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Dan
13-05-2007, 11:31
Hi there,

I was wondering, EA`s Battlefield 2 and its expansion packs are one of the biggest games in the world. Over 7 million users playing each day.

It would be a great addition if this company supported battlefield 2 servers both ranked and unranked :)

Cessle
13-05-2007, 12:00
We had been fighting to have bf2 ranked servers but EA would not let us and so if we couldnt have ranked then we stopped selling unranked as well

Dan
13-05-2007, 12:24
I don't get it. Do you need some sort of permission from EA or something?

Cessle
13-05-2007, 12:34
yes you have to have a section of coding for the servers to talk to the stats servers

Olly
13-05-2007, 13:29
To offer ranked battlefield servers, you must be a trusted partner.

In short, we didn't get in there quick enough. And ever since we have been trying to get the status.

There are other much smaller, even part time companies offering ranked servers.

As of yet, the powers that be will not consider our application, and we've not had a clear answer as to why.

It is ironic that despite this, server for server, we run more game servers than any other in the UK.

Rich
13-05-2007, 13:59
The reason why we don't offer unranked only is ... why bother having unranked when you can have ranked? It got no sales.

The only one that did get sold I seem to recall submitted a support ticket demanding to know why it was unranked when that was what they bought!!!

Carl
14-05-2007, 09:15
I've been personally battling with EA for ages; will we ever have BF2 ranked servers? Only time will tell.

Matt
14-05-2007, 13:10
EA, said they might be opeing some more spaces soon. EA are gahay tbh. They don't know whos doing well and whos not. There are people with ranked servers that arent even registerd companies.

Olly
14-05-2007, 14:37
EA, said they might be opeing some more spaces soon. EA are gahay tbh. They don't know whos doing well and whos not. There are people with ranked servers that arent even registerd companies.

I've never understood how resellers can give the best possible support. It looks bad on EA.

cheesey
14-05-2007, 15:14
because from my understanding of the company knowing someone that works there, it is because ea are populated largely by monkeys

Matt
14-05-2007, 16:27
EA are quite silly in my opinion. They have made so many mistakes with the Battlefield series! Olly i hope you get ranked soon! I would also advice you bring back unranked as some will sell for clan servers!

Dan
14-05-2007, 17:16
As i said, If you use unranked then clans who want training sessions could switch their game to BF2 *UNRANKED*

And if however you were granted permission for ranked servers you could charge more to get that added ect ect..

Matt
14-05-2007, 17:19
Yes, you would normally charge more for ranked servers as its costs you to be a partner (i think) You can't however switch from ranked to unranked i dont think!

Olly
14-05-2007, 22:10
We don't want to charge more. We just want to host them as should the UK's largest GSP!

Matt
15-05-2007, 06:54
Olly, i think you need to charge more as i think you have to pay for ranked servers. Not sure though, it would be great if you didn't have to pay extra!

Dan
15-05-2007, 17:03
So, will you take it into concideration of readding unranked servers? As i'd use unranked :)

Rich
15-05-2007, 18:26
The unranked binaries were unstable on linux for bf2 and bf2142, and we had so many problems getting bf2142cc to work with the bf2142 unranked server, which as any 2142 officianado will tell you, its a defacto standard on a server if you wanna control it properly.

To get anything approaching reliable we had to use windows, and that was still flaky. The control panel controls linux servers only and its not possible to expand to windows as well without writing a completely separate control panel - around another year's development. INX have no windows gameservers. Too unreliable and you don't get nearly as much performance out of them. They're not as secure either.

In short, if bf2/2142 unranked servers returned, they'd probably be unstable as all hell and just end up giving INX a bad rep in the market. Olly's decision here I guess :)

Matt
15-05-2007, 19:56
Ive only used BF2 servers on a Windows server. And as rich said, its still bad. Also INX would loose the "Linux Only" which would be a shame. But i suppose if you want to have ranked servers you would proberbly have to go to windows?

Olly
15-05-2007, 22:48
Please do feel free to tell EA you want £1 per slot per month BF servers and you don't want to pay bedroom amateurs 3 x as much!

Matt
18-05-2007, 09:52
I might try BF2 on linux. Im gonna rent a dedi or something so i can try out setting up servers. Just got to find the money...

Dan
18-05-2007, 14:55
Remember, there is then the problems of bandwith if your going to rent a dedi.

