Punkbuster sucks

So some of you might know I'm having this issue..some of you might even be having it yourself. Anyone with Battlefield: Bad Company 2 and an Optimus-enabled GPU knows what I'm talking about.

Basically, I can't play online. Punkbuster kicks me after about a minute into a match saying "Restriction: Multiple Direct3D loaded"

I've contacted Even Balance (makers of Punkbuster), Nvidia, and EA games. All 3 have told me there is nothing they can do about it. So double you tee eff mate? The blame lies with Punkbuster in my opinion. How the hell is somebody going to cheat by loading multiple Direct3D drivers in the first place? It shouldn't even be checking for that. So what now, am I going to ask all of you to send mass QQ emails to Even Balance and Nvidia to fix this? No, in fact, I'm putting this out there as a warning and to start a general discussion on why companies are making PC gaming look bad due to this garbage. A lot of people are having this issue, it's literally all over the internet. Just search it on Google. Nvidia is supposedly working on a fix for it, and Even Balance told me a month ago that they are coming out with a fix "next week". What they neglected to tell me however was that "next week" actually means "We don't know, so stop asking"

 

Does punkbuster detect vmware?

 

Problem is well documented with a driver fix scheduled for release. See Optimus issues with Punkbuster - NVIDIA Forums - Page 14 .

 

Having issues with punkbuster sucks, but it doesnt mean that punkbuster itself sucks. We are much better off with it than without it (or atleast some other form of cheat detection in its place)

So no way around it like disabling your gpu in the bios or disabling the optimus stuff until its officially fixed?

 

I think I've read somewhere that the way around it is to use some really old drivers that don't support Optimus.

 

and as a former Nvidia fanboy I would actually place more of the blame on Nvidia. they rushed the optimus tech and as far as im concerned took a few lazy shortcuts with it. it is not just Punkbuster but even many high end apps which give you headaches. Heavy users of Photoshop, Autocad, Maya and other " pro " apps which do alot of optimized OpenGL are having major issues with it as well.

IMO Nvidia should suck it up say they screwed up again, FIX the drivers IF they can, and in the next revision actually let the discreet card do all the work and not just borrow the data stream from the IGP, render it and hand it back to the IGP.

also on the wish list how about some Linux support as well. your optimus tech just managed to lose you alot of that customer base as well.

 

I've the same problem with my M11x, can't play on any Punkbuster enabled servers for CoD 4.

So it's either play with cheaters or not at all which sucks.

 

Ha, from that Nvidia forums link looks like everyone hates Nvidia now XD.

Personally, this is the last laptop I buy with an Nvidia GPU. Seriously.

@ViciousXUSMC, honestly both are at fault. Now hearing about Nvidias screw ups its safe to say they both played a part. There are much better anti-cheat programs than punkbuster, such as Valve's own software. I have no idea why EA keeps using Punkbuster but eh. And no, theres no way to disable the Optimus. Its really stupid, you have the option of turning off the GPU and running on the IGP but you have no option of turning off the optimus and only running on the GPU...

Now that BC2: Vietnam is out I can't wait for this issue to be fixed. The forums say first week of January, so thats next week. Lets keep our fingers crossed

 

Every game that uses Punkbuster is riddled by hacks and cheats. Ironic isn't it? And in the end it's the non-cheaters that suffer since Punbuster doesn't do it's job and the issues mentioned above.

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...2-community-built-drivers-punkbuster-fix.html.
Ok I know this is a fix for the m11xr2 so going viral use this,
If you can use the 260.99 drivers or 260.90 can't remember which I had before this. It fixes it completely. Extract them to a file find it and then install. I am having one problem with cod4 though, after each game it kicks me but I can join backs does this everytime saying wrong IWD files or something not a big deal. Might just be me anyways.

 

well aint that some crap!
WTB PUBLIC RELEASE FOR ALL NOTEBOOKS

 

I've never been able to play a Punkbuster enabled game without first going to their website, download PBSetup.exe, and running it manually to update the files. This has always fixed my issues in the past.

 

That's not the issue though, its a hardware/software conflict. Nothing can be done to fix it except Punkbuster getting off their lazy asses and taking out the multiple direct3d BS restriction or Nvidia coming out with a driver release. Better be soon, I wanna frickin play BC2 already!

 

What are your latest drivers?

 

Verde 260.99

apperantly dropping back to the 189 drivers fixes this, but eff that. I'm not installing an ancient driver that won't run any of my other games

 

Jt408 go look at my last post on the first page and use those nodded drivers it is a punkbuster fix. Step one download off the page. Step two extract to an easy to find place. Step three go to that easy to find place open that file (nvidia 265.90 drivers) and at the bottom should be a file labeled setup. Click and install. http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...2-community-built-drivers-punkbuster-fix.html

 

I don't have an Alienware, lol.

I'll just wait, according to Nvidia were looking at the first week of January here. They better be right

 

Its not just alienware anyone who uses the same drivers can use it. It is a nodded 260.99 driver. Try it out and if it doesn't work on your system then it wont install and no harm done
But if it does install then you wont have to wait for nvidia aka months maybe.

 

Driver intercepting. It would allow wall hacks and so on, by basically intercepting the legitimate calls to the driver and replacing, say, wall textures with transparent textures and just outlines. I can see why they'd do it, it's just that they haven't kept up with the Optimus technology, and they do the testing for it in a very dumb way.

GLIntercept - OpenGL debugger and function call interceptor
Intercept Calls to DirectX with a Proxy DLL - CodeGuru

 

That's actually really good. Every days a good day to learn! Thanks Pita

and I'll test out that Punkbuster fix, when I get home I'm at work right now (lol)

 

You realize you can play BC2 and set a filter to only show non-punkbuster enabled servers?

That would probably work for you...

 

You think I haven't tried that already?
Non-Punkbuster enabled servers are terrible. Most of them are full of hackers and cheaters. Not to mention, they are all unranked. If I played on them I wouldn't be able to keep any xp or unlockables I've earned. Whats the point of playing like that? That's like playing Call of Duty online all the time with ONLY the preset classes.