punkbuster init kick problems

Peter wrote:
> Is my wireless router conection giving me this problem I cant play any
> multiplayer games anymore ie Fear
> sorta unrelated to nvidia but I do have an new 8800 gt tia
>

Yeah, this is a little bit of topic, but a new problem for gamers, which
are nvidia customers, so relevant.

Punkbuster runs as a service now, and both PnkBstrA.EXE and PnkBstrB.exe
need full internet access rights. One of them "A", I think, has to
constantly update itself while "B" does not.

Each game has a different version of "A" and if you don't let "A" get
through your firewall you will have a version mismatch at the server and
get booted after the timeout period.

Not to mention, even if you properly configure your internet firewall
settings to allow A+B traffic, the changed executable will be flagged as
a different program the next time you download a different version,
which happens with no notification, which could boot you again!

You could go to evenbalance.com and download the stand-alone version of
the Punkbuster program, which has a front end that shows you the status
of all punkbuster enabled games (and there are many) and the current and
different versions for each one. Plus an update feature that happens
before you load the game in question, useful for troubleshooting.

Lastly, some versions of "A" or "B" are just plain broken, and/or out of
sync with the server you are trying to join, so you will never get in
until you both get new and matching versions that work, which you have
no control over.

Does punkbuster even work? Is it all worth it? Hard to say, I see it as
effective as "The Club" in stopping car thieves.