Hi survivors, I just wanted to post some info regarding HFB servers in hopes that it helps out some people here. We procured a Dedicated server through HFB servers a year and half (or so) ago. Things were running ok, and we ran numerous DayZ/Arma/ other game servers off of it. This last Sunday (June 15, 2014) our server went offline and never came back up. Like good little clients: we submitted a ticket to their automated support system. To be fair, they've always had quick support - but this ticket went unanswered - and still is. I searched for an alternate method of communication on their site. There is no support line, or email - just the ticketing system. When I googled them, I managed to find their Facebook page here:https://www.facebook.com/pages/HFBServers/411971978848535 Looking at all their recent wall posts: it seems that many others are experiencing the same issue. Their boxes have gone offline and they are getting no support from HFB with unanswered tickets. Someone had posted a link to their Better Business Bureau page which had a phone number. When I called it, I went to voicemail and got a robot answering machine. I didn't bother leaving a message. HFB is a reseller, and since I had a dedicated box, I knew there was a good chance that my ip could be directly reverse-look-up'd. I know our box is in Seattle, so if I could get close - I would be able to find local hosting companies. So I dumped it in google and found a page that told me the ip was owned by www.wowrack.com. Turns out, they're hosting providers. They have a live-chat support system that I decided to try out. I managed to get on with someone and explained what I was trying to do, and that I hoped our ip was hosted with this company. Turns out it is. Apparently, despite me paying regularily to HFB servers, our box has been disconnected due to non-payment. He also told me that ServerStadium is actually the client who owns my box, and gave me their contact information. Meaning, HFB servers is double reselling. HFB buys from ServerStadium, ServerStadium buys from Wowrack. I pay the difference. <sarcasm>I love salesmen</sarcasm> I've had a conversation with their billing department who says they're policy is not to interfere with their re-sellers' clients. They have stated the only thing they can do is attempt to contact HFB servers. Obviously - this is not going to happen. Anthony Henson (CEO of HFB Servers) has no interest in giving them money - but policy is policy, and some feel that the spirit of the policy is outweighed by the letter. If you have an HFB server in Seattle, it is most likely hosted by wowrack, and the client is managed by Server Stadium. I suggest you send them a plea for help in the same vein as my own in hopes that the volume of potential lost clients will inspire them to action. Please contact their client/sales department via the following: to: sales@serverstadium.com cc: billing@serverstadium.com Subject: HFB Servers scammed us TLDR: Friends: please stop your payments to HFB servers immediately! HFB has shut down, taken your money and is not coming back - Cancel your automatic payments and get your data IMMEDIATELY. Good luck

If you paid through pay pal, then I suggest filing a dispute over it. There are tools specifically for it, and my guess is that since they are incommunicado - you will get your money back. Sooner rather than later is my reccomendation EDIT: I have filed a dispute with them. The email on record is going to Anthony@hfbservers.com - I dunno what's going to happen here. If he has the money, then he has no desire to give it back, and he will most likely not respond in hopes that I will forget about the issue before it automatically closes on Jul 14, 2014. Or he may send it to the new owners, or just not care... Either way, I have set a reminder for myself to escalate the ticket by that time.

I saw their site went down - now it's mysteriously back up... regardless - I posted here: http://www.minecraftforum.net/forum/130-hosting-requests/ because I stumbled on the area in a google search and found enough resellers within mere minutes that I was beating them back with a stick. In the end I've settled on a new Dedicated box from https://www.nodesmart.com They were super helpful, and the special they had on was for almost the exact same box I had but $25 cheaper with better ddos protection AND another ip. If I hear anything back from server stadium about getting my data - I will try - but I'm considering it gone at this point.

