Part of me is seriously tempted to try/do this

Delta*RandyShugart* · 06-12-2009, 12:08 PM

I have finally gotten a new computer of sorts here at work, my previous one had winrot up the whazoo......It actually had IBM on the front, that should give you an inclination of how old it was.

So yesterday, after purchasing 2 gigs of ram (which i i was reimbursed fortunately) and transferring my previous Vid card from my home computer that was in my previous Office Computer to this one (its a 9800 Series Radeon), and installing the RAM with some help, I am good to go.

Now, the thing which I am tempted to do/try is buy the DVD-ROM edition (this computer actually has a built in DVD Player), and then DL PR.

I have the minimum required specs,
Computer: 2.10GHZ
RAM: 2.0GB
Video Card: Radeon (9800 Series)
HD Space: 37 gigs or so Total, over 15 gigs available.

The only questions are.....A) The firewall, B) Will it blend, err I mean work C) Is it really worth it.

If by some crazy chance I actually do this, I will not be able to use VOIP at all......I do have dual screens, so maybe some TG'ers with dual screen can give me some opinions on playing PR with 2 screens.

**sapientiea** · 06-12-2009, 12:13 PM

is it me? but I do not understand exactly what you mean?

I still have some decent hardware lying around (AGP x850XT), because I think you need some.
Although I do not understand your question fully, I feel some pity for you for some reason

**Alpha_s9** · 06-12-2009, 12:26 PM

The firewall will probably be the only thing holding you back... depending on how restrictive it is.

If you run PBSVC, it will tell you if the ports (for Punkbuster) are open or not. If those ports don't work, you'll get booted for communication errors.

http://www.evenbalance.com/index.php?page=pbsvcfaq.php

That might save you the time of installing and finding out PB boots ya because of the firewall. I don't have any special firewall rules for BF2 going on my firewall, but I also use UPnP on my home firewall.

UPnP is nice on home firewalls for gaming purposes... but not very likely enabled at a place of business. I guess you could always ask your firewall guy if the specific ports are open, but that's probably gonna get them closed even if they are open.

Findports has the following listed as required ports for BF2:

Application: BF2 External port: 80 Internal port: 80 Protocol: TCP

Application: BF21 External port: 29900 Internal port: 29900 Protocol: TCP

Application: BF22 External port: 29901 Internal port: 29901 Protocol: TCP

Application: BF23 External port: 29920 Internal port: 29920 Protocol: TCP

Application: BF24 External port: 28910 Internal port: 28910 Protocol: TCP

Application: BF25 External port: 4711 Internal port: 4711 Protocol: TCP

Application: BF26 External port: 18060 Internal port: 18060 Protocol: TCP

Application: BF27 External port: 27900 Internal port: 27900 Protocol: UDP

Application: BF28 External port: 29900 Internal port: 29900 Protocol: UDP

Application: BF29 External port: 29910 Internal port: 29910 Protocol: UDP

Application: BF210 External port: 27901 Internal port: 27901 Protocol: UDP

Application: BF211 External port: 55123 Internal port: 55123 Protocol: UDP

Application: BF212 External port: 55124 Internal port: 55124 Protocol: UDP

Application: BF213 External port: 55215 Internal port: 55215 Protocol: UDP

Application: BF214 External port: 16567 Internal port: 16567 Protocol: UDP

Application: BF215 External port: 18060 Internal port: 18060 Protocol: UDP

Application: BF216 Port range: 1500 - 4999 Protocol: UDP

If you have a properly configured business firewall at your work, I seriously doubt that BF2 traffic will be enabled. Not all businesses have properly configured firewalls however.

**MEFBRAVO** · 06-12-2009, 12:43 PM

I see office space written all over this.

**llPANCHOll** · 06-12-2009, 12:57 PM

You are going to put PR on your work computer????

Delta*RandyShugart* · 06-12-2009, 01:03 PM

I ran the PB service setup and it came back with "No errors"

Starting PunkBuster Service Tests (v0.987) (06/12/09 11:56:32)
Checking OS
Windows XP (build 2600, Service Pack 3) 32-bit
Checking PnkBstrA service status RUNNING
Checking PnkBstrA Version OK (1032)
Extracting "PnkBstrB.exe" to:
"C:\Documents and Settings\user\Application Data\PnkBstrB.exe"
OK
Checking firewall settings OFF
Is PnkBstrA explicitly allowed?
C:\WINDOWS\system32\PnkBstrA.exe YES
Is PnkBstrB explicitly allowed?
C:\WINDOWS\system32\PnkBstrB.exe YES
Checking if PnkBstrB is running NOT RUNNING
Getting port for PnkBstrA OK (*****)
Opening socket for packet send OK
Sending version packet to PnkBstrA SENT
Receiving version from PnkBstrA OK
Received 6 bytes from **********
Response = 10297 (ms) Version = v1032
Getting PnkBstrB install instance NOT FOUND
Sending start packet to PnkBstrA SENT
Waiting for packet from PnkBstrA OK
Received 3 bytes from ***********
Response = 20484 (ms) PnkBstrB started.
Load SUCCESSFUL.
Watching for PnkBstrB instance change (0) CHANGED (1)
Getting port for PnkBstrB OK (*****)
Sending version packet to PnkBstrB SENT
Receiving version from PnkBstrB OK
Received 5 bytes from ***********
Response = 3062 (ms) Version = 2110
Checking PnkBstrK driver status NOT FOUND
Extracting new PnkBstrK to:
"C:\Documents and Settings\user\Application Data\PnkBstrK.sys"
OK
Sending load packet to PnkBstrB SENT
Checking PnkBstrK driver status RUNNING
Stopping PnkBstrK STOPPED
Deleting PnkBstrK OK
Checking PnkBstrK driver status DELETED
Manually stopping PnkBstrB STOPPED
Removing test PnkBstrB file OK

