BASH the Blog

CoD Config Files

2009-01-25T12:48:00.008-05:00

If you are struggling with low FPS in Call of Duty, then you might want to consider modifying your configuration file.

Over at BASHandSlash.com, we store tons of config files to help you play Call of Duty better. We explain in depth how to modify them and yes, it is legal to do so as long as you stay within the ranges prescribed by the game.

So check these out:

CoD:WW configs are here

CoD4 configs can be found here

CoD2 configs can be found here

BASHandSLASH.com

2007-08-31T21:07:00.000-05:00

BASH...the Blog is dead.

Long live BASHandSLASH.com

You heard right, the BASH webcast's venerable CoD2 blog, will soon cease to be. It is a dead blog. The only reason it will continue to stand on its high perch is because we will have nailed it there.

With the coming of Call of Duty 4 in November, it must have been obvious to any of our readers that BASH...the Blog, as a CoD2 site had limited life left. For this reason we thought seriously of our future and decided to make a long term commitment to the CoD and FPS gaming community.

On a personal note, as the host of the weekly gaming webcast BASH, the author of this quasi-daily blog, BASH...the blog and the publisher of BASH EspaÑol - oh, and the admin for the BASH Boards, I've had a bit too much on my plate.

Managing all these entities has been tough without a portal and that's why we bought BASHandSLASH.com. Having one site will allow us to become more efficient and thus will make the gathering and disseminating of community news easier.

WHAT'S WITH THE NAME?

BASH is and will still be the name of our webcast; "SLASH" will refer to all our written work and hence the name of the new site: BASH and SLASH!

MISSION STATEMENT

BASHandSLASH's goal is to increase community awareness of the work, skill and effort put into building and maintaining the online FPS gaming hobby. It's about the community.

WHAT'S IT ALL ABOUT?

Light-hearted and intelligent discussion. I hope that we will not be a typical gaming site. We go by a few mottos:

"Entertaining and informative"

and

"At BASHandSLASH, we get the *word* out".

You will not find boring, overbearing, know-it-all articles here. And if you do...it's us doing sarcasm baby! One of the reasons we started this site is that we were tired of self-righteous, all-knowing, noob-hating site-Admins and their self-righteous, all knowing, noob-hating forum posters. The concept of our new site is to encourage communication so that all of us can one day achieve self-righteousness, omniscience and noob hatred.

Priorities and Focus

a) We will specialize in getting the CoD community all the news they need, be it both commercial in origin or derived from our own ranks.

The community will have input into BASHandSLASH! Contribute in our forums and let me get to know you and you will be allowed the ability to write your own articles on the pages of BASHandSLASH. Add links. Add news items. Participate!

b) General FPS Gaming, including exciting new games like Medal of Honor.

c) Humor ("humour" for the Brits out there)

Taps for dead blogs everywhere

Sadly, we will be losing BASH...the blog. It has served us well over this past year. This will be done in a slow phase out. We will not delete any of the posts on here - but we will probably not add too much content, if at all.

BS BOARDS

The current bashboards.freeforums.org forums will be for the time being our site Forums. We have renamed them though to: The BS Boards, in honor of the BASH and SLASHING going on in them.

HABLA ESPAÑOL?

Also, we do not plan on carrying forward with the BASH EspaÑol site. Bilingual articles may appear in this site - but that will be up to our readers and their needs.

THANK YOU TO YOUZ GUYZ

BASHandSLASH did not just pop out of our addled brains. No sir/ma'am. It is a fermentation of various comments, ideas and suggestions we have had this past year hanging out in the sometimes-fractious CoD Community. At the great risk I will miss thanking someone, here is a list of the people who have helped me out:

My Wife

{DD}MorphineFiend - oft misunderstood, oft misquoted, accept to no copies. Morph, yo' da man. No one in CoD writes as well as you - WORD.

{DD} GenSherman - founder of the Devil-Dogz. Woof Woof! Awesome dude. Russ gave me the encouragement to try my hand at webcasting and told me how much he liked BASH in spite of how much it may have sucked at the beginning. Thanks Russ.

{DD} Elixir of Mongoose - GenSherman's better half.

All the {DD}'s: Go0ch, Lem0nade ...et al

Matt Pruitt and planetcallofduty.com - Matt is one of the nicest folks I've met on here. Never a bad word about anyone and always optimistic. Thanks Matt!!!

Luis Guerrero - gracias cabron!

{DBTRS} Deuce - 1000 karma points for ya dude

*JOKER at eXtreme+: Positive role model for the whole community. He's the real deal. A community led by *JOKER would be a much better place.

BubbaGump - I lose two drops of pee everytime I talk to you dude. Funniest guy in gaming.

Tally, Norminator, and of course Anthony Scungile for not "whacking me".

As usual...we hope to continue to be both entertaining and informative!

The Wait is Over!

2007-08-30T21:15:00.001-05:00

Click on the picture, register in the BASH forums and click on Bulletins to find out what the fuss is all about!

It's coming!

2007-08-29T21:26:00.000-05:00

It's coming.

It'll sweep everything that has gone before it away.

Are you ready?

Really ready?

No, seriously. Are you ready? Ok. I guess your ready...sheesh.

MoH: Airborne SP Demo

2007-08-28T19:59:00.000-05:00

If you are still into the World War II FPS genre, you should try out the recent, single player demo of EA's new entry into their Medal of Honor series: Airborne.

You can download the demo from MoH: Airborne on Fileplanet

If you *do* download it - post your thoughts and impressions in our forums, you'll probably see them next...right here on the blog.

Happy downloads and don't forget to pull the ripchord! :P

Download the demo

If you are interested in how it plays and also, more info on MoH: Airborne MP, download BASH34 which features Matt Pruitt and Pete (Whiskey) from planetmedalofhonor.com

By the way, BASH34 is now the all time most popular BASH, with (as of today) nearly one-thousand downloads. At 30Mb a download, we're clogging up all those Internet Tubes somethin' fierce.

Thanks to the planetmedalofhonor crew for allowing me to record them and embedding the webcast on their site!

MOH: Airborne Hacks

2007-08-28T11:52:00.000-05:00

Ok...this ain't a CoD article...but I know all you CoD guys are downloading MoH: Airborne the SP Demo, so here goes:

Thanks to Paulo88 in the BASHBoards forum for this:

Play Medal of Honor: Airborne beyond the map limits!

If you would like to play beyond the MoH: Airborne SP Demo map borders, then check out this cool hack:

1. You'll need a shortcut to start your demo.

Rightclick the start-up Icon, go to properties and add at the Target line at the end: -enableconsole

place it just after the ".exe" command.

2. Once in the game and when you have played it up to the point where you have destroyed all the flak cannons and you are called to reinforce the gateway near one of the dropzones, *stop* just before you select the intro movie into the next mission, DONT PASS this point!

3. Once there you open your console, and type:

FLY

Now you can fly over the wall and land behind the trigger which activates the end of the demo.

4. Once back on the ground type WALK - And you will stop flying.

5. Now, fight the germans - on the first floor of one of the buldings you will also find a Springfield sniper rifle - Have fun.

Other useful cheats in console :

ALLAMMO - Gives full ammo for all weapons
ALLWEAPONS - Gives you all weapons
GHOST - Noclip through walls
GOD - God Mode
LOADED - Gives all weapons, ammo, and 100 adrenaline

So this might make the last 8 days more fun, before the game comes out. - Stay tuned for more info

Thanks Paulo88 and all your buddies at NANO, especially REGULATOR who told us about the hacks!

CoD4 Multimedia

2007-08-26T19:42:00.000-05:00

Who listens to BASH?

2007-08-25T15:06:00.000-05:00

Here's a picture of our listenership over the past few days. We're worldwide as ZZ top used to say.

Here at BASH we like to put the comm in community, wherever you are on this map, comm-unicate with us!

Send us your thoughts on our blog or webcast at jockyitch@gmail.com

Or better yet, come to our Boards and talk to us - we promise not to be abusive (well...not since the courts ordered us to tone down our rhetoric).

Activision announces CoD4 release date

2007-08-22T19:08:00.000-05:00

Thanks to Deuce and http://www.planetcallofduty.com/ for the heads up that the CoD4 release date has been officially been set:

From http://investor.activision.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=261294

LEIPZIG, Germany, Aug 22, 2007 (BUSINESS WIRE) --

Activision, Inc. (Nasdaq:ATVI) kicked off German Games Convention 2007 today with the announcement of the worldwide release date for Infinity Ward's Call of Duty(R) 4: Modern Warfare(TM), a preview of the international song list for Guitar Hero(TM) III: Legends of Rock and new details on Activision's James Bond franchise.

Listen up soldiers, on Monday, November 5, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare will begin deployment to retailers worldwide. Armed with more than 40 awards and honors from this year's annual E3 Business and Media Summit including "Best Action Game" from the Game Critics Awards, Infinity Ward's epic title is set to enlist gamers into the most intense, thrilling action experience ever. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare will be available on the Xbox 360(TM) video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, PLAYSTATION(R)3 computer entertainment system and Windows(R) PC. A Nintendo DS(TM) version will also deliver the signature Call of Duty chaos of battle to handheld gamers.

Previously, the rumored date had been Halloween, thanks the French website, xboxygen. However, IGN labeled the 5th of November as the CoD4 drop date.

Congrats IGN for nailing it!

United we stand - Divided we fall: at the hands of our leaders

2007-08-19T06:44:00.001-05:00

An Editorial:

Normally, I never talk politics on here. I know that most of you have enough of that at work; however, I cannot stand idly by when I see leaders in the CoD community, either:

a) trying to rip at others in that same community

or

b) pry open sore wounds in our community, causing them to worsen.

Therefore, I have to wonder aloud what the thinking was over at codhq.com when it was decided to poll on whether folks liked the bpcod2.com (Breaking Point) tourney better than the bfecod.com (Battle for Europe) variant.

Some background:

I'll get flak for this but, first off, both tournaments are nearly identical. They cover the same topic, namely they are Call of Duty2 tournaments set in WWII. Their similarity is not a surprise when you note that bfecod.com unintentionally begat bpcod2 and they share some of the same genetic code. A group of disaffected youngsters playing in bfecod, broke away about two years ago and formed their own tourney: bpcod2. The two groups have been bickering ever since. The rift is worsened by the fact that distance and culture separates the main proponents of both groups: Bfe seems to attract Europeans a bit more than does bpcod. It is sad to see, given that they clearly share mutual love for a similar gametype.

As the newer kid on the block, bpcod is attracting folks away from bfe, wrankling many of the admins in bfe. Heck, wouldn't *you* be upset if you saw your monopoly suddenly face competition from a young upstart?

I would be.

Imagine the Coca Cola board of director's meeting the day after they found out about Pepsi. How would Coke counter the Pepsi threat?

Well, I bring up that analogy, because we're in the counterattack phase right now. And tensions are high and nerves are raw.

The best thing the community elders could do at this point is douse everyone with water and say soothing things. But alas, some folks in the community would rather light a match.

For that reason, I must wag my finger at my friends at codhq.com and suggest that having a poll like the one they are currently running will just fan flames. I hope that this was not done to intentionally cause even more polarization - but the appearance of it (given that codhq.com supports BFE) is quite strong.

Regardless of what we think of each other in this community, I caution folks to turn the other cheek, I call that the "What would Jesus the Gamer do?, philosophy and as they say in Scotland: take the high road boyos.

Mr. Gorbachev, tear down that poll.

Peace.

- Jock

Full disclosure: I've had or will have members of both bfecod and bpcod2 on BASH - and I've also had JD on from codhq.com. They all seem like fine, level headed folks and I have no personal animosity with any of them. My comments above are on behalf on the CoD player in me.

Adapted from the Boys On The Docks lyrics

Say hey Johnny boy hear the battle call.
United we stand, divided we fall.
Together we are what we can't be alone,
We came to the CoD2 community and made it our home.

Yet another BASH contest: shhhh! it's a secret

2007-08-18T18:42:00.000-05:00

On the BASH Boards we have an exciting announcement about the future of BASH.

In addition we are announcing a contest that goes along with this announcement (that'd be an announcement to the power of 2!)

What's the contest about? Now that will be a secret - unless you go and register on the BASH Boards.

What will the winner of this not-really-a-secret BASH contest get?

OK. It's not about the money. If it was, you wouldn't be plopping yo' heiny on that chair for as long as you do playing CoD2 - would ya?

No. It's all about notoriety, fame and accolades from your peers.: you will get 10 Karma points in our Forums!

Normally, you would get 1 Karma point for, say, suggesting a story we air or print on our blog.

So if you wing, you will get 10 all in one fell swoop!

WOW.

If you only knew what I was talking about - you'd really be excited. So, good luck and remember get all the details here: BASH's new contest

BASHIE Contest Heats up!

2007-08-18T18:33:00.000-05:00

Our "Design the BASHIE" contest is heating up.

The BASHIE is our CoD/Web version of the Academy Awards. This site awards the "BASHIE" to the best gaming multimedia presentation on the net.

The winner of the contest will have the award named after them for one whole year.

Register in the BASH Boards and read the contest rules and have a look at the entries submitted so far, click here: The Big Picture Forum

Past BASHIE winners

CoD4 interest takes off!

2007-08-14T20:29:00.001-05:00

We have often used Google Trends to assess the relative interest (or lack thereof) in CoD2. Many times we've used this fascinating tool, which assesses trends by checking Google search logs, to compare CoD2 versus Battlefield 2142 - up to now, a major competitor to CoD2.

With the announcement of CoD4: Modern Warfare, we thought we would plot all three on one graph and see who is winning the gaming popularity contest.

And holy mackeral! In the short span that CoD4 has been announced it has spiked to the same interest levels of both established games and the trend looks hyperbolic!

Certainly great news for everyone associated with this new IW offering!

CoD4 for the XBox 360: Review

2007-08-13T18:05:00.001-05:00

CoD4: Modern Warfare reviews for the XBox 360 are starting to hit the 'net from the established gaming press. It didn't take very long for them to start pumping out critiques after Activision's 9th of August press conference and "reveal". Kudos to 1up.com which had theirs up the next day, here it is:

CoD4 mini review from: 1up.com

Here's their summary:

The guns feel solid and meaty: Primary weapons range from assault rifles, shotguns (manual and automatic) and UZIs to larger weapons like sniper rifles and RPGs. Various grenade types include flash, stun, and smoke grenades. While there's no Gears of War-style cover mechanic (something the developer attributes to the desire to keep the player in the first-person perspective), the lack of a lean ability is a bit disappointing. Still, the combat is very well done; while we'll reserve judgment until playing the final game with our asses plopped firmly on our sofas, we wouldn't be surprised if this were to become the next "it" FPS when it hits later this year.

-Evan Shamoon

The next "it" FPS? Evan. Dude. It's "the" FPS.

CoD4 on XBox 360: Screen Shots

2007-08-12T21:15:00.000-05:00

BASH Boards regular [DBTRS]Deuce alerts us of the following link to a large collection of XBox 360 screen shots from Call of Duty 4:

Planet Call of Duty screen shots

or alternatively:

Team Xbox screen shots

Here's a sample. Note the Mig 29 screaming low over the battlefield. For you realism buffs, the only way this plane would be this low would be if this fighter were either taking off or landing.

Also see the radar screen (top left) clearly showing ingressing (1 solo bandit) and egressing aircraft (2-ship line formation).

The photo is also remarkable for the spectacular lighting around ground objects and the sky is quite nicely rendered. The Mig on the other hand looks like it was pasted on and details on it are too easily made out. In reality, the aircraft would be a blur at this altitude.

No CoD, but eSports hits Sat TV

2007-08-11T00:08:00.000-05:00

The gamers all have the facial expression of zombies, but you have to give the announcers credit, they inject a lot of energy into these gaming shows.

The Championship Gaming Series is trying to bring the heart-stopping excitement you get playing video games to the non-interactive media of television.

Will you watch?

Take a look at their video streaming site where there are four gametypes cued up (CSS, FIFA07, DOA).

