I thought i would do a common Punk Buster Sticky Thread:

Updating PunkBuster

This is fairly easy:

Visit this page, and download this file.

1 - Download the file
2 - Extract it (somewhere you will remember it)
3 - Run the Exe file
4 - Agree EULA and Press OK to any messages/update requests
5 - Press Add a Game, select COD4 from the drop down list and press Add Game (making sure your path is correct)
5a - Add any other game in the list COD2, COD UO, Crysis etc
6 - Click Check for Updates - this will check & update any necessary PunkBuster files that are out of date.

If you extracted the Exe file and added your games to it, the next time you run it your games will already be there, so you only need to click Check for Updates. This will also work for dedicated servers that you might be running on your PC's.

***VISTA*** Windows may ask you if this Application is installed properly - say yes, this is just Vista being Vista nothing to worry about


Punkbuster Service not Started

Sometimes you get connection errors stating that PnkBstrA is not running, this is just a Windows Service. Click Control Panel => Administrative Tools => Services (or just type services.msc in the Run box)

In here you should have a Service called PnkBstrA, this should be set to Automatic & it should always have a Status of Started, if not double click on it and press Start if not started, or change Startup Type to Automatic.

Failing that a good 'old reboot may fix the problem (works for 90% of faults). If it doesnt start try updating it using the above method.


These are the 2 main errors most people get, other errors can be resolved by just reconnecting to the server. I will try and answer any problems people have and add new content if certain things keep reocurring...



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when i join a game, about 10 seconds later, punkbuster kicked me saying
"RESTRICTION: Service Communication Failure: Pnkbstra.exe
I followed your downloading procedure, but i'm not sure if i downloaded punkbuster correctly when i installed call of duty 4. I can't find punkbuster in my programs list when i try to uninstall it. I use windows vista btw. Also, there is no PnkBstrA in my service list. PLEASE HELP ME!!

I get the error saying Punkbuster A INT FAILURE. I did all of your steps and made sure it was running but it still does not work.

Had Punkbuster problems with Vista and found if you right click on Multiplayer Icon on Desktop and run as Aministrator cured it.

Been playing most of the day, then all of a sudden PB started kicking me for "Cvar r_lodscalerigid = 2".

I changed it to "= 1" in console, but that does NOT work.

After a little googling I found:

This worked... What I don't get is why it changed in the first place????

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What are you more afraid of; the 3 guys 1oo yds away with assault rifles, or the guy with a hunting knife rising silently out of the grass 3ft behind you?

what next please??
My email is PTsign@msn.com
please send solution or any correspondance by email if you wish.

@ capt ahab, why is PB kicking you?

Additional to my previous post... couple of times today I've been kicked becasue other things have changed in my config file, along the same lines though, always something to do with lodscale... I don't get it... going into the config file and manually editing the value of whatever PB has kicked me for back to 1 seems to do the trick, but why's this happenning in the first place? I haven't changed the files myself, and I've had no problems till now?

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What are you more afraid of; the 3 guys 1oo yds away with assault rifles, or the guy with a hunting knife rising silently out of the grass 3ft behind you?

U dont need to actually have punkbuster on. if u have the problem who cares? u log onto and click join server. then click the purplelish icon below refresh and all that. the icon will take out all punkbuster needed games for play. if you do this, you'll be able to play any game without the x below the purpleish icon. so there u go. i had that problem. but my brother told me bout it. if u need help just tell me or email me.

Not very helpful if you want to play on a server that isn't full of hackers and cheaters though...

Got a new problem with PB now... file/memory corruption 81351... Again was playing fine all day, now I can't join any of my favorite servers without getting kicked after a few seconds... what gives?

EDIT: Nevermind... Fixed it... My rig's overclocked, apparently PB can't handle it lol... Reduced the overclock on my CPU from 3.18Ghz to 3.14Ghz, and RAM was at 897Mhz, now at 890 Mhz, everything peachy again...

__________________

What are you more afraid of; the 3 guys 1oo yds away with assault rifles, or the guy with a hunting knife rising silently out of the grass 3ft behind you?