Just an update for you and anyone interested: Their Billing department has stated that their official policy is not to interfere with the clients of their resellers. He is attempting to get in touch with Anthony Henson - the CEO, in order to get it resolved from his end. I basically said: "hey good idea. But in case that doesn't work, because it won't what wheels need to start rolling in order to get temporary access to our server to get our data?" At this point, I'm pressing the issue lightly and trying to lead them to understanding that their policy of staying away from resellers clients shouldn't really apply to resellers who have broken contractual agreements. If this doesn't go through, my plan is to use more heavy handed wording with terms like "escalation" and "legal data ownership rights" as well as start calling their offices. If they're too ignorant to realize how many HFB customers they stand to lose, then they don't deserve my business anyways - but I do want my data.

Cool thanks guys. I'm gonna stay away from virtual anything, so NFO's a no-go. But server4you has good deals. I'll have a look, and at some others too.

I'm looking around for comparable dedicated boxes. Can I ask what you got and how much?

Someone I'm clearly not affiliated with ::shifty-eyes::

I hear you, Jimmy. We had one of their original dedicated server packages. The hardware was great, the price was pretty good: This is a payment receipt for Invoice sent on 05/31/2014 E3-1230 (06/10/2014 - 07/09/2014) OS: CentOS 5.8 64-bit Ip's: 4 Usable IPs Bandwidth: 10000GB 100mbps Port Hard Drive 1: 500 GB 7200rpm SATA Hard Drive 2: No 2nd Hard Drive Hard Drive 3: No 3rd Hard Drive Hard Drive 4: No 4th Hard Drive Raid: NO RAID RAM: 16 GB DDR3 Promotional Code: buldozerdedi - $10.00 USD Recurring Discount $-10.00 USD ------------------------------------------------------ Sub Total: $90.00 USD Credit: $50.00 USD Total: $40.00 USD Amount: $90.00 USD I'm crossing my fingers that ServerStadium does the right thing, and adopts us as a client. I would hate to have to fork out another $100 for a copy of windows server 2008 and rebuild all our data.

I have also found the contact information for HFB Servers. HFB Servers 5254 Jasmine lane Hilliard, OH43026 UNITED STATES (+1) 614-219-2141 Owner and operator is Anthony Henson. I have not been able to get through.

Here. Have my tape measure.

Hey guys, Like many of you, I use steam. I was ticked off at ARMA2's crappy mod interface where I had to pass shortcut params to the exe to load my content... The only other option meant I had to use third party tools to pick and choose what mods I want to run - BUT by using these, you lose your steam overlay, which some of us like to use to chat, or when you're walking for 20 minutes to Vybor... Anyways, I finally figured out how to make a desktop shortcut that will launch Combined Ops, load DayZ and (if you want) connect to your favourite server. 1) go to your steam directory. For example mine is: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\arma 2 operation arrowhead 2) Find the .cmd file in there called '_runA2CO.cmd' - This is what steam uses to launch Combined Ops (the game needed to play DayZ) 3) Copy this to your desktop (or anywhere you want really) 4) R-click>edit the file 5) Find the line near the bottom that begins ":runs" - mine looks like this: :runs "%_STEAMPATH%\steam.exe" -applaunch 33930 "-mod=%_ARMA2PATH%;EXPANSION;ca" Notice the parameters... These can be edited to include the dayZ params. 6) Add the desired params - in this case for DayZ: :runs "%_STEAMPATH%\steam.exe" -applaunch 33930 -beta=Expansion\beta;Expansion\beta\Expansion "-mod=%_ARMA2PATH%;EXPANSION;ca;baf;pmc;@dayz;" 7) Save, and open the file. This runs dayz in the steam overlay without the need to edit your steam parameters if you ever wanna play stock Arma2. BONUS ROUND - Launching your favourite server 1) You will need your favourite servers port, and IP or Hostname for this to work. Many admins place these in their forum signatures. Edit the file again, and add the following lines: "%_STEAMPATH%\steam.exe" -applaunch 33930 -beta=Expansion\beta;Expansion\beta\Expansion "-mod=%_ARMA2PATH%;EXPANSION;ca;baf;pmc;@dayz;" -nosplash -connect=216.244.65.90 -port=2302 You can change the ip, and port to the one you want. This one connects to my server: US866 2) Save the file as something like "DayZ US866.cmd" 3) Go bean hunting. I hope others find this useful

the point was to retain the steam overlay - as per my original post.

