Prospect

What is Prospect?

Prospect is a small utility to aid server admins in configuring PunkBuster who only have RCON access to their server (no direct file access).

It will read a set of PB config files from the local computer, parse them and transmit their contents via RCON so that PB is set up on the server with all of the locally specified settings. It will also transmit ban lists, featuring 'diff' style support to reduce network traffic and integrated support for PunksBusted's external Auto-MBL application.

The program is written in Python and is released under the GNU GPL licence.

Requirements

• Battlefield 2 server with standard RCON access (BF2CC/ModManager not required)
• Windows environment to run the installer and executable
• or Python interpreter to run the source version (tested with 2.3.5)
• Optional: Windows or Linux Auto-MBL console client (automblc)

Installing and Configuring Prospect

Installing Prospect under Windows

Download and run the installer from here:

• PunksBusted.com - Download Prospect

This will install by default into C:\Program Files\Prospect\ with the main program executable and related files. You will also have a set of shortcuts added to your Start Menu (and optionally Quick Launch) to enable you to run each mode.

Configuring Prospect

Once installed, you need to set up your server profiles. In this example, we will use one.

Open up the settings.ini from the program installation directory (or click on the 'Edit settings.ini' item in the Start Menu group).

Example config file

[settings]
AMBLPath=C:\Program Files\PunksBusted\Auto-MBL
SleepTime=5

[lithium]
RCONHost=192.168.1.16
RCONPort=6711
RCONPassword=Yeb1b1vX
SourceDir=C:\Documents and Settings\Omnix\My Documents\pbconfigs\lithium

'settings' section

• AMBLPath - if left blank, this will disable external Auto-MBL support. Otherwise, this must point to the location that the Auto-MBL console version is installed into. If you have the GUI version of Auto-MBL, you must also download the console version and simply copy the files (particularly automblc.exe) in the ZIP archive into your Auto-MBL installation directory. You must have an account with PunksBusted to use Auto-MBL.
  • PunksBusted.com - About Auto-MBL
  • PunksBusted.com - Download Auto-MBL
• SleepTime - defines the time in 1/100s of a second for the program to sleep after running each RCON command. Will reduce load spikes on the server. Defaults to 5 (no particular reason - if you have a better suggestion, please say).

Adding Profiles

Profiles are named after the section names (in the above example, 'lithium'). Available options:

• RCONHost - host name/IP address for RCON access to the server. Required.
• RCONPort - port to connect to for RCON access. Optional, defaults to 4711.
• RCONPassword - password to use for access. Required.
• SourceDir - directory on local computer to read PB config files from for this profile. Required.

Preparing your source directory

The source directory should be laid out in the same way as a standard PunkBuster server installation. Important points:

• pbsv.cfg (if it exists) will be read first
• pbsvuser.cfg (if it exists) will be read second, after pbsv.cfg has been fully parsed
• pbbans.dat (if it exists) will be used as the server ban list

You can then set up your PB configuration in the normal way, or use a distributed config set such as the PunksBusted configs:

• PunksBusted.com - Recommended BF2 Configs

If you are using the Auto-MBL integration, set up the configuration with the "Local file copy" option and choose the source directory as the location. This will cause Auto-MBL to update the ban list and MD5Tool lists into the source directory, ready for Prospect to upload them. If using Windows, you might find it easier to configure Auto-MBL with the GUI version - if the console version is installed into the same location, the config file can be used by both.

Using Prospect

Running Prospect

Under Windows (with the installer):

Click on Start, Programs, Prospect and then select the mode you wish to run. You will have four available entries:

• Prospect - full config upload
• Prospect - short config upload
• Prospect - full ban list upload
• Prospect - short ban list upload

Select the relevant option (see the 'How often' section below) and Prospect will immediately begin.

With Python interpreter

Launch the prospect.py script under the interpreter (tested with 2.3.5) using one of the options documented in the section below. If you have just one profile set up, Prospect will default to this, however if you have more than one, you will have an interactive prompt to choose which profile you wish to use.

You can bypass this by specifying the -p or --profile option with the profile name.

Supported command line options

-v, --verbose              verbose (default: off)
-p name, --profile=name    profile name to load up
-C, --conf-full            full parse and load of server configs
-c, --conf-short           load up tasks and MD5Tool checks from server
                           configs (after restarting server)
-B, --ban-full             full reload of all server bans
-b, --ban-short            update server with ban changes since last run

How often should I run Prospect?

Prospect has four primary modes:

• Full configuration upload
  • Use this when you first set up Prospect, or a new server. This transmits the entire PB config the server and tells the server to write it to disk. Unless the server is reinstalled etc, you shouldn't require this.
• Short configuration upload
  • Use this after the server has been restarted. PB doesn't write all settings to disk and so this mode is required after a server restart to load up MD5Tool checks and PB tasks.
• Full ban list upload
  • Use this mode on a new server, or if it's been reinstalled or wiped. It might be good practice to run this every now and then to check your ban list integrity on the server side. If Auto-MBL is set up, this will be run prior to uploading bans to the server.
• Short ban list upload
  • Use this mode if you manually enter a new entry (or entries) into your ban list file (pbbans.dat). It will also run Auto-MBL if it is set up, so if using AMBL, run this daily to download the latest ban list and upload it to your server in one step.

In summary:

• After installing Prospect or reinstalling the server:
  • Full configuration upload
  • Full ban list upload

• After restarting the server (or a server crash)
  • Short configuration upload

• Daily
  • Short ban list upload

Other

Support

The support forum for Prospect is at PunksBusted:

• PunksBusted.com - Prospect Utility

Change Log

v0.1 - initial release

Licence

Prospect is licensed under the GNU GPL:

• GNU General Public Licence