Championship Gaming Series

Modern Warfare due out November 9th in Europe?

2007-08-10T17:12:00.000-05:00

For our European readers, from computerandvideogames.com comes the news that Activision's Modern Warfare will be released in Europe on the 9th of November.

From their article:

The date supposedly slipped out at a recent CoD4 press event, where a marketing bloke is said to have revealed that Modern Warfare will be deployed on PC, PS3 and 360 on November 9. Activision UK meanwhile is unable to confirm the date, sticking firm to its original line that the Infinity Ward's shooter will be out simply "this winter".

The date seems to confirm the not-so-well kept secret that Modern Warfare is coming out just before Christmas.

The word "November" did feature prominently in CoD4 demo videos and it should not be a surprise to anyone.

While the month and day may now be known (although still unofficially), BASH continues to place operatives in the field in the hopes of learning what "year" Activision has slated the game to be released. We will alert you as soon as we find out!

For the North American crowd, the buzz on the street indicates that CoD4 will invade the store shelves on the 30th of October - just in time for Christm... errr... Halloween?

That info is courtesy of the French website xboxygen:

Activision vient de communiquer les dates de sorties de Call of Duty 4 : Modern Warfare. Le FPS tant attendu signé Infinity Wards devrait débarquer le 30 octobre outre-Atlantique et le 9 novembre en Europe. Le titre le plus impressionant de l'E3 risque donc nous réchauffer une bonne partie de l'hiver!

There are no verifiable sources, in any language, in xboxygen's article. IGN on the other hand is labeling the 5th of November as the CoD4 drop date. Stay tuned.

Team Pandemic's World Rankings are out

2007-08-07T23:46:00.000-05:00

For those of you who listened to Rob-Wiz from Team Pandemic in BASH Episode 32 and became a fan of the team, here's the latest rankings, from an article on Team Pandemic's site:

After an amazing run at WSVG Dallas that led to a second place finish, the Pandemic Call of Duty team has reclaimed the top spot in the GotFrag.com North American Rankings. Although this isn't the first time the team has been in the top position, it has been five months since their last top finish. The team has also achieved their top international placing in the rankings as they are third in the World only behind Tek9 and Serious Gaming.

GotFrag.com North American Cod2 Rankings
1 - Pandemic
2 - 20ID
3 - Flow Gaming
4 - Check Six
5 - Enervate
6 - Gameslaves
7 - PowerHouse Gaming
8 - eXploit
9 - Area 51
10 - Awakening

GotFrag.com World Cod2 Rankings
1 - TEK9 Networks
2 - Serious-Gaming
3 - Pandemic
4 - Logitech.fi
5 - eSuba
6 - H2k.QPad
7 - 20ID
8 - Team Speedlink
9 - Flow Gaming
10 - Tempkids

Congratulations to Nabore, crzg, Miller, prank, rob-wiz and of course KG for all of their hard work that led to this finish. Look for the Call of Duty 2 team to continue their strong play this summer in CEVO-P and some more WSVG stops.

And if you want to know why their not number 1 in the world...their loss at the WSVG Dallas to TEK9 has something to do with it!

Download the whole match here: Pandemic_vs_Tek9

To play it, load it into your demo folder in CoD2, then type /demo nabVStek9WSVGFINALSmatmata

Here's the last few minutes of that match:

eXtreme+ version 2.2

2007-08-06T22:03:00.000-05:00

Does anyone over there at eXtreme+ sleep? Seriously, I bet they must all be grumpy-Gus's cuz they just don't know how to take it easy and relax. Heck, *Joker, a senior support staff member is from California for gawd sakes. If anyone should know how to hang, it's gotta be the Californian surferdude in the bunch.

But no...they're busier than beavers-on-bennies those folks are.

Hot on the heels of a *complete* website overhaul ( BEFORE | AFTER ) now comes news of eXtreme+ version 2.2!

You will remember version 1.7 right?

Well that kinda turned into version 2.0 if you recall, which then morphed into version 2.1 (the bug fix and Linux/Window-all-in-one-trick-pony version).

The new version should be coming out in one week give or take a few days.

Why 2.2? Apparently it started out as a maintenance revision but the eXtreme+ folks started adding things that were being asked for like:

Invisible Spawn

Look no one there!

Invisible Spawn Protection (ISP) code has been used frequently by sniper servers. When the player is spawned his original model is saved for later and swapped with a null model (so now the player is invisible!). Then upon entry into spawn protection self invulnerability is set to false so that the invisible players are not allowed to get in places they normally would not be able to like across mine fields etc. After the loop is exited (spawn protection over) the program restores the player’s original model type and he is sent on his way: visible again! This lets you sneak away after spawning without the enemy seeing you.

LR Rifles and Hitloc. LR = Long range rifles.

Without this mod you would have only short range (real rifle bullets) hitloc and only about 320 yards of reach. Most sniper servers use a projectile weapon (without the resulting shell-shock) in the place of the rifle bullet to be able to play the big long range maps. This however results in kills for toe or even finger shots... not realistic or even fun. End result is that the mod allows you to shoot farther and lethality requires: location, location, location!

According to *Joker himself, who was kind enough to break the news to me, here are the changes:

1. First off, version 2.2 will be released in two ways

a) In it's entirety as v2.2
b) In a Delta File Format. This way servers running v2.1 can easily remove, replace or add files to update their servers to v2.2. This assumes of course that they have not extensively altered anything.

2. The changes!

The Weapons on Back (WOB)

- Changed: main code.
- Changed: model precaching now done when precaching weapons (_weapons). The weapon models are now loaded at the beginning of the game which makes for fluid weapon switching in the heat of combat.
- Added: enable/disable in cfg (playercontrol.cfg). This allows the admin to switch certain weapons related things off and on.
- Added: Having a weapon on your back in now *only* active when a secondary weapon enabled. You can have 1 gun, 2 guns, 1 gun and a pistol, 2 guns and a pistol, 1 gun and a knife, 2 guns and a knife, 2 guns a knife and a gerbil. Check that. The last option is still buggy and has not been included in 2.2.
- Added: no weapons on back in jail (LIB).
- Removed: lots of xmodel stuff. xmodels are stuff like trucks, tanks, potatoes ...etc. Apparently there is a limit to the amount of these xmodels in the game. The folks at eXtreme+ seem to have gone past that limit in version 2.1.

Weapon menus, ex_weapons, LMS GT script, obituary and weaponcontrol.cfg
- Changed: lowercased weapon names (for WoB).

Character scripts
- Changed: restored to what they were in 2.0 (not needed anymore by WoB).

FX: molotov_blast.efx
- Changed: removed thick smoke effects (caused lag).

FX: emitter_panzerfaust.efx
- Fixed: emitfx typo.

Roundbased gametypes
- Fixed: Inserted gas and firenade code into callbackPlayerDamage.
- Changed: weapon loadout in spawnplayer, and menuWeapon code.
- Fixed: lastwinner and roundwinner in ESD and RBCNQ now correctly read.

Liberation gametype
- Changed: code cleanup.
- Added lib logic to ex_spawn
- Fixed: LIB removed for all stock maps in mp\cod2maps.arena.

Liberation quickmessages (added in 2.1c)
- Changed: only active when LIB is playing.
- Fixed: headicon save/restore was old code.

Add to favorites
- Added: ingame menu expanded with line "Add this eXtreme+ server to your favorites".
- Added: enable/disable in cfg (miscfeatures.cfg).

Ammocrate teamcheck
- Changed: no more "no can do" messages when passing an enemy crate.

Artillery and mortars falltime
- Fixed: negative falltimes are now corrected.
Affects artillery_ambient, artillery_player, mortar_player, punishments (arty).

Liberation camper
- Fixed: camper punishment for players in jail.

DRM messages:
- Changed: inserted code to avoid extra "DRM : reading config file" messages.

Gas and fire nades
- Fixed: gas and fire nades respect spawn protected players now.
- In progress: hard to get the full friendly fire logic in.

Calls to [[level.callbackPlayerDamage]] will crash the server eventually.
- Changed: some code cleanup.

Invisible Spawn protection
- Added: enable/disable in cfg (monitoring.cfg).
- Includes invisible parachutes.
- Changed: no fade on SP hud icon (to synch player and parachute showing).

Also affects ex_main: moved spawn protection monitor above parachute thread.

Landmines
- Added: landmines also linked to ranksystem. Landmines based on weapontype still selectable.
- Fixed: initialization for variable self.handling_mine in ex_main.
- Fixed: handling of damage if player who planted the mine left the server.

Parachutes
- Fixed: proper handling of parachute protection.
- Added: option 0 for no parachute protection at all.
Warning: meaning for settings in cfg has changed (playercontrol.cfg)
- Changed: proper self unlinking when dead -- Thanks TNIC, you were right!
- Added: invisible parachute when invisible spawn protection enabled.
- Fixed: parachuting once is now really once, also when dying in the air.

Rank System
- Fixed: image updated on demotion.
- Fixed: ammo update for demotion now takes extra nades away (in ex_weapons).
- Added: ability to have preset ranks based on clan tags (ranksystem.cfg).
- Fixed: rank promotion/demotion weapon update was based on old rank.
- Added: rank promotion nades add-feature is now configurable.

Security and clan handling
- Fixed: proper var init before checkGUID stops checkInit().
- Changed: self.ex_name now stores clan tag.
- Added: ability to have inactivity kick exclusions based on clan tags (playercontrol.cfg).
- Fixed: clan tag at end of name bug. Now working properly.

Varcache:
- Added: var reading for the extra features.
- Fixed: ex_wepo_loadout (attempt) to turn ranksystem on. Now the wepo_loadout is turned off when the ranksystem is off.

Monitoring.cfg
- Fixed: descriptions for camp objtime minimum and default.

Long range rifles hitloc
- Added: LR rifles Hitloc.
- LR Rifles will be included as an Add-On in IWD format

Localized strings
- Fixed: Tennessee in obituary.str.

Map Rotation / Gametype Scrolling Messages
- Added HUD elements for more eye candy

Configuration files
- Changed: removed scr_allow_vote from serversettings.cfg and varcache (unknown to cod2).
- Changed: removed scr_freelook from serversettings.cfg and varcache (unknown to cod2).
- Changed: removed scr_roundcam from serversettings.cfg and varcache (unknown to cod2).
- Changed: removed g_forceteamspectate from serversettings.cfg and varcache (unknown to cod2).
- Changed: removed g_teamswitchdelay from serversettings.cfg and varcache (unknown to cod2).
- Fixed: seta sv_wwwBaseURL template in server.cfg.

Headshot and melee (bash) rewards:
- Added an optional extra points for headshot and melee kills (only DM and TDM). If the game doesn't give you points for a bash...heck folks, I will!

Misc
- ???? Fixed: free spec bug (_spectating.gsc).
- world sounds for mobile MG's fixed.
- URL eXtreme+ website changed (mod.str, cfg).

Poll #4 What is your favorite CoD2 map?

2007-08-06T16:37:00.000-05:00

What is your favorite CoD2 map poll has ended and here are the results:

Beltot	0 (0%)
Brecourt	1 (6%)
Burgundy	2 (13%)
Caen	4 (26%)
Carentan	5 (33%)
El Alamein	1 (6%)
Matmata	1 (6%)
Moscow	1 (6%)
St. Mere Eglise	2 (13%)
Stalingrad	1 (6%)
Toujane	4 (26%)
Villers Bocage	0 (0%)

Votes so far: 15

Ok...I'm the one who voted for Brecourt. Yes, I know it's a sniper map - but you really have to play a team game to do well at that one. And that's what I love about CoD2: the team aspect.

Having said that, my "best" map is and probably always will be: Matmata.

But enough about me!

Carentan, not to my surprise won. This is the map of choice for most people. It is a well thought out map and has all the elements you would want and is a natural choice for scrimmers.

- Great for close in fighting inside the buildings.
- Good protection from nades
- Overlooking buildings onto the spawn points mean that tactics play a big role.
- Multiple ingress and egress routes. Yes there are the usual 3, but there are variants on those as well.
- Heck, on the German left (American right) the alley way even lets people snipe!

CoD4 Xbox Beta: The Basics

2007-08-06T00:27:00.000-05:00

Some of the details regarding the Beta version of CoD4: MP are now available at Charlie Oscar Delta. Here we'll only scratch the surface to show you what the console gamers will actually be playing this month.

The requirements to get a chance at the Beta are:

a) Access to an XBox360
b) An XBox Live subscription and wait...oh they get more complex it seems:

To be eligible for a token-you must be 18 years of age or older, punctual and capable of answering three trivia questions correctly. Yes, punctual. To be fair, we're doling out the tokens on a first come first serve basis. We're still finalizing plans for where the Beta will be available. Initially, in order to get underway we'll be rolling-out in the United States. As soon as we're able to confirm which other countries are good to go we'll be back to update everybody.

- charlieoscardelta.com

I wonder what the three questions will be?

1. Are you older than 18?
2. What the heck are you doing with an XBox if you are older than 18?
3. If they answer to 1. is yes, have you ever kissed a girl?

Some of the main impressions from the Pre-Beta v3 CoD4: Modern Warfare edition for the Xbox 360 now on display at http://charlieoscardelta.com follow.

The splash screen has a gray out of focus backdrop, with a Marine silhouetted in the foreground, shafts of light pierce through the smoke. It's a near colorless scene. Actually, that is what strikes me oddest so far about the game. The atmosphere is near colorless. Perhaps it's to prepare us for night fighting which will be done in a monotone as well - not gray but green. The gray says "cool" and unemotional and it foreshadows the fact perhaps that killing in the 21st century will be detached, robotic and without passion. Is this also to resist inflaming passions in Americans? After all, they are currently at war and will be playing a game that their sons will be waging for real nearly concurrently.

The console gamers will find that they will be playing on "ranked" servers. You will have a ranking and you can check the progress of your character over time. The PC apparently will not have ranked servers. Here are some of the choices you have:

Barracks:
Check your rankings on the Leaderboards and your progress through Challenges, choose your Clan Tag, and even review your basic player statistics. Note you can look at your rankings world wide or relative to your friends.

Party Invite:
Invite your friends to your party.

Woe. Party? They couldn't think of a better butchy name than "party"? How about fragfest? Or Battle Bash...anything other than party.

Currently it looks like your ranking will be capped to Master Sergeant.

The controls for the game are of no real surprise. But I must ask, why won't some bright spark come up with a better interface for this game than this?

Who goes into an FPS game with a noob stick? Surely, not I. What kind of accuracy will you have with this preposterous interface?

The Beta will also provide you with "challenges" which if successfully dealt with gets you all sorts of add ons and goodies.

Punk Buster Service Communication Failure

2007-08-05T09:01:00.000-05:00

If you have been getting the Punk Buster "Service Communication Failure" when connecting online, you're not alone. This has been a serious problem since their July 25th release:

Version 1.719 of the PB Client for COD2 has been released to our PB Master Servers for auto-update and to our website download page.

Release Notes for PB Client v1.719:
the new PB services are no longer optional, see our PB Services FAQ for more info
the new PB services now support 64 bit flavors of Windows

It seems that their latest release, Version 1.725 A1383 of the PB Client for CoD2, which was released to the PB Master Servers for auto-update and to their website download page and is described as a "maintenance release" may have fixed some of these problems.

One of our BASH Boards regulars, JohnDoe|EagleEye| had this problem and gives us this fix:

For the moment I seem to have fixed the "service communication failure". I don´t know if it was the new PB update (v1725 Sat 4 of August 2007) or a PB command I introduced that fixed the problem. Anyway...I will tell you what i did:

1) Connected to a server and get kicked for "Service communication Failure"
2) Unistalled the PnkBstrA and PnkBstrB services with the pbsvc.exe
3) Reinstalled the two services
4) Updated the PB version manually to v1725 with the Pbsetup.exe program
5) Ran CoD multiplayer
6) Entered PB command: /pb_security 0 using the console
7) Connected to my Clan Server
8) Played normally.

