Alternate Gamespy server for BF1& BF2 + Gameranger hosting information

[StoneCold]

Hi guys,

It's been a while since I've posted here, but thought I'd share something interesting I came across. I'd like to divert your attention to the following:

Have a look at message 24 of 43 on the following Halo forum: http://forum.halomaps.org/index.cfm?page=topic&topicID=45604&start=1

To directly quote the message:

All the patch does is basically redirect all GameSpy domain names to point to my spare GameSpy server.

I figured the patcher would be an issue with custom .exe's for CE & FV so a much cleaner & easier way would be to redirect the domain names in the hosts files.

The server itself fully emulates GameSpy's protocol 100% for Halo, NWN, Battlefield and a few other titles. What this basically means is if you redirect to this GameSpy server it will function as CE does now; you can access the server lists and host like you normally would without any issues.

I originally wrote the server for Trial because GameSpy discontinued support for it in 2012. I also had a few other people hassle me to help bring a few other titles back to life too...

The server is there. I already host it for Trial and a few other titles already with great success... you guys are more than welcome to use it for CE & FV if you need it.

When GameSpy goes down on the 31st of May it will have a backup of the latest server list for all versions of CE & FV so you can still see the servers online

Oh before I forget; here's the host file entries you will need for CE & FV:

Halo CE Client / Server Host Entries:
60.240.173.36 halom.ms1.gamespy.com
60.240.173.36 halom.master.gamespy.com

Halo FV Client / Server Host Entries:
60.240.173.36 halor.ms6.gamespy.com
60.240.173.36 halor.master.gamespy.com

Proof Of Concept at the time:

Now, pinging 60.240.173.36 does yield a response, so the server is still online. I'm still at work at the moment, so I haven't tested this out with BF1 or BF2, but I guess it's worth a shot. Even if it doesn't work yet at this stage, I'm pretty sure we can contact the creator and he can simply add support for both BF1 and BF2 seeing that he is active on that Halo forum. Or we could send him a message via his Youtube account. I'll need to look for the post again here somewhere with the swbf1 entries for the hosts file, but if someone mind sharing them here, then I'll test this server out and let you guys know, asap.

Also, I've managed to successfully host dedicated servers for BF1 and BF2 via Gameranger. There was a trick involved as to getting the server launched via a batch file in order for the dedicated server to be listed as a joinable room, but I figured it out 

The only downside to hosting with Gameranger is that you can only host one server at a time using the method I used, unless there is way to run multiple instances of Gameranger (something I'm looking into as well). What's nice about Gameranger is that you can create a free account, and the program does all of the NAT traversal and port forwarding too, so there isn't any issues involved with regards to forwarding ports etc.

On my VPS machine I didn't even forward any ports for BF1 or BF2 and neither for that of GR and I managed to join the dedicated server via GR without any issues  I don't mind sharing the hosting method with you guys, if anyone is interested in trying out the GR dedicated server hosting setup. I know some of you use Tunngle, but  GR isn't that bad, especially when it comes to NOT needing to forward any ports to connect to dedicated servers hosted via GR.

If anyone is keen, I'll put up a server for BF1 via GR, then you guys can connect via that. Obviously your pings will be a bit high (the dedicated server is hosted in South Africa), but if you're connecting from EU you should have a 200ms ping plus minus. Before I forget, GR can host up to 64 players, via P2P or dedicated server, so there isn't any limitation with regards to number of players per server that the old Openspy suffered from. 

[Led]

Thanks.   Good stuff.  We might try out the new replacement sometime for fun. 

GR never worked with a batch file for me, so if you could show me how, that would be great.

For the record, tunngle
-is also free,
-involves no port forwarding,
-works with a remote desktop connected VPS,
-works with dedicated server software and disc based games,
-can host any number of servers on the same computer




edit:
here is the server name information:
http://www.swbfgamers.com/index.php?topic=6387.0

[StoneCold]

Hi Led,

No problem

Thanks a lot for the server name information. It seems as if that server doesn't allow any connections to be made from the game at all, as it says "Server refused the connection" when I try to login. I'm going to contact the owner and ask him if he could add support for SWBF1 just to test and see how it functions using his Gamespy emulated server.

I'll keep you guys updated with regards to any developments and if it works successfully or not. BTW, I just got home from work, I'll share the Gameranger dedicated server setup later this evening after I had something to eat. Spot you guys later 

[Snake]

Nice, this would be pretty cool. Let's hope it works better than OpenSpy.