Even more BCM multiplayer funnies from the Taco Palace!!
Gordon
>Supreme Cmdr [GALCOM] Member # 308
> posted 06-02-2003 01:55 PM
>--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>Good news: By now you probably already know that the single/multi play patch is going to be released later tonite.
One month later still no patch...
also
"In the latest Xgamer saga....
I just got off the phone with Eric (our corporate attorney) and
apparently XGamer has gone under. We got this information in our
attempts to sue him via small claims court in his home state of NH for
the $3,650 paid to him back in April by Dreamcatcher for our servers
which he never delivered to us.
As it stands...
The www.xgamer.net domain is offline and gone
The www.xgamernet.com domain has a message that informs the public
that the company is no more.
The only other site that we knew of and which was hosted by this
company, also are in dire straits because they cannot get their
co-located
equipment. If you go to www.tribalwar.com (their temp web page), you
will see entry logs from the owners who are also trying to find Jim
Shomaker, the owner of XGamer.
His wife Maria claims (according to the post on Tribalwar) to have not
heard from him.
So ends the saga. I knew from the beginning that this guy was
fraudulent. This is not a case of someone going out of business. It
just seems to me that he's taken people's money and disappeared. At
least thats certainly what has happened in our case.
If there was any doubt to any of this rubbish that has gone on since
April, there you have the rest of the proof of what I've been saying
all along."
Here Derek states "I knew from the beginning that this guy was
fraudulent."
YET HE STILL CLAIMED TO USE THEM AS A HOSTING COMPANY !!!
What a moron.
(http://www.3000ad.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=31;t=000001;p=2#000059)
Ethel the Ardvaark
> Here Derek states "I knew from the beginning that this guy was
> fraudulent."
>
> YET HE STILL CLAIMED TO USE THEM AS A HOSTING COMPANY !!!
Yes, but it's professional courstesy, from one fraud to another.
Martin Eriksson
news:92ba3e7.03070...@posting.google.com...
Wow. Imagine a society consisting entirely of frauds.
/M
Bill Huffman
"Martin Eriksson" <mar...@norrsken.dhs.org> wrote in message
news:be1dv2$1c5$1...@hudsucker.umdac.umu.se...
You know the old saying, "Honor among thieves." There's a less well known
saying, "Dishonor among frauds."
MajorFreak
> Here Derek states "I knew from the beginning that this guy was
> fraudulent."
>
> YET HE STILL CLAIMED TO USE THEM AS A HOSTING COMPANY !!!
>
> What a moron.
>
> (http://www.3000ad.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=31;t=000001;p=2#000059)
*jaw hits the floor*
Oh well, he'll just state it was idle chatter. who takes the things
said on the internet seriously? except if you're the lead dev on a
released game? Nah, he'll just say something else...Good thing he's
self-employed cause any manager worth their salt would have fired him
long ago.
Anyways, you know what would be really funny? If DS had contracted
this so called entity, or recommended this so called entity to
dreamcatcher...personally, knowing this guy's a liar (and a conman)
wouldn't he stand to make over 3 grand by posing as this so called
entity himself?
Course, that's just a little bit too intelligent for DS...i'm always
disappointed when i assume too much. lol
Silencio
>
Isnt that Usenet?
s.
Kegs
> Gordon <gord...@hotmail.com> wrote in message news:<tl18gvosdi0biiu1l...@4ax.com>...
> > from the Taco Palace:
> > Here Derek states "I knew from the beginning that this guy was
> > fraudulent."
> >
> > YET HE STILL CLAIMED TO USE THEM AS A HOSTING COMPANY !!!
> >
> > What a moron.
> >
> > (http://www.3000ad.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=31;t=000001;p=2#000059)
>
> *jaw hits the floor*
>
> Oh well, he'll just state it was idle chatter. who takes the things
> said on the internet seriously? except if you're the lead dev on a
> released game? Nah, he'll just say something else...Good thing he's
> self-employed cause any manager worth their salt would have fired him
> long ago.
