Weird Random Dedicated Server message

Garry's Mod general
#1

Ok well basically when my dedicated server is running. I started to use a crash recovery watchdog that starts it up again if it crashes. Now, random messages will come up saying:

A2C_PRINT from 68.142.**.2*0:27011 :
Bad Challenge.

IDK what it means and the IP changes each time it comes up. sometimes its a different port and almost always a different IP. (NOTE: The ***'s in the IP adresses were subsitituted by me in case those are actual people, to protect their computers in case somebody could use that info to their advantage)

What is the problem and is it a significant one?

#2

The steam master list request server is down cause thats what it means
(im getting it to so dont worry)
it also means you wont get listed on the Master List -_-

[editline]06:17PM[/editline]

(i might be wrong)

#3

hmm. so im not the only one who’s getting this message.
the ip’s are the two master server ip’s not clients.
but i still can see it on the master server list.

#4

Luckily they have redundancy :slight_smile:

#5

Same getting this too good to know I’m not alone

[editline]01:35PM[/editline]

getting this.
A2C_PRINT from 72.165.61.136:27011 :
Bad challenge.
A2C_PRINT from 72.165.61.136:27015 :
Bad challenge.

#6

I was getting the same message after setting up a dedicated server for the first time and trying to have a friend connect yesterday. He said it didn’t show up on the master list and it kicked him after not being able to connect after 4 tries.

I thought it was just a mistake on my part, and maybe him not being able to connect is, but I’m still wondering why it’s doing this, and making servers not show up on the master list.

Any ideas?

#7

well i talked to 1/4 life and remember when Garry removed VAC from Gmod well valve made a source engine update to most likely the VAC (serverside mostly) and that can cause a problem

#8

It’s a DDoS. JetBoom had the same issue with NoXiousNet, I wonder if he fixed it? In any case, if your not using this then you should be:

http://sourceop.com/modules.php?name=Downloads&d_op=viewdownload&cid=9

Edit: That fixes it. This is the thread on NxN, however it’s irrelevant because it’s a different command: http://www.noxiousnet.com/forums/index.php?topic=11438.msg197356#msg197356

#9

It’s oddly happening for me, too.

#10

happening for me too,

trugh i dont think its an DDos attack, since its printed after about 2-4 seconds after the server is fully ready whit loading (map, gamemode, addons)

#11

I’ve been running the DAF for awhile now and I’ve never see this before, so I’m guessing it really does what it claims to do.

#12

This message you are receiving is sent by VALVE’S MASTER SERVERS meaning your challenge is…bad. This means that your server won’t be listed on that specific master server. Most servers add two master servers though so you should be safe unless you receive two of these messages on server start.

** This is not (D)DoS, This is not an exploit. This is either a failure by Garry or VALVe. **

Granted, A2C_PRINT can be used for DoS and such but Bad Challenge response is actually the only legit usage of it as far as I know. I don’t know why valve won’t make a whitelist.

PS: When you see this message. Look at the master servers IP you see when the server starts and compared it with the message’s one. They should match meaning it’s coming from a legit source.

The plugin only hides the message/error. This is a good thing, when everything is ok since it could be used for malicious purposes, but right now it’s used to signal that a major fail is still happening.

#13

yay i guess? :smiley:

anyway, the ip being spammed is the same so i guess just ignore the spam -_-

#14

The reason for the error spam is a thing called heartbeat.
Valve’s master server needs a way to know when servers disappear (crash, etc)
When you start your server it starts sending “heartbeat” messages to the two master servers that you have around every 5 minutes. (obviously if you don’t send it you will get removed from the master server)
So this is the reason for the message getting spammed. Install the workaround from the link nicatronTg provided (or pm me for a binary patch) to stop printing these messages.

@bromvlieg Same ip is due to obvious reasons, you’re sending heartbeats to the same (bro
ken?) server :stuck_out_tongue:

#15

noshit sherlock:P

but you can instal the fix of it, but it wil only hide the messages, it still doenst fix the hole broken shit

#16

OK well I jsut restarted the server and this is what it said:
http://img718.imageshack.us/i/badchallengesnip.png/
So what should i do? Add a new master Server?

#17

So the .vdf file in there needs to be modified to work with garrysmod? If so, what do I change it to?

#18

The only problem here is that Valve did something to their master servers, ignore it. This isn’t a problem it’s a little message printed to your console.

#19

If both of your master servers give bad challenge you’re relatively fucked up since then the server won’t be shown on the server list. So…yeah…a little problem.

#20

Everyone gets it, I have 5 servers who are doing it, one is completely new and has no scripts even.

It’s Valve, they are did something and did it incorrectly.