What?Gamespy (now a defunct company) is shutting down their servers.
What does it mean?Gamespy hosts the master list server for Battlefield 1942 (among other games). It is used when you press "Update" button in the in-game server browser. Unfortunately it's also contacted automatically when you enter Multiplay -> Internet and if the master server is not responding, you'll get a lengthy freeze until the request times out.
Currently there's no info from EA about doing anything about it for BF1942. Instead they've removed BF1942 from Origin downloads.
When?Initial reports were stating the doom date being May 31th, current info from EA (
http://www.ea.com/…/service-updates) talks about June 30th.
What can I do if I still want to play?First of all, the good thing is that the servers you've marked as favorites will be still there. The annoying freeze on dead master server can be fixed by using a patched .exe
Also, you're not required to do anything yet but i suggest reading through the options to be prepared when gamespy master goes down to know your options and where to get the needed stuff.
Replacement master list server:We have a replacement master list server with servers imported from the official one (last import: May 17, 3pm CET) + those that are already sending heartbeats to it.
Unfortunatly, redirecting your game to it requires an action on your side, the options being:
1. using modified .exe filesI've modified binaries to use master.b1942.sk instead of master.gamespy.com. These versions already contain other fixes like widescreen support, fix for freeze on dead master, etc. Please read included txt files.
CD version:
files/bf1942-v1.61-nocd-widescreen-gamespy-fix.zipOrigin version:
files/bf1942-v1.612-no-origin-widescreen-gamespy-fix.zip(you may want to set compatibility mode to win xp xp3 or win 98 for the .exe, it usually helps with crashes if you're running newer Windows versions, see
here)
2. changing IP of master.gamespy.com via hosts fileYou can do this either automatically using our hosts patcher (
files/bf1942_gamespy_patcher.exe) or manually by editing your hosts file.
The patcher should get the current replacement IP (by resolving master.bf1942.sk), check your hosts file and allow you to patch, unpatch or fix the ip if it was changed meanwhile.
You can also do this manually by editing your hosts file and adding line
109.71.69.254 master.gamespy.com
to it.
hosts file is located at c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts
Desktop shortcuts:We have prepared a small installer that will install shotcuts that allow you to connect to aX by one doubleclick.
Download it here:
files/bf1942-ax.exeThird party server browsers:There are many tools that can get you connected to servers, options include X-Fire, QTracker, Gameranger, PFC Toolbox, etc.
This section will be expanded soon.
Source url: External Link