moviebattles.org is blocked in Russia

[foggy]

am i the only one who read this dialogue in 2 voices

Me: "But you're blocking sites from the list of Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media. You are required to do so by law."
Beeline's employee: "When we are blocking some site, there are always a label informing that access is restricted."
Me: "That's not true! You're blocking LinkedIn, a Microsoft social network. When I'm trying accessing it, I don't get any messages from you, I get only standard browser's 'site timed out' error!"
Beeline's employee: "We are not blocking anything"
Me: "You ARE blocking LinkedIn! And you're blocking moviebattlers, and I get no 'access is restricted by Russian authorities' message either way. You're probably blacklisted IP of moviebattles!"
Beeline's employee: "I already gave you all the information I've got".
Me: "Have you even tried opening moviebattles.org from the PC which is connected to the Internet via Beeline?"
Beeline's employee: "No."
Me: [screams internally]
Me: "But I tried! I still cannot access moviebattles.org using Beeline, but I can access it via Megafon!"
Beeline's employee: "I already gave you all the information I've got".
Me: "Execution of tracert command shows that traffic doesn't go out of your subnet. One of Beeline's router blocks it".
Beeline's employee: "I already gave you all the information I've got".
[A few repetitions of what has already been said]
Beeline's employee: "I already gave you all the information I've got. Our conversation got stuck" [hung up].

 

[LoU]

This is outrageous. Pepsi is so right about you, he found very accurate words about your behavior.

I left MB2 team, I am no longer dev, so you can't expect from me handling the situation.

If you think that "damage" from memes is anywhere near to damage from having your IP blocked, I question your priorities one more time.

I have no priorities regarding MB2 Development since I... left.

Move moviebattles.org back to your account, and either give your account to somebody else, or just keep it yourself.

This is my account, I have more than 200 domains there. Again, don't expect I will just give it away. The reasoning behind moving domain to another account was stated in my previous post.

I am sure devs do whatever they can to solve the issue, ... you know, they got so much money form this game, they just cant afford to loose 1/3 of customers -.-' .

 

[Kitsu-Nesh'Kaa]

Yes, I have the same problem. Proxy allows you to go to the site but do not play the game (

 

[Lervish]

Hey! For downloading the latest update, you can go to our ModDB page. Once everything's downloaded, you should be able to play the game through the launcher normally. If you're having trouble seeing servers in the server browser ingame, you can use Jacklul's browser and connect to a server via the /connect <IP> console command.

It's a bit inconvenient, I know, but it should work. Hopefully the situation will be resolved soon. We've contacted CloudFlare but since it's weekend there's no answer yet.

 

[Apelsin]

If everything is going to stay as it is now, I will have no option other than reporting the drug shop to other Russian ISPs, which, apparently, will result blocking moviebattles.org by those ISPs.

Э

This is fucking unbelievable. Beeline customer service is horrible, they aren't helping at all. They didn't even tried acessing moviebattles.org by themselves, but they STILL insist they aren't blocking it!
And in the end, that dude just hung up the phone in the middle of the call.

This guy told you, that they are not blocking this site on purpose. And those are the good news, because it means that beeline can distinguish this forum from prohibited internet resource or, at least, it will show you a special label with blocking information when it chooses to block.
Yet, you couldn't reach this website and you didn't get any informational labels. This means, that something is still not working properly and, as we concluded now, it doesn't involve any law restrictions at all.
You've made your own investigation and you have found that your traffic can't pass further than their network. So, probably, beeline might be interested in estimating a working capacity of this issue. Probably, there might be some errors they were not aware of.

However, there was one HUGE mistake that you have made during that conversation, but I assume you did it unconsciously and/or you probably didn't realize it may be a mistake at all.

