Firewall
I've been running servers for a good while now, and this is by far the most common cause of kicks; a firewall blocking PB communication with the server. You'd think this step would be common sense, but some people still blame poor little PB for their laziness. If you don't know how to configure your firewall, take a look at the official site as there's usually a guide or support forums which should point you in the right direction. Usually, it'll be some kind of tick box or 'trusted apps' list;
As the internet becomes ever more malware infested and internet security programs become tighter, this step becomes increasingly important for trouble free gaming.
Manual Updating
PunkBuster will always try and keep itself updated by downloading a new version (when available) through the game server. Most of the time this process works without a hitch, but not always. If you're experiencing problems, or as a matter of good practise, manually updating PB couldn't be easier.
Download PBsetup from the PB website <<LINK>>. It doesn't need installing, so just create a folder for it somewhere and drop the .exe file in. For ease of use, create a shortcut and drag it into your start menu as you should be running this quite frequently.
Before you run it for the first time, it might be worth deleting the pb folder within the Battlefield 3 directory.
You don't need to delete the folder every time you update PB, it just makes sure of a fresh start. Once that's done fire up PBsetup, add Battlefield 3 and hit the update button.
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One last thing; download pbsec.htm <<LINK>> and place it in the Battlefiled 3/pb/htm/ folder. Congratulations, your PB is now up to date. It's worth running this update every few days or so just to make sure you're always up to date and avoid any problems playing on PB enabled servers.
PunkBuster Streaming
Wherever possible, BFB game servers will use a streaming service, namely PBbans. In a nutshell, this is a ban sharing service, ie a cheater caught on a server in Germany will automatically be banned from thousands of other servers across the world, including ours. If you find yourself on this ban list and believe it is an error, then you'll have to appeal the ban at PBbans. Other than adding cheaters to the list, BFB has absolutely no means of editing or removing bans.
Please note, this only applies to cheaters. Bans for breaking local server rules, such as racists comments, are not streamed and the ban applies only to that single server.
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