Petition for PunkBuster Support/Version for WINE in Linux

Devine · Post by **Devine** » Tue Sep 16, 2008 11:10 pm

Greetings,
I started this petition the other day.
http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/PunkBusterforWINE

As legitimate owner of a game, regardless of platform (providing that it will actually run) - one should be entitled to the online experience attached to the game.

Sadly, for many Windows(tm) games under WINE this cannot be done because of the PunkBuster Anti-Cheat protection which does not allow those using a WINE based API to access a PunkBuster protected server.

There is PunkBuster support for Linux game servers, so there is already in-house knowledge of Linux at Even Balance. CodeWeavers and Transgaming are distributors of commercial branches of WINE who would work with Even Balance to support their largest demographic. (the gamers!)

Anything that is which allows WINE users to access PunkBuster protected servers will be appreciated. (full implementation or not!)

This petition is to show community and market support to the parties who will be involved in providing PunkBuster support for community and commercial WINE based products.

Also, for those who want to criticize the way I have approached this, I don't care (unless you really do have a better idea which I might take on board).

Click Here to Vote!

Tell your friends to help make this happen.

chourmovs · Post by **chourmovs** » Wed Sep 17, 2008 12:31 am

here is my petition for you to learn coding yourself

seriously, community seems to be already active on this bug
http://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=9685

just vote for it and try to help, developpers don't need your pressure

jeffz · Post by **jeffz** » Wed Sep 17, 2008 1:25 am

Devine wrote:Greetings,
I started this petition the other day.
http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/PunkBusterforWINE

As legitimate owner of a game, regardless of platform (providing that it will actually run) - one should be entitled to the online experience attached to the game.

Sadly, for many Windows(tm) games under WINE this cannot be done because of the PunkBuster Anti-Cheat protection which does not allow those using a WINE based API to access a PunkBuster protected server.

There is PunkBuster support for Linux game servers, so there is already in-house knowledge of Linux at Even Balance. CodeWeavers and Transgaming are distributors of commercial branches of WINE who would work with Even Balance to support their largest demographic. (the gamers!)

Anything that is which allows WINE users to access PunkBuster protected servers will be appreciated. (full implementation or not!)

This petition is to show community and market support to the parties who will be involved in providing PunkBuster support for community and commercial WINE based products.

Also, for those who want to criticize the way I have approached this, I don't care (unless you really do have a better idea which I might take on board)..

Please learn how to write Wine

http://wiki.winehq.org/FAQ#head-8b4fbbe ... f0e8d25f2e

second, just who are you petitioning? it's not clear from the link...

I think you should have researched this better, PunkBuster works for some games but not for others, I can attest to it working fine for me after applying two patches that are on bugzilla.

I recall someone saying that some PB enabled games like Americas Army (linux client) is shipped with PB, so support in some form already exists which could be used in a similar manner by EvenBalance without any action on Wine's behalf since they could probably ship something which accesses the linux native library.

Chris MacKay · Post by **Chris MacKay** » Wed Sep 17, 2008 5:40 am

First, let me state that I refuse to sign anything that harvests my name and email address.

Secondly, let me explain why some programs work with PB, and others don't.

As I understand it, those games which come with PB (and have a linux clients, such as Americas Army) utilise a modified version of the original PB, which does not require the same API calls that the "base" version does. Ie, they have a workaround of sorts built into them (intentional or otherwise).

Anything that installs PB as a third party application will use the standard PB, with the standard PB checks. These versions fail after a short while because they detect you are not running a standard Windoze OS. Well, I hate to tell you this, but that's in the province of the coders who created PB, and it's part of what it's SUPPOSED to do. Punkbuster is designed to make sure you're not messing with anything (including systems DLLs, etc) and not spoofing any API calls, so when it receives a non-standard response from Wine, it assumes you're a Punk (cheater) and busts you. No surprise there.

If you want to petition anyone, it would probably be more productive to petition the PB developers, rather than the Wine coders, since if you're looking for Linux support, they'll need to change the application itself. No Wine-bsaed workaround will provide true Linux support. The best it can do is pretend to be Windows more accurately, and, as I said, it's PBs job to detect and prevent that.

From: [email protected]
Date: Wed, 17 Sep 2008 01:25:25 -0500
To: [email protected]
Subject: [Wine] Re: Petition for PunkBuster Support/Version for WINE in Linux

Devine wrote:
Greetings,
I started this petition the other day.
http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/PunkBusterforWINE

As legitimate owner of a game, regardless of platform (providing that it will actually run) - one should be entitled to the online experience attached to the game.

Sadly, for many Windows(tm) games under WINE this cannot be done because of the PunkBuster Anti-Cheat protection which does not allow those using a WINE based API to access a PunkBuster protected server.

There is PunkBuster support for Linux game servers, so there is already in-house knowledge of Linux at Even Balance. CodeWeavers and Transgaming are distributors of commercial branches of WINE who would work with Even Balance to support their largest demographic. (the gamers!)

Anything that is which allows WINE users to access PunkBuster protected servers will be appreciated. (full implementation or not!)

