(Aristotle) #194

Was better than Wolf.

(Setlec) #195

yeah damn true Aristotle! i simply have decided to ignore wolfenstein 2009.

(.Chris.) #196

Guess my copy of Brink was broken, I found Wolf nicer to play, had better map layouts, cleaner UI, weapons largely hit were you aimed even without scopes, you could tell difference between teams, less spam and had some interesting new ideas with veil powers which were quite balanced.

(Virus047) #197

Can’t even believe I find myself typing this but Wolf 09 was actually halfway decent because of those very reasons, except it wasn’t supported, needed some huge patches, no SDK and obviously mega failed after 2 weeks.

(.Chris.) #198

I know lol, was a huge waste, I believe Wolf09 would have been easier to fix than Brink if SDKs were available in both cases.

(Virus047) #199

I still haven’t played that Tesla map or w/e it was called. Hahaha.

(Kl3ppy) #200

haha, well with the first version of the “pro mod” it was kind of playable but still was crappy :smiley:
too bad wolf09 didnt get the sdk and no changes from the leaked beta even tho many ppl stated some true things which should be changed.