Lets try to keep all of the "how does it work" questions confined to a single thread. All the bf2 threads are starting to make my head hurt. Here's the popular questions I've received about ranked BF2



Since Version 1.17a we're including the debranded skin in all Cortex releases.



We provide EA with your entire subnet, so all of your IP's should be flagged as EA OK.

That's all I have for now. Please post your questions here and if they're on target I'll add them to top of the thread. We're working hard to iron out all of the little things. We appreciate any and all feedback, so keep it coming.

I am running both a ranked and an unranked thru cortex. Both run gr8!

As far as the unranked, I can set it up to TWL standards with only one problem. The map size. For instance, for our 8 vs 8 ladder, the maps are to be 16 player size, but have a 18 player slot count. 2 xtra slots for TWL or TSN admins.
If you set the max players to 18, it loads the 32 size map. I need it to be 16 size map.

Any ideas how to do this, or is it even possible yet?

edited out. klaude answered it at the same time.

This will be implemented in the next revision of Cortex.

Klaude:
I know you have some say with EA, are they planning on fixing the bandwidth choke soon?

I'm running a 32 slot server and a 24 slot server on a 1 box.

When both are full I'm pushing out almost 7Mbps (6.79Mbps).

This is crazy and I won't be able to keep this up.

If EA does not fix this does Insomnia have any plans of allowing us more B/W on ranked servers?

how can we put the debranded cortex skin on the ranked bf2 server now that we don't have access to it?

http://forums.servermatrix.com/viewtopic.php?t=14812

Follow those instructions

Nothings changed, you can still put the debranded skin on cortex.

Thanks, thedude. I've added that to the main post.

ah sorry saw that post, but didn't realize you could just click a button and it would do it. thought i had to manually add it via server.

thanks guys.

It was your post

Anyone notice stats updating yet?

so how many hours is 'a few'

thanks again insomnia365 for the hard work and coding you pushed through to get us all ranked servers. it is really appreciated.

Call me stupid but I don't want to overlook anything here.
I already have a server with you all. In order to put up a ranked server all I have to do is reload the OS at a cost of $25.00? No additional charges?

This sounds really good if this is the case, I applaud your efforts to struggle with the monster that is EA

Also, a bit off topic, but do you all host ventrilo servers as well? (seperate from the box of course)

yes just reload, no additional charges, they dont host ventrilo servers. i rent my ventrilo servers from http://nationvoice.com and their dallas servers are ran out of the planet

You are correct. Right now all you'll get is the standard OS reload fee.



We don't but many of our customers do. We also have a partnership with Typefrag. Clicking the Typefrag link in Cortex will bring you to an order form where you'll get a discount on ventrillo hosting. Or if you like ask for hosts in the game hosting forum. Someone will pick you up.

Great work I365!

Another question:
I365 ranked servers DO NOT have VOIP capability at this time? Is it planned to implement VOIP for the ranked servers in the future?

Thanks everyone for the help so far.

Sorry if these questions have already been covered, but I've read every thread on the subject and I'm still not sure of the answers.

-If we run a Ranked and an Unranked server on the same box, will we have FTP access to the Unranked server directories?

-Will we be able to run the BF2CC daemon on the Unranked server?

-Will we have a stripped down version of BF2CC on the Ranked server? If not, are basic RCON commands available, like kicking players?

TIA, we are closely watching this. We are in the same boat as many of you, looking to run a Ranked server for pubs, and Unranked for CAL/TWL on the same box. If we can do what we need to do, you'll have another customer soon

Correctamundo on both counts! BF2 VOIP is #1 on my list right now.

No you won't, you will however have Cortex's built in File Browser so you can upload, download, and manage instance files.



If we can get BF2CC to work we'll get it working for both ranked and unranked.



Cortex supports rudimentary user control such as player kicking and banning, although this is not yet implemented in BF2. However there is a nice 2 way rcon built into Cortex. If push comes to shove you can still kick players manually until we get fancy control programs like BF2CC working.



We don't want to leave CAL folks in a lurch. We're working with the CAL BF2 admins to see what we can do about meeting CAL req's on a ranked server.

BTW: Welcome to the forums.

any way to get battlefield recorder working?

you have to edit the settings.con file to point to an url, and then you have to setup rotate_demo.py to ftp to a spot on the server.

I don't see any way in cortex to do this without root access.

Will this be addressed later or can it be done currently?

btw, I know you guys are working hard and I know the community really appreciates it!

Is it possible to setup PunkBuster web admin to have the ability to kick/ban/change maps?

You can do this in the advanced server config. Click Edit config for your instance then select "Advanced Config" in the config mode drop down list to get to these cvars.



We'll have to ponder this one. We'll get back to you on that.

Not right now. For the time being you'll need to use rcon.

so is there anyway to use bf recorder? what url are we supposed to enter for the downloads. Cortex is letting us turn it on and asking for a URL.

sorry 1 more question. gawd i feel ........ stooo pid
anywhoo

how do I change the map in the rcon? it keeps telling me "unknown object or method"

i make the pip screen in the window to change map then typed in a map name, ie strike_at_karkand. I even tried inputing strike_at_karkand gpm_cq 32

It gives me the same error. "unknown object or method". Is there a method to this madness?