Well, unless he is running the company solely on his own or his parents
money it should come under something like Grose Fiduciary Misconduct,
which may actually be a quite serious criminal charge(or it might not,
its pretty bad anyway)
/me notes that the sigmonster is in cracking form today ;)
--
James jamesk[at]beeb[dot]net
"You are a lunatic. Go away. Pester someone else." (Amb. Mollari, B5)
Allan Parent
"All the game servers are now up and functioning" but on 6-2-03 he said they
have "never worked". Hmmmmmm........I smell a rat.
4-4-03
"If you plan on getting BCM Gold this weekend, be advised that due to
hardware difficulties with the hosting company (and the fact that we
switched hosts at the last minute), the master/auth/game servers are not yet
online and therefore you will not be able to join/host multiplayer games.
Even the LAN game needs to report back to the auth server. Sorry for this
inconvenience.
Hopefully the servers (including five public game servers) will be finished
and online by Monday night. In the meantime, please enjoy the wealth of new
single player content in the game. You have waited almost eight years for a
multiplayer enabled Battlecruiser game, so I'm sure that you don't mind
waiting a few more days. It will be worth it."
4-7-03
"The transition to the new hosting company is almost complete (except for a
problem with server #4) and the servers will be re-configured shortly before
the switch is flipped - hopefully tomorrow. Thanks for being patient. It
will be worth the wait.
Don't forget to check the version control file as well as the Multiplayer
Issues section of the updated FAQ
I am also planning on removing the requirement for LAN servers to report to
the Internet master server before a game is authenticated. This way, if the
master server is ever down in the future, those of you playing on an
internal LAN, are not affected (as is currently the case. "
4-20-03
"All the game servers are now up and functioning. A server (#4) which died
has now been replaced. The master/auth/cdkey server is being moved from
server #1 to its own dedicated server because it compromises the performance
of that game server. Also if that game server goes down, so will the master
server and this will prevent the other game servers from authenticating etc.
The ISP was supposed to have the new server up by Friday. As of yesterday,
it still wasn't up. Hopefully they will have it up tomorrow.
Meanwhile, more testing continues and so far no new client/server issues
have been found. Instead we're looking into some recently reported (and yet
to be verified) single player related issues which have now been logged in
the version control file."
4-28-03
"The game server hosting company (xgamer.net) decided to move data centers
last week and none of our servers were reachable since 04-21. Yesterday eve
I received word that the move was complete (we'll see) and that all five
servers are back up (and with new IPs). Today I'm going to see about
configuring, testing them etc. Hopefully, this is the last bump in the road.
In the meantime, several single player issues under investigation have been
addressed and will be included in an upcoming update. Check the downloads
page for your product and search the version control file to see the new
entries. "
5-24-03
The status remains unchanged since the last time I wrote about it.
"Fact is, we're not required to provide servers - nor is the publisher. We
did that in order to make servers available for at least three months until
people get up to speed. Especially since the game requires a dedicated
server and most people only have a single machine. Hence, they can't
play+host at the same time.
The XGAMER issue is nothing but a rippoff farce and which was turned over to
the attorney about three weeks ago. They (and Dreamcatcher) gave XGAMER.NET
a simple ultimatum. Get the servers up or refund the money. They said that
we won't get the money for 90 days (!). So the attorneys decided to give
them one last chance to get the servers up.
While I was at E3, I got a call from the attorney that XGN said that the
servers were up now that their move to a new ISP (which is where this whoel
problem first started). That was on 05/18.
When I got back, I checked the servers, logged on to them and sure enough,
they were still not working right. In fact, I still couldn't access server
#4 (see below, go ping it).
They again said that the would fix it. That was on 05/22.
We are not going to make those servers available to the public because using
them means that it becomes a TOS issue and as such, we won't be able to
recover our money if in fact they fail to provide what they had been paid.
So, until ALL the five servers we paid close to $4K (three months in
advance) are working and configured as expected, we're not touching them.