This petition is to show community and market support to the parties who will be involved in providing PunkBuster support for community and commercial WINE based products.

Also, for those who want to criticize the way I have approached this, I don't care (unless you really do have a better idea which I might take on board)..
Please learn how to write Wine

http://wiki.winehq.org/FAQ#head-8b4fbbe ... f0e8d25f2e

second, just who are you petitioning? it's not clear from the link...

I think you should have researched this better, PunkBuster works for some games but not for others, I can attest to it working fine for me after applying two patches that are on bugzilla.

I recall someone saying that some PB enabled games like Americas Army (linux client) is shipped with PB, so support in some form already exists which could be used in a similar manner by EvenBalance without any action on Wine's behalf since they could probably ship something which accesses the linux native library.

_________________________________________________________________

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Devine · Post by **Devine** » Wed Sep 17, 2008 12:13 pm

Greetings,

OK, I'm that I did not make it clear enough to say exactly who I was petitioning. I was not trying to pressure Wine developers, they are doing all they can and they are doing well. I am very very thankful of the work that the devs do.

Basically, as I didn't communicate strongly enough - I am looking support from Wine users or anybody interested in the success of Wine. (I acutally prefer to spell it WINE because of the acronym)

My understanding was that PB worked for most games but failed the Genuine Windows check which resulted in being booted from the server.

If some native Linux games (Americas Army for example) have a version of punkbuster which was modified from base code - why not make a version of PB for WINE using the PB for Windows base code? Is that unreasonably hard?

I am trying to gather proof of interest in an attempt to motivate/interest/justify Even Balance to make a version of PB for Wine.

It does not have to always be an uphill battle, if we can get some help from Even Balance it could make things much easier. We can even the balance... bad pun.

Take Google Picasa for example (or Google Earth?). These applications did not initially work in Wine - but with some inside help (sorry I forgot your name) Google popped out a "Linux" client taking advantage of Wine.
I believe that the so-called Linux client for EVE online is actualy a slightly modified (and bastardised, it's horrible) Windows Eve client with Cedega.

A little help from the other side is what I am aiming to encourage.

chourmovs · Post by **chourmovs** » Wed Sep 17, 2008 12:33 pm

If you want to enjoy your stay on GNu/Linux and/or other free system you have to learn one thing
Doing a petition is not the good way because with a program under gnu license like wine, users are developpers.

I was like you few monthes ago and i regreted no one explained me the GNU philosophy, just try to help by doing conformance tests for exemple, manage with some code at your level and overall avoid term like "should", "must" and "marketing" in your mouth

Say "bye bye windows" to resume

Kind regards

Devine · Post by **Devine** » Wed Sep 17, 2008 12:53 pm

Chourmovs,

You are a little presumptuous, this is not my first week in Linux and Open Source Software.
I do what I can to help always - I am simply trying to help now. Laying back and letting things crawl along might be peaceful and nice to immerse in, but to get things done a little drive is needed.
A great portion of Linux and Open Source Software was developed not by hobbyists as a plaything as some people would like to believe - but by companies employing people to get things done.

Do you understand the use of words such as "should", "must" and "marketing" now? I considered them the right tools for the job.

I do not use Windows, I have not had a Windows installation for almost 2 years now. Windows would be the right tool for the gaming job - but I love Linux and OSS.

I just thought I would get that out of the way.
I used to have a Wine forums account, but I was inactive so it was wiped... Don't let my join date decieve you.

James McKenzie · Post by **James McKenzie** » Wed Sep 17, 2008 11:12 pm

Devine wrote:

Chourmovs,

You are a little presumptuous, this is not my first week in Linux and Open Source Software.
I do what I can to help always - I am simply trying to help now. Laying back and letting things crawl along might be peaceful and nice to immerse in, but to get things done a little drive is needed.
A great portion of Linux and Open Source Software was developed not by hobbyists as a plaything as some people would like to believe - but by companies employing people to get things done.

Do you understand the use of words such as "should", "must" and "marketing" now? I considered them the right tools for the job.

I do not use Windows, I have not had a Windows installation for almost 2 years now. Windows would be the right tool for the gaming job - but I love Linux and OSS.

I just thought I would get that out of the way.
I used to have a Wine forums account, but I was inactive so it was wiped... Don't let my join date decieve you.

Devine:

Unlike a few of the people here, I agree with you. The squeaky wheel
gets the grease as they say. However, running a petition may not be the
absolute best way to get-r-done as they say.

There is an issue in the Bugzilla that ANYONE can vote on to raise its
status and possibly its priority. There should be a similar issue in
the Issue Tracker for PunkBuster stating that PB does not play well with
Wine. If it is possible to vote on that issue, then do it. Let the
rest of the world know about the issue so that we can all go and vote.
That gets much more attention than an independent petition ever will.

James McKenzie

Devine · Post by **Devine** » Wed Sep 17, 2008 11:22 pm

There is no official PunkBuster reporting interface... If there was they would be swamped.

I do see your point though, unfortunately an independent petition seems the best I can do. It would also represent the Wine community as a large chunk - better than a few scattered reports.