Gameservers take up an awful lot of bandwith, Even when testing them. I'd advise you to purchase a Dedi-Server with unlimited bandwith ;)

bob
18-05-2007, 15:01
Not 100% sure if INX still do this...but they had an option of "unlimited gaming bandwidth" for servers.

Olly
18-05-2007, 16:06
Our managed gaming dedicated servers (due to be released this summer) will have unmetered bandwidth.

Rich
18-05-2007, 16:44
Remember, there is then the problems of bandwith if your going to rent a dedi.

Gameservers take up an awful lot of bandwith, Even when testing them. I'd advise you to purchase a Dedi-Server with unlimited bandwith ;)Gameservers use less bandwidth than you think. Bearing in mind I'm the fella who designed and helped implement the current inx network and associated monitoring tools I know exactly what all those hundreds and hundreds of gameservers use. If you use a lot you're doing something wrong ;)

Dan
18-05-2007, 18:37
Gameservers use less bandwidth than you think. Bearing in mind I'm the fella who designed and helped implement the current inx network and associated monitoring tools I know exactly what all those hundreds and hundreds of gameservers use. If you use a lot you're doing something wrong ;)

Lol okay, No need for a big explanatory post. All i can say is that it takes up more than lets just say.. A teamspeak server.

Carl
18-05-2007, 18:57
/me waits for Rich to come and disagree! <3

Dan
18-05-2007, 19:03
Lol, same. Generally it should do. As gameservers take up player bandwith and VOIP bandwith. Teamspeak only uses VOIP bandwith.

Rich
18-05-2007, 21:10
Per player I'd estimate the bandwidth for a single voip stream or a single game stream would be about the same, however as you point out games with built in voip use a lot more :)

<3 Carl

Dan
19-05-2007, 18:21
I'm correct for once, lol!

:stupid::stupid::stupid::stupid::stupid::stupid::s tupid::stupid::stupid::stupid::stupid:

sephiroth
19-05-2007, 22:39
..anyway back ontopic lol

BF2 i want to host one server on my new dedi got the other day, would i be alowed to have host a ranked server or would i have to use unreanked??

cheers

Matt
19-05-2007, 22:40
You would have to use unranked!

Dan
19-05-2007, 22:44
You have to get special permission from Electronic Arts and Digital illusions before you would be allowed the software ect..

Snoopy
19-05-2007, 22:44
unless you can convince EA to let your have ranked, bit of ££££££ might work, but i doubt it.

Matt
19-05-2007, 22:50
For him to have it ranked would mean that INX would be eligable for Ranked Server, but there not which in my opinion damn right wrong! As there the biggest UK GSP and i rekon if they colod in places like Germany and things they would grow to be Europe's biggest GSP. Then they can tackle america!

Dan
19-05-2007, 22:51
Well i'm going to submit a very informative email to EA. I think we all should.

Matt
19-05-2007, 22:52
Yes, perhaps start a pertition!

Snoopy
19-05-2007, 22:57
As there the biggest UK GSP and i rekon if they colod in places like Germany and things they would grow to be Europe's biggest GSP. Then they can tackle america!

if you get a job with them you can go run there servers in a diffrent country lol.:)

Dan
19-05-2007, 23:04
WHAT I WROTE:

Hi there,


I am writing to enquire about battlefield 2 ranked servers. Inx-Gaming.co.uk is one of the largest GSP's in the UK. but there is one gameserver in which they can't sell, Battlefield 2 servers. They have requested for ranked servers already but no luck. Inx-Gaming are no bedroom-Run company. They have a 10 second walk to their datacenter (Bluesquare Datacenter)

It would be most appreciated if you could email me back regarding the servers.

Thanks,
Dan

Short but simple. I cba to write a proper one.

Matt
19-05-2007, 23:08
What email did you send it to?

Snoopy
19-05-2007, 23:10
my guess, completebellends@electronic-arts.com

sephiroth
19-05-2007, 23:17
mine...


Alright duck! Oi want one of them bleedin Ranked servers for ma clan!
ya goin give me one or what? if not will send lads round with dog and big dave and hes just got out of ta knick ya no!

Anyway best regards yours sincerely sephiroth xxx

Really do think it sucks that you need to ask permission to have a ranked server! :|

Dan
19-05-2007, 23:20
https://support.electronicarts.co.uk

Dan
19-05-2007, 23:22
****, a responce already!