I still want to see what happens in the following days.I hope the issue doesn´t show up again

NOTE:

PB_Security [0=no, 1=yes]:

When set to 0, PunkBuster will accept all "update" files without verifying that they are authentic; the default is 1 which should not normally be changed except for LAN environments where there is no Internet Access and/or you fully trust the Servers you are connecting to.

Let us know if *you* are having problems with Punk Buster. If you are register in our forums and tell us about it in our Tech section.

BASH 32: Pandemonium

2007-08-04T11:23:00.000-05:00

In the latest installment of BASH, we have on one of the best CoD2 players scrimming in the world today: Team Pandemic's Rob Kennedy.

Rob is a 19 year old CoD2 player who put down his Kar98 and joined Team Pandemic this year - taking on the important role of shotgunner for the American crew.

TP has just come back from the WSVG Dallas where they picked up 2nd place. Listen to the webcast to hear what it is like to play at the highest class.

Prior to the interview we invited BASH Boards users to post questions for Rob. JohnDoe|EagleEye| asked:

Q) Do you do sports?(besides playing cod2)

A) Rob plays hockey - like most of us up here in the Great White North - and in fact was nursing an injury to his jaw during the interview. He soldiered on during our chat even though he had his jaw partially immobilized.

Q) What are your priorities in life?

A) Rob is starting college next year and is looking for a career in video arts - but will continue to game.

Team Pandemic's Prank: World's best CoD2 player?

2007-08-03T11:33:00.000-05:00

In BASH episode 32, CoD2 professional gamer and fellow Torontonian, Rob Kennedy (a.k.a. rob-wiz) waxed on about the state of professional gaming and about CoD2 competition specifically.

This uber-confident, some would say cocky, shotgun-wielding midfielder went on to discuss his team, Team Pandemic and his fellow teammates.

You could tell that he was genuinely appreciative of the skill of his colleagues; in fact, he took the time to especially single out one individual: Justin "Prank" DeMara.

DeMara is the team's sniper. Sniper on a 5v5 S%D team is the tactical equivalent of the catcher in baseball, or the middle-linebacker on a football team.

According to Rob, Prank is the best player in the game...the best.

That's high praise indeed from someone who is as supremely confident in their abilities as Mr. Kennedy.

Generally considered as the #2 Sniper in the world up to now (2nd only to the legendary eSuba Czech player luckeRR), his performance at the World Series of Video Games in Dallas may have put him over the top.

His shot making was *unreal*.

The demos can be found here: Pandemic demos of WSVG 2007

As far as I'm concerned, in a game full of automatic weapons - you have be the best overall when you and the chambered round in your sniper rifle manage to survive against the salvos coming back at ya. I had heard many people say they were the god of Cod before, so I held off my decision on Prank ...until I saw the demos. Have a look. After seeing him in action - if he's not the god of Cod - then, I want my donation to his church refunded!

Remember September Trailer Released

2007-08-02T11:10:00.000-05:00

This post is now found in:

bashandslash.com

Nvidia 8800 problems

2007-08-02T10:29:00.001-05:00

Apparently the GeForce 8800 GTX and GeForce 8800 GTS graphics cards, currently being touted as a minimum requirement for running the next generation of video games coming out at the end of the year (CoD4 included), have software bugs.

The full story is reported in the following artices:

1. The Inquirer.Net

IT SEEMS THAT Nvidia's Geforce 8800 series of graphics cards suffers random slowdowns, and this can be particularly problematic for owners of the Geforce 8800GTS 320MB, the cheapest 8800 out there.
The problem lies in fact that the G80 GPU has some trouble with texture memory management. In many unrelated cases, this bug starts leaving textures in video memory and system memory, causing the board to run out of texture memory. Once you run out of memory for textures on your graphics card and system, you will experience a lot of swapping with textures on a hard drive, and that is recipe for disaster, at least as far as framerates are concerned.

Follow up article

AFTER OUR ORIGINAL story, we managed to get an update from an Nvidia rep regarding the actual timeframe of the driver release that will fix the 8800 slowdown issue.
As it stands right now, fix for this highly annoying bug is planned for a release between the end of August and middle of September. My personal assumption would be that the latter date is a more realistic one. Nvidia stated that this problem is "of complex nature," and it seems to us that fixing one card leads to issues with another.

Poll #3 What CoD weapon is your fave?

2007-08-02T00:32:00.000-05:00

The bolts have it!

This is one is a huge surprise to me - and frankly, i really don't see this trend in the servers I go to. So, that must mean that BASH readers are more likely to have a fondness for bolts.

When I first started playing, the only weapon I used effectively was the Thompson. As I moved over to play on eXtreme+ servers, my tastes changed and I became a Greasegun fan (not as lethal, but allows excellent mobility and has a high rate of fire).

Nowadays, I'm either using the Kar or the Garand (backup is either the MP44 or the Thompson).

What CoD weapon is your fave?

The first to play CoD4 are.....

2007-08-02T00:07:00.001-05:00

If you were a member of our Forums, you would have seen this posting from {PST}*Joker:

I'm not sure that this is out yet, but I haven't been told NO so here it is.

The USA guys that got invited to the IW Community Event in June, got a re-invite on Aug 9th to be amoung the 50 Sweepstakes winners that get to play COD4 first before anyone else.

I have accepted the invite, as well as Sparks -- that is all I know for sure

- {PST}*Joker

Way to go Joker and Sparks!

See what's shakin': use vibrance!

2007-08-01T21:00:00.000-05:00

This article is now found here: BASHandSlash.com

CoD4 now can be pre-ordered

2007-08-01T17:53:00.000-05:00

Deuce from the DBTRS's clan just alerted the BASH forum community on the BASH Boards that CoD4 is now on sale - you can pre-order right here:

ebgames

gamestop

(Quick, take dad's credit card from his wallet...I think he's asleep).

The PC price is $50U.S. and thanks to a weak American economy, Canadians can afford it as well (~$53 CAD + GST lol)

What sux about CoD2 online?

2007-07-31T23:32:00.000-05:00

As I posted in the BASH Boards, with the launch of CoD4 imminent (if November is imminent in July!) ...we can now fess up...what really irritated you about CoD2 multiplayer?

For me:

1. The lack of PunkBuster out of the box.

2. Punkbuster: do a Google search right now of all the folks being booted from servers with legit copies of CoD2 and no hacks - even virgin copies with no mods are being booted. This is unacceptable from a piece of software that came out last year. It's getting worse at every revision.

3. I confess. I still hate most of the weapons with the exception of the Thompson, Nagant and the M1 Garand. They all feel uncomfortable to me. And those pistols seem totally wimpy. I would also include the Kar in that list, but I found it wimpy.

4. A pet peeve: there are no street signs/addresses on the maps...how am i supposed to tell my clanmates where the enemy is.

5. Lack of a sprint key...i really feel the need for speed sometimes!

6. The rifles have no lethality. The use of rifles should be rewarded. They should be one hit one kill weapons. I know its a game - but hit someone in the chest with a round ...they go down in my book. That's what should happen.

7. Gravity has no effect on ranged shots.

8. There is a huge barrage of text messages and warnings in the game and they take your eye away from the action. They all appear right at eye level. put the text messages, including the chat box away from the action!

And here are a few to round things out from some of our readers:

JohnDoe|EagleEye| says:

9. The pellet spread of the SHOTGUN! It's a damn joke!
10. Grenade icons (he doesn't want them)
11. Hit blips (he doesn't need them)
12. Red dots on the compass (he abhors them)
13. Recoil-less weapons (too easy to fire and stay aimed)
14. Weapons are too easy to aim (no pulse?)

Do you have some CoD2 peeves? Get them off your chest and register on the forums and continue this thread.

You can find the thread here:

The BASH Boards Forum Index -> Call of Duty 2|Online CoD2: WTF?

CoD4's got some perky little numbers!

2007-07-30T22:21:00.000-05:00

The CoD4 perks just keep on coming. These perks are cool little bonuses that you get in multiplayer for doing well.

Here's the latest one, it's called C4. Note the graphics now say "WIP (Work-in-progress) Pre-Beta"! It used to be pre-alpha. The video looks like the game is being played on the Sony Playstation 3. The bomb tossing motion the soldier avatar makes when throwing the C4 are not as subtle as I thought the graphics would be . He throws the C4 as though it were as light as a slice of toast - in my opinion takes away from the immersion everyone keeps talking about. Check it out for yourself.

For the others...check out the BASH Boards CoD4 forum all of them are there with video embedded in the posts.

Wanna Scrim?

2007-07-30T01:16:00.000-05:00

Exciting news from BASH:

Wanna Scrim? is a shoutbox application we've added to the Blog.

You can use it to place your game requests and have them filled before your eyes! No messing around with IRC!

Do you want to scrim? This what you need to do:

1. If you want to send out a Scrim Ad, type a short ad like the following, e.g.:

{DD} 4V4CTF Stock Xfire:jockyitch

2. All scrim requests over an hour are considered expired.

When other clans see your request they can immediately xfire, email or shoutbox you back!

Happy scrimming from BASH.

BASH Frag Video

2007-07-29T12:42:00.000-05:00

One of the runners-up for the BASH this month for CoD video (won of course by Madskillz at bpcod2.com) is this little Frag/Bash video:

Old BASH, New look!

2007-07-28T23:44:00.000-05:00

It's the same old BASH, but it's a new look for us. We have heard some of you complain that the old site looked tired.

We have added a backdrop to the site to make it look more "gamish".

Hope you like.

Please drop by the forums and tell us if you like/dislike.

Poll #2 What is your flavor of CoD?

2007-07-28T11:14:00.001-05:00

If you like your CoD modded, so it seems do many of your peers if the small sample of folks who too our poll suggested.

I play only stock.
1 (20%)

I only play modded.
2 (40%)

I play both.
2 (40%)

All the polls we take here on BASH (both on the blog and in our forums) will be tabulated in the BASH Boards for you to review.

Optimize your CoD2 settings like a pro

2007-07-27T15:49:00.000-05:00

This post can now be found at BASHandSlash.com

eXtreme+ website gets HUGE overhaul

2007-07-26T21:56:00.000-05:00

You must check out the new home of the eXtreme+ mod. It's gorgeous! And you couldn't really say that about the previous one.

The folks who look after eXtreme+ mod for Call of Duty have brought their website into the 21st century. Here's *Joker's statement:

From *Joker:

"Brand spanking new eXtreme+ website. Putting the final tweaks on it now."

http://www.mycallofduty.com

or at

http://www.extremecod2.com

But you would have known that if you were a member of our forums: The BASH Boards

CoD4 wins big at E3 2007

2007-07-26T20:56:00.000-05:00

Check out the hardware:

G4
Best of Show
Best of Xbox 360 Game of Show

Kotaku
Best of Show Nominee
Best Game, Console Nominee
Best Action Game Nominee
Special Commendation for Sound Nominee

Next Generation Online
Game of show (Runner-Up)

GamesRadar
Game of Show (Runner-Up)

Popular Mechanics
Best Shooter at E3
Best Game Overall (Third-place)

Gamespot
Editors’ Choice Winner – Best Graphics
Editors’ Choice Winner – Best Shooter
Editors’ Choice Finalist – Best PC Game
Editors’ Choice Finalist – Best Xbox 360 Game
Editors’ Choice Finalist – Game of the Show

TeamXbox
Best Game Overall
Best FPS
Best Graphics
Best Sound

Call of Duty 4 Links List v2.0

2007-07-25T01:00:00.000-05:00

We are keeping a running tab of the most important Call of Duty 4 links in the CoD4 forum on the BASH Boards.

Register, then come in and add your favorite link or website!

BASHIE Design Contest

2007-07-24T22:04:00.000-05:00

Over at the BASH forums (BASH BOARDS) we have started a new contest to design the new BASHIE.

Are you any good at graphics design?

Are you someone who knows that Gimp is a software program and not just the guy in the lockbox in the movie Pulp Fiction?

Well, have we got a contest for you:

As some of you may know, I dole out the BASH equivalent of the Oscar's to the best Community art - every month. Up to now I've been using the following banner to award the winner:

BASHIE winners can be found here: BASHIE Award winners

Well, the design kinda sux. So here's the deal.

YOU design a new BASHIE logo!

And for the heck of it...let's have a contest while we're at it.

To get all the details, register in the forums today!

Who's honoring us now: BASH feted on bpcod2.com

2007-07-23T23:27:00.000-05:00

Madskillz from Breaking Point has written up a nice little blurb on us here at BASH.

Read it on their forums: http://bpcod2.com/showthread.php?t=5798

Now if he would just stop adding the definite article "the" in front of our name ("The BASH" ) everything would be right with the world.

First Poll Results

2007-07-23T20:28:00.001-05:00

The first poll question posed on this blog, What will you buy this Christmas?, led to a very close result.

CoD4 narrowly edged out MoH: Airborne: 5 to 4.

Given that we focus nearly exclusively on CoD related topics on here, this was an excellent showing by Airborne!

Sadly, no one is buying new knickers or a puppy. Beware pet-shops, it'll be a poor Christmas season.

BASH Episode 31

2007-07-23T19:25:00.000-05:00

On the BASH Webcast this week, we meet Andy Jensen, technical advisor and one of the founders of Breaking Point , the Call of Duty 2, World-War II on-line Tournament.

Andy and I talk about what it's like to play in his Call of Duty 2 Tournament.

He also drops a bombshell: Breaking Point is going to create a CoD4 Tournament which will be coming online real real soon!

Show notes are available in the BASH forums: The BASH Boards. Go there now and register and be part of the BASH community.

Respawned: The Boards are back

2007-07-22T17:22:00.001-05:00

We've been working all day on this, but the BASH forums are back:

The bad news is that our forums provider has let us know that we have lost all of last week's posts. Going on the freeforums site and reading some of the stories from other folks who lost everything evoked in us the internet equivalent of the scene at a train wreck.

The stories of effort loss were everywhere. In one case, an elderly lady passed away and left her dying comments on one forum - last words that will never be recovered. The folks who knew her were, shall we say, distraught. This story put my self-pity to shame. Misery loves company...so here's a few of these stories:

I´ve been an admin for a group with you guys since the 13th of June. I am surprised to read this has happened before, is this true? I can´t have this happen again, my bboard is a support group for people with mental illnesses. They can´t stand things like these.
- addi

After years of running an on-line support group for amputees on Yahoo I decided the end of June to move the members to a Forum here. On July 15th I closed the Yahoo site and this became our Forum. Thankfully I did not delete the Yahoo Group, but only closed the door. I am now leaving it up to the members if they wish to continue given our experience here.
-alpikecp

I can't say, how deeply frustrated I do feel. The more as I had asked our administrator to save the database in a backup and was informed, that "the button is inactive" - so, we now don't have anything remaining.

We've had our game-guild forum here and we have been on a problematic point of development. Now EVERY discussion, all agreements, all contracts are gone. our "partners" turned out to be deceitful - we are ruined.

luckily its just a game..... but still i am very annoyed.

When the forum came up again the first time, I missed some posts. Confusingly all contributions of our guild-leader and administrator of the last 3 weeks were gone. Other recent contributions were still there. Then, after another long down-time, all posts after june 29th were gone. And now only one topic is remaining. What the hell happened? Got we hacked? Did our admin run mad?
- sabata

Apologies to all the folks who registered on the BASH forums this past week. We have been told by our provider that this will never happen again.

FreeForums.org drops ball

2007-07-22T00:49:00.001-05:00

For those wondering what happened to our recently launched BASH Boards:

Last night, the folks that were hosting the forums (BASH Boards), freeforums.org, had a hardware meltdown (Hard-drive failure). Rumour has it, that there is a near 100% chance that they have lost our forums and ...get ready...they have no backups.

I would like to apologize to all the faithful BASH listenership and readership out there for this. I would especially like to apologize to those who posted on the forums. It looks at the moment that the data was lost.

We are committed to having a forum for the webcast and we will get one up. However, we are still reeling from the fact that in the Web2.0 world, people are setting up computer data businesses without any provision for backups.