I'm talking about putting the blame on them. Putting the blame on people during conversations is always the most stressful way to communicate and the least efficient way to achieve your goals. Avoid this way of communication by any means necessary, otherwise it subconsciously will force people towards negative attitude and, therefore, every cell of their nature will protest against providing any helpful activity. I don't know, if that support guy could provide any helpful solutions, but if he had some, he decided not to share them because of that exact psychological phenomenon.

So, I can see 3 possible ways to solve this problem with Beeline:

1) Ask them nicely to check if there are any errors on their side of hardware/software, that messing up with a traffic (some evidences, that was gained during personal investigation might serve; independent complaints from other beeline-users might help too);
2) Manually route your traffic the way it will work properly and pretend that nothing happened;
3) Change ISP.

 

[GoodOl'Ben]

No response so far from CloudFlare. When I have time, I'll find more key employees to consult.

Yes, I have the same problem. Proxy allows you to go to the site but do not play the game (

You should be able to connect to the servers via IP. First find the IP here Movie Battles II Server List and then connect through the console.

 

[Helix]

Could you possibly implement reading from jacklul's from ingame in case if the master server is unavailable/unreachable?
Or for example add, like, a button in the main menu which would open jacklul's in default browser?

 

[LoU]

Could you possibly implement reading from jacklul's from ingame in case if the master server is unavailable/unreachable?
Or for example add, like, a button in the main menu which would open jacklul's in default browser?

1. Only moviebattles.org site (and *.moviebattles including community/launcher) routes through CloudFlare. Master server DOES NOT (it doesn't have IP blocked by ISP.
2. Jack's list takes server FROM master server, it's not separate master server list.
3. Last problem with master was caused by OVH and it was global problem on their end.
4. There was a plan with second master running as backup, but I never did that, it costs money, we didn't have. Currently, if master goes down it takes few minutes to start new server, then only restart servers to point to the new one.

I'm keeping eye on the master, but leaders have access as well, and it's been long time since I got any report regarding master server.

I'm not sure how long jack will keep his site going, I host only API so he can display the list.

 

[Helix]

2. Jack's list takes server FROM master server, it's not separate master server list.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but if memory serves me well when someone sets the server up he can choose jack's as another master server besides the default one. Something like

seta sv_master3 "my.jacklul.com/mb2servers"

I thought it meant that jack had his own master server.

 

[LoU]

No, you cannot use something like this. Jack's site is fetching servers from masters, it is not master server on it's own.
my.jacklul.com/mb2servers - you can't use "/" for domain, it's for URL (http protocol).

 

[Spaghetti]

Moved it again.

 

[Noob]

Megafon!

why not use this instead then?

 

[Puppytine]

Enough.

Rawr xD

Internet censorship is a general problem and we won't deal with it here.

Yes it's true, but it's also true that moviebattles.org wasn't blocked purposely, it was blocked only because its IP matched to drugdealers' IP.
This wasn't hopeless situation, there were some pretty good chances to fix it.

but this thread will NOT turn into another devs vs community shitfest.

I understand what you mean, but please, do not put all the responsibility for escalating this on me.
While you and @GoodOl'Ben, as always, was keeping it nice and polite way, some other devs... well, they weren't so civil.

I left MB2 team, I am no longer dev, so you can't expect from me handling the situation.

I was expecting from you to handle this situation, since you still have moral obligations to this community, even if you're saying that are no longer a dev.

This is my account, I have more than 200 domains there. Again, don't expect I will just give it away.

ok, now I see you really can't give it away.
But you could continue maintaining moviebattles.org on you account. 200 domains, or 203 domains, not a big difference, eh?

Though it already doesn't matter, because of recent Spaghetti's post.

you know, they got so much money form this game, they just cant afford to loose 1/3 of customers -.-' .

I understand your sarcasm, but I want to remember that I supported (and still do it) players on these forums and on Discord, without getting paid for that.
I just wanted to get some support as well, in a situation I couldn't handle by myself.