There is an active discussion about this in Area 51, containing all the
emails going back/forth etc.
In the interim, I had made modifications to the 1.0.01 patch (a new version
was released to Area 51 and DC crew two days ago) which
1. LAN games no longer report to a master server
2. Net games now report to both the ASE and my own master server (on
the ISP that hosts this website)
3. Allows a client to be run on the same system as the server. This is
100% unsupported since the game needs a dedicated server due to its high
processing requirements. I only enabled this for people with high-end
systems e.g. P4 2Ghz or higher cpu plus 512MB RAM or higher.
I did aI did all of the above because it looks like we're just going to have
to settle down with attempts at recovering our money back from XGN.
Once final tests are run, the patch will be released and people can host
their own servers because there is a good chance that we won't have any
public free servers.ll of the above because it looks like we're just going
to have to settle down with attempts at recovering our money back from XGN."
6-2-03
"Good news: By now you probably already know that the single/multi play
patch is going to be released later tonite.
Bad news: There won't be any hosted public servers because, given all the
aggravation with XGamer, we have decided to not use the servers. They are
unstable, incorrectly configured, crash on cue (they blame it on defective
MSI motherboards) etc etc.
We decided that if we used those servers in their current state for the
public, then it would end up being a Terms Of Service (TOS) issue i.e. then
we'd have to put up with the piss poor service, crashing servers etc etc.
So, we have decided to not host the game on them at all but rather, the
attorney (who has been working with XGamer as a last ditch effort for them
to get their act in gear or face the consequences) is going to be attempting
to recover the $3,650 we paid to XGamer (via wire transfer) on April 7th for
three months service in advance.
This is what we paid them (via bank wire) on April 3rd for the five servers
which have NEVER EVER worked.
+$650.00 setup
+$1000.00 first month (April)
+$2000.00 two additional months (May/June)
I am currently working with Dreamcatcher to find an alternate hosting
service. At which time we will hopefully be able to host public servers.
Once final tests are run, the patch will be released and people can host
their ownservers beause there is a good chance that we won't have any public
free servers."
7-2-03
Allan Parent
unidentified hosting company. On 5-24-03 he says neither he nor Dreamcatcher
are required to provide servers. What about all the hype about a persistant
universe etc etc?
"Allan Parent" <all...@nospamforme.charter.net> wrote in message
news:vg8tbao...@corp.supernews.com...
Ralph
This is too funny. I can vouch for part of the Doctor's story. I am a
regular on Tribalwar and I know the owner. The part about Jim disapearing
etc I can vouch for. What I think, however, is that Derek is using this
situation as a scapegoat for issues associated with the MP game. That's
lame.
PS: We had a thread over on TW awhile ago where a bunch of TW'ers were
laughing at Derek. This included some well known people in the gaming
industry. It had me howling...
lurk.enabled = TRUE
"Allan Parent" <all...@nospamforme.charter.net> wrote in message
news:vg8tbao...@corp.supernews.com...
Allan Parent
Derek/Dreamcatcher just get another host? What happened to the unnamed first
host since Xgamer was obviously a second choice? So many questions......
Allan
"Ralph" <chubbyfo...@freelock.com> wrote in message
news:3f04a710$0$43855$39ce...@news.twtelecom.net...
Ralph
"Allan Parent" <all...@nospamforme.charter.net> wrote in message
news:vg9al0s...@corp.supernews.com...
Allan Parent
Allan
"Ralph" <chubbyfo...@freelock.com> wrote in message
news:3f04aea5$0$43848$39ce...@news.twtelecom.net...
FLY135
"Allan Parent" <all...@nospamforme.charter.net> wrote in message
news:vg8tbao...@corp.supernews.com...
> "All the game servers are now up and functioning" but on 6-2-03 he said
they
> have "never worked". Hmmmmmm........I smell a rat.
I think the following snips are even funnier. He never planned to have a
permanent server, but he wrote the game so that it would fail if it didn't
find his permanent server that he never intended to provide.
