#1 2014-05-21 16:21:50

tuia
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GameSpy shutdown and Battlefield 1942

GameSpy multiplayer services for EA Games closed down in July, as predicted http://www.ea.com/news/update-on-ea-tit … on-gamespy. This means several dozens of games have limited or any multiplayer functionality, including Battlefield 1942 (BF1942). Specifically, Battlefield 1942 in-game browser stopped working after July 26. This had a negative impact on the game, since most players use the in-game browser to connect to servers and also due to a code error, BF1942 freezes when they reach in-game server browser.

What you have to do, as a player, is replace your BF1942 executable with a patched one, which has master.gamespy.com server replaced with master.bf1942.sk and several other fixes included. You can do this automatically by downloading and running this patch file:

Battlefield 1942 GameSpy patch v1.61

Or you can do it manually, and in case, you have BF1942 downloaded from Origin, you have to get this zip package:

Battlefield 1942 v1.612 Origin patched

If you do not have BF1942 downloaded from Origin, you should have BF1942 CD-based (Retail) version installed, obtained from a torrent, website or from CDs, and you will need to download this zip package:

Battlefield 1942 v1.61 Retail patched

Then, you extract that zip package in your game directory, making sure all files are overwritten. Please, read the included simple.txt file which has all installation instructions. After that, you are good to go, and don't have to worry about anything with your BF1942 game, in-game browser will work after June 30. If you wish to update to other BF1942 versions, check http://team-simple.org/download page.

I don't recommend editing your operating system hosts file over replacing BF1942.exe. However, if you want to do so, add this 94.23.196.155 master.gamespy.com to your hosts file in:

Windows 95, 98 and Me             C:\Windows\hosts
Windows NT and 2000               C:\WinNT\system32\drivers\etc\hosts
Windows XP, Vista, 7 and 8        C:\Windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts
Unix, Unix-like and Mac OS X      /etc/hosts


Please, spread this with all BF1942 players as much as you can, so everyone can be ready for the change and aren't affected by it.

For further information:
http://forum.bf1942.sk/gamespy
http://ea117.com/gamespy

Last edited by tuia (2018-01-26 00:35:47)

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#2 2014-05-21 16:54:06

Denny
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Re: GameSpy shutdown and Battlefield 1942

thanks ssk,tuia and others for effort, and write it ingame announcement please and on top of this forum so that game lasts for couple of months maybe

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#3 2014-05-21 19:11:17

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Re: GameSpy shutdown and Battlefield 1942

words cannot express my gratitude for the immense and, I can only imagine, countless hours you guys worked on this. Thank you very much s(sk) and Tuia. Dunno if there were more involved but my big thanks to them as well!

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#4 2014-05-21 19:28:12

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Re: GameSpy shutdown and Battlefield 1942

Thanks for what you have done for us

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#5 2014-05-21 20:03:59

ghost of ...
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Re: GameSpy shutdown and Battlefield 1942

Tuia, can you explain why you don't recommend editing the hosts file?

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#6 2014-05-21 23:12:29

tuia
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Re: GameSpy shutdown and Battlefield 1942

I don't recommend editing hosts file over using patched executable, because it's just a workaround and it does not fix the problems in the game. And in case the master server IP address changes, you have to edit again hosts file to point to the new IP address.
The only concern I see about using the patched BF1942 executable is that you don't trust my work and believe I can have any bad intentions, which is a stupidity, I must say. You can see for yourself and binary compare the patched BF1942.exe with the original one, you can check all changes made. The patched executable has many improvements, like widescreen support, you may pick any resolution your graphic card supports from the in-game menu, you're not limited to resolutions with aspect ratio 4:3, like 800x600, 1024x768, et cetera, it does not require a BF1942 CD to play or Origin client to launch, it's also portable, you can copy your BF1942 folder and play it anywhere and it has that freeze bug code fixed.

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#7 2014-05-22 08:43:15

s[sk]
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Re: GameSpy shutdown and Battlefield 1942

there's one possible problem with the origin replacement, i had a guy PMing me few days ago that he started getting constant crashes after the replacement (the usual vista/7/8 problems).
now i currently do not know whether the original origin exe has some fixes for that (this origin replacement is based on cd version) or whether origin client does something when it's starting it but in this case changing hosts might be "safer" - otherwise you have to do stuff like setting compatibility mode for exe or whatever will work

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#8 2014-05-22 09:54:58

tuia
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Re: GameSpy shutdown and Battlefield 1942