While freeforums.org provided, what on the outside looked like a great product, the service we received this past week was abysmal. Then to top off these issues, a hardware crash (normally an event that should be thought of as inevitable) wipes out hundreds of forums and thousands of hours of people's work.

Please, consider their lack of communication and amateurishness if and when you go out to pick a forum provider.

Again, BASH regrets the loss of our forums and apologizes to our fans.

We'll be back!

Here's freeforums.org's public statement

Hello jock,

I would like to apologize for the forums who lost data over the past few hours. We experienced a hard drive failure on our main database server. This was an unfortunate incident that could not have been avoided by either our host or our administrators.

We've done everything we can to recover the data, unfortunately most of the data was recovered corrupt. Forums that weren't moved to the new server will be reverted to a prior backup. Any non-existent forums will need to be re-created.

We have taken measures to stop such service interruptions, as well as the slowness/downtime you have been seeing over the past few weeks. We will be using a clustered network solution, in case of one server failing there will be others to take its place. Therefore, what happened last night will never be able to happen again.

We expect to have the network upgrade completed by Monday, July 23rd. The new server network --which sets the stage for our phpBB3 release-- boosts total redundancy in almost all areas, increased processing power for faster load speeds, and a 24/7 backup system in place to make sure your data is always safe. In addition, we will have the backup mod online within a few days so customers can safely download a forum backup to their computer.

Again, we apologize for any inconvenience. We value you as a customer and look forward to providing an even better service after the network upgrade is completed.

Thank you for your understanding and support.

-FreeForums.org Team

Pro Config files for CoD2

2007-07-18T18:53:00.000-05:00

This article now resides at BASHandSlash.com

Version 2.1 of eXtreme+ is out

2007-07-17T22:12:00.000-05:00

Our good friend {PST}*Joker just posted in our forums that Version 2.1 of eXtreme+ has just been released. Read about it in the BASH Boards

Joker also makes a poignant statement in the eXtreme+ website, he thanks the folks that made eXtreme+ possible, here's a snip:

Special thanks:
The eXtreme+ Support Crew would like to take this opportunity to thank all the users of the eXtreme+ mod, with out all of you, we would not have a reason for doing this and would not be having as much fun as we are.

Thanks to R/F clan for the generous donation of a Linux Testing Server

Thanks to http://www.myinternetservers.com for donating a server to test on and to test their services.

Thank you to ALL the clans and server admins that PM us obsessively for the Pre-Alpha, Alpha, and Beta testing. TYA, ESC, R/F, QK, PST, TOG, etc, etc. Without your testing and reports, eXtreme would not be what it is today.

Thank You and Farewell to former eXtreme+ Support Crew Tally. His knowledge and wisdom has advanced eXtreme+ mod 10 fold from what it was in the begining of COD2. His expertise, passion, and repeated sacrifices will not be forgotten!!

And finally, to the entire eXtreme Support Crew......a HUGE thank you during all the behind the scenes researching, coding, testing, and dealing with everyone else's tired and over-worked attitudes, THANK YOU!!!

Last by certainly not least, if anything was missed or overlooked by any of the fine people that contributed to this release in any way shape or form, please PM any of the Support Crew so that we may fix this unfortunate oversight ASAP

Yes, Tally has stepped down from eXtreme+. But of course you would have known that if you had listened to BASH 30 last weekend! Thank you Tally for all the work on eXtreme+ and I guess that means you'll have even more time to get Rise of the Resistance out!

Oh, and who said Joker wasn't...um, a joker? Here are some changes in 2.1 that he highlights:

-Long un-approved vacation by Gixxer
-removed a few things that never really worked in any version

I'll miss the things that didn't work. I came to rely on them. :(

A little Jock-ularity there Joker....lol

Thank you eXtreme+ crew and good luck Tally!

CoD Tournaments

2007-07-17T22:02:00.000-05:00

Call of Duty 2 Tournaments.

Love them or hate them? Tell us what you think in our forums.

We're interested in what you think because there might be a new tournament being organized in the CoD community.

What would get you to join a new tournie? Had enough of stock TWL competitive matches? Not confident enough to take on the money players over at the Total Gaming League? What about modded tournies?

Tell us what you would like to see in a tournament - register in the forums now!

Thank you.

bpcod2 tour ends in tour de force

2007-07-16T21:02:00.001-05:00

With the Allies managing to win North Africa, the focus now shifts to Western and Eastern Europe over there at Breaking Point: A Call of Duty 2 Tournament (bpcod2.com).

And those theaters are all to play for in this, bpcod2's 6th campaign. Congratulations Allies!

After the Allied win, bpcod2's Madskillz was motivated to capture the agony and the ecstasy of the event in this little movie (160 Mb compressed)! Madskillz is without a doubt one of the best movie directors in the gaming scene today. He plies his cinematographic arts voluntarily for our gratification. And wow am I gratified this month.

So, get a bag of popcorn, curl up with your favorite lady/man (...note, that I'm not into the back-door-shenanigans) and watch this movie on your Apple TV.

Ladies and gentlemen, the BASHIE for the month of July for multimedia, goes to Madskillz in a resounding landslide.

And now...

Apocalypse London (160Mb)

Other related posts:

Breaking Point Posts

BASH Boards

2007-07-14T19:03:00.000-05:00

After receiving an overwhelming number of requests...OK. I confess, there were only 2 requests: one was a PM from some kid, and the other was a drunk guy (Phil I think he said) who called me at 2 in the morning, but I digress…BASH is proud to provide its formerly voiceless listeners and chatless readers with forums…

The BASH Boards

Here are some of the categories we are starting off with…

BASH Webcast: Listener feedback and suggestions. Talk about what we’ve been talking about on our webcast.

Call of Duty: All things CoD, including a section on tactics.

Medal Of Honor: Get ready for Airborne. For those WWII fans…this is where to be in the coming year.

Animal Mating Rituals: I seriously doubt other gaming forums have an animal mating ritual category. Ha!

Rampage: Your say on upcoming FPS games - or tell us what you think about the ones you play. Tell us what bugs you.

Tech Discussion: What’s hot in hardware and what’s not? You got probs running your games - ask us here.

FanBoi/FanChic: Sell your gaming site here…pimp away!

So what are you waiting for? Click on the Forums button on the right! Remember to write with wit, logic and please be sympathetic for the poor bastard you're about to flame: that bastard could be you one day.

Fourzerotwo tells of CoD4 honor!

2007-07-13T21:20:00.000-05:00

Rob Bowling, a.k.a. fourzerotwo, the community relations pointman for Infinity Ward, is with a large Activision/IW entourage right now at the E3 convention showing off IW's Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare.

Tonight on Rob's blog, he tells us that CoD4 has picked up one of its first (of what undoubtedly will be many) awards: G4's Best of Show (E307).

http://www.g4tv.com

Standing O. Nice job IW. Take the weekend off.

In CoD We Trust

2007-07-13T20:38:00.000-05:00

The second part of the the two-part interview with Tally (from Rise of the Resistance and Tally’s World) and {PST} Joker (from the eXtreme+ mod) is up on the BASH webcast site. The episode is called: In CoD We Trust.

We called the episode by this title because we have to trust that Infinity Ward will finally listen to the community that will buy their new game Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. They did not hear us very well after CoD or CoD2 and they built themselves a terrible reputation because of this.

Up to now, IW hasn't had to worry too much about this bad rep. Sure the "cognoscenti" in the CoD world have all been atwitter about this apparent snub (no cognoscenti worth his Italian loafers likes to have his views ignored), but this hasn't stopped the game-buying-public from flocking to the CoD series.

Having said that, the Call of Duty community has never been as strong as those that formed around lesser FPS games like CounterStrike. Is this due to the lack of involvement with the community by IW and Activision. In my opinion - of course! It's in IW's interest to build this large community for their financial security going forward.

Well IW seems to have gotten religion (as they say in the south). With their pending release of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, they have invited the leading lights in the CoD gaming world to an all-expenses paid trip to their studios, they've hired community scripters and modders, and they've got Rob Bowling (fourzerotwo) doing community relations.

Will this new glasnost-like approach from IW mean that the CoD community will grow? Or is this fuss all show from IW...a publicity stunt, perhaps, to sell their new game?

To discuss these issues, I bring on Tally and Joker, both leading lights (heck, they're not just leading lights: they're high-beams) to discuss the lack of communication.

Why hasn't IW made it a priority to listen to its customers?

Tally:

"...it's always been a mystery that IW makes these great games but they've been crap at community relations in the past...Grant Collier took us out to dinner and he was very candid with us. Grant told us that the reason for the lack of community response was that ... here was this very small company, Infinity Ward, in the days of CoD I, that grew into this massive organization...and they couldn't cope with the rate of growth. "

Is the new interest in the community a publicity stunt? Will they listen?

Joker:

"...they sat us down and said, here's what we've done, what do you think? And don't tell us we're not listening."

Will things change going forward?

Tally:

"...they've turned things around and this is a dawn of a new age in the relationship."

We also ask Tally and Joker to talk about the truce between the eXtreme+ guys and ww2x! What will the truce mean to the modding community at CoD?

Joker:

"...the war between eXtreme+ and ww2x was never a war that concerned me and frankly I didn't care...in the background I was always talking to Marc (ww2x). But I did start to see it affecting so many other people - people that were leaving our forums that were peed off. So I saw the community affected as a whole. Talking to Rudedog and getting a peace...this is a healing event for the community."

CoD4 System Requirements: Rumors and Facts

2007-07-13T00:17:00.000-05:00

This article has moved here: BASHandSlash.com

Call of Duty 4 - Double Tap

2007-07-13T00:00:00.000-05:00

From Gametrailers.com, IW's CoD4 trailer showing how "double-tap" perk works. The double tap feature allows you to fire intermittently rather than a continuous stream of gunfire.

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare E3 Demonstration

2007-07-12T21:49:00.001-05:00

Youtube video posted by COLDOG on Call of Duty 4 being showcased on the Xbox 360 at E3 Microsoft press conference.

Punk Buster Duplicate GUID/CD Key Error

2007-07-12T20:06:00.001-05:00

Has PunkBuster booted you off servers lately for the "Duplicate GUID/CD Key" error?

You're not alone.

Of course if you have a bootlegged disk ...then you've been caught with your hand in the digital cookie jar.

However, assuming you are indeed running a unique, legitimate copy of CoD (or any other PB supported game) there are many reasons why this error could have occurred.

Not the least of which is that the PunkBuster program failed to auto-update itself. Perhaps your firewall prevented it? Perhaps you had a computer crash or power outtage during the update procedure (that's what happened to me!).

Well, this is how you fix your PB and get yourself back to playing CoD. Go to PB's website and use the setup program they provide and use it to manually update PunkBuster.

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

If you are an MS Windows client, download: pbsetup.exe

There are other setup programs for Linux and Mac users. Run the program and it will update that badboy for ya!

Remember, when PB kicks you for no good reason - kick back.

Using Dev mode to catch hackers

2007-07-11T23:33:00.000-05:00

Sunny Fire, a BASH webcast listener, wrote to me the other day regarding our program entitled:
HaXer!

Hi thank you for the great info on the COD2 Webcast. I was just wondering in your webcast you were talking about the subject of using Developer mode in demo mode. I have typed in developer in the the counsel mode and nothing comes up as far as seeing what others see in the demo without the walls. As mentioned in the webcast. If possible can you please type to me in regards to this as to how do you type it in the counsel of COD to activate the Developer mode to be able to view these demos to catch hackers. Thank you very much for your time.

Well Sunny Fire, hope you enjoyed the show. I've posted your question because I assume others might be interested as well.

Try visiting this site,

http://www.punksbusted.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=21303

it has a step by step instruction on how to do this.

I haven't done it in a while - but I think it should still work! LOL.

Please let me know how it works for you.

Rise of the Resistance Media

2007-07-09T20:29:00.001-05:00

Hot off the presses (no one uses presses anymore, right?), here's some multimedia - in the form of a movie that Sparks and the folks over at Rise of the Resistance have put together.

They are still images of the RoTR landscape. Right click on the picture and "Save Target As".

Here's Sparks' quote as written in the RoTR forums:

We haven't put out a media release in a while, and I've gotten messages lately from RotR fans wanting more. I put this little video together showcasing some single player and multi player level designs. We have a really talented design team who are working extra hard to bring everyone the best looking levels people can make. The video contains a mixed bag of levels from the Italian and French fronts rendered in DX7 and DX9 (to show what sort of detail people with different hardware should expect). Polish screenshots will make their way on the next teaser. Hopefully we can get screen shot teasers and movie teasers out frequently with updates. Anyhow, here's the level design teaser trailer: Download QuickTime Movie. 24MB. 512x384.
Please note these are from Pre-Alpha. And these are not all the levels in the Italian and French fronts, there are more.

- Alex "Sparks"

The rest of the Rise of the Resistance posts:

Resistance

ALERT: We moved!

2007-07-08T23:01:00.001-05:00

We told you we were moving the BASH webcast to a new domain name - and we weren't kidding! You can now find us at:

http://bash.podbean.com

If you have previously subscribed to BASH, you will need to re-subscribe, as the new feed address has also changed. To re-subscribe, click on one of the widget buttons under the SUBSCRIBE menu on the bottom right of the webcast page - or click on "Add to iTunes" on this page. Here is the new feed address.

http://bash.podbean.com/feed

Listen to our first ever podcast from this site ...it'll tell you all you need to know to find us again.

CoD Almighty

2007-07-08T22:44:00.000-05:00

The first full webcast from our new site, http://bash.podbean.com, features two familiar voices to BASH listeners, Tally from Rise of the Resistance and Joker from the eXtreme+ mod.

They are here to talk about their experiences at the Call of Duty Community Event in Encino California.

This is the first of two episodes we have done with these experienced CoD modders. We touch on gameplay in this issue, but we focus on:

Initial impressions:

"...it totally blew me away" - Tally

The lighting in CoD4
" ...the liquid dynamics and the lighting...unbelievable!" - Joker

Getting your system ready for CoD4 and system requirements in general
"IW was running DX9 and it was running fluidly...you're going to upgrade...mediocre PCI, 1Gb of memory at least, core two duos will be a staple, I think" - Joker

"If you cannot run CoD2 in DX9, you will need to upgrade...you will need PCI express with SLI'd or crossfired video cards" - Tally

Did IW redefine FPS’s with this release?

"This is going to be a million lightyears from the gaming experience that anyone had in multiplayer CoD2" - Tally

Shut up already!

2007-07-08T10:57:00.000-05:00

This article has been moved to: BASHandSlash.com

ALERT: BASH CHANGE'S DOMAIN NAME

2007-07-05T17:22:00.001-05:00

FAITHFUL BASH LISTENERSHIP/READERSHIP:

Please note: the BASH webcast is moving to a NEW domain name:

http://bash.podbean.com

Please note that we will maintain the old domain name http://cod2_bash.podbean.com for the next 6 months as we go thru a transitional period.

The new feed will be itpc://bash.podbean.com/feed

It will be a few days until the bash.podbean.com site will be functional on iTunes. We will alert you when you can download from iTunes.

Why is the domain name changing?

1. The move to the simpler "bash.podbean.com" is simpler to remember and does not restrict us to only Call of Duty 2 topics! Hint-hint!

2. The previous address created DNS server problems. The new one fixes all those problems.

So to summarize...

The BASH webcast will move from http://cod2_bash.podbean.com

to: http://bash.podbean.com

Our blogs though, ain't movin' anywhere.

Again...thank you for subscribing to BASH!

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare Revealed!

2007-07-03T10:09:00.001-05:00

The Community Event hosted at Infinity Ward has elicited some incredible reactions by the participants. According to the folks who went down to Encino, California last week, this game will knock your socks off!

We have one of those participants, Josh (aka JD) from codhq.com this week on BASH to describe what he saw. If you are at all interested in this upcoming game...you have to listen!

