When master server is down...

[Puppytine]

I'm writing this short guide at Nov 9, 2017, when Movie Battles II master server went down due a network issue of hosting service.

So, you launched Movie Battles as usual, and suddenly you can't see any servers.
Then you went to these forums, or to Discord, you was told that there are technical difficulties, and server list is not available.
What to do? I have some suggestions, some workarounds to get some servers to play.


1. Change master server using HOSTS file.

1. Open this file in text editor:
   C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc\HOSTS
2. Add this line to the file and save it:
   

   54.37.94.200 master.moviebattles.org

3. Now, when you switch to MBII, you should see some servers in the list.
   Not a lot of servers, but some servers.

Notice:
By performing those steps, you're switching from master.moviebattles.org to master.jkhub.org. It's possible that IP address of JKHub's server will change in future. Use this command to get a current IP:

nslookup master.jkhub.org

You can also add this line to HOSTS instead:

104.40.23.123 master.moviebattles.org

This is address of masterjk3.ravensoft.com. It has less servers than JKHub.

Don't forget to undo these changes when MBII master server will come back to life.


2. Use Qtracker.
Qtracker is Windows application that displays server list of many games, including Jedi Academy.
Download it here: Qtracker Downloads
Install, start, check Jedi Academy as installed game, right-click on "Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy" => Find Internet Games.


3. Change master server from in-game console.
WARNING: this method is available for stock OpenJK engine only. You can download it from here: index · powered by h5ai 0.26.1 (http://larsjung.de/h5ai/)
It will not work with JAMP and MBII Client!

1. Start Movie Battles II using stock OpenJK
2. Open a console by pressing Shift + ~ (aka Shift + `)
3. Type and press Enter:
   

   seta sv_master2 master.jkhub.org

   WARNING: For older versions of OpenJK, you must use sv_master1 instead of sv_master2.

4. Use web-lists to connect a server manually

1. Go by one of these links:
   Movie Battles II Server List
   Star Wars Jedi Knight Server List | Search Swjk Stats, Rankings, and Banners - Game Tracker
   Movie Battles II Server List -- Jack'lul; broken and outdated.
2. Copy IP.ADDRESS:PORT of a server you want to play
3. Start Movie Battles II
4. Open a console by pressing Shift + ~ (aka Shift + `)
5. Type and press enter:
   

   connect IP.ADDRESS:PORT

   (replace IP.ADDRESS:PORT with actual parameters; you can just press Ctrl + V to paste previously copied data)

Notice:
jacklul currently isn't getting updated: Is jacklul's server list frozen?


5. Use favorites
If you have save some servers as favorites, just switch "Source" to "Favorites" in MBII server list dialog.

To servers owners:
I strongly recommend you to modify your config so it has these lines, and then restart your server:

seta sv_master1 "master.moviebattles.org"
seta sv_master2 "master.jkhub.org"
seta sv_master3 "masterjk3.ravensoft.com"

You should add your server to as many master server lists as possible.

To moderators:
This thread actually belongs to Technical FAQ & Guides , but I'm not allowed to create threads there.
Would be nice if you could move it.

 

[ent]

IMO you should move the hosts (the first) method to the bottom because it's for the experienced users and less preferable to the other methods.

 

[Defiant]

To moderators:
This thread actually belongs to Technical FAQ & Guides , but I'm not allowed to create threads there.
Would be nice if you could move it.

Boom. Done.

 

[Puppytine]

IMO you should move the hosts (the first) method to the bottom because it's for the experienced users and less preferable to the other methods.

Yeah, maybe it's for experienced users, but I wanted to highlight it since it wasn't mentioned on these forums before.
We already have a thread about connecting servers using web-list: Joining servers without server browser , so in this thread I decided to concentrate on something else.

And tbh I don't think HOSTS is "less preferable" since you can have live list in game, in normal way.
No need to switch to the browser and then back to the game.

 

[Puppytine]

Guide is updated.
Added Qtracker section.
Recommended alternative for a default master server now switched from RavenSoft to JKHub (recently my ISP was finally unbanned from JKHub, so I could test its master server).

 

[Chaos the Chaotic]

tl;dr