That's true. I had an exchange of messages with Trench (EA 117 server admin) about these crashes in BF1942 with Windows Vista, 7 and 8. He concluded it is related with heap management, and after he used an application compatibility shim to BF1942.exe, the crashes were gone when playing DC mod. Although, I don't get BF1942 crashes in my machines which have Windows 7 x32 and Windows 7 x64, I just use Windows XP SP3 compatibility mode and administrator rights, I thought about a way to solve these crashes. You can automate it by creating these registry entries for compatibility:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\AppCompatFlags\Layers]
"C:\\Program Files\\EA Games\\Battlefield 1942\\BF1942.exe"="WINXPSP3 RUNASADMIN"

Also PFC have released before a compatibility fix for BF1942. I can't test it myself, because I can't reproduce those crashes with only using those compatibility flags. It would be great if someone could shed some light on these crashes issues.
About what BF1942.exe from Origin download has, I thought it might be related with some compilation instructions, but Trench wrote it had also heap errors and it had crashed once.

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#9 2014-05-22 21:32:16

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Re: GameSpy shutdown and Battlefield 1942

Hi Tuia,

The first download is also good for the ones who downloaded the game via TPB (ur upload)? Because I am 1 of those cheapos...
Just to be sure smile

Last edited by Nosferatu (2014-05-22 22:33:00)

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#10 2014-05-22 22:55:52

tuia
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Re: GameSpy shutdown and Battlefield 1942

Hi,

Yes, of course. If you are not using BF1942 downloaded from Origin, then you download the Retail patched executable.

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#11 2014-05-23 13:28:22

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Re: GameSpy shutdown and Battlefield 1942

THANKS!

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#12 2014-05-24 18:51:31

brigadier-
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Re: GameSpy shutdown and Battlefield 1942

thanks alot, hope bf1942 remain alive :S

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#13 2014-05-25 13:31:46

Millerke
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Re: GameSpy shutdown and Battlefield 1942

Nobody likes the xfire solution. sad
Everybody wants to download something ...

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#14 2014-05-25 14:52:41

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Re: GameSpy shutdown and Battlefield 1942

Millerke wrote:

Nobody likes the xfire solution. sad
Everybody wants to download something ...

Not everybody has xfire so it means for them downloading something too wink

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#15 2014-05-25 15:30:14

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Re: GameSpy shutdown and Battlefield 1942

seventy wrote:
Millerke wrote:

Nobody likes the xfire solution. sad
Everybody wants to download something ...

Not everybody has xfire so it means for them downloading something too wink

Xfire is good for watching the servers alltogether, because the ingame searcher doesn't show all of the servers.

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#16 2014-05-27 15:10:55

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Re: GameSpy shutdown and Battlefield 1942

Hi, my name is Andrew. I download client game from here http://www.ex.ua/2888784. I create my own key in "bf1942changer.exe", then launch bf42.reg and my key goes to register. The game consists of battlefield_1942_patch_v1.6.19
battlefield_1942_incremental_patch_v1.6_to_v1.61b
DesertCombat0.7FullInstall
dc_final_client
and mappaks Road to Rome and Secret Weapons
What am i to do to still play bf1942 after 31 may.
Thanks.
i think my game is noCD version

Last edited by Amigo (2014-05-27 15:12:34)

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#17 2014-05-27 17:06:00

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Re: GameSpy shutdown and Battlefield 1942

I download bf1942-v1.61-retail-patched.zip
and overwrite files in folders. I think it helps me...

Last edited by Amigo (2014-05-27 17:07:02)

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#18 2014-05-27 17:30:17

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Re: GameSpy shutdown and Battlefield 1942

I try to connect with xfire. It works ok.

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#19 2014-05-27 20:01:41

tuia
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Re: GameSpy shutdown and Battlefield 1942

Amigo wrote:

I download bf1942-v1.61-retail-patched.zip
and overwrite files in folders. I think it helps me...

It's correct. If you do not have BF1942 from Origin, you should always use bf1942-v1.61-retail-patched.zip package, whether you got the game from CDs, from a torrent or from a file hosting website.

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#20 2014-05-27 20:55:10

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Re: GameSpy shutdown and Battlefield 1942

tuia wrote:
Amigo wrote:

I download bf1942-v1.61-retail-patched.zip
and overwrite files in folders. I think it helps me...

It's correct. If you do not have BF1942 from Origin, you should always use bf1942-v1.61-retail-patched.zip package, whether you got the game from CDs, from a torrent or from a file hosting website.

