=VG= SemlerPDX

Restarted. Keeping an eye on it today, it's crashed twice and had a few problems with the server returning to the 2D map a lot.

Roger that. Restarting to Day 1. Here is a synopsis in the form of a JSTARS Replay for the entire course of the war through Day 25 - nice work, Captains!

I had to restart the server this morning to the latest auto-save from day 17. Possibly due to that campaign that was running. I didn't get Cobalt's message until 8 hours later as I was out of town with family. I will be in TS3 but if I don't reply I may be afk - just poke me.

I've never seen a campaign run this long without issues. I have not even had to restart it to an auto-save point since Day 3. I hear there are still playable missions, so we'll keep going. We're at Day 17 now, Pyongyang is still a target, but the main force is pushing up the East coast. I captured this JSTARS Replay of the action:

Fond memories indeed! It was in the Fall of 2009 that I got Battlefield 2 after a break from PC gaming of over 5 years, my last memories being Battlefield 1942 and the Desert Combat Mod on an Old Farts Gaming Server. By New Years 2010, I was more than fed up with the nade spamming and dolphin diving and started looking for a mod to keep the game playable - I discovered this Project Reality mod and was so impressed with how complete it was, including an instruction manual. I searched for the best servers running Project Reality, and shacked up with a dude named Coeman and the Hardcore Clan =]H[= and it was the most realistic PvP online game I had ever played - the map size was HUGE to me, and as a Medic, I rarely fired my gun. It was quite an experience - but also, a very long time between action, too much waiting around (very real, very cool) - but not quite me. I found a more casual game mode in PR called COOP - and the largest, most populated server running it was VETERANS-GAMING. Met some cool dudes named Raven800, LittleTortiaBoy, and RobotFungus - logged over 2000 hours like it was nothing, and spent near 900 of those hours as a Gunship Pilot with Raven800 as my front gunner. Those were the days! Couple of those dudes encouraged me to join the VETERANS-GAMING Website - and the rest is history. Thanks from me as well - VG got me through some tough times when I was unable to work, and felt very unproductive playing games all the time. VG gave me the chance to write and share pics/stories, and to be part of a community. I'm eternally grateful! !hi

lol! These are some funny ass pics! !cheers

The message you are getting now is due to the Dubious Connections check. It could mean that your router has NAT filtering that is interfering, or other factors. First step in troubleshooting that would be to go into the router/modem configuration and set the IP of your computer into a DMZ, then try to join the server - if it works, and I imagine it will - you will know that your PC can join if the router gets configured properly. If you do this, make sure you take your PC's IP out of the DMZ after this test as it is a glaring security hole and should ONLY be used for testing purposes. If you can connect that way, but no other way, you may be able to enlist the help of your internet service provider if you have no success forwarding your ports. If you can successfully connect when your PC is in the DMZ, a way to know if ports were forwarded correctly would be a similar connection success when the PC is not in the DMZ. Slow internet is not the problem here, it's a firewall or packet scheduling, or something to do with your router/modem. Ports will need to be forwarded, but every router/modem does things a little differently and I doubt I can give specific instructions for one I've never used before. Your internet service provider will likely have a troubleshooting department that could help you for free over the phone to get the service you desire from the internet you pay for. !hi SemlerPDX =VG= LAN_WROTE ... Server has been updated with the following changes: -Client Bandwidth Requirement raised to 1024 BW -Server will now only accept P2P connections, if you can no longer connect, read about port forwarding for Falcon BMS here: http://www.krauselabs.net/dump/Hosting-Falcon-4-BMS.html (and here is a link about routers and forwarding: http://portforward.com/english/routers/port_forwarding/routerindex.htm ) -Server will now enforce Same Tile Set and Same Aircraft Data

Thank you to everyone who flies with us, and special thanks to those who help keep the server running smooth by reporting issues and crashes! We continue to have problems with pilots running a 2nd Campaign on our server - this is not something our server can handle. You may fly in Tactical Engagements (TE) or Dogfights on our server, but do not run another Campaign along side the one we are hosting. I have done most everything I can to reach out to pilots who violate this rule, but often I find a Password on the 2nd Campaign adding insult to injury. Please respect our server - if your name is on this list, please understand that we need you to stop. You may join our Online Campaign - Do Not start a Campaign on our server! If anyone knows these guys, or can get a message to them - have them read this thread: Rage Blitz TritonDB Blaze Knubinator

Minrah LAN_WROTE ... I did have a question, is it alright for me to make my own tanker flight out of the 909th? I know thats where the server player sits and I know not to touch that flight, was just wondering with not being able to reach out as far with out a tanker on day 9-11 was wondering if it was alright to set up tanker for the extra long flights Yes, please do! It is okay to task AI flights to support you, even Tankers! You could set up a mostly AI flight and attach yourself to it, so long as you know what you're doing - feel free! Whatever you'd like to do to add to your enjoyment! Only problem would be with someone playing "Commander" and fragging tons of AI flights that have nothing to do with Human flights - but supporting flights SHOULD be fragged to help you in your missions! As far as stores running out, it can be said that in real life, this would be an issue. IRL, this is happening right now in the Air War over Syria - the US has blown through a large stockpile of missiles and now must limit their engagements until resupply is possible. Isn't it true that an AGM-65G is a multi-million dollar weapon? In the spirit of Simulation in this Campaign, let's just see how it plays out until such time as it is unplayable (or concluded). Have fun - fly safe! !cp