Hello Dan,

Thank you for contacting Electronic Arts support and expressing interest in the Ranked Server Partner program.

Unfortunately, Electronic Arts is not currently seeking any further candidates for the Ranked Partner program. Should this change the Battlefield Marketing team and Community team will make the public aware of the change by posting a message to the Official Battlefield Website located here: http://battlefield.ea.com (http://battlefield.ea.com/)/.

We want to thank you for your interest and support in both the program and the Battlefield franchise and hope to see you “on the battlefield!”

Should you have any further questions, please take a moment to review our Knowledge Base site at http://support.ea.com (http://support.ea.com/).

Sincerely,

EARep Anderson
Player Relations
Electronic Arts

Matt
19-05-2007, 23:29
Right i sent Dear Sirs,

I am contacting you about EA Ranked Servers. I am emailing about a company called INX-Gaming. I am not a member of staff but a customer and i am very annoyed that INX-Gaming do not provide BF2 Ranked Servers. INX-Gaming are the UK's biggest GSP and have the most proffesinal support you can get. INX-Gaming are one of the only companies that are ran with proper employed staff. I find it incredible how you can give global ranking to "Bedroom Ran Companies" and yet not give Global Ranking to THE largest GSP in the UK.

I hope that this email will help you realise that INX should have Global Ranking!


Regards

Matt

Dan
19-05-2007, 23:30
I just sent one complaining about BF2 PING problems. No cheap servers located in the UK. ;)

Matt
19-05-2007, 23:31
lol!

Dan
19-05-2007, 23:33
I hope it works :)

Snoopy
20-05-2007, 00:56
im goin to send 1 complaining about who gave the company a crap name. bit up there own ass calling it art.

Matt
20-05-2007, 06:44
Right,

I got this back!


Greetings Matt,

Thank you for contacting EA In-game support.

All feedback and suggestions regarding Battlefield 2 game play and balance are reviewed and sent to the appropriate teams. We want to thank you though for taking the time to submit your feedback or idea and let you know we really appreciate the dedication our games create.

The Developers from EA/DICE review and read the reports we submit to them in hopes that collecting player's opinion can make a better game. We value all our players' feedback and concerns and consider them very important to the success of Battlefield 2 and all our EA Games. We encourage you to also post your feedback to the BF2 Feedback forums located here: http://forums.easports.com/mboards/forum.jspa?forumID=145. These forums are presented to our players to help each other, build community and further communication between Battlefield fans and Developers.

Official Battlefield 2 Website
http://www.eagames.com/official/battlefield/battlefield2/us/home.jsp

Sincerely,

EARep Brad
Player Relations
Electronic Arts

Dan
20-05-2007, 08:56
See, They're so shuvved up eachothers arses they don't even know what your on about :)

Olly
20-05-2007, 10:50
First, if on the huge off chance anyone from EA *does* read this, please read the entire thread. We're allowing the community to speak for themselves. :P

Secondly unfortunately guys you are emailing what are robots. Their job is to choose a predefined knowledge base article and email it you back. You will not get a personal response or an answer.

We are making a renewed effort with EA on Monday.

The way I see it, is its madness. People don't want to pay £2.50 a slot for their game servers, and as a result BF2 isn't as popular as CSS.

Matt
20-05-2007, 10:56
Olly, if you really want BF2 ranked server i know a way one company did it. Ill PM you how they did it if you say you want it.

Snoopy
20-05-2007, 11:04
tbh css is the best game ever

Matt
20-05-2007, 11:06
Agreed!

Dan
20-05-2007, 11:52
I agree, CSS you can create your own maps ect.. It would be good if it was ranked. But quite a lot of people do play battlefield 2 though. :D

Snoopy
20-05-2007, 11:55
css i ranked if you want it to be lol, just you don't have to have certain rights to do it lol

Olly
20-05-2007, 12:11
Feel free to send me the PM. We're open to suggestions!

Matt
20-05-2007, 12:55
Olly, could you accept PM's please. As your currently not!

Dan
20-05-2007, 13:17
Cool, i'm loving the new user manager on the panel. :)

Carl
20-05-2007, 18:10
Imatate, I released that at about 2AM last night after a long power-coding session! I'm pleased you like it :D

Vibralux, I haven't heard your suggestion yet, but I'd like to make clear that we only want to do things officially with EA (thus NOT illegal/illegitimate!)