> 4-4-03
> "If you plan on getting BCM Gold this weekend, be advised that due to
> hardware difficulties with the hosting company (and the fact that we
> switched hosts at the last minute), the master/auth/game servers are not
yet
> online and therefore you will not be able to join/host multiplayer games.
> Even the LAN game needs to report back to the auth server. Sorry for this
> inconvenience.
AND
> 5-24-03
dsmart666
"Martin Eriksson" <mar...@norrsken.dhs.org> wrote in message
news:be1dv2$1c5$1...@hudsucker.umdac.umu.se...
Kendt Eklund
> Also notice on 4-4-03 he claims to have switch hosts to XGamer from an
> unidentified hosting company. On 5-24-03 he says neither he nor Dreamcatcher
> are required to provide servers. What about all the hype about a persistant
> universe etc etc?
Ack! I've been drawn into the DS follies!
Note how people of his type accuse others of exactly the crap they are
guilty of themselves - claiming this xgamer was "always a fraud".
Funny - they first registered xgamernet.com in March 2001. Also -
they were big enough at one time for Verizon to use them for a press
release in Oct 02:
http://global.mci.com/news/news2.xml?newsid=4770&mode=long&lang=en&width=530&root=/&langlinks=off
Sounds more like any other company going belly-up and leaving the
customers to fight it out in bankruptcy settlements.
'Course DS couldn't say "sorry - looks like our hosting company,
despite being around for a while and seeming to have a good track
record, has gone under - I'll keep you posted on the search for a new
hosting company".
Back to watching the show...
Kendt
Lance Art
<all...@nospamforme.charter.net> wrote:
>Thanks for the info Ralph. Even if Jim ran off with the cash, why doesn't
>Derek/Dreamcatcher just get another host? What happened to the unnamed first
>host since Xgamer was obviously a second choice? So many questions......
According to Derek (you be the judge on the truthfulness),
Dreamcatcher didn't want to spend a lot of money on the servers.
Let's think about this for a moment. Derek keeps claiming he games
sell well, but never backs it up with any verifiable data.
Dreamcatcher refuses to spend any significant money on servers for a
game in which multiplayer is one of the key features. Otrherwise, why
not go to a bargain bin and pick up BCM? Perhaps because the title
just doesn't generate the revenue to justify the expense of some real
servers and a stable host?
Lance Art
<chubbyfo...@freelock.com> wrote:
>PS: We had a thread over on TW awhile ago where a bunch of TW'ers were
>laughing at Derek. This included some well known people in the gaming
>industry. It had me howling...
You must be mistaken. Derek has assured us that he is well respected
in the gaming community and has even presented us with anonymous
emails from such luminaries. Said luminaries oddly have the same
writing style as Derek.
bp
wrote:
>
>If there was any doubt to any of this rubbish that has gone on since
>April, there you have the rest of the proof of what I've been saying
>all along."
Well why didn't they just hire another hosting company.?
It's not like 3,500.00 is a lot of money.
As usual I smell Derek BS.
bp
<all...@nospamforme.charter.net> wrote:
>Also notice on 4-4-03 he claims to have switch hosts to XGamer from an
>unidentified hosting company. On 5-24-03 he says neither he nor Dreamcatcher
>are required to provide servers. What about all the hype about a persistant
>universe etc etc?
If you're going to have server authentication then you need to supply
at least one.
Also what's the big deal?
Can't an outfit like Dream catcher and the super mighty BC3000 afford
a few PC's and set up their own friggen servers ?
Faulty MSI mb's my ass. More like faulty BM server code (if their
even is such a thing).
Maybe someone should email Xgamer and get his side of the story ?
bp
wrote:
>> 5-24-03
>> "Fact is, we're not required to provide servers - nor is the publisher. We
>> did that in order to make servers available for at least three months
>until
>> people get up to speed.
This is more telling than it sounds. Three months is considered the
shelf life of a title. so it looks like IMO that DC was going to host
servers until no one needed them.
