Not all servers or rented server shown in server browser

Thank you for your assistance.

Do you have an ETA on tbis fix? This is extremely urgent for the PS4 BF4 community.

Thank you @EA_Blueberry ,

My Origine ID is "CyberDyme", and I am on the PS4 platform.

I rent BF4 servers and also co-admin on some.

Above I wrote in detail how you consistently can reproduce this error, so the triggers are confirmed that causes our rented servers to disappear from all users.

Both from the Server Search screen and also from their list of favorites.

Happy bug hunting in the code!

- CyberDyme

For an EA fan since 2003, this has to be one of my greatest aggravations to date.

Yesterday as I was enjoying some great competition on my own server, suddenly it crashed, "lost connection to session".

Now thank god I happened to be on because if I wasn't on at that moment,

the server would of never got started again and would of remained  EMPTY!

If I didn't happen to be on yesterday, it would of remained EMPTY because it disappeared from everyone's search list and FAVORITES!

TWO MONTHS NOW on the same BS!

If we wanted to buy BFV we would have, we don't like BFV we love BF4!!

We love present day war NOT past history wartime, or else I would be playing Age of Empires, I mean wtf?!?!?!?!

PLEASE RESOLVE THE ISSUE, if it becomes worse it will not make me buy more EA products, it will only deter me from me buying more EA products!

@EA_Blueberry still no fix even after nearly a month?!?! Also no EA support member has contacted me regarding this even though I started the thread

@NPCtom 

I'll track down some info on this for you. Can you confirm you're still experiencing this?

Thabk you @EA_Blueberry.

I can still confirm the following:

• Rented server does not show in Battlelog or the server browser when empty
• My PS4 ID id 'citi_enterprise'

Cheers mate for helping us.

Hi @EA_Blueberry ,

This bug is still active and creating total havoc on all of us running rented servers!

Clearly the EA folks do not fully comprehend the devastation this bug is causing.

It is horrendous.

Our regular players cannot join/start our servers, only server admins can do that.

And when that has happened, then other players cannot find our server in their server search screen or on their server favorites list screen.

The bug was introduced in the server software pack that was released by EA on January 24th.

Come on, it cannot be that hard to narrow down what bad code caused this.

And then either roll it back or deploy a hot fix to the server park !

Get moving Electronic Arts - We server owners are your core business foundation and supporters !!!

@EA_Blueberry 

My intent is not to dog-pile here but rather to add to the conversation.  

I just wanted to note that i am also having the same/similar problems as described by others in this thread.

My rented server will not show on the server browser function on either my PS4 or Battlelog unless it is currently, or has very recently been, populated.  I noticed that changing the map rotation in the "manage server" page would momentarily allow the server to be seen in the server browser; However this would not last very long.  That length of time being approximately a minute.

I would like to add that i don't believe that the issue lies within my server browser filter settings and i will explain.  if the server has any population at all, 1+, it will show in the browser.  If the server was just recently populated or i had just changed the map rotation arbitrarily, population at this point 0, it will also be listed in the server browser.  However, if the population of the server has been at 0 for any length of time over a minute or so and not recently started by either myself or another admin then said server will not be listed in the server browser.

Owed to this, my friends and i have been finding it impossible to fill our server in the hour or so that we wish to play each night because other player would not see it until we start the server and populate it ourselves... hardcore conquest is no fun with peak concurrent users of the server being at most 15 or maybe 20 players.

That being said, i would like my rented server to be visible to other players at even a 0 population so that over time it may begin to fill; that way, when i wish to play it may actually be relatively full of players and fun to play.

I understand that this is not your fault and don't want what I've said to seem pointed at you because its not.  I would just like to know if there is anyway i can resolve this myself or know that its being looked into by EA with a rough estimate of when a fix may appear.

I would be more than happy to clarify on my statements or provide further details.

Thank you for your time

I would like to also add that my Origin ID is "DixonBauls" as i see that you requested this information from others.

Exactly what our issue is. Please @EA_Blueberry, over a month and no update to rectify this issue has been pushed for the PS4 problems.

Please contact the developers regarding this issue.