Tuia, i downloaded and extracted to ea/bf1942 folder but no replace files appeared? Saw the txt file too and dont know what im doing wrong. Can anyone help. step by step help smile

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#21 2014-05-27 21:56:56

tuia
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Re: GameSpy shutdown and Battlefield 1942

This is the topic with step-by-step images for Windows 7: http://team-simple.org/forum/viewtopic. … 638#p51638

For Windows XP, it's the same procedure. First, you extract zip package and then copy BF1942.exe and Mods folder to your Battlefield 1942 folder.

3940607Capture-2.jpg

6231421Capture-3.jpg

7987625Capture-4.jpg



Finally, make sure you have new BF1942.exe with date 2014-05-20:

7220364Capture-5.jpg

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#22 2014-05-27 22:41:39

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Re: GameSpy shutdown and Battlefield 1942

Obrigado Tuia!

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#23 2014-05-29 15:38:53

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Re: GameSpy shutdown and Battlefield 1942

I downloaded the 1.61 patch but when I try to start it it says it cant find the BFCPRT.dll file was not found. I have the retail version and made sure I downloaded the retail patch

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#24 2014-05-29 17:50:42

bud
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Re: GameSpy shutdown and Battlefield 1942

google BFCPRT.dll

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#25 2014-05-29 21:54:28

tuia
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Re: GameSpy shutdown and Battlefield 1942

cdodders, check the images above. You must have those .dll files in your game folder, like bfcprt.dll, binkw32.dll, mfc70.dll and msvcr70.dll. You should reinstall BF1942 again, update to v1.61 and then copy 1.61 retail patched files.

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#26 2014-05-30 07:01:27

nämeless
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Re: GameSpy shutdown and Battlefield 1942

bud wrote:

google BFCPRT.dll

It can be dangerous I presume, because there are a lot of websites with viruses: these websites have a lot of pages and keywords generated from the list of the most popular file searches in Google. For example, when I type "BFCPRT.dll" in Google, I am getting a few websites of this kind even on the first page of the list. When a user sees a huge green button "download", he is downloading some file like bfcprt.dll.exe and it's dangerous. As far as you know, all the file extensions are hidden in Windows by default, so it's better to download the game from the proper source and reinstall it. smile

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#27 2014-05-30 17:48:19

bud
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Re: GameSpy shutdown and Battlefield 1942

nämeless wrote:
bud wrote:

google BFCPRT.dll

It can be dangerous I presume, because there are a lot of websites with viruses: these websites have a lot of pages and keywords generated from the list of the most popular file searches in Google. For example, when I type "BFCPRT.dll" in Google, I am getting a few websites of this kind even on the first page of the list. When a user sees a huge green button "download", he is downloading some file like bfcprt.dll.exe and it's dangerous. As far as you know, all the file extensions are hidden in Windows by default, so it's better to download the game from the proper source and reinstall it. smile

Yeah i suppose you are right, my thought was that he would see that its not a new problem with bf1942.

I think the absolute best would be to make a new bf1942 installation cd with all updated files in it, both server and client files.

Here is what i found when i googled smile

Bfcprt.dll More Information and Description

User-Generated Microsoft (R) C/C++ Runtime Library

This particular dll file bfcprt.dll is the dynamic link library module of Application Specific CRT software program. The data file and also the included Application Specific CRT program was created by Dice AB.

bfcprt.dll is an significant component belonging to the program and in case it is corrupted or even misplaced you can get Microsoft windows error warnings for example; "bfcprt.dll is not found" or "Application Specific CRT was not able to launch since bfcprt.dll is not located".

To fix the error, you need to replace the corrupted or missing bfcprt.dll file with a working one. The current version of dll file available on our site is 7.0.0.0 with a size of 456 kb.

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#28 2014-05-30 20:21:46

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Re: GameSpy shutdown and Battlefield 1942

bud wrote:

I think the absolute best would be to make a new bf1942 installation cd with all updated files in it, both server and client files.

I would say this will be the only proper way to save the players on the servers.

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#29 2014-06-12 23:49:55

tuia
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Re: GameSpy shutdown and Battlefield 1942

Added Battlefield 1942 GameSpy patch installer which will automatically replace all necessary files in your Battlefield 1942 directory to redirect to new master server and create compatibility flags for BF1942 (WINXP SP3 and Run as Admin), if you have Windows Vista or newer. In case you install to your Origin Games\Battlefield 1942 folder, original BF1942.exe will be first copied to backup subdirectory. Download: Battlefield 1942 GameSpy patch v1.61

Virus scans:
battlefield_1942_gamespy_patch_v1.61.exe - Jotti's malware scan
battlefield_1942_gamespy_patch_v1.61.exe - VirusTotal scan

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#30 2014-06-13 00:51:21

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Re: GameSpy shutdown and Battlefield 1942

nice big_smile

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