Here are some of the things we discuss:

- Call of Duty 4 System requirements
- The death animations are no longer scripted…there’s a new CoD4 animation engine using ragdoll physics!
- CoD4 dynamic lighting and the tactical importance of rendering shadows in the game.
- What’s in store for us in multiplayer? What is the perk system in multiplayer?
- When will CoD4 be released? What is it's current status - alpha? pre-alpha?
- The frangible/destructible environments, the AI, the penetrating rounds, air support … you name it we talk about it.

TRU Story

2007-07-02T15:08:00.001-05:00

This week on BASH we have Josh (a.k.a. JD), the site administrator from codhq.com on the program to talk about his latest venture: Unbound Forces.

Unbound Forces is a new modification to the Call of Duty2 multiplayer game. The modification is a "total conversion"; that is, all the graphics in the CoD2 game are scrapped and replaced by a new story line. You're no longer in Europe and it ain't WWII!

Josh has set his story into the future about 40 or so years. You get to select between either playing a Merc (mercenary) , a group of gun-for-hires who are armed to the teeth, or you can choose to be a member of the Tactical Response Unit: the T.R.U. The latter group is the sole force of good in Josh's somewhat futuristic landscape. So you have a clear choice: you want to be the bad guys or the good guys: whatever that means in the future.

Please click on the picture above to go to the webcast and don't forget to subscribe to the BASH while you are at it!

The Return of FPS Doug

2007-07-01T08:41:00.000-05:00

FPS Doug meets his match: RTS Jeremy!

Headshot montage:

Here's the other FPS Doug clips:

this-guy-needs-diagnosis-dr-phil.html

War is Over!

2007-06-30T18:44:00.000-05:00

At exactly 12:21 UTC today, June the 30th, 2007 a truce was declared to the bloody flame war that existed between two bitter rival Call of Duty modding factions.

The war had pitted Tally (eXtreme+, RoTR) on one side and Wizard220 (and Mike Nomad's Raiders site) on the other. Both influential modders in their own right, these two code-artists let personal issues cause a rift in the Call of Duty modding community and then saw those issues drag that community into a prolonged and antogonizing war.

The truce was signaled by what has now become a historical posting by Tally on the Raiders own website. His attempt at reconciliation created immediate reverberations around the CoD world.

Here is but a small snippet of the post:

While out at the COD4 preview...I spoke with Rudedog at great length about where we thought the community was going, how it was going to shape up after the release of COD4 because IW is doing such a good job of finally listening to the community base...

It is a chance to forget all the old wounds that were created during COD2, for us to finally get a chance to move forward as one community together again. Standing shoulder to shoulder, and having bags of fun together.

This brought us around to discussing the division in the community that is created in large part to me and my war with the Raiders. We both agreed that the community cant take much more of it.

However, In order for this truce to have any chance of success, I MUST resign from the Support Crew. And this because, when all is said and done, I DID fake a PM, and whereas I had what I still feel was almost overwhelming provocation, it was still very wrong no matter what the circumstances. For that reason, and that reason alone, the only honorable thing to do is go.

...I was planning to go to COD4 with the intention of getting all the important site admins there to actually ban the Raiders throughout the community. To fight fire with fire. I had set up a summit meeting with everyone concerned, and the topic was going to be: "The Raiders: the final Solution?"

But, then, on the night just before I left for LA, the "Rise of the Resistance" site was hacked and decimated. All posts deleted.

My first reaction was anger. But, over the course of the night, and during the 11 hour flight out to LA, I started to feel a sense of shame - that my presence on the RoR team had lead someone to hack the site and destroy, not only my work, but the work of all those talented individuals that make up the dev team.

For the sake of community harmony, this feud has to stop. And stop now. Hence I will resign.

- Tally

This post of reconciliation was met with stunned awe and then accolades from Tally's fiercest critics - the folks at Raiders.

Wizard220, one of the original authors of eXtreme and Tally's fiercest critic had this to say on the raidersmerciless.com site:

Thanks for taking the plunge and doing this peace offering. Tally I would like to say I too accept my part in all this. I too can forgive and I too want the very best for CoD.

- Wizard220

The peeling of churchbells began shortly after Wizz's equally breathtaking post and the air is still echoing with their sounds across Callofdutyville hours afterwards as this piece is being written.

While the details of the peace will be hammered out in voice-to-voice comms between the two groups, optimism reigns right now that the Call of Duty community will come together as one after the release of CoD4. Perhaps the group will go on to rival the success of other large FPS groups like Counterstrike.

The fact that this truce occurred is no surprise to this reporter. I could hear the murmuring coos of peace doves in Tally's voice during my BASH interview two weeks ago. But the lubricant that started the engine of peace was surely the Community Event at Infinity Ward Studios this past week, when the major players of the Call of Duty community were gathered together for a major sit-down. Ostensibly, this event was supposed to be a showcase for Activision's Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. In practice, it became much more that that.

It is easy to hate someone you cannot see. It is something else to continue to hate that person after you have met them face-to-face and shaken their hands. That is what happened at IW this week. Meeting your "enemy", seeing that he is not that much different than you and seeking a middle ground is as classic a human behavior as it gets.

Clearly, all of us in the CoD world are elated at this news. Thank you Tally and your supporters. Thank you Wizz and your folks at the Raiders. And most of all thank you to Activision, who made this all possible.

Now, let's get back to playing some video games!

CoD4: Community Event

2007-06-30T14:21:00.000-05:00

As you may remember from listening to the last few BASH webcasts, a group of top-tier folk from the Call of Duty community were hand picked and flown down to California a few days ago to take part in a "community event".

While I was still checking my spam bin for my invite, the event has come and gone and some of the guys have already come back to talk about their experience.

Here are the CoD elite in a group photo at IW (photo courtesy of PST Joker).

Here are a few sites that summarize all the fun in the sun:

planetcallofduty.com: Whiskey's amazing summary!

codhq.com: JD's site
totalcod4.com: vexed
.map: Spark's site
IW forums: A collection of summaries
filefront's recap

Here's a snippet from garetjax's (PAL) post on the IW forums:

First impressions:

- The "Saving Private Ryan" immersion factor is back bigtime. I think I forgot how I felt the first time I played CoD1 and CoD4 totally brought back that feeling and then some. If CoD1 was a 6 on the immerision scale, and CoD2 was a 5/6 (not as high since it wasn't the very first time seeing CoD type gameplay), CoD4 is an 11. Yes Nigel, this one goes to 11.

- Amazingly smooth - both SP and MP. Graphic details close to Chrysis using DX9. We didn't know what hardware they were using and never saw an FPS indicator.

- The mp map was big

- Bullet penetration !!! Yes like CS but CS was clunky - in CoD4 every brush will have a set penetration value and every weapon will have its own penetration power (can you say less random unlike CS). This will add a whole new level to the game because with 30 weapons you can come up with lots of strats.

- Nades They are using a key again and you can cook them. It looked like you couldn't throw them outrageous lengths. They now have smoke, stun, and flash nades. You can now throw nades back at the enemy. I told them all about how many leagues limted them. Crap I forgot to ask if we can get a dvar or two to make smokes smaller or shorten their time.

- Perks For pubs they will add a lot of variety and be a blast. From the competitive player's view I am not sure what to make of them. I spent a lot of time with Grant, Jason, and 402 talking about competitive play and how leagues in the past have done polls on what to limit etc and usually ran a preseason to see how things were working before trying it in a regular season.

- Garetjax

Funny FPS trailer: Team Fortress 2

2007-06-30T00:01:00.000-05:00

Yet another sneak peek at CoD4 has surfaced...it's called: Last Stand.

Oh and here's another CoD4 video, called Deep Impact.

CoD4 just a bit too serious for ya? Well, if you want to see a trailer with a slightly eclectic bent BubbaGump (BASH Episode 20, 26) told me about this Valve FPS classic (from 2006): Team Fortress 2.

The trailers are hilarious.

Lean on me: The Lean Bind

2007-06-29T21:55:00.000-05:00

This article has moved to BASHandSlash.com

AMA on video game addiction

2007-06-27T21:21:00.001-05:00

Sorry, I had meant to post this yesterday, but I got caught up in a clan practice, which kinda spilled over into a scrim when one of the clans we play against called us out...oh and then I had a TWL match...anyway, without further ado....oh say, there's a new map on the DD server, gotta run. But before I go, I just wanted to post some links for you in case you wanted to read more about that AMA story on video game addiction:

http://www.ama-assn.org

Here's some links with reactions to the story:

Experts: Video game addiction is real; players scoff

New illness seen: video game addiction

Gaming junkies get no diagnosis

Alert: Dark.net bot strikes CoD community

2007-06-27T14:32:00.000-05:00

Sparks, from the Rise of the Resistance website posted this unhappy news on their forums last night:

Forum/Site Breach

Tally's other site [Tallys-World] as well as this one [Rise of the Resistance] got hacked/breached.

{EDIT}

Forum will be restored sometime Wednesday/Thursday when Tally returns from his trip to Infinity Ward.

Any questions, concerns, or comments... drop me a private message.

Sorry for the inconvenience and we hope to have the forum up and running again shortly.

Production has not ceased or slowed down.

- Alex "Sparks"

What we do know

BASH has learned other sites have also been affected aside from Tally's and RoTR's. Apparently, there is some indication that this is a world-wide problem affecting PHP Nuke sites. Hackers may have detected some vulnerability in these sites and are attacking them systematically.

Interestingly, the Devil-Dogz site was recently attacked by bots (automated scripts) attempting to write (gibberish) into its forums - at least that was what everyone saw on the surface. Security measures were upgraded and it seems the server survived the attacks (however the software it uses is not PHP Nuke).

If you have noticed such activity on your site, you might want to review your own security procedures (oh...and make backups!!). And make sure you have applied all the patches to your systems - not just OS patches, but 3rd party software as well!

There is current suspicion within the CoD community that the bot doing the damage is called:

"Dark.net"

The attacks have been going on for some weeks now. Apparently, 25 June 2007 was a "trigger" date for the bot activation.

According to those in the know, in order for the dark.net bot to work it "would have had to compromise your site and attach itself to it as a user". The lethality of the bot is clearly high and fortunately the American federal government is now involved.

BASHIE award winning RoTR

We are all looking forward to RoTR being restored again to what it was ... a BASHIE award winning website. I hope the culprits are caught and dispensed with.

Guest Editorial: CoD2 Hackers

2007-06-27T00:27:00.000-05:00

Our guest editorial this week is written by a Devil-Dogz clanmate of mine, {DD} LemOnade. LemOnade is an extraordinarily gifted FPS player - and for that reason is much feared and respected by our competition. He is a passionate competitor and that passion extends to his writing. In today's topic he picks up from where BubbaGump and I left off in Episode 26: Haxer! Remember, all opinions expressed in this article are those of LemOnade. Please post your rebuttals below (under comments) or email him at the address shown.

{DD} LemOnade
BASH Guest Editorial
email: crazybandit@hotmail.com

1. Why players hack.

There are a myriad of reasons why people cheat. I think it all starts with society in general. Name a console/computer game and any 7 year old can tell you where to find the cheat codes for it. What are we telling these children? "Don't worry son, you're ENTITLED to win. Here's the cheats". Multiplayer gaming is just a carry-over from these same children and their cheat codes in a lot of cases.

Then you have the people who are so competitive they will do anything to win. We all know a few of them. These are the same people in real life you wouldn't want to be the banker in a friendly game of monopoly.

There's also a small amount of people who cheat who simply want to cause chaos and ruin the gaming experience for others. I'm sure there are many reasons for them being this way, but since I lack this quality or a degree in psychology, I will simply comment on it and not the reasons. The reason I know they exist are the answers given when asked why they cheat. "I'm bored." or "You're just mad cause you suck."

I find myself having a modicum of respect for the hacker who boldly proclaims his hacks and doesn't try to hide behind the "I'm just a good player, you noob." defense. I mean, lacking an admin on a server, what can you do to a hacker anyway?

2.What type of hacks are being used in COD2?

I wouldn't know the name of the countless hacks that are available to players, but i can tell you the main ones and describe what they do:

a. The wallhack. There are a lot of names for what is essentially the same hack. Whatever the case may be, a wallhack allows you to see through solid objects and know where the enemy is on any map. Some of these cheats will cause the enemy to glow (for lack of a better word) through walls and other objects. Some of these cheats simply allow you to see the enemies name (and location by default) over their heads wherever they are on the map. Some of these same cheats will also tell you what weapon your enemy has, and the distance to target from your location.

b. The aimbot. Pretty much as it reads. The aimbot is a program that allows your computer to aim for you. When used in conjunction with a trigger bot, this can make a hacker almost unbeatable in some circumstances.You run into this less than the wallhack because even the least experienced player knows something is not right when someone is shooting them in the head from across the map before they ever even see them.But there are a few who use it. Some of the toughest cheaters to catch are experienced players who use an aimbot but no wallhack. Even when following these players in spec, you cannot see them looking through walls because they are not. The aimbot for the most part is subtle, if they have the intensity of acquisition set right. Some noob hackers turn the intensity all the way up and you'll see them do a complete 180 and shoot someone in the head from across the map. Even then its hard to prove they have an aimbot, because good players sometimes make incredible shots.

c. The aforementioned trigger bot. This program allows your computer to fire when the aimbot acquires the target. The timing of a trigger bot is instantaneous, taking human reactions out of the killing equation. However, as said before, this makes the cheater more obvious.

d. No recoil. There are programs which allow you to fire your weapon with absolutely no recoil. This gives the cheater a huge advantage against the average player. It allows the cheater to follow the target effortlessly, since you do not have to allow for recoil. This cheat gives you the most advantage with smg's and machine guns since each have a higher rate of fire, and more recoil than other guns.

There are more hacks out there, but these are the most prevalent, imo.

3. How can the average player spot the hackers?

I don't believe the average player CAN spot most of the hackers out there. Simply put, I believe you have to be of a certain skill in the game yourself and know what each weapon can and cant do naturally before you can become competent in spotting the cheaters. Even then, most times you cannot tell without sitting in spectator and watching the player for long periods of time waiting for the moment whet the cheater reveals him or herself.

But anyone who plays the game can go to spectator and make a demo of any suspicious player. I recommend that everyone who thinks there are cheaters on the server they are playing make such a demo. This will allow the average player to, at his leisure, go back and watch the demo for what they feel the player was doing that made them think he/she was cheating. If the player finds something that is obviously a cheat, simply get in touch with that servers admin and send the demo through xfire or whatever peer to peer program that allows for transferring files. I myself have gotten many players banned from a server by making a demo of cheaters.

To record a demo, simply pull up your console by pushing your ~ key on the upper left of your keyboard. Then when that little bar comes up with the blinking underscore line, type in
/demo
"name of file"

Name the file something you can remember because you are going to have to go into your Activision folder to find it, and naming it will make it easier to find. I usually name the file whatever the suspected cheater's name is in game. The trace route to find this demo will be:

C:Program Files/ Activision/ call of duty 2/ main/ demos

To view this demo and make a determination if the player is actually cheating, click on your multiplayer icon but dont enter a server. Open your console and type in

/demo
"name of file"

When you hit enter, there will be a delay of a couple seconds and then the demo will start playing. You can then view whatever it is you made the recording of.

4. Are there solutions to the problem of cheating?

Can clans mitigate the problem?

Of course there are solutions. For every cheat program out there, the game makers could come up with a detection program. This however, is not making the game makers any money, so they have no interest in supporting their product in this way. We all know the bottom line in our society is "Does this benefit me financially?". The makers of CoD2 made a half-assed attempt to make people believe that cod2 would be cheat free by adding PunkBuster as cheat detection. But every hacker knows that PunkBuster is a joke. There are so many holes in the program, its a good thing it's not a submarine. Anyone reading this diatribe, think about it. How many times have you seen PunkBuster actually CATCH someone cheating? Ive played this game almost daily since it was released, and i can count on one hand the cheaters PunkBuster has caught while i was playing.