Carl
20-05-2007, 18:36
game-serve [dot] co.uk have it and they dont even have a control panel! Are EA MAD!?

Edit: Check out this thread! Haha.
http://forum.eagames.co.uk/viewtopic.php?t=35861

Rich
20-05-2007, 23:01
Olly, if you really want BF2 ranked server i know a way one company did it. Ill PM you how they did it if you say you want it.There are several ways to do it via a backdoor. The main two methods are:

- Obtain ranked server files "inappropriately" but risk legal action and have the servers blocked from the ea/dice database; this is obviously completely beyond consideration as INX are proud to be a fully licensed server operator.

- Rent a dedicated server from a ranked provider who provide ranked server files to their customers; this is also completely beyond consideration as this is in breach of the ea/dice ranked server provider contract. Doesn't stop a few of them doing it though...

Sooooooo since all EA will ever say is "the program is closed" there is no legal way to become a member of the program.

I do however find it amusing that in the BF2142 launch centre it clearly says that EA/DICE are "working with server operators to ensure there are enough BF2142 servers for everyone to use" .... I :D and that one every time I see it.

Matt
21-05-2007, 06:31
Rich,

None of my methods are illegal, Carl knows them as i told him last night.

Dan
21-05-2007, 21:04
I have just recieved another email,



Hello Dan,

Thank you for contacting Electronic Arts Game Support. I am sorry, due to the decision of the EA/DICE Developers the Ranked Partner Program is not adding more servers. I would suggest you and other UK players make their voice known on the BF2 forums. The community manager and EA/DICE Developers frequently review player comments and suggestions. This is the best way to let them know what UK players want.

http://forums.ea.com/mboards/

Let me know if you have other questions or concerns. Take care.


Regards,

EA Sr. Rep. Yen
Customer Support
Electronic Arts


So.. Yeah, i'm gonna make a few posts tomorrow.

inx|Aaron
21-05-2007, 21:16
I think we [INX-Gaming] should make a post on the EA forums and ask all our customers to "sign it", i.e post and say they agree with what we are asking for...

I think if we had over 1000 replies EA may finally listen!

bob
21-05-2007, 21:19
make a post and gimme a link...ill sure post on it :)

inx|Aaron
21-05-2007, 21:22
I'll leave this one to Olly or Carl as they are the wizards of words :p

Dan
21-05-2007, 21:25
or link EA to an online petition in which we all sign and let members of EA forums sign.

sephiroth
21-05-2007, 23:17
i could proberly get between 300 to 400 ppl to sign.....ahhh the powers of beenin feared lol!

Dan
22-05-2007, 07:01
Yep, EA are probabaly one of the most popular gaming company's there is. It's just lacking customer support and once they create a game, they have limits to buying it.

Snoopy
22-05-2007, 07:01
just post on about everyclan website you know tbh

Dan
22-05-2007, 07:02
Yeah, UK clans mostly.

Snoopy
22-05-2007, 07:07
well that was the idea, lol

Dan
22-05-2007, 07:15
I'll try that later, once i get home from College.. about 2'ish.

Snoopy
22-05-2007, 07:20
tis will be a day of spam

Olly
22-05-2007, 09:55
Well one, viable idea we had was building a site, dedicated to getting the message out.

Something along the lines of WE WANT BF2 FOR A QUID

(Not £2.50 a slot)!!

Snoopy
22-05-2007, 10:01
no thats an idea, should put a partition thingy underneath and then just get loads of peeps to sign it see how many you get.

Matt
22-05-2007, 11:42
Cool, Ill design it if im allowed!?

bob
22-05-2007, 12:28
maybe you should work with the guys at INX with the design ideas?

Matt
22-05-2007, 13:01
Carl, is doing it. Ill talk to Carl when i get home, or ill speak to him in kebab shop :D but its up to Olly!

Snoopy
22-05-2007, 14:27
tbh if you are doing a site, then all you really need to have is the inx logo and space for people to put there name down or space for what ever is going on it.

Dan
22-05-2007, 15:19
Yeah, it doesn't need to be all fancy with a fully coded and designed layout. More along the lines of the inx one now but change the banner so it says inx and BF2.

bob
22-05-2007, 15:25
There will be some good ideas that come out...just have to wait and see what we come up with at the end.