Yes, I have the same problem. Proxy allows you to go to the site but do not play the game (

Your problem is caused by something else, probably.
Blocking by ISP doesn't affect game itself, it affects this site and downloading Movie Battles via Launcher.
You could download MBII manually, from ModDB or Google Drive, as @Lervish said.
I also want to point out that in-game server list wasn't touched, because master.moviebattles.org resolves to different IP, 51.255.152.218. This address was not banned by Beeline. No need to use /connect command.
If server list is empty, then something is wrong with your MBII installation, probably outdated.

And those are the good news, because it means that beeline can distinguish this forum from prohibited internet resource or, at least, it will show you a special label with blocking information when it chooses to block.

No good news, since they didn't make absolutely no effort to fix it, despite my numerous requests.

I'm talking about putting the blame on them. Putting the blame on people during conversations is always the most stressful way to communicate and the least efficient way to achieve your goals.

I didn't put any blame on them at first, but they were keeping to throw away my complaints.
They wrote me that "Your request was checked. Restrictions in the work of the Internet is not revealed", but turned out tech support didn't perform any checks at all.
And phone conversation was started from same statement, "we aren't blocking anything", so there was no way for me to get any other result.

I don't know, if that support guy could provide any helpful solutions, but if he had some, he decided not to share them because of that exact psychological phenomenon.

This is not how tech support is supposed to work.
Especially keeping in mind how big Beeline is. Such corporations have very strict rules for their customer service, they record all the calls, so it's more like Beeline policy.

1) Ask them nicely to check if there are any errors on their side of hardware/software, that messing up with a traffic (some evidences, that was gained during personal investigation might serve; independent complaints from other beeline-users might help too);

I was about to do something like this, but since it's all solved already (see below)...

2) Manually route your traffic the way it will work properly and pretend that nothing happened;

VPNs and proxies. It was discussed in this thread already.
It either costs a lot of money, or have poor quality and different issues. And it's even more complicated when it comes to MBII Launcher, since most of the ways to bypass blocking work only in web-browsers.

3) Change ISP.

I wish I could.
4G USB modem is a retarded way to use Internet anyway, especially because of horrible traffic limits, so I should try to get normal connection. I'll do it, not sure will it be successful.
But Beeline offers connection via Ethernet as well (former "Corbina" brand), and all those people who have it lost an access to moviebattles.org as well. Changing ISP would only fix issue for me, not for them, and I believe this is not the thing I really should archive.

You should be able to connect to the servers via IP.

He should be able to see server list no matter of Beeline blocking, since master.moviebattles.org uses other IPs than moviebattles.org, community.moviebattles.org and update.moviebattles.org.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but if memory serves me well when someone sets the server up he can choose jack's as another master server besides the default one.

LoU is right.
Jacklul has no master server on its own, it's just a web site that polls master server and displays list in browser.
You can't integrate in-game list with jacklul without some serious modifying both MBII and jacklul, and which is more important, that would be pretty pointless anyway.

But, master.moviebattles.org isn't the only MBII master server that currently exists.
There are at least two others:
master.jkhub.org
masterjk3.ravensoft.com
They can be used instead of default MBII master server, though it requires some actions from an user.
Please check out this my thread for details: When master server is down...
Integrating those master servers to MBII, if devs would make that decision, wouldn't be hard.

Moved it again.

YES! Finally!
Now I can access moviebattles.org directly, without proxies, and MBII Launcher does work as well.
community.moviebattles.org is assigned to new IPs, 104.27.159.35, 104.27.158.35, which aren't present in Russian blacklist.
Thank you!

why not use this instead then?

This is what I have on my phone, not PC.
And my USB-modem is locked to Beeline, I would have to buy a new one to switch to Megafon.
Those things became expensive now.

 

[Viserys]

YES! Finally!
Now I can access moviebattles.org directly, without proxies, and MBII Launcher does work as well.
community.moviebattles.org is assigned to new IPs, 104.27.159.35, 104.27.158.35, which aren't present in Russian blacklist.
Thank you!

Glad this was resolved.