This is happening to my server as well (US866). After scrounging through the RPT file for the server, I notice that the issue seems to be with all objects with an ID that is too high. A normal RPT log event looks like this: 10:30:02 "HIVE: WRITE: "CHILD:305:573965:[139,[7366.38,12252.1,0.0183868]]:1:"" Where the 573965 number is the id of the object that is passed back to the Hive. Objects (vehicles and tents) that do not save seem to have ids that look like so: 10:30:02 "HIVE: WRITE: "CHILD:305:5739+e006:[139,[7366.38,12252.1,0.0183868]]:1:"" Notice that the id is too big - and the script seems to exponent it. Obviously, a database (in this case mySql) would not respect it. All of our older vehicles with smaller integers are saving fine. Not saying this is the problem - just my educated guess that this is related.

Hey Painfulleap: we are trying to find the guy who was in the SUV with you... We thought it was a player named Graeme - but we cannot see him in the Ban list, so we must be mistaken... Do you have any contact with him? Or do you remember his name?

Please, everyone. We are not abusers. Our focus is to the legitimate players of the game. We do whatever we can in our power to ensure that you, as the player, can continue to enjoy your experience playing DayZ on our server. Unfortunately with what little tools we have - we are unable to see who spawns things in. The RPT file does not show who is executing scripts. Some of you may not be aware, but the recent Battleye update has opened up a number of holes that players have taken advantage of. In BC - where I come from - it was a holiday. I decided to play DayZ on my server - the one I gladly pay for to provide free of service for all players. Let me tell you what I have dealt with today alone: As soon as I logged in to our teamspeak - my team mates informed me the chopper we worked very hard to secure had been destroyed. When I asked how it happened, I was dismayed to learn that it was indeed hackers. The pilots controls froze, and all of a sudden: everyone in the chopper died. The chopper fell to the ground, and was destroyed. I was disappointed to say the least. Especially since even as an admin, I have no power to undo the damage caused by hackers. So be it - we moved in our vehicle, and on foot. Within an hour, we were all of a sudden, teleported far into the air (about 1000 m). Many players were around me in the air, and a great deal of them began to disconnect immediately. Unfortunately, this was no use. Even logging back in to the game, and even though I am an admin who would gleefully put players back in their original positions if I had the power to: we all died as we hit the ground. Again: nothing we could do. Two hours later, my whole teamspeak channel started in a panic at once to say that all their weapons had been replaced with as50s... Even those who had just spawned on the coast. I noticed quickly that mine had too, and I disconnected. Those in my teamspeak were not so quick to act, and were teleported to a mass battleground (the Thunderdome, we later dubbed it) where all players started shooting eachother. Guess what we could do? Nothing. They do not give us logs to see who is executing scripts.... I have not once received any form of communication from the DayZ team with recommendations to keep my server hacker free - despite going through their automated ticketing system to sign our server up. If they were to provide me with recommendations and robust tools to help us: I would gladly use them to ensure that you players will continue to enjoy a honest gaming experience. Until we have robust tools, and until Battleye does a better job of blocking player script injection, then: as a server admin I will continue to operate within the means provided to me to ensure that players on my server enjoy an honest gaming experience. Mistakes will happen, and for that I apologize. I have lifted panfulleap1's ban (and I believe we have lifted his passengers ban - based on his story). But If I see explanations, and a request for an unban with a story that I believe is genuine: then I will reverse the ban. Thank you from the admins of US866: JayNic, Hush3r, Caliber, Carnivore, Allah-Snackbar, [A2L] Selvo