What ever happens, sure it will be good though :)

Dan
22-05-2007, 15:28
Yeah.. inx could probabaly over-power EA.

Olly
22-05-2007, 16:57
Carl is spending the next 2 weeks trying to sort this situation. We'll keep you informed :)

Dan
22-05-2007, 17:31
I wanna be the first to test one out :) lolz

Dan
24-05-2007, 06:49
Iv'e just recieved a responce from EA UK management asking me what the problem is. I have just replied back the following,



Well, I contacted EA a while ago regarding ranked servers. I recieved a responce to say that i was not eligable and that the ranked servers program is not available anymore.

As some of you may well know, i live in the UK. It's hard to find cheap servers in the UK. Most of these servers are £2 - 5 per slot. And most of them are lies, and not located in the UK whatsoever.

Inx-Gaming.co.uk would like to offer ranked servers for £1 per slot and unranked for around £0.50 per slot. We are one of the biggest online GSP's in the UK, and EA won't even let us join the ranked server program.

I am disgusted with the way that EA runs the ranked service program, and also i'm disgusted the way EA never bothers to update battlefield 2 with new maps, they have to bring out a whole new expansion for it.

All i have recieved from EA is disrespect throughout the course of being EA's customer.

Regards,

Dan

Matt
24-05-2007, 07:08
Will check if i got anything when i get home!

Dan
24-05-2007, 07:08
Coolio, if i could i'd feel like shooting them all :)

Rich
24-05-2007, 20:32
INX are 99p a slot, not 99p ranked and 50p unranked!

Dan
24-05-2007, 20:35
Ah well, they just ignored anyway.

Olly
26-05-2007, 10:44
See http://www.inx-forums.com/bf2-ranked-game-t3123/index.html?p=25651#post25651

Dan
26-05-2007, 11:41
Yeah, what a thread this was.

You can close it now if you like Olly :)

Dan
26-05-2007, 15:07
Would it be possible for unranked servers to be hosted so we can switch to them?

As it's ideal for my clan to start training and muck around on them :)

S2P
28-05-2007, 23:07
I think you'll find that it's a country based thing, USA/Canada get (x) amount of reg'd servers more than the UK would. Preferencial treatment?

Get in with some Indie developers - ones that are not so big for their boots, build up a partnership with them, then you will know where the loyalty is on the up and coming games that go commercial. It's that saying, it's not what you know, it's who you know.

Snoopy
29-05-2007, 10:09
or just do what we are doing :)

Rich
29-05-2007, 18:14
S2P - INX is more than happy to partner with game developers to secure access to server files and to provide full control panel support with instant setup :)

This thread is about woes in securing access to Battlefield ranked server files from EA, but that doesn't mean its the only game INX is wanting to host!

If anyone reading is a representative from a budding mod / total conversion / full game and would like to talk to INX about INX providing instant setup on your game via the control just send an email to sales@inx-gaming.co.uk with your contact details and a link to your website :)

S2P
02-06-2007, 11:04
Might be worth following up your emails with a telephone call, try and speak to the right person, 9 times out of 10 you get the wrong person, just quoting off what they have been told or emailed, or just do not know so they say no. If you put it in a way that "What can we do for you" instead of "What we want" they may give you the result you are looking for :-)

Olly
02-06-2007, 12:46
We did present it exactly that was s2p.

We also did get exactly the right person.

It stinks, but there's not much we can do. :(

S2P
02-06-2007, 13:46
I guess it's a lost cause then. All you can do is but keep trying every so often.


We did present it exactly that was s2p.

We also did get exactly the right person.

It stinks, but there's not much we can do. :(

Olly
02-06-2007, 14:20
I guess it's a lost cause then. All you can do is but keep trying every so often.

That's what we keep doing. Like banging your head up a brick wall though. :(

Look at the biggest game.

http://www.game-monitor.com/search.php?search=inx-gaming&type=server&game=cstrike2

The nearest 'competitor' has 30....and they are hosted in our racks!

None of the current 'trusted partners' get over 20 CS Source servers.

We are on 137...

S2P
02-06-2007, 14:36
Can't see the logic behind it all, but it sure doesnt make sense on their behalf.

Dan
02-06-2007, 14:43
EA are becoming the most hated company by looking at their forums, nearly every post is hatred.