SavageCDN =VG= LAN_WROTE ... Will check out the server requirements and see if we can host our own VG Squad server (assuming there is enough interest)? I'd play it - being early access, requirements are probably subject to change, but the VG Dedicated Server is indeed a beast - I'd hope we'd be able to host it if we wanted to. (knock on wood - finally finishing up with the remodel and getting the dust out of my PC and desk... almost gaming time again!)

Server has reached a record up-time! It has been stable for days, and is still working - the Campaign is going into Day 11, BLUFOR have pushed the FLOT on the North East Coast and Pyongyang is the next big target. I need input from regular pilots and newer pilots to determine if this is still as playable as it looks - it would be great to see a Campaign actually finish successfully for once, but we don't want the server to become impossible to play if there are no worthy missions for pilots. I'd also like to know how the difficulty setting is working out for everyone (vets and nuggets alike). Please advise as able, and enjoy the advanced campaign now in it's 11th day!! !hi

Obviously I had higher hopes for the title a few years ago when I made this thread - you can imagine my disappointment as they continued to drop the ball over and over, changing mechanics so unrealistically that the game might as well be dead. Security guards appearing out of thin air when before you could count them, and work hard to neutralize them one at a time. Way to go, Overkill - your name says it all.

I got a chance to fly yesterday and I gotta say, I was impressed. Server seemed to run okay, but I didn't see any other aircraft close enough to see if they were spinning or doing crazy things. I'm so out of practice, I just spent the day on DEAD strikes on the SA-2 sites to the North, and one thing I found out quickly - they sure don't seem to want to launch at me... ?!?! Recon showed them as active and near 100% operational. Not sure what's up with that, but I'll admit I've not trained on the HTS and my one HARM mission hit the airbase's Radar and not the Fan Song or whatever the SA-2's were guided by. I made several subsequent passes trying to find the Fan Song, found 2 vehicles that looked similar to and in the same spot as the pre-flight Recon, but every single Maverick I launched would only lock on the 'left' truck and not the one on the right, and they never hit either... I am trained with the Mavericks, had several successful missions throughout the day, just not when I tried to attack the 2 "trucks" in the middle of the airbase. Still not sure if it was user error, but I had such successes otherwise, I'm left scratching my head (like so many failed CCRP runs that seemed perfect, I know some of you know the feeling!) I also had the opportunity to intervene in a private campaign run on our server. Language barrier was a problem, he didn't know much English but I was able to get him to close his private server and join the VETERANS-GAMING server. Problem was he started texting up simple questions, meaning he didn't know how to Frag a flight, nor did he know which airbase to fly out of (and we all know the server puts up Kadena and the 909th air refuel wing to new joiners). Told him to google and to YouTube, hopefully he'll educate himself. After getting some time in the server, and seeing how 'well' things are running now, I've finally set up AutoSave on a 2 hour interval, and all crashes will now be restarted to the latest AutoSave file. It will take about 3 minutes each time, and I need that time to launch the server - if you are present during the restart procedure, please do not launch your flight before the server does, or I will be stuck waiting at a real-time countdown clock of over 5 minutes (if I launch alone, it will fast-time). Once in the cockpit, I will text up (even if no one is online) that the 'Server Restarted to latest AutoSave' and those with the comms window open will see this, and then can launch their flight(s). Good luck and fly safe! !cp

Okay - I vacuumed and dusted my PC room so I could take off the covers and fire up my PC and try to join the server - I got the "Kevin" message, too!! Logged in to the remote and looked at the server, looks fine, in 3D pit, BUT - upon closer inspection, it doesn't respond to any keypresses, and it's CPU usage is flat 00. I've restarted the computer that runs the server, and I've restarted the BMS Campagin - let's try this again. BAM! !wiz I'm in the server as a client, no "Kevin Pending" message - so, the server had crashed in a way that it looked like it was running (I will be watching for this type of crash in my many daily health checks from now on). So, if you wanna fly, give it a try. We might have been chasing our tails for nothing here. Fun fun. ...and Merry Christmas! !cheers

What exactly is going on here?! Nothing has changed in the last few days AT ALL..... no way difficulty settings can do this. No config changes have occurred in over a week! I seriously have no idea what to do here, and tomorrow/saturday is Christmas and I will be busy.