Since the cheat detection is lacking, its up to server administrators to police their own server by observing players. I recommend you make a demo of cheaters before banning, because there are a lot of people who would rather blame the administrators of a server, than try to recognize that there are cheaters in COD2. Also, make sure you record the offending players GUID so there can be no doubt of who is actually playing the game when you catch them cheating. Good luck, and hope this helps people in the gaming community.

BASH: Episode 26 (Haxer!)

2007-06-24T21:09:00.000-05:00

In this week's BASH webcast, we bring you an episode on the scourge of on-line gaming, the Haxer!

Ben (a.k.a BubbaGump) joins me to co-Host this episode. You will all remember Ben from Episode 20 on Rise of the Resistance. Ben resides in Melbourne, Australia and we hope he will be joining us more often in the future.

In the episode we attempt to define cheating and hacking. We come up with the following:

Hacking, in fps-gaming, consists of gaining a competitive advantage in the game by modifying game files and thus altering the game's software code. Cheating, while not as blatant as hacking, can be thought of as the exploitation of flaws or bugs in the gaming software or the configuration of client-side game variables counter to the instructions set forth by the administrator of the gaming server.

The most powerful hacks are known as client-side hooks. These cheats inject hacked code right into the game executable. They do this by using a "loader" program that finds the game and loads the hack, also known as a "client side hook" (DLL) right into the game. Once the hook is in place the hack has access to all sorts of information the server sends the player (location of other players is the most interesting information). Client side hooks allow:

a) AIMBOTS - these hacks use player data from the server download data stream (snaps) to adjust mouse x,y coordinates. They target the nearest enemy hitbox and result in very, very accurate fire. If you have a high snap/maxpackets setting or good ping - you will get incredible hit registration resulting in a high number of kills.

b) WALLHACKS - these hacks allow you to see enemy players even through walls - an incredible tactical advantage. Of course wallhacks rely on intercepting the download data stream.

Additional hacks/cheats include video card hacks that can clear up fog in a game, scripts that allow you to zoom in (without using a sniper rifle) and auto-fire a Garand!

By any definition, currently, there is a blatant flouting of the gaming moral code going on at msxsecurity.com. This site is notorious for selling game hacks - including those for CoD2. Here is a video showing their wares:

A Belarussian, Maz is the leader of this piratical crew of coders. They do have a sense of humor, judging by their Forum avatars, but is a sense of humor what got them into hacking?

Maybe it's money?

Check out what he was offering as far as compensation back in 2005!

if you have a firm grasp on d3d and C++ then give maz a ring on IRC. You will reap the lucrative benefits of 40% income for every hack that you successfully create. Typical income should be ~50$ a day but in some cases much higher. It will be your responsibility to continually update your hack based on user input. If you don't update your hack and it gets detected, obviously the money is going to stop coming in. Anyone serious should contact me through some means and let me know there (sic) expectations.

At $50/day you're not going to find too many Silicon Valley C++ superstars signing up...but if you're living in Mumbai, or Belarus...you might consider it. To combat these black hat gamers, an online petition has started up to attempt to reign in folks who make money from selling on-line gaming hacks.

Check out this post: pen-is-mightier-than-hack

Also in the program this week, we mention this story about hackers/cheaters caught in China: you-cheat-you-bleed.html

What are the solutions to finding hackers?

Obviously, PunkBuster, brought in at version 1.2 of Call of Duty 2, is one. Certainly there are a lot of people banned from gaming due to PunkBuster, look at the list here: punksbusted.com

However, PB may not be as effective as you may think. Many savvy server administrators simply record players suspected of cheating in "Spectate" mode and play it back. The best way to view the video is to play it back in Developer mode (~ developer 1 - Turns developer mode on). This allows you to not only view the suspected-cheater but also allows you to see all the players in the game simultaneously.

The gaming community can do a great deal to slow down cheating. Check out this site in Australia: allseeingcow.com

Spotting a cheater:

- look for people shooting through fog (graphic card no fog cheat)

- look for people getting lots of headshot kills (aimbot)

- look for players rounding corners and firing accurately at people on the other side indicative of a wall hack. Or for that matter staring at players through seemingly transparent walls.

- look for players firing accurately through bushes (wall hack)

- look for players finding map seams (map exploit).

- look for players firing bolts/rifles as though they were automatics (scripting hacks)

BTW: If you cheat on-line, we want to talk to you here on BASH and find out what makes you tick, send your GUID and your email to: jockyitch@devil-dogz.com.

Gooooooooooooooooooooooolll!!

2007-06-22T23:42:00.000-05:00

Ladies and gentlemen, damas y caballeros,

We here at BASH are very, very orgullosos, oh and we're proud too, to announce today the opening of the Latin American bureau of BASH the blog:

http://bashespanol.blogspot.com/

Read selected BASH articles in spanish or as we would say on bashespanol, 'lean nuestros articulos de BASH en espanol!'

Bien conocido jugador Mexicano de CoD, MEX_LGuerrero will take on the duties of Latin America Bureau Chief. L. Guerrero sera responsable por seleccionar articulos de BASH por nuestros amigos latinoamericanos.

¡Deséamos a señor Guerrero todos lo mejor por sus esfuerzos! And we welcome all of our Latin American CoD enthusiasts.

The Bog - A play by play

2007-06-20T22:26:00.000-05:00

This article analyzes the latest gameplay video from Call of Duty 4. The video from Activision is called, "The Bog" (bog means marshy land) and you can download it here:

http://news.filefront.com/call-of-duty-4-bog-rescue-gameplay-video/

00:01

We first see a GoogleEarth-like satellite image. The image zooms-in on a major city highway situated near a marsh. The marsh is located in a populated area. It is early morning and the city appears to be located in the Middle East.

We are looking out of the eyes of Paul Jackson, Staff Sergeant U.S. Marine Corps. Jackson is standing on a bridge facing SSW. The bridge is littered with destroyed military and civilian equipment. He is surrounded by at least 8 of his Marine colleagues: Cpl. Cherubini, Cpl Castillo and the terse-lipped Lt. Vasquez are at the tip of the formation.

00:08

Lt. Vasquez: "Alpha(?) Company's tank is stuck half a click north of here. We gotta hustle, let's go!"

Move it. Move it!

I failed orienteering, but I think Vasquez is pointing south! No wonder these guys are gonna get ambushed. Vasquez for goodness sake, look at a map! The Marines hump south under orders, guns at the ready. They are all in battle gear, guns drawn.

The Bog
Day 03 - 05:00:19
SSgt. Paul Jackson
1st Force Recon Co. U.S.M.C

The overhead street signs indicate that Gaish Street and Abbasia is up ahead and the highway (Autostrad) is the next right. Anti-aircraft tracers are lighting up the dark sky. The bridge seems to have just been bombed or a major fire fight must have happened only a few hours ago. A Cobra helicopter screams overhead in the same direction Vasquez is pointing to: towards the stuck tank.

"...keep moving up"

Checkpoint reached

"Ambush!"
"Contact right!"

A hail of fire opens up on Jackson's 2 o'clock. Enemy combatants are firing from a 2 story building (red and white awning).

Eliminate enemy forces in the apartment
Secure the M1A1 Abrams tank stranded in the bog.

Our first glimpse of SSgt Jackson's armament:

He deploys his Marine issue M4 A1 Grenadier with a M203 grenade launcher which he can clip onto the M4. He has 390 rounds and 10 grenades. He is also carrying night vision goggles and his gun is equipped with a laser rangefinder.

Jackson lines up the hostiles in his sights. We see his view zoom-in. CoD4 adds a red reticule to aid his aim. The gun is steady as he squeezes off a magazine containing 390 rounds. It doesn't appear that he has hit anyone.

00:28

He's prompted to reload (very annoyingly, the graphics show up just at his aim point). He kneels and it states hold X for M4A1 on the screen. Clearly the game is for gaming consoles.

He places a new magazine in. He now has 420 rounds. Sixty two meters away, the enemy is firing at him.

After re-upping his M4 he walks near a Winchester Model 1200 Shotgun which is lying on the ground. He is asked to press X for the 1200. The X refers to a console gaming pad command. You can see the gamepad icon on the far left of the screen. He declines to take the 1200.

"RPG!"

00:38

Jackson's HUD appears primitive. A compass "tape" moves in a circular fashion and is located at the bottom-center of the screen. Note that when the enemy fires, 2 yellow circles show up on the compass tape. The yellow circles point to the enemy location. The number is the range in meters from the laser range finder that is bolted to the M4. As well, the range (in meters) of whatever/whoever the laser rangefinder is pointing at can be seen on the compass tape. As he attempts to engage the enemy, two cars in front of Jackson are hit by a rocket propelled grenade. The smoke from the RPG hangs in the air. Jackson, bravely, is unfazed. One of a large formation of low level choppers heading NNE is hit. It's a Huey! The rotor must be hit as the chopper begins to spin violently and crashes to Jackson's left.

00:48

"...take the stairs."

Vasquez heroically hides just below the windows of the target building. Our protagonist, Jackson and Sgt. Baker take the stairs down and flank the building on the right. It's pitch black down there. Jackson is prompted for night goggles.

00:57

Checkpoint reached

"...follow me"
"Switch to night vision"

Jackson starts firing at the hostiles, hitting at least one helmeted soldier (at first the enemy appeared to be friendly - fratricide! - but a closer look and the enemy does not seem to be wearing night goggles).

01:06

Rounding a right corner, Jackson and his platoon hit a major concentration of enemy troops in the targeted building complex. Jackson fires 3 grenades into the bombed out apartment building and charges forward.

The grenade launcher has a much different cross hair than the gun- it almost looks like the "Free French" cross from WWII and is white. As well another HUD element just above the grenade counter indicates the weapon in use - when night vision is engaged. One arrow up means the main weapon and one arrow up and one down means the grenade launcher.

The firefight is intense at the moment. Jackson gets clipped a couple of times. A red arc indicates his health has been degraded but no other visible display indicates his status. He seems to recover nearly instantly.

01:33

"...??? take the stairs we'll cover the entrance"

Sgt. Arya and Baker are taking cover behind some concrete slabs. Jackson follows Pvt. Gigliotti up the stairs. Gigliotti struggles with a hostile who has come barrelling from the hallway on the left.

Checkpoint reached

The hostile is carrying a shouldered AK47. As the enemy combatant tries to bring his gun around to fire, Jackson calmly dispatches him with carbine fire to the right kidneys. The hostile's AI in not too sharp. What was he thinking? All the noise was a car backfiring? Dude, if you hear gunfire, the least you could do is unholster your weapon. Sheesh.

Call of Duty 4 Links List v1.0

2007-06-20T20:22:00.000-05:00

Here's a running list of Call of Duty 4 links. I'll be keeping this list updated - please email me anything you think should be added.

email: jockyitch@devil-dogz.com

BASH Call of Duty 4 links list, version 1.0

Official Site:
http://www.charlieoscardelta.com Requires registration.

Fansites
http://www.cod4gamers.net
http://www.cod4files.com

Game Trailers/Videos
http://www.planetcallofduty.com Great site in general. All CoD4 videos will be added here.
www.gametrailers.com Original trailer
cod4-intel.html Original Trailer critique
http://www.youtube.com Uploaded videos from fans

Game play Videos
http://news.filefront.com Game play video "Bog Rescue"

Gaming sites
http://www.planetcallofduty.com/callofduty4/
http://www.codhq.com
http://www.gamershell.com
http://www.gaming-age.com
http://pc.ign.com

IW personnel interviews

http://www.cnet.com.au Q&A with Collier on CoD4
http://www.computerandvideogames.com Collier on tour for CoD4
http://www.gamereactor.se Collier on video
http://www.gamewad.com Collier insults Microsoft's Live Anywhere
collier-of-infinity-ward-speaks-on-cod4.html Collier on CoD4

Playstation
http://ps3.gamespy.com
http://ps3.gamezone.com

Reviews of CoD4 pre-alpha
http://www.clandb.net 19th June 07
http://www.cnet.com.au 19th June 07
http://www.computerandvideogames.com 13th June 07
http://www.joystiq.com 13th June 07
http://www.shacknews.com 13th June 07

Screenshots
http://www.planetcallofduty.com

System Requirements (Not Yet available)
http://www.systemrequirementslab.com
http://www.cod4files.com

Webcasts
matt-pruitt-on-bash.html

Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Call_of_Duty_4:_Modern_Warfare

Xbox
http://www.1up.com CoD4 on the Xbox 360
http://previews.teamxbox.com Review

Tally: RoTR coming out on DVD!

2007-06-18T21:35:00.000-05:00

Rise of the Resistance, the expansion pack for Call of Duty 2, will not only be available for download free of charge later this year it will also be available for purchase on DVD!

Activision is backing the CoD community led project by supplying RotR with the resources to market the game in magazines, on-line outlets (maybe even brick and mortar stores).

Listen to this BASH exclusive on Rallying the Resistance, the second part of a two-part series with Tally the leader of the Rise of the Resistance project right here:

You can listen to part one of this interview here:

Bind your CoD2 Sweet Spot on the fly

2007-06-16T10:43:00.000-05:00

This article can now be found on BASHandSlash.com

The Sweet Spot

2007-06-15T20:27:00.000-05:00

This article can now be found in BASHandSlash.com

We've been punked: Update #3

2007-06-13T21:27:00.000-05:00

I wanted to post an answer I received from Even Balance's technical folks on an issue I and many of you have run into when setting up PunkBuster on your computer:

Here's the question I posed to Even Balance Technical Support:

I would like to create a Windows XP account profile - with limited priveleges to run CoD2 online. I moved CoD2 to a shared directory. It runs fine. But after a few seconds after going into a server I'm getting an O/S Priveleges error from PB.

How do I rectify this situation?

Glenn Courington from Even Balance answered:

When our PB Services are completely utilized in CoD2 (they are not at this point) it will be possible to run the games as a limited user on PB-enabled servers. Until that time, you will still need to run the game as an Administrator.

I must tell you that running CoD as an admin opens you up to internet security issues, so I would like to please ask the PB guys to see if they can make this issue a priority!

Relevant posts:

PunkBuster

BASHIE Award: Best Website for June

2007-06-13T20:26:00.000-05:00

Yet another BASHIE award to be doled out. This time, it's for best website. And the winner is...

Call of Duty: Snipers Network

Slogan:

The one and only web site dedicated to supporting the Call of Duty sniper community.

The codsniper website is run by Razor, who hails from Norway! Lots of Norwegians like to listen to and read BASH! Clearly, they do not have enough to do, but we love them for it.

Razor went public with the website back in January 2006. He's a very talented guy and that has been noticed by the community: over 10 sniper clans have asked him to design their sites. Razor is no stranger to the BASHIE...he won it for designing the Rise of the Resistance site back in February of this year: Best Website for February.

In the codsniper site you will find all that you will need to start your own sniper clan or team! They offer help with all aspects of running your own clan. They of course specialize in CoD clans.

Razor started the site,

...with the purpose of bringing all the sniper teams and clans within the cod community closer, where they all could have a common ground to share files and information. This way they don't have to browse through a lot of other forums searching for stuff.
- Razor

You can just imagine the grief snipers in CoD get. They are constantly hounded by the run'n gunners for being campers. Sniping in CoD is definitely an under-appreciated and incredibly important job. Good to see someone is looking after the community and keeping their morale high!

Razor, true to his name, is as sharp as ... well, a razor. He hasn't missed a beat by being one of the first people to create a Call of Duty 4 website.

The site is called: Call of Duty 4: Gamers Network

This latter site is brand new and was created for only one purpose:

...to gather as much relevant information about COD4 from all possible sources such as magazines and other websites. In time we will offer maps, mods, patches and other relevant stuff for COD4. We strive to filter out any crap and only post/write about confirmed facts, all the rest end up in our rumor mill.
-Razor

Congrats on the BASHIE, Razor and please visit his site and look around!

Mods at War: WW2X vs eXtreme+

2007-06-13T00:35:00.000-05:00

In an act that is beginning to resemble more the end result of a nuclear fission reaction than the product of asexual reproduction, the Call of Duty 2 mod community has split.

