master0.gamespy.com Keeps rearing its ugly head

[Fuzz_Ball]

I played a few sniper servers recently and found a TON of garbage related to their servers in my unrealtournament.ini
Also I see a few others posting on social media having similar master server problems.

I change my ut.ini to the 33, oldunreal and utmaster. They seem to save just fine.
Launch UT, browse for online games & get nothing. Then it says it's searching for master0.gamespy.com!!
Open my ut.ini again and WTH! master0.gamespy.com is back in the lineup in the usual places: serveractors AND UBrowserAll!
I can't find any trace of gamespy in any of my files.
It is standard practice for me to make the .ini file Read Only so I thought I was safe.

The majority of offending entries come from LST servers.
Has anyone encountered this or have any ideas how to fix this

I do have an old backup but am more concerned about HOW somebody makes the changes so persistent.

[esnesi]

There are masterserver issues going on since 2 days.
People who didn't even had gamespy listed anymore, got it back indeed.
Even without having bFallbackFactories set to true.

You can see about 300 servers less, or nothing at all.
All servers are still listed in your favorites, and should also be reachable through IP:port.

My assumption something got turned offline @Epic, and redirects to old configurations like gamespy.

[Fuzz_Ball]

Thanks esnesi.
Weird how it actually changes the .ini!

[OjitroC]

As esnesi says it's a problem with Epic (and possibly UBrowser). As a test I set up one of my UT installations with just utmaster.epicgames.com listed as a master server - no servers appeared in UBrowser and I had the following in the log (which indicates that Update.Server.UBrowser adds the outdated reference to gamespy back into the UT.ini)

Spoiler

Log: Resolving unreal.epicgames.com...
Log: Resolved unreal.epicgames.com (199.255.40.174)
ScriptLog: Received new master server [1] from UpdateServer: UBrowser.UBrowserGSpyFact,MasterServerAddress=master0.gamespy.com,MasterServerTCPPort=28900,Region=0,GameName=ut
Log: Resolving utmaster.epicgames.com...
Log: Resolved utmaster.epicgames.com (199.255.40.174)
ScriptLog: UBrowserGSpyLink: Master Server is utmaster.epicgames.com:28900
Log: Resolving utmaster.epicgames.com...
Log: Resolved utmaster.epicgames.com (199.255.40.174)
ScriptLog: UBrowserGSpyLink: Master Server is utmaster.epicgames.com:28900
ScriptLog: UBrowserGSpyLink: Couldn't connect to master server.
Log: Resolving master0.gamespy.com...
Log: CheckConnectionAttempt: Error while checking socket status.
Log: AInternetLink Resolve failed: Can't find host master0.gamespy.com (WSAHOST_NOT_FOUND)
ScriptLog: UBrowserGSpyLink: Failed to resolve master server address, aborting.
Log: Resolving utmaster.epicgames.com...
Log: Resolved utmaster.epicgames.com (199.255.40.174)
ScriptLog: UBrowserGSpyLink: Master Server is utmaster.epicgames.com:28900
ScriptLog: UBrowserGSpyLink: Couldn't connect to master server.
Log: Resolving master0.gamespy.com...
Log: CheckConnectionAttempt: Error while checking socket status.
Log: AInternetLink Resolve failed: Can't find host master0.gamespy.com (WSAHOST_NOT_FOUND)
ScriptLog: UBrowserGSpyLink: Failed to resolve master server address, aborting.

I have no problems using XBrowser in another installation with all the recommended master servers included in the ini.

[esnesi]

They usually tweet about these problems as well https://twitter.com/utgame, which makes me think it's an malfunction perhaps.
I would still expect, that Epic got some monitoring somewhere so they must be aware of this.

[TheDane]

EPIC launched an event at Fortnite yesderday, and like allways, they failed to deliver bandwidth/server power eneough to feed the crowd. A lot of their servers went down, their game launcher failed for hours. I bet you this has to do with that, they have rebooted tons of datacenters to get this going, their mind is NOT on ut99 at all. So, if noone tells them, they proberly won't notice it's down at all?

[Fuzz_Ball]

I did IM Flak on FB where she's pretty active.

[sektor2111]

If UT (even with read-only ini files ?) wants GameSpy then... just give it a GameSpy.
Ping 333networks or another valid master server - note IP address.
Now open HOSTS file and claim GameSpy those IP addresses. And then... perhaps a default plain UT install will show a "GameSpy" 2020 type version.

Another stuff in account. Using a batch file (aka BAT) with shortcut on desktop quickly copying a good INI back into client UT folder - restoring the good file. I'm having such "Bat" files for recovering Editor when it goes funky. A good file is saved elsewhere being a replacement source for a screwed up one...

I believe these are faster than writing messages e-mails which will have a delayed answer and problems probably are back shortly... Even original MonsterHunt browser - if you recall some old facts, can be solved by editing HOSTS file - very helpful in many cases (even in a phone...).

[Fuzz_Ball]

A HOST file "alias"! Great idea, sektor! Sometimes, we forget the basics
When I ping 333networks.com, I get a "timed out" message, tracert times out, too. Hmm.
I do see 2 entries on 333's home page that I am not familiar with so I'll give them a try.

master.errorist.eu:28900
master.newbiesplayground.net:28900

[Hook]

We at HUTP have also contacted FLAK via email at EPIC yesterday about this.
Hopefully we will get some answers soon.
Yes, it definately seems to be a problem there, but you wouldn't think it would affect the 333Networks masters.
We'll see ...

[Dr.Flay]

You can look at the top of the forums in OldUnreal to see which current masters are up and functional.

The caveat with using the IP address for the master in your HOSTS file, is if the server is down and the domain routed to a backup, the IP will have changed.

Generally you get back all the original masters in your config if the game fails to talk to a master.
You should disable the ability to automatically update the masters, and rely on manual options or Xbrowser.

Make sure you have 3 to 5 masters in you config in order of preference. All the 333 "multimasters" should show you the same amount of servers if they have synced, so put one of them first, with epic as the second.

Note: the default is for using fallback mode where it tried them in order (this is suitable for modem users).
You can disable fallback mode so it polls all masters at the same time (suitable for broadband users).

[OjitroC]

You should disable the ability to automatically update the masters ..

As a matter of interest, how do we do that?

It's not a major issue for me as I use XBrowser in my main installation but it would be nice to fix my other installation.

[Dr.Flay]

change KeepMasterServer to True so it keeps your config.

[sektor2111]

The caveat with using the IP address for the master in your HOSTS file, is if the server is down and the domain routed to a backup, the IP will have changed.

It's not like you cannot update again that file, if you have edit it first time.

[OjitroC]

It's just as easy to remove all references to gamespy in UBrowser's list of master servers; add in the master servers recommended by 333networks whilst keeping the epicgames master; and set KeepMasterServer = True. This works fine, no problems, no need to alter the HOSTS file.