BTW there aren't any servers, from the hordes of BCM fans, on ASE
either. What's with that ?
Walter Mitty
in news:dfp9gvk52lihktptb...@4ax.com he conjectured that:
Immitation is the sincerest form of flattery. They even copy his IP
address for added realism.
--
Walter Mitty.
Ethel the Ardvaark
> I think the following snips are even funnier. He never planned to have a
> permanent server, but he wrote the game so that it would fail if it didn't
> find his permanent server that he never intended to provide.
Derek has never been able to keep his stories straight. Why start now?
Ethel the Ardvaark
> BTW there aren't any servers, from the hordes of BCM fans, on ASE
> either. What's with that ?
Why would there be fan-based MP servers when MP doesn't work?
Bill Huffman
"Lance Art" <l_...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:v7p9gvg178067v09k...@4ax.com...
As you point out, here's what probably really happened. The initial sales must
be a tremendous disappointment to Dreamcatcher so they pulled the plug on the
servers. This bit of news was a big factor (if not the reason) in Xgamer going
under. If Xgamer was counting on a lucrative server deal lasting a year or two
then Dreamcatcher pulls the plug it would put a huge strain on any small
company. If Xgamer had purchased some servers that were now going to be sitting
idle then they have to go under since there's no way to pay for them.
So Mr. Smart blaming Xgamer for his problem is extra ironic since he is much
more likely responsible for Xgamer's problem. He just is trying to hide the fact
that Dreamcatcher pulled the plug. However, like his academic fraud he's got his
story all screwed up because he has to admit that Dreamcatcher isn't paying for
more servers anyway. He just has bullshit to spew to try and obfuscate the thing
that the fraud fears most, the truth.
Bill Huffman
I gave both Dereks a PhD for this one.
http://follies.werewolves.org/archives/1Humor/ForgesEmailFromDeveloper.txt
Another funny
http://follies.werewolves.org/archives/1Humor/ForgesEmailParody.txt
Memnoch
bp
<bhuf...@REMOVE-THISsan.rr.com> wrote:
>. If Xgamer had purchased some servers that were now going to be sitting
>idle then they have to go under since there's no way to pay for them.
They weren't that small of a company were they ?
bp
Dick Garage
>Maybe someone should email Xgamer and get his side of the story ?
My thought all along.
ji...@hgea.com
<all...@nospamforme.charter.net> wrote:
>Also notice on 4-4-03 he claims to have switch hosts to XGamer from an
>unidentified hosting company. On 5-24-03 he says neither he nor Dreamcatcher
>are required to provide servers. What about all the hype about a persistant
>universe etc etc?
My take on this whole XGamer -> BCM -> PhD Fraud debacle is that it
was all a shell game by the PhD Fraud. XGamer started up with
WorldCom in October 2002. WorldCom's financial problems were
discovered late last year, with bankruptcy filings in March, 2003.
Scenario is this: BCM Gold released in March 2003, multiplayer still
doesn't work, find a company that will be going bankrupt, XGamer seems
ideal here and then blame all the mutliplayer problems on XGamer, then
the PhD Fraud can milk the idiots that are willing to shell out money
for the same game without multiplayer. What company doesn't do the
research about a company they are going to do business with. The PhD
Fraud is a good con artist as I've said all along.
MajorFreak
yeah. that's probably the sad truth...i kinda wished a startup server
center like Xgamer had ulterior motives (ie. conman) than an innocent
that got raped by that fucking fraud.
Ralph
invoked....
Come on over, register, and chip in on the thread. (registration might take
a little bit while TW moves...)
"Gordon" <gord...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:tl18gvosdi0biiu1l...@4ax.com...
> from the Taco Palace:
>
> >Supreme Cmdr [GALCOM] Member # 308
> > posted 06-02-2003 01:55 PM
>
>---------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----
> >Good news: By now you probably already know that the single/multi play
patch is going to be released later tonite.
>
> One month later still no patch...
>
> also
>
> "In the latest Xgamer saga....