I just want to say, you are an unbelievable asset to the gaming community and we really appreciate all you are doing for us. If you ever need a recommendation, don't hesitate to ask.

Oh, I do have a couple questions.
How many instances/slots do you feel you can host on one of your servers without lag? Will upgrading RAM allow me to put more instances on one machine? Thanks for your time.

Make sure you're following the proper command syntax. Check this page for details: http://www.planetbattlefield.com/bf2/game/server/

Expect your BF2 servers to use between 100 and 200M each. RAM really isnt a problem with BF2, it's CPU and bandwidth. We've been running 3x 28 man ranked servers on our own dual xeons without warping. Since version 1.0 28 seems the magic number for # of ppl allowed on a server before dramatic FPS drops. I'll test on 1.02 and see how it goes though.

Is it possible to edit punkbuster config files on ranked BF2 servers via Cortex and the file browser feature? I would think this is possible because of NTFS permissions having the ability to lock down specific files EA doesn't want us in.

you can edit your pb settings via rcon, then just issue the command to write the config. when you restart your server the config will be executed with your settings

if you dont know how to do this, check out www.punkbuster.com and read the admin manual

The Demo recorder is working for non ranked bf2 servers. You have to set it to a FTP site, because there is no root access to your "ranked" box

You can edit your rotate_demo.cfg to input where you want the demo files to go. Then edit your serversettings.cfg to put your URL to where the demo file can be downloaded.

As far as the ranked server instance....outta luck for now.

Hope this helps!

and how exactly can I edit those files without root access

this is the weirdness of cortex...it lets you turn on bf recorder...but doesnt seem to let you control where the files go...so there is no way to ever get them

so whats the point of it letting you turn on bf recorder?

You can use the filebrowser in Cortex. Mind you, it is for Unranked only right now.
I am sure the powers that be will look into the Ranked Demo recording

If you upload punkbuster files or bf2cc admin scripts prior to installing the ranked server plugin you can use the bf2cc rcon tool or the punkbuster web admin tool!

ok another 2 questions.

we can't run punkbuster master ban list (MBL) at present. i would like to have the MBL so that cheaters who are caught cannot play on our server when the MBL is updated. will the MBL be implemented in the future?

it would also be nice to have some way to look at screenshots we take.
as it is now, you have punkbuster and can take a ss, but no way to look at the SS to see if they are using injected .dll's, skin hacks, ret locks, etc. except for md5 or cvar checks that pb does. so will we have some way to access screenshots on ranked servers?

I think Kevin already answered that. The MBL is on the "to do" list.

As far as screenshots go, I'm going to test this, but I think if you get "creative" you can make it work.

PRIOR to installing the ranked server plugin, you could create a batch file to move the screenshots to a different webserver for hosting. Then in the pbsv.cfg file issue a PB_SV_SsCmd [Filename] command to run the batch file each time a screenshot was taken. After you get this working, install the ranked server plugin.

I got my OS reloaded and installed the BF2 engine and 1 instance. When I tried to load the ranked server plugin it is not available from the drop down menu. There is nothing there.
Any advice?

Edit: Nevermind I think I got it.

Just curious, but would it be safe to assume that web servers are of little concern to EA since they are allowing Cortex to function with ranked BF2 servers?

look in Edit plugins

I have an auto balance and a ping script i would like to put on my ranked server. Is there a way i can do that. If not. is there an alternative. I want to be able to have all my players on my team to be on the same team. And my script allows that. And My ping scripts keep out the euro trash. 200 + pings My scripts work perfictly on all my other non ranked servers. And i don't think they brake any EULA. PLZ PLZ PERTTY PLZ

Actually you can set this via RCON when I get back from work late tonight ill look on my cheat sheet and post it

Once again this is all done by RCON. Issue a this clears out the 32 player size map. Next issue a then finally This switches to the new map. So after you have cleared out your maplist and want to launch gulf of oman 16 player issue the following: then issue to switch to the 16 player map & your good to go.

thanks bro!

Are there any plans to add a "Read Only" type function so that server admins can have some minimal File Browser functionality on BF2 Ranked servers?

Currently, if I want to view server logs (the real reason for the question here), I have to unload the Ranked plugin, etc., etc., after which, much whining and gnashing of teeth ensues because the server's full 24/7.

It's not a huge deal, but if something like this could be implemented without being a major PITA, I think it would be a big help.

Uninstall the ranked serve plugin....browse all you want.....reinstall the plugin.

Well, d'uh.

Please re-read my post; my intent is to NOT disrupt a full server nor to disable ranking.

I take it if I order another server. To have BF2 Ranked I still have to pay for a OS reload and order it that way the first time?

I dont even see Ranked in the games offered from I365 on the site.

Did you guys just forget to add it or whats up?

I'll talk to our web guys about it. And right now since this is still meant for existing customers only you still need to go through the OS reload to get a 2nd server.

klaude since the bf2cc was installed we are having a lot of problems.

1. cortex seems to just freeze up. had to have tech restart my server as they stated the explorer crashed.
2. autobalance doesn't work anymore with bf2cc. when i uninstall the bf2cc plugin autobalance works again????
3. we are now getting a lot of "error reading from server" issues and people are getting kicked from the server at the map changes.