While the split could have been considered a legal separation last year, I can tell you that it is a full blown divorce right now. The details of this conflict have come out as gory as any National Enquirer article on Britney Spears' rehab. The messy goings-on have descended into a war of words (the foul and four-lettered variety) in public forums all across CallofDutyville.

Name calling and ill-tempered scrapping aside, this article attempts to provide some of the history behind the latest CoD2 multiplayer mods that have arisen out of the split: eXtreme+ and WW2X. As well, we link to both mods so that you can download them and judge them on their own merits.

Ante-schism

I have told this story before, but the history of the eXtreme+ mod originates way back to the days of the CoD UO modification A.W.E, or "Additional War Effects" by Swedish CoD modding legend Bell.

When the CoD UO community realized the untapped potential of A.W.E., many of the scripters back then expressed the wish to use A.W.E. as a "jumping-off point" to bigger and better things. Wizard220, ace coder in his own right, expressed just such a wish and was amicably given permission by Bell to take the A.W.E. code and move it in a different direction.

The new modification became eXtreme ("A.W.E-eXtreme" at first), a term that Wizard220 to this day claims is his intellectual property. As an aside, this claiming of intellectual property by folks using pseudonyms who all skirt around the issue that the original copyright holder to most of the material is Activision is a concept that is hard to follow for those like myself who did not do well on their LSAT.

Wizard220 and his colleague, [RoS] Dragon, were major forces in developing the old A.W.E. modification into the new "eXtreme" mod and added many interesting twists to Bell's work. When Dragon left due to personal problems, Wizard220 (Wizz) apparently took over almost all the scripting.

At this point Wizz became sponsored, he had a website, two extreme servers under him and he was managing the mod.

At some point in this development, the COD UO gamestate limit of 32k was reached with the eXtreme mod.

Let me take a sidebar to explain gamestate. When a player or client first connects or a new level loads the server sends the client a huge message that contains all the values of all game variables for that level. This data is only sent once. Basically the problem is that at some point you can exceed a given allowable level (32K was the level on UO) and the server can crash.

By October 2005, Wizz felt abandoned by the developers of UO because they didnt upgrade the gamestate and he handed over extreme to another genius modder, Astoroth.

Astoroth then continued eXtreme for CoD UO until the final release and then switched over to CoD2, porting over work from the eXtreme UO mod to the eXtreme+ mod, which is what the eXtreme mod became known as. Wizard220 apparently helped extensively in this port, as witnessed by the fact that his name lives on to this day in some of the files.

Additional contributions over the past few years have also come from Matthius of the Admiral Mod and of course Bell who led the AWE development.

Marc, a bright and level headed modder from Holland, had become involved in eXtreme+ and was testing the mod on Linux servers. Between the release of CoD2 and the 1.2 patch he became an eXtreme+ Support Crew Member.

Astroroth's stewardship of the mod has become one of early promise followed by some confusion due to his virtual disappearance from the scene due to personal issues. The spring of 2006 marks Astroroth's last full-time involvement with eXtreme+ (about the time the 1.2 patch came out for CoD2).

Marc took the reins at eXtreme+ after Astoroth's absence.

Tally, from the U.K. and a well-known modder (now of the RoTR project) came aboard. Joker, a Californian also started to take on more responsibility.

Just after version 1.5 came out (approximately in January of 2007) Marc left the eXtreme+ crew. Apparently he arrived at that decision due to a post from the perennially absent Astoroth, which he did not take to be believable:

"A big reason for me to leave Astoroth's site is because he posted recently in the closed moderators forum that he will be back AT SOME POINT."

- Marc

The Schism

The reason for Wizz's departure from CoD2 is perhaps as mysterious as his reappearance. We are now fast forwarding to 2007 and his return initiated a tug-of-war over the work that, some may argue, he handed off years ago.

Wizz had returned and the threats regarding "pulling the plug" on the "extreme" name, the "eXtreme+" mod and the "extremecod.com" website began appearing in many forums around the community. Wizz was back and he wanted eXtreme!

Questions of who owns intellectual property began to outpace scripting questions on those same sites.

The upshot of the schism is the new world order: there are now two camps in CoD2 modding and each have direct lineage to the original UO mod from Bell.

The new eXtreme+ crew

The eXtreme+ camp, who pitch their tents at extremecod.com, have uber-modders like Tally, Paulo88 and of course Joker. In my opinion, the "new" eXtreme+ modifier should apply to all mods put out by this group from version 2.0. Joker has taken the bull by the horns with Marc's departure and with Paulo88 by his side created version 2.0. Having said that, it was a bit of a hard go. We covered this in detail in other BASH...the blog articles, but originally version 2.0 was supposed to be version 1.7!

Numerous bugs put an end to 1.7 quickly. Once the bugs were squashed, 2.0 rose from the ashes.

You can read all about eXtreme+ in the many posts we have had here on this great mod:

eXtreme+

The WW2X crew

The new upstarts call their mod "WW2X". The mod is caretakered at the moment solely by Marc. Nedgerblansky, while not a modder for WW2X (he looks after A.W.E. along with Oddball) does participate indirectly. Marc has borrowed some of Ned's code/gametypes for WW2X.

The home of WW2X is raidersmerciless.com

Interestingly, Wizz may have finally relinquished the name "extreme" as clearly indicated by the group's new mod name WW2X. The "X" in the name is the only common letter - admittedly, it is one sexy letter and I can see why it has been kept. Having said that, it was Marc who came up with the new title:

WW2X is a name i came up with... parting from extreme i couldnt very well name it extreme2 it would cause too much confusion. Without really deep thought i decided to name it ww2x this you could see as: world war to the extreme or world war 2 extreme...whichever you prefer.

- Marc

Wizard220's role is not all that clear in light of the new WW2X landscape:

Wizard220 doesnt code for ww2x.... he doesnt code for cod2 period.... because of the lack of support from IW and the crapy out of the box code.

- Marc

It appears then that his reappearance on the scene may have been to settle some personal grudges rather than to take the mod back. I cannot completely confirm this, it is just an opinion.

The arrival of Marc, working more or less on his own has had an immediate effect on the direction of the old eXtreme+ mod. As Marc states in a raidersmerciless.com posting:

One of my first modifications to the mod will be the dvar handling...1280 is the max amount of dvars cod2 can handle and extreme is closing into that big time.

Thanks to Nedgerblansky who developed a new method to circumvent this (drm) im now in the process to make extreme work with that method...and i must say..its working great......with the settings i normally use on my server i already saved 400 dvars.....which means..more features can now be added in the mod again.

The DVAR solution is critical to any future upgrades and it was implemented in the Feb. 2007 release of WW2X (v 1.6)

1.6.0:
Changed from default dvar handling to DRM dvar handling method
Changed ranksystem, now 13 ranks again but combined with 5 rankicons
Added knives that can replace the pistols (not throwable yet)
Fixed IHTF spectating when dead bug
Brought back the possibility to use healthbar with healthregen (3 options)

Biggest and most important new feature is the DRM dvar handling.
What does that mean?....more features can be added to the mod ..not bothered by hitting the dvar limit cod2 has.

Note DRM dvar handling became available soon after in June 2007 in eXtreme+. One can only assume that despite the appearances, the modding communities are closer tied than would be believed from the forum flamewars.

In short, the WW2X mod is a combination of A.W.E, A.W.E.-eXtreme and some of the "Merciless mod". A.W.E and Merciless of course are unsurprisingly maintained at the raidersmerciless.com site. Undoubtedly there is a good smattering of eXtreme+ in there as well due to the presence of Marc.

The latest version(1.7) for the WW2X mod for COD2 is available now. Here are some of its features.

WW2X v1.7 Features
---------------------
- Deployable mg30cal and mg42
- Fire and gas grenades and sticky bombs. Sticky bombs are not as sticky as you would think. They only stick to a ledge or anything that physically sticks out.
- Turret overheater
- Mobile mg30cal and mg42: 2 mobile mg's per team...one that you can carry around and fire or this new deployable one.
- Range finder
- Landmines
- Vote menu limiter/delay
- Throwable Knives
- Parachutes
- Weather effects
- Server redirecting
- Tracers
- Ambient planes
- Disable stock map fx
- Clan specific welcome messages and voting options
- Bleeding and bleeding messages
- Ingame statistics board
- Livestats
- Movie mode
- Spectate/death/end/stats/voting music
- Announcement sounds
- Teamkill detection with different punishments.
- Server messages
- Welcome messages
- Disable minefields
- Server/Clan logo text and/or picture
- Sprinting
- Map voting: map/gametype callvotemenu handles 180 maps
- Customizable killcam time
- Healthbar
- Random maprotation
- Playerbased maprotation
- Maprotation error correction
- Painsounds
- Deathsounds
- Checking and renaming of duplicate player names
- Anti camping system
- Extended obituary messages
- Turret abuse system
- Disable deathicons
- Disable nadeicons
- Disable stanceicons
- Disable weapon drops
- Disable grenade drops
- Disable pistols
- Disable objective points
- Disable damage feedback
- Disable/Force crosshair
- Disable/Force crosshair enemy color
- Disable health regeneration
- Colored smoke grenades
- Headpopping
- Helmetpopping
- Damage modifiers
- Unknown Soldier handling
- Blood splatter on screen
- Cold breath
- Change gravity
- Change speed
- Healthpacks/Medikits
- Mortars
- Tripwires frag and smoke grenades
- Remove bodies and sink bodies
- Ammo limiting
- Weapon limiting
- Dvar to stop clientside exploits
- Spawn protection
- Selectable secondary weapon
- Turret disabling
- Rotating MOTD
- Command monitor
- Weapon drop on arm/hand/leg/foot hit
- Forced autoassign
- Taunts
- Player model limiter
- Laserdot
- Bulletholes on screen
- Ranksystem with rankicons
- Ammo crates
- Panzerschrecks
- G43 Sniper
- Weapon class usage option
- Enemy weapon usage
- Grenade warning
- WMD contol (option to set a rank that allows you to call in airstrikes, mortars, artillery and napalm)

Gametypes
-------------
- Last Team Standing
- Last Man Standing
- Hold the Flag
- Individual Hold the Flag
- Domination
- Onslaught
- Capture the Flag back
- VIP
- Classic Headquarters
- Conquest

New Gametype:
- ESD

Side by side comparison

Where it counts, a quick scan of WW2X 1.7 and eXtreme+ 2.0 features will undoubtedly indicate that there isn't much to choose from between these two mods. The big differences in my opinion are in the gametypes: WW2X has ESD and eXtreme+ has Liberation, Hitman and round-based CNQ and CTF.

I am not surprised by how similar the two mods are on paper. After all the split has only occurred recently. I'll be more interested in the directions these two groups take their respective mods.

BASH will keep an eye on them so stay tuned!

Conclusion

Competition, we are told, is very healthy for the consumer. Competition in the CoD mod arena is no exception.

The only thing that worries me right now is whether there are enough software modding resources (i.e. the scripters/programmers) to carry out and sustain these two mods in the CoD2 community.

As for the bitterness in both groups...

Clearly, the folks in both camps are excellent at what they do. Many of them have "type A" personalities: opinionated, passionate and strong willed. These traits are typical of true artists and creators. As in any other human endeavour, groups like these do not stick together long. Differences of opinion are created and people go their own way. Each camp has its leaders and each camp has its followers. The laws of nature could have predicted this rift well before it happened.

I only hope that both camps stop their bickering and get back to what they do best: write scripts so that my fellow gamers and I can play new and improved modded versions of online CoD2.

Late Breaking news:

After posting this article I was informed of some very good news. It appears there may actually be a truce in the war of words between the WW2X and eXtreme+ camps.

Apparently there have been olive branches exchanged and there is a peace offering on the table. Both groups have expressed the desire to put the ill will behind them (which apparently involved personal issues rather than technical ones) and move on - they have even said they may help each other out.

As Marc says:

Hopefully now we can coexist in peace together again.....and they even unbanned me from the eXtreme site.

Wow. That's how intense this little war had gotten. Of course it helps when there are level-headed folks out there willing to put the player ahead of their own ego.

Good luck to both groups - we'll be watching (and playing) their efforts!

Does MoH: Airborne threaten CoD4?

2007-06-09T19:08:00.000-05:00

Does Medal of Honor: Airborne threaten CoD4: Modern Warfare?

We address these issues in Episode 23 of BASH. I have Matt Pruitt site director of:

planetcallofduty.com and
planetmedalofhonor.com

come to the BASH studios and discuss these issues.

He was just in the Electronic Arts studios in L.A. a few weeks ago and got a close up view of Medal of Honor: Airborne.

Listen up to what he has to say:

Why Jock? Why?

2007-06-09T18:11:00.001-05:00

Sometimes, in the gaming world, a time comes in the life of a "clan" or "guild" where a member must be banished. The reasons for the eviction can range from showing disrespect to fellow clan members, cheating, to general oafishness.

Typically, the member about to be banned never sees it coming - and their usual response when you show them the door is, "Why?".

If you run into this situation...don't bother explaining it to them...point them to this video.

eXtreme+ 2.0 RELEASED

2007-06-08T23:44:00.000-05:00

Hot off the wire from the good folks at eXtreme+, where they have been toiling on their exciting new mod for Call of Duty 2 (multiplayer):

From {PST}Joker:

eXtreme+ v2.0 for WINDOWS is now released!

Changes
-----------
v2.0

Ambient Artillery
Ambient Explosion FX
Command Monitor Arty
Command Monitor Warp
Documentation
DRM Conversion
End-game Map Vote
Gametype: Enhanced SD
Gametype: Hitman
Gametype: Liberation
Gametype: DOM overhaul
Gametype: Roundbased CNQ
Gametype: Roundbased CTF
Improved Server Redirection
In-game Map Vote
Kick Inactive Spectators
Knife Ammo Fix
Landmines
Medic Callouts
Mobile MG's
Player Artillery: visible shells
Player Mortars: visible shells
Range Finder
Spectator Music
Unfixed Turrets
WMD Friendly Fire Check
5 Gametype Vote Limit -- Solved in In-game Map Vote

Bug fixes, patches and minor feature enhancements:

Camper Bug
Clan/Mod Text
Corrupt Hallelujah.mp3
Double Cheers Sounds
GT Delay (RB game types)
GT Script errors
Level Music Bug
Notification "ex_died"
Pophelmet Default
Rank System Bug (RB game types)
Sprint stance bug
Shoot Stance Sensitivity
S&D Error
_callbacksetup.gsc (flags)
_weapons.gsc ammo pps42 webley

Optional Mods will be added as soon as they are tested with the v2.0

This is where you can download the mod: extremecod.com

And it comes with an excellent setup .pdf file!

Related Articles:

BASH Episode 21: The-return-of-the-joker
eXtreme+ 1.7 Still-Born but 2.0 lives on
eXtreme+ version1.7

CoD Client vulnerabilities on the internet

2007-06-08T20:12:00.001-05:00

Luigi Auriemma, the software guru whose prolific bug-hunting prowess brought us news of a potential server side exploit (see related topics), has written us again here at BASH to confirm that the vulnerability talked about the other day affects servers only - not clients. So players need not worry.

Having said that, he pointed out another bug, this one in Quake 3 - one which, may have been ported over to CoD2 (Quake 3 engine powers the CoD2 game - albeit in a modified form).

In this bug, the client (player) is vulnerable to a security exploit if they find themselves playing CoD2 multiplayer while linked to a server run by a "black hat" (i.e. hacker) admin.

He has a nice write up of it here:

q3cfilevar-adv.txt

Here's a quick description of what this issue is all about:

A) File Overwriting through Automatic Downloading

The Quake 3 engine supports an option called "Automatic Downloading" which allows the clients to automatically download PK3 files (maps
and mods) available on the server but not locally.

This option is disabled by default for security reasons...this check can be bypassed through the ...bug described in this advisory, so an attacker can overwrite any file in any disk of the computer in which Quake 3 is running.