This is still being looked into and I'm afraid we do not have any updates to share around this right now. We'll make sure to keep you informed on the status of this issue and if you have any concerns around your rented server please do not hesitate to contact an EA Advisor so they can pull up your account.

I'm on Xbox one having the exact same issue. Id: HyugoS

*Quick Update*

This has not been forgotten and it's still being looked into. It's taking longer than expected but the team is committed to getting this resolved as soon as possible, thank you very much for sticking this out with us. We don't have an ETA on this right now but we'll continue to update you as soon as we have more information.

Thank you very much @EA_Blueberry for the update. I wish it would not take as long as it seems BFV is drawing all of our players. Could you please confirm what has been passed onto developers? I love how my post has reached the folks in Dice and that this issue will be fixed promptly. 

Hi @EA_Blueberry , appreciate your response!  But as we have to be realistic and look at the true facts on the ground.  EA is obviously not doing much about this now well confirmed fatal bug they introduced back on 24th January.  As a matter of fact, we can only consider this was a defect they deployed consciously to the BF4 server park!  So please lets try and be honest about this subject and stop the bs.  Sorry to go straight to it.  But I do understand what EA is trying to achieve by disabling our server functionality.  Now EA will have reduced their active server slots with approx 80-90%, as only the active and only those being 'kept alive' by an active admin will have to be assigned processing time and space in the server park that EA rents from their own sub-vendor/provider of this!  So serious money of course when adding all up for them!   Much reduced operating costs, while income remains for the rentals from us, resulting in bigger profit margin to EA.  And next to this, this will further encourage the player base to leave BF4 and move on to BF1 (dead already) or BFV (not the same either...).

So several very clear benefits for EA to wanting this 'unfortunate bug' to have been deployed to all the BF4 server park.

That such a severe level 1 bug is allowed to remain active for so long is testament to their real intentions.

I welcome comments from the other fellow server owners/renters, aka @NPCtom , @mikekiller-46 , @kevins7731 , @Sollers1 @Chronic1Thunder ....

@CyberDyme 

We are still investigating this and when we have detailed information from the studio and engineers we'll relay them back to you as soon as possible. We know this has been an ongoing concern for BF4 players and we really do appreciate you hanging in there with us. 

The team is testing out a fix but needs more info from those being affected. Please respond back with the following:

• Platform
• Time of day (include timezone) of when your rental server disappears from the list (We recommend performing an Origin client restart/console restart first before confirming it's not showing up)
• Origin ID or Gamertag or PSN ID
• SCREENSHOTS of the server browser filter from BOTH the favorites and regular universal server browser list with your filter selections. 
  • Have you tried resetting the server browser filter back to default and adjusted the player slot size to see it appear?
  • Have you sorted the server list by ping, server player count, etc.?

*If you can include a video of you navigating the above that would be EXTREMELY helpful. We would visually like to see what you're witnessing from your end*

Thank you all for helping us out with this information.

Hey @DixonBauls, 

If you try now are you getting the same issue and when you say "server browser function" do you mean the website or in the game battlefield 4? 

For everyone else we need clarification on. @NPCtom @CyberDyme @mikekiller-46 

When you say battlelog are you saying it's in the game of Battlefield 4, on the battlelog webbsite or on the phone app? 

/Atic 

Hello @EA_Atic  

When i search clan servers i can’t see them in the server browser when empty . But if one of the admins join i can see it. So i just can’t see the server when no one is in it. 

I hope this helped you understand what i meant 🙂

Hi @EA_Atic and @EA_Blueberry ,

You are clearly not really understanding the depths of this problem, as apparent when seeing the list of questions that you now pose to us and even thinking its maybe already fixed...

This would not be such a serious problem, if it was only in the internet web browser of BattleLog or if it was in the BattleLog App for aka iPad....

NO, this bug is still fully active and destroying our ability to run a stable BF4 server catering to a large and growing player base that wants to play on our dedicated servers.  And the bug is visual when using your PS4 for all the previous mentioned situations described in this thread above by numerous posters.

