Punkbuster is a horrible piece of software, across two computers and a dozen games it has time and time again, broken things. It would boot me for no reason in Call of Duty 2, crash my game in COD4 when I tried to join a server, boot me from America's Army servers and force me to play on non-PB servers in BF2. Even BF: Heroes was no stranger to PB trouble. I was prepared for PB issues in BC2 and fixed it preemptively, only to have it break when I reinstalled the game later on.

And it has done it again, for the past month i've been getting lock ups and black screens after every single round of BF3, the end of round report will go away, and instead of loading another map, i just get a black screen and have to use the task manager to get out,

Turns out the issue stemmed from PB failing between each round. So I get to manually update the PB files again. Why EA insists on using them for all their shooters is beyond me.

I never had any problems with the software, at least ones I'm aware of. I've heard many grumblings and much grief it has caused. I can only guess that EA and/or DICE doesn't want to develop the anti-cheat measures by themselves.

I don't think there's ever been a thread that included the word "Punkbuster" that didn't somewhere include the phrase "complete garbage."

I always play on non-pb secured servers. It's more trouble than the occasional cheater.

@Tim_the_Corsair said:

I always play on non-pb secured servers. It's more trouble than the occasional cheater.

LOL.....that's funny......where do you think all the " cheaters " go once they have been banned from the PB enabled servers? *BINGO*

I get the same end-of-round black screen too. I just ctrl-alt-tab out and connect again, doesn't really bother me.

@Ravenlight said:

I don't think there's ever been a thread that included the word "Punkbuster" that didn't somewhere include the phrase "complete garbage."

Haha, I was thinking the exact same thing just now. Its been complete garbage since forever! That its still around baffles any known rule of sanity.

@Tim_the_Corsair said:

I always play on non-pb secured servers. It's more trouble than the occasional cheater.

LOL.....that's funny......where do you think all the " cheaters " go once they have been banned from the PB enabled servers? *BINGO*

@AhmadMetallic said:

I get the same end-of-round black screen too. I just ctrl-alt-tab out and connect again, doesn't really bother me.

it's fairly easy to update it, just save the Punkbuster Files for players in your BF3 "Pb" folder. If you can fix it you should. It makes like alot easier. I'm just mad that it took me so long to realize what the problem is and to have had PB issues with every game i've ever had that uses it.

What you need is my newly patented "Punkbuster-Buster".

@Tim_the_Corsair said:

@Section_25

@Tim_the_Corsair said:

I always play on non-pb secured servers. It's more trouble than the occasional cheater.

LOL.....that's funny......where do you think all the " cheaters " go once they have been banned from the PB enabled servers? *BINGO*

The funny thing is that you seem to think PB is at all effective at catching people that cheat. I'll take a no-PB server with admin presence (or even without) any day.

Interesting.....

So you think that playing on a non-PB enabled server with an admin or not stands a better chance of being hacker/cheater free?

I know PB isn't the greatest as I have been on PB enabled servers and have seen known hackers/cheaters join and play regularly, but I have always though of PB as more of a hacker deterrent. It just seems like alot of them wouldn't want to risk being banned if they know they are cheating.

And why is it that PB can catch some but not others? I check the PB BF3 ban list every so often and see a ton of aimbot bans, but at the same time, I know there are some aimbots that come and go freely on PB enabled server I go to and NEVER get caught. It really pisses me off actually. When I see these " players " join the server I'm on, I quickly leave! It's a shame that some choose to use these cheats and ruin the experience for everyone else on a regular basis. LAME!

@Tim_the_Corsair said:

@Section_25

@Tim_the_Corsair said:

I always play on non-pb secured servers. It's more trouble than the occasional cheater.

LOL.....that's funny......where do you think all the " cheaters " go once they have been banned from the PB enabled servers? *BINGO*

The funny thing is that you seem to think PB is at all effective at catching people that cheat. I'll take a no-PB server with admin presence (or even without) any day.

Interesting.....

So you think that playing on a non-PB enabled server with an admin or not stands a better chance of being hacker/cheater free?

I know PB isn't the greatest as I have been on PB enabled servers and have seen known hackers/cheaters join and play regularly, but I have always though of PB as more of a hacker deterrent. It just seems like alot of them wouldn't want to risk being banned if they know they are cheating.

And why is it that PB can catch some but not others? I check the PB BF3 ban list every so often and see a ton of aimbot bans, but at the same time, I know there are some aimbots that come and go freely on PB enabled server I go to and NEVER get caught. It really pisses me off actually. When I see these " players " join the server I'm on, I quickly leave! It's a shame that some choose to use these cheats and ruin the experience for everyone else on a regular basis. LAME!

I've never had any punkbuster related problems with any PB supported game. Guess I'm lucky.

My Punkbuster experience has gotten better with BFBC2 and BF3, but it's still not ideal. There were times PB made BF2142 and BF2 impossible to play. Having to manually update the files is a pain, as is finding out you have to manually update them because something failed. The latest BF3 patch has helped the between-round black screens somewhat.

With BF3 i've noticed two things in regards to cheating:

1) I see a lot of instantaneous "so-and-so was banned for: AIMBOT" type messages. almost always players I'd never interacted with in the round because PB caught 'em first.

2) I see a lot more cheaters not being caught than i did with BFBC2. Guys with 52-3 ratios who could just be that good but the fact that I always fall dead upon entering their line of sight suggests otherwise.

I play on PB servers only, but I still get a better experience when there's an admin in there booting the fools.

They need to sort out their program, having to go to a website and download a whole new file in 2012? Integrate the updates already. The amount of wasted time punkbuster has caused gamers is crazy in my many years of gaming if it's a punkbuster game 70% of problems posted on forums result from punkbuster conflicting with some piece of software on the users PC. It is a great tool for those that run servers but my god it needs to be brought out of 2002

I've always hated punkbuster, and it never seems to ban any cheaters. I prefer non-punkbuster protected servers with constant admin presence.

Punkbuster is awesome you're just regurgitating the crap that militant hackers spew on to the internet,

and when the truth finally dawns: It dawns in fire.

But, there is one they fear, in their tongue he's Povahbiin:

Punk Buster!!!

I can't believe that EA continues to use Punkbuster. Not only is it really annoying, but it was ancient when Bad Company 2 came out. It's one of the worst anti cheat programs around and EA needs to drop it for something better.

@BelligerentEngine: Not really, sure it'll detect the kid running some public hack he found with a quick google search, but if someone is running privates Punkbuster won't do shit.

@WilltheMagicAsian said:

@BelligerentEngine: Not really, sure it'll detect the kid running some public hack he found with a quick google search, but if someone is running privates Punkbuster won't do shit.

The kid running some public hack he found with a quick google search is a pretty damn good portion of the people who want to actively use hacks.

At least someone running privates had to have a, "very" limited baseline of technical know how, before he was allowed to ruin my fun.

@BelligerentEngine: Yeah I don't really mind PB and I'm not one to complain about hackers anyway most of the time you can out play them since they're sometimes too reliant on the hacks. It was especially easy in the CoD titles.

I thought the thread title said "Punky Brewster" and I was ready to come in here and defend it.

The problem with any anti-cheat system is you need SOME humans in the loop. You can use statistics and algorithms to weed out the obvious cheaters and remove the chaff from the "rotten wheat,” but you need real people to watch replays of games and to sit in on live games to really "bust punks.”

On the big games like CoD, Battlefield, and Halo these companies need to have people in the games.