B) cvar overwrite with possible info stealing

In short, Luigi is saying that it is possible to overwrite or create any client cvar, even those that are write protected!

Fixes

Bug A) Turn off "Automatic Downloading" feature - unless you are on a trusted server.
Bug B) No fix is available for bug B.

The latter depressing news is not too bad as long as you stay on "trusted" servers. "Black hat" server admins however may be able to create a viable security breach on your computer based on B, but as Luigi, comfortingly, says:

...they are difficult to exploit.

Related topics:

CoD2 Server Vulnerability

BASHIE for June: ElJuan (Reader of the month)

2007-06-07T19:49:00.001-05:00

The BASHIE for June goes to BASH reader ElJuan, who posted a critique of this here blog on a British forum:

Has anyone else ever come across this? I found it a couple of weeks ago while trying to find some more information about CoD2 server mods, and it's quite an interesting read. It's not updated every day but the guy who writes it comes up with some good stuff when he does post. Today's entries are about how the team behind the eXtreme mod are scrapping version 1.7 which was due to be out this week to move straight on to 2.0, and a security exploit that has been discovered in the CoD2 votemap function that was found by an Italian man who seems to specialise in looking for game server exploits and ways to fix them.

Good stuff.

It was very nice of him to say these things and even nicer that he still reads BASH inspite of the fact that I'm currently under a legal cloud due to those silly "practicing Exorcism without a Catholic priest" charges pending in Tennessee. I'm innocent by the way.

As a tribute to ElJuan we here at BASH are making his town, Lincoln U.K., BASH CallofDutyVille for the whole month of June. For this whole month, when we say CallofDutyVille, we will all know that, that is the place ElJuan comes from.

A big BASH booya to ElJuan. By the by, he's got a really nice blog where he voices strong opinions about gaming...check it out here.

Past BASHIE recipients:

BASHIE Winners

eXtreme+ 1.7 still born....but 2.0 lives on.

2007-06-06T20:01:00.000-05:00

In a bit of a shocker, the eXtreme+ mod version 1.7, has been abandoned due to bugginess.

Version 1.7 was in Beta when, apparently, the number of bugs in 1.7 overwhelmed events and the eXtreme+ team decided that the fixes would require the mod revision to be flipped to 2.0.

Among some of the issues was a problem with the DRM module that was talked about by Joker in Episode 22: Return of the Joker . As well, there was a report that configuration files could not be altered.

The bugs are being squashed as we speak and the eXtreme+ team will re-start the Beta process all over again by re-issuing the mod to selected server managers. Software releases are a tricky process and this happens to the best of them. To me the commitment and optimism of the great folks at eXtreme+ are the news in this story.

Here is what Tally (eXtreme+ Support Crew member) had to say about this issue in extremecod.com's forums today:

1.7 no longer exists - it will now be version 2.0. We did this because we did so many version changes while testing that we got up to 2.0.

We are finishing up with the testing, cleaning up things, and fixing bugs that we have discovered while testing. this caused us to miss our dealine of last weekend (the one just past). Sorry about that.

Will be out very soon, and please believe us when we say: you are going to love what we've done!

ATTENTION: CoD2 Server vulnerability found (Map Vote)

2007-06-06T19:04:00.000-05:00

If you are an online CoD2 administrator, you need to pay careful attention to this.

I recently came across a website by a prolific Internet security expert who seems to specialize in online game software. His name is Luigi Auriemma, from Milan Italy.

He runs a site dedicated to finding security flaws in games:

http://aluigi.altervista.org/

Signore Auriemma has told me that Call of Duty 2 has a software bug that can lead to an exploit (you'll know what all that means if you have been listening to the Malware series on my webcast).

Not unsurprisingly, the Internet security exploit revolves around the improper handling of user input during Call of Duty 2's map voting. All it requires is for a user to type a very large string into the callmapvote subroutine during voting.

Here is a quote from his site:

http://aluigi.altervista.org/adv/codmapbof-adv.txt

Callvote is the command used by the clients asking the server to start a voting poll for the selection of a new map, for kicking someone and so on. Voting is enabled by default on the server.

The "callvote map MAP" string is handled by a function of the server which takes the MAP parameter and copies it (memcpy) in a local buffer of 64 bytes.

Mr. Auriemma also offers a patch to fix this string handling error in the code and thus prevent any possible exploit. He also has a little test if your server is susceptible.

http://aluigi.altervista.org/patches/codmapboffix.lpatch

download the code here:

http://aluigi.altervista.org/mytoolz/lpatch.zip

Note, that any firewall your server would have would be circumvented with a vulnerability like this. This is a known bug and it might be interesting for players to ask their server administrators whether they are aware of this exploit.

The bug has been confirmed by RaDioAcTivE over on the extremecod.com forums. Here's what RaDioAcTivE said:

I helped Luigi come up with this patch. The exploit was reported to him along with the VA buffer overrun exploit and we worked with him to come up with a patch. Happy to say that both work well and it stopped our servers from being crashed.

He went out of his way to spend a couple of weeks going back and forth with me until he came up with a working patch when no one else would. At the time it was mainly for v1.0 servers since that's where the ******** were hanging out that were crashing the servers. It was mainly one group of people. We managed to get the leader of these idiots ISP yanked along with their main web site and myspace accounts.

Luigi also helped to stop a couple other exploits for UO for us as well.

BASH 911: CVAR out of range

2007-06-04T22:31:00.000-05:00

I received the following email from bf, a BASH reader:

I came across your blog "BASH" and wonder if you could help me out. On certain COD2 servers I'm now getting kicked off because my CVAR=10,000 (or something like that). I would never use any type of cheat for online play (vs. just the computer I have, but not COD). How do I fix my CVAR range, whatever that is, so that I no longer get kicked off by Punkbuster?

I'll try and tell you what I think and I welcome any readers to chime-in and suggest their thoughts:

1. Try and remember what the exact CVAR error message is. Your error message sounds a bit vague.

2. Note that when PunkBuster can't determine that a player's gaming environment is functioning properly and/or has not been altered, an Integrity violation is raised. This also involves the detection of modified game or PunkBuster files. These violation numbers are between 10000 and 29999.

http://www.punkbuster.com/publications/d3-pl/index.htm

It's possible that if it's a PunkBuster 10000 code one of their game files was corrupted. Reinstall PunkBuster.

3. Having said that, could it have been this one?

VIOLATION (CVAR) #9001: Cvar cg_hudObjectiveMaxRange = 10000

If this is the one, open your console, (type ~ to open it)

Then type:

/cg_hudobjectivemaxrange 2048

followed by Enter.

CVAR's are client side variables known as console variables and can be changed in the config_mp.cfg file:

C:\Program Files\Activision\Call of Duty 2\main\players\yourname

One of the lines in this file should read:

seta cg_hudObjectiveMaxRange "2048"

Variables in these files can be changed by the user. You may have accidentally overwritten one of the variables. Possibly a CoD2 modification may have done something to alter this number. I am not sure right now. Possibly someone reading this might know more.

Does changing a line in the config_mp.cfg file constitute cheating? In my opinion, no it does not. Not unless, the server your on expressly forbids you from using a value outside a given range.

4. If this happens again, you can always type the name of the variable in the console, like

"/cg_hudobjectivemaxrange"

The console will tell you the current value of the parameter and it's maximum possible value. In this case it is 2048.

The Total Gaming League (TGL)

2007-06-04T00:00:00.000-05:00

Checkout this week's BASH for an interesting webcast we did with Kevin Hollagbaugh, Vice President of Sales and Marketing for MyInternetServices.com.

Kevin tells us that his group has started a very intriguing new gaming league:

The Total Gaming League (TGL)

Not only is TGL going to be an exciting place to play - it may even be a lucrative place to play. The reason that it may be worth your while to play there is that they are offering prizes and cash rewards to the winners of their tournies!

And for all you CoD2 players out there...there's now a CoD2 5v5 S&D tournament. In fact, it just started ... but you can still sign up for it.

And the great part? Registration is free!

Make sure you listen to the webcast to find out more!

Something worth fighting for indeed!

We're not going out on the limb here to predict that the TGL will be the place to play CoD2 tournament level gaming.

The coming of the bots

2007-06-03T21:13:00.000-05:00

The enemy in Medal of Honor Airborne purportedly is programmed with an AI that is much more sophisticated than we have seen in many other FPS games.

Apparently the software developers used a valuation system for objects in the game. It is no surprise really to continually see more and more intelligent bots in our games.

Hopefully we will soon find out whether the enemy soldiers in CoD4 live up to the smart bots in MoHA.

On that note, I must recommend an outstanding article on FPS bots.

QIII ARENA BOT

It's a PDF and don't be put off by the word "thesis" in the full title of the work. It's an excellent read on the logic behind FPS AI.

BASH, the first 65 years.

2007-06-01T00:57:00.001-05:00

Thank you to our readers

2007-05-31T18:59:00.000-05:00

We here at BASH are celebrating a really good week.

Hundreds of you are coming to our Call of Duty website every day from all over the world - as indicated in our graphic below.

Our CoD gaming webcast has become quite popular as well.

Thank you for reading and listening to BASH!

Note that BASH...the blog has an RSS feed. What that means is that you can always have the latest articles on your browser.

To subscribe to BASH...the blog's RSS feed, click the RSS feed icon on your browser while you have our page open.

These pics will show you how:

Click here if you have Internet Explorer 7

Or click here if you have Firefox:

And don't forget...you can subscribe to BASH the webcast on your iTunes - if you have Internet Explorer 7, click here:

Netstat: Check if ET is calling home

2007-05-30T18:45:00.001-05:00

During the last of our Malware trilogy over on our webcast BASH we told you about a program that monitored what processes were running on your PC, it was called WinPatrol.

Well did you know that you have another program already installed on your Windows system to allow you to find out if those processes are trying to communicate on the internet?

It's called netstat and it has been around for a long time. In Windows XP, to use netstat, you click on:

START > RUN > type "command" > click OK > type netstat > hit Enter

All the network connections you have made will be shown. If there's something there that you don't recognize, it might give you pause to think that there's a virus on your system trying to communicate with its home base.

netstat is a little difficult to understand if you are not a real computer whiz, but there's a very informative webcast that will explain it a bit better at Leo Laporte's Security Now site.

Download the webcast here: The NETSTAT Command Episode 49

Even better than netstat is a program that is mentioned on Leo's site called: TCPView

TCPView is a visual GUI'ied up version of netstat and much more user friendly. The program now belongs to Microsoft AND it's free.

If you think you have processes running that are slowing your system down - run TCPView, it might be illuminating!

You can also learn more about what to do with netstat, TCPView to enable you to kill any viruses/trojans you may have here: Nohack Project

Related articles:

Malware

World Exclusive: eXtreme+ version 1.7 is coming!

2007-05-27T18:07:00.000-05:00

Yes, {PST} Joker, one of the leading lights of the CoD2 eXtreme+ multiplayer mod has been at it yet again!

He has just told us here at BASH ... yes, a WORLD EXCLUSIVE... that the eXtreme+ mod has been updated and version 1.7 is now in BETA and will be out soon.

Server administrators, keep your eyes peeled to:

http://www.extremecod.com

in a few days for the usual free download!

But, before that happens, here's a sneak peak.

As you may know, {PST} Joker gave us the scoop on this new version in Episode 21 of BASH (available now!). Listen to it and find out everything you need to know about version 1.7 of eXtreme+.

Note, some v1.7 features talked about in this interview were still being play-tested prior to release, check with v1.7's release notes to determine if all have been implemented).

Here are the changes at version 1.7:

Gametype: Hitman

A new game type has been incorporated. This gametype developed by well known CoD enthusiast, Tally.

From Tally's own description:

One player is the Group Commander. At least one player is the Hitman. The majority of the players are Guards. The Commander gets two points for killing a Hitman, but his position is indicated on the HUD by a time-delayed blip and must keep moving to avoid precise detection by the Hitman.

When the Commander is killed, another Guard becomes the Commander.

The Commander cannot kill himself or be killed by friendly fire.

Guards can gain one point for killing a Hitman and Hitmen gain one point for killing Guards.

If a Guard finds and kills the Hitman, the Hitman becomes a Guard and the Guard becomes a new Hitman.

Gametype: Liberation

Also a new gametype for eXtreme+. This game has the following features:

When your teammates get killed you are imprisoned in the opponents jail until freed by a team member or the game ends with the entire team in jail.

In game Map Vote

The map vote is no longer restricted to 5 maps! Yea. Now I can play "Eraplace Re-loaded" over and over and over and over and over again.

Gun turret mobility

Oh oh...you can pick up and move machine guns. Finally! You can point the damn things in the direction YOU want to point them to. Awesome.

See also:

eXtreme+ articles

Resistance is NOT Futile

2007-05-27T10:50:00.000-05:00

We have a great interview on Bash Episode 20 this week.

Jock interviews Ben (a.k.a. BubbaGump), project manager for the Call of Duty 2 Expansion game, Rise of the Resistance.

Listen to the episode here:

Show note:

To clarify something mentioned in the webcast, RoTR is an expansion for COD2. That means it will require COD2 version 1.3 to play it. COD2 has PunkBuster already in the 1.3 patch. So multiplayer will have PB support.

Additional articles:

Rise-of-resistance-update
Vive-la-resistance

Screencast on the use of Ventrilo

2007-05-25T19:41:00.000-05:00

To really enjoy the full experience of multiplayer online gaming you must communicate with your fellow players.

There are a few programs on the Internet (e.g. Roger Wilco, Teamspeak) that will allow you to do this, but my favorite is Ventrilo.

You can get it here: http://www.ventrilo.com/download.php

Also known as "vent", Ventrilo uses Voice of Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology. Some of its features include:

- surround sound positioning and special sound effects on a per user, per channel, per server or global configuration level

- the program provides each user the option to fully customize exactly how they wish to hear sounds from other users or events.

- it has excellent sound quality and uses very few CPU resources (nearly no effect on your ping!).

- hotkeys

- recording and playback feature

- text-to-speech functions

- VOX

- multiple chat rooms

To show you what it looks like I've prepared this little Flash screencast (you need a Flash plug-in for your browser to view it). The screencast is my first ever attempt at this new media (please let me know what you think).

If you have downloaded it and want to try it out, point it to the Devil Dogz server (and come play CoD2 while you're at it!):

Devil Dogz Ventrilo IP address: 66.55.149.15 Port: 4664

Tell anyone there...Jock sent ya!

Enjoy!

We've been punked! UPDATE 2: Lowkee edition

2007-05-24T18:32:00.000-05:00

BASH...the Blog reader, Lowkee (BF2142 player) made a stunning discovery recently and posted it in the comments section in our article on the PunkBuster lag article on this website (We've been punked! *UPDATE 1*).

I did not want his comments buried, so I am posting them here. Please read if you have been having lag issues with Punk Buster:

Although it pains me to release this fix where EvenBalance can read it and give me absolutely no credit for wasting hours of my life in finding a solution, here is a proof of concept, as such, of the PunkBuster service bug:

Trillian == lag in-game
ICQ == lag in-game
ATI Control Center == lag in-game
Winamp == lag in-game (in certain instances)

What do these programs all have in common? Global Hotkeys.

It seems the new PB service chokes if any application hooks into for global hotkey support. So, disabling global hotkeys in all of your application will bring your FPS rate back to normal with no more slowdown due to PB beta testing on your PC.

As an added FPS boost, setting the following in your BF 2142 (or any other PB enabled game) console will also help:

(type in the game console)
pb_system 1
pb_sleep 500
pb_writecfg

Happy playing everyone, in spite of PunkBuster.

-Lowkee

This is an awesome find. Lowkee. I've been having issues myself with PB (as with nearly all my COD2 friends) and your comments are quite interesting. I am running Itunes (I believe that program uses Global Hotkeys).

I'll be experimenting with this and report back with any positive information.

I would encourage our readership to do the same. Please post your findings in the comments section of this post.

THANK YOU LOWKEE! And keep up the good work!