And it doesn't matter what filter criteria you set up.  Simply because your server is not getting listeed by your server directory to anyone as soon as the server is empty and have no more players on it.  Therefore.  From that point of ti8me, the only possible way to recall a server 'back to life' is if an admin goes onto the menu within "My Rented Servers" and press the command to join it for playing himself.

If there are no players on a server, then it is not visible to anybody, not even the owner or otyer admins, if using the Server Search screen or going into your server favorites screen.  It disappears to all global players instantly when there are no players left on the server.  And it reappears instantly to all players globally at the exact moment when an admin is entering to play ahis empty server as the first one.  Right then, all other global players will then instantly have the server back on the server search result list or the server favorites (if previously having saved the server there).

Any simple test on this from EA side, would have shown this to you right away.  Hence,  why even you need to ask for it.  This is the case for ALL rented servers!  So nothing to do with our individual server customs settings or the individual player's local search criteria...

@EA_Blueberry, @EA_Atic ...

• Platform
  Cyber: PS4
• Time of day (include timezone) of when your rental server disappears from the list (We recommend performing an Origin client restart/console restart first before confirming it's not showing up)
  Cyber: It is 24/7 it can/will disappear.  It happens as soon as the last player may quit the server.  The server goes empty for players.  When that happens, then instantly that server is no longer visible to anybody globally, no matter who, no matter day or time of day.  No matter timezone.
   
  
• Origin ID or Gamertag or PSN ID
  Cyber: Cyberdyme (for both)
  
• SCREENSHOTS of the server browser filter from BOTH the favorites and regular universal server browser list with your filter selections. 
  • Have you tried resetting the server browser filter back to default and adjusted the player slot size to see it appear?
  • Have you sorted the server list by ping, server player count, etc.?
    Cyber:  It has absolutely nothing to do with the local player's filter settings.  We know the filter function is troublesome in BF4 but we do know how it works and have used it for years.  And no matter the key data fields that you use for the filtering, the result is the same.  Your empty server will never be found by anyone!  Aka, use only the region field, aka use only server name field, aka use only BF4 map field, aka use only the game mode field.   Our servers are gone, no matter!
    
    
  • I run a BF4 players community forum on PS4. Here I have approx 700 of my most regular players (global, so also some out of European region, where server is registered) communicating with me and my server admins.  We have tested this with our community multiple times now.  As soon as server is empty for players, then instantly it disappears visible to all our community globally.  None can find it using their server search function.  And it also disappears instantly from all those that have it on their server favorites list (also from my own list  ;o).
  • The symptom is EXACTLY the same actually what happens as you know happens when we as server owner do not pay for the server rental before the expiry date.  Instantly the server disappears from the server search results and it also disappears instantly from all users's server favorites list!  So you don't need to ask for screenshots.  As this is how it appears for us all.  Either the server is having players on it and all is normal.  You can find it ion the server search screen and also its on the list when you go to your server favorites screen.   And instantly when the server rental is expired and not paid for, then its instantly gone from those two directory lists of servers to play on.  No error messages or anything.  Its simply just not listed anymore.
    

Thank you very much @CyberDyme! (And everyone else that contributed)

We believe that we have the reproduction steps and are continuing our investigation. We may direct further questions to the RSP owners should we require more specific details.

Thank you for your patience while we continue our investigations.

@EA_Blueberry, please also notice, that when this bug shows its symptoms (our server is empty and thereby no longer visible/find-able to anyone) then this is actually the case for all platforms that we can use to search/view for servers on!   Aka, on my PS4, on my iPad using the IOS app.  On a normal P)C using MS IE11 or Edge, or using Google Chrome to browse to the BattleLog.com website.

Our server is not to be found on any of these platforms.

Hence, my strong belief that it is definitely also linked directoy to the server side software and how EA is provided the server directory listings back to the users.

And please mind you! 

This bug was not there until the very day when EA deployed the server side software update on January 24th 2019 !!!

Also reason for my very big frustration and disappointment that EA simply could not just roll back that update to fix this bug first before deploying it, as we reported it already within 24 hours after the server side software patch was deployed...  And the server side did not have any bugs impacting thousands of servers as this new bug does!  Heck, this bug affects the entire PS4 BF4 player base!!!