CobaltUK LAN_WROTE ... Has the `dubious connection` check been turned on yet ? Would be interesting to see if there were any change in the issues. Been that way for weeks - only P2P connections allowed. It's a few pages back in this thread. Why the hell you would start getting the Kevin message is beyond me and breaks all of my understanding of what we've been doing so far. Two steps forward, three steps back?! Ugh....... !hang

Minrah LAN_WROTE ... so Brain and I found out why im not able to connect, im on a connection running at 20mb down and 1mb up. so with the bandwidth set 1024 im guessing im no longer able to join =/ If the bandwidth minimum was set lower, thus allowing you to join, you'd experience tons of issues like that pausing above - and as the server needs to sync all clients to the server, it would begin to effect other players eventually. I've seen the connection demand going up for years the the 2000's, always favoring a higher and more stable up-speed for more and more complex (or poorly coded) games - and here we are marching towards 2020 where games just think everyone has at least 5-10Mbps up and down when it's not yet the case for all of us. I feel for you, bro. Wish we could help more.

I need to find a way to log the IP addresses of everyone who connects to the BMS server, and then I can begin banning IP addresses - one of two things would happen: they'd never be seen again, or they'd come here to the website (or bms forums, or bms facebook) to report connection problems, giving me a chance to tell them not to run concurrent campaigns. Until I have teeth, all I can do is bark. Restarted the campaign, but they were no where to be found, couldn't get a shout out.

Preacher LAN_WROTE ... Still getting that message: Kevin pending message. Any idea what that causes? Server is not hung - you'll need to keep trying different things: SemlerPDX =VG= LAN_WROTE ... Server has been updated with the following changes: -Client Bandwidth Requirement raised to 1024 BW -Server will now only accept P2P connections, if you can no longer connect, read about port forwarding for Falcon BMS here: http://www.krauselabs.net/dump/Hosting-Falcon-4-BMS.html (and here is a link about routers and forwarding: http://portforward.com/english/routers/port_forwarding/routerindex.htm ) -Server will now enforce Same Tile Set and Same Aircraft Data

A second thread will just make it more work for me, having to check more than one place for info. Regardless of how many separate threads about separate topics, I am the ONE guy here working on it. I'd prefer this one thread. Names would help, if you see the name of individuals running campaigns, get them to me. Monitoring outages comes down to one thing: communication. Posting up here that it is down is the first step, next step is me checking quite often each day in this thread and remote looking into the server itself. I do it every few hours, but I also get busy with life now and then. Hoping crashes become less frequent, and they should. When people run concurrent campaigns and the server crashes, logs for it are redundant - we know the server overloaded the CPU and caused a CTD. Also, FO is not the only other community running BMS campaigns, and is not my first route for information. I usually find people I know at the BMS forums. Wouldn't have made it this far without that reading. EDIT: *Lastly, if you are experiencing "erratic AI planes", perhaps you should try to connect with a higher bandwidth than others, maybe 2000? Would be nice to troubleshoot that issue in that way, not sure how far you are from Kansas where the server is...

Server restarted...... **For the record, the server was down until now as I was unable to check it, out with family for xmas things, bells, xmas ships in port, etc. and woke up very late this morning. Was unable to respond sooner, all apologies. I will be checking in on the server every few hours today and tomorrow, and I will keep an eye out for concurrent campaigns - it is sad that my only response (as I cannot talk to someone on the server running a passworded campaign) is to restart the server and try to get a message to them before they "restart" their own server. It's happened before, and language barriers abound!! Please post up here today if you see another campaign running so I can try to deal with them and tell them they can't do that. !hi

**Server restarted with what should be a much more manageable difficulty level. Osan also has one squadron of Block 40's available. Let me know how it works out.

(also got a private message from a pilot, here is my reply:) I definitely had no intention of making the game unplayable and too hard - I had thought ACE was what the server had been at for years, but based on what you said, this is likely not the case. Really, my entire goal has been to make this 4.33 campaign indistinguishable from the 4.32 game we ran for years, except for the improvements and updates. I understand little about this, and for me, it is a learning process. I promise, I will be online in a few hours and I will ramp down the difficulty significantly, and we will work UP from there as you suggest. I honestly didn't expect the enemy to get so much better, now we know. I must leave for an appointment right now, but I will be home in a few hours and I will ease up the difficulty then. The last thing I want is our patrons jumping ship to play offline/private servers. Thank you for your information - I will act on it. Thank you for your patience!

We'll try that again... This time, Seosan is the only human airbase with no HQ fragging - one can still fly out of Osan or Kunsan with a different F-16 or whatever, but we need those airbases fragged by the AI for now to see how the campaign will level out. Difficulty is ACE, but with Aircraft and Air Defense slightly more balanced. Ground forces are still heavily weighted to DPRK. Will check back Saturday morning (it's friday night here). Good luck - kick some Kim Jong Ass!! !cp

Okay... Server Save File rebuilt now, have to leave town today, this weekend will be a difficulty test - auto-save will begin first thing next week. For now, I need input on the difficulty level - it was indeed set very low this entire time - don't get caught off guard now, it's at ACE. Let's see if the enemy Mig's will fire off a shot or try to evade a BVR attack. Will be back in around 12 hours, will check in then. !hi