Hi, I'm one of the main owners on US866. You were in a hacked vehicle - the black SUV. We were actively banning a CRAZY amount of hackers today (and we just finished banning more). We saw you in a vehicle that was not in the loot tables so we banned you and destroyed the vehicle. We will lift your ban. I would recommend you take a look at the loot tables and just familiarize yourself with the weapons and vehicles and stuff. That way you can avoid these situations in the future. If you ever find something that you don't think should be there, then please join our TS (our ip pops up every few minutes to join) and let us know. There is almost ALWAYS an admin on. It might take a couple hours to lift the ban. -Jay-Nic

Date/Time: 5/25/2012 - 1700Pacific What happened: I have spawned @ grid 978087 and lost all the inventory items in my main inventory (backpack and small items remain) Where you were: I left the night before in Vybor in a barn What you were doing: Spawning *Current installed version: 1.5.8.4 *Server(s) you were on: I have attempted 3 servers, the last I tried was Seattle US13 hosted by Ducksoup gaming *Your system specs: N/A *Timeline of events before/after error: Previous night I had played wandering around NW AF - then saved in a barn in Vybor in the upper rafters (with some hay bails). After I spawn in - I am at the aforementioned grid. I can see players spawn in - then disappear. At one point a player was walking around with me - but he quickly disconnected before giving me his name. Everyone else did not seem to be aware their avatars were there

This has happened to others - they redownloaded all the files and it was fixed

Date/Time: May 23, 2012 What happened: gray polygons took over most of my screen when looking in a certain direction. I went in closer and noticed they were emanating from a wirefencing kit on the ground (not deployed). 1 other player I was with experienced it as well - the other did not. Where you were: NW Airfield barracks What you were doing: Walking *Current installed version: (at the time) 1.5.8.2 *Server(s) you were on: Issue on multiple servers *Your system specs: 9800gtx, AMD Phenom 2 black, 8gbRAM

+like

I think the bandit system is fine - but like someone stated: it's the suvivors that need a benefit to NOT going bandit. I'm a bandit by necessity - someone shoots at me, I shoot them back. Some noob wants my beans, I don't wanna give'em. He end up dead - now I have -15000 H! I feel bad about it too... I don't wanna be a bandit

This is a great idea - And the best part is that this could be run client side! The server set's a "Sanity" rating on the player, and the players clients spawn fake zombies, alters colors - maybe even makes a REAL player LOOK like a zombie skin! "Dude why did you shoot me?!" "I'm freakin' out man!!" That would be epic. - Great idea

Heck, here's a crazy idea! What about making this server configurable? A Zombie attributes class - set how many can climb ladders, set how long they will chase you until giving up, set max speed, set sprinter %, set jogger %, set crawler %

I agree with you all on the "slow" zombies - but let's define slow before we say it can't handle enough to be a challenge... My belief is that any rotting corpse woudln't be able to stand up to too much punishment before it started succumbing to the effects of entropy. And any Walker (err... sprinter) would deteriorate faster the more it moved. Think about it in terms of muscle building. When you work out, you tear your muscles (that's one part of getting sore). Since we are living creatures, our body repairs those tears to be able to withstand the amount of punishment it just received and not tear again (your muscles get stronger). A Walker would not have the ability to regenerate, but would still succumb to the effects of muscle tearing - even while just walking around. Of course they're not lifting weights, but they're walking 24/7/365! If I go for a long walk, my legs get tired. All that being said, only the "youngest" walkers would be able to get anywhere NEAR running. The "older" a walker is - the less his muscles are able to even support movement - let alone weight. My opinion (and that's all this is) is that the sprinting Zombie is too fast. Maybe 1 out of 10 can sprint - but the rest should only be able to walk, fall over, or hobble at a mild jogging pace. Right now, you can be minding your own business and 4 players sprint towards you with 15 Olympic Bronze Medalist Zombies behind them! Unless you're crafty enough to run in the bushes and hope the players don't drag you in to their mess - you basically will run across the entire map. All that matters to me is that a player should (9 times out of ten) outrun a zombie. So I say: less sprinters, more joggers I think we all agree on that - yes?