>
> I just got off the phone with Eric (our corporate attorney) and
> apparently XGamer has gone under. We got this information in our
> attempts to sue him via small claims court in his home state of NH for
> the $3,650 paid to him back in April by Dreamcatcher for our servers
> which he never delivered to us.
>
> As it stands...
>
> The www.xgamer.net domain is offline and gone
>
> The www.xgamernet.com domain has a message that informs the public
> that the company is no more.
>
> The only other site that we knew of and which was hosted by this
> company, also are in dire straits because they cannot get their
> co-located
> equipment. If you go to www.tribalwar.com (their temp web page), you
> will see entry logs from the owners who are also trying to find Jim
> Shomaker, the owner of XGamer.
>
> His wife Maria claims (according to the post on Tribalwar) to have not
> heard from him.
>
> So ends the saga. I knew from the beginning that this guy was
> fraudulent. This is not a case of someone going out of business. It
> just seems to me that he's taken people's money and disappeared. At
> least thats certainly what has happened in our case.
>
> If there was any doubt to any of this rubbish that has gone on since
> April, there you have the rest of the proof of what I've been saying
> all along."
>
> Here Derek states "I knew from the beginning that this guy was
> fraudulent."
>
> YET HE STILL CLAIMED TO USE THEM AS A HOSTING COMPANY !!!
>
> What a moron.
>
>
(http://www.3000ad.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=31;t=000001;p=2#00
0059)
bp
<chubbyfo...@freelock.com> wrote:
>Here is a link to the thread on Tribalwar.com where Derek's name was
>invoked....
>Come on over, register, and chip in on the thread. (registration might take
>a little bit while TW moves...)
>
>http://tinyurl.com/g8h8
>
>http://tribalwar.com
Is he over there telling all the tribe player how the BCM 3d engine
blows away Tribes ?
BTW that's a big board where would DS be lurking?
bp
<chubbyfo...@freelock.com> wrote:
>Here is a link to the thread on Tribalwar.com where Derek's name was
>invoked....
>Come on over, register, and chip in on the thread. (registration might take
>a little bit while TW moves...)
>
>http://tinyurl.com/g8h8
>
>http://tribalwar.com
>
Never mind I see the tinyurl link now, duh
Ralph
Someone mentions at the end of that thread that the SC may have posted on
there before.
It wouldn't surprise me.
Derek, if you read this anymore, please come post on TW!
"bp" <6b...@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:obejgvcjlhsorgasl...@4ax.com...
bp
<chubbyfo...@freelock.com> wrote:
>Board is running real slow now due to it's temporary location.
>Someone mentions at the end of that thread that the SC may have posted on
>there before.
>It wouldn't surprise me.
>Derek, if you read this anymore, please come post on TW!
I see BaZ and a few of the old space sim posters hang out there.
Bill Huffman
verification code in it is a broken link.) BaZ mentioned the Novell class
participation certificate image that was supposed to prove that the fraud was
Novell certified. That has been incorporated in the presentation along with the
other images that the fraud sent out at the same time.
http://follies.werewolves.org/greatness.html
"Ralph" <chubbyfo...@freelock.com> wrote in message
news:3f09b14f$0$843$39ce...@news.twtelecom.net...
J.S.
> <chubbyfo...@freelock.com> wrote:
>
> >Here is a link to the thread on Tribalwar.com where Derek's name was
> >invoked....
> >Come on over, register, and chip in on the thread. (registration might
take
> >a little bit while TW moves...)
> >
> >http://tinyurl.com/g8h8
> >
> >http://tribalwar.com
>
> Is he over there telling all the tribe player how the BCM 3d engine
> blows away Tribes ?
>
> BTW that's a big board where would DS be lurking?
> >
He's still posting crap on gonegold, slowly pissing off its members.
Ralph
"Bill Huffman" <bhuf...@REMOVE-THISsan.rr.com> wrote in message
news:MTAOa.116151$49.46...@twister.socal.rr.com...