----------------------------------
Tests finished.

Yes ||Pancho|| I am considering it, or wanting to try it out, maybe on friday's when my boss isn't at work, and its pretty dead....

**Alpha_s9** · 06-12-2009, 01:19 PM

As far as I know, that should mean the ports PB uses are open.

It doesn't guarantee that the BF2 ports will be open, but in my opinion that's a pretty good sign that your firewall isn't set up for "default deny", meaning block everything that isn't specifically accounted for in the rule set.

Either that or your firewall guy plays something that requires PB... hopefully it's BF2!

I think PB also requires administrative access to install, but since the PBSVC ran with no problems that should also indicate that you have admin on that machine.

Sorry for all the "I think" comments, but there's not a lot of technical documentation that really picks PBSVC apart, and most of this comes from things I've read from other sources... which may or may not be accurate.

**Alpha_s9** · 06-12-2009, 01:31 PM

I just ran this and compared to your results... mine ran packet test to the local machine IP, 127.0.0.1. This may indicate that it's testing for local machine firewalls only, and not actually hitting the network.

Sooo... it may not be as good of an indication as I had originally thought. Anybody else have experience with firewalls and PBSVC that can confirm it does test the network firewall configuration, and not just the local machine?

I could point you to some tools that would test specific ports, but that's dangerous on a business network because then your network guys might take action against you if they detect it. It all depends on how seriously your company takes network security I guess.

**thegreatnardini** · 06-12-2009, 02:05 PM

Originally Posted by llPANCHOll

You are going to put PR on your work computer????

It's Randy, does this surprise you?

With those specs I'd think your hard drive would be the bottleneck. You'll be filling it up and judging by the size of the drive I'm guessing it's slower than a "normal-speed" 72k drive. You may have to play on lower settings, but it's certainly doable.

Your IT department must be incredibly lazy (or lenient), letting you play games on your work PC! And don't get yourself fired either...

Delta*RandyShugart* · 06-12-2009, 03:05 PM

technically the IT dept, is my boss, the space which I am within in a commercial real estate firm that doesn't require a huge IT department, and I'm in a start up VOIP company within that, maybe in a few weeks i might be able to upgrade yet again depending on how well our meeting with some heads at Verizon go.

But yea low settings seem about right, maybe once the summer hits ill try it out, though I don't want to ask my boss to reimburse me for HD space, he does play C&C on his macbook, so maybe the ports are open.....hmmmm....if only i could somehow tell him why i desperately need a falcon-nw (falcon northwest) computer.......

**Alpha_s9** · 06-12-2009, 03:25 PM

Originally Posted by Delta*RandyShugart*

technically the IT dept, is my boss, the space which I am within in a commercial real estate firm that doesn't require a huge IT department, and I'm in a start up VOIP company within that, maybe in a few weeks i might be able to upgrade yet again depending on how well our meeting with some heads at Verizon go.

But yea low settings seem about right, maybe once the summer hits ill try it out, though I don't want to ask my boss to reimburse me for HD space, he does play C&C on his macbook, so maybe the ports are open.....hmmmm....if only i could somehow tell him why i desperately need a falcon-nw (falcon northwest) computer.......

As a former Verizon Business employee I'd say that if you're on a VOIP network it's probably separate from the "admin" network that office PC users are on. The VOIP would be severely restrictive, but the admin network (especially if it's small) is probably wide open to avoid causing problems for the client (your company). Unless of course you have done a risk assessment and brought in a specialist to configure your admin network for security.

This is all assuming that VB is handling your network configs. They generally keep "Production" networks separate from anything else for a variety of reasons... one of the biggest being the need for specific firewall configuration changes. Production networks tend to not need as many open ports as the general administrative networks.

**Fighter** · 06-12-2009, 04:16 PM

You would probably get more answers in the Tech forums, Randy. Althought that means taking your vocabulary up a step. I got lost in here.

**Belhade** · 06-12-2009, 05:43 PM

Randy, if you want to play without VOIP, go right ahead, I do it a lot when it's 2am and the wife and baby are asleepin in the next room. Just make sure you have easy access to your "Yes" and "No" keys.

**Berlancic** · 06-12-2009, 06:56 PM

Listen to your heart... or something.

**Sandiford** · 06-12-2009, 07:12 PM

what processor does it have?

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