PBBans supports Red Orchestra 2

[MaydaX]

First off I want to thank Tripwire for using both VAC and PunkBuster, this is something no other developer has done. Anti-cheat in many games is typically passed onto a 3rd party that the developer favors and left at that.

I wanted to post a little information about PBBans for players and server administrators who do not have experience with games that use PunkBuster.

PBBans is a third party PunkBuster (PB) support community that utilizes the PB log streaming ability to receive PB related data in real time. We also provide server admins with more bannable options outside of the standard PB detections such as MD5 tool scans for known cheat files, CVAR scans of known cheat cvars, submitting PB screenshots and game recorded demos.

These are some of the methods we use to catch cheaters in greater detail:

Even Balance Violations
These are PunkBuster triggered violations which are in the 50000 to 139999 range. Many of which only result in a two minute kick. They are added by Even Balance, the creators of PunkBuster. PBBans automatically bans these violations as they are cheating related.

CVAR Scans
Games that make use of CVARs have the option to have PunkBuster scan them and kick the player if they do not meet the defined checks. PBBans takes this a step further by adding known cheat cvar checks and ban players when detected.

MD5 Tool Scans
The PunkBuster MD5 tool allows admins to define file checks that can kick a user if the file md5 checksum does not match the one defined by the server admin. It can also be used to check if a file exists. PBBans uses this tool to detect the presence of known cheat files and to make sure stock game files are not tampered with to enable cheating.

PunkBuster Screenshots
These are screen captures of what a player is viewing on their screen. We give server admins the option to submit PunkBuster Screenshots of suspected cheaters for ban consideration. If deemed to be cheat related they are added to our banlist.

Game Recorded Demos
If a game supports recording demos that are viewable in first person, we give server admins the option to submit demos of suspected cheaters for ban consideration. If deemed to be cheat related they are added to our banlist.

Cheat File Match (CFM)
Some cheats replace stock game files in order to enable cheating. Using the PB MD5 Tool we can scan a stock file and if they match to a known cheat file the player is banned. This feature is unique to PBBans.

We also provide a number of features that: help the fight against cheaters, create a better playing environment through in-game messages and the ability to advertise through signatures, XML and RSS feeds. Some of those include:

Ban Enforcement
When enabled, the PBBans Hub will check GUIDs of connecting players against the MBi. If a match is found, it issues a ban command. Even if your co-admin empties your banlist, a caught cheater will not be able to join the server. This may also help to reduce lag on your server. Also if the Ban Announcements flag is enabled a message will be sent to your server stating the user was kicked for a prior ban.

IP Restrictions
The IP Restriction feature when enabled searches the MBi (Master Ban Index) for a player

 

[WiFiDi]

wait what punkbuster to my knowledge they aren't using PB at all. show me where they said this im curious.

besides i hate punkbuster

 

[Zetsumei]

TWI uses vac and punkbuster. Making special punkbuster tiers to make sure people do not get kicked that quickly in public. Lets hope they add punkbuster updates to within steam, pb not correctly updating is one of my biggest headaches.

But anyway its really great for competitive play to have something next to vac.

 

[nKM]

Glad to hear it MaydaX!

 

[Floyd]

I for one am glad to see PPBans and TW working together.

I've streamed to PBBans in the past with various servers and always search out PBBans streaming servers on games I play that use PB. In my experience, your staff and organization have been very professional in implementation and functionality. I'll be back for RO2, for sure.

Fingers crossed on the integration and gameplay.....

 

[Fedorov]

I'm all for having as much protection against cheaters as possible, but I'm worried about false positives resulting in bans.

 

[u-s-e-r]

I'm all for having as much protection against cheaters as possible, but I'm worried about false positives resulting in bans.

Indeed, PB is known for its "trigger-happiness", e.g. not allowing steam overlay ui and blaming Valve for updating its software

 

[heady89]

Personally never had any issues with it except for the update problem, but its not hard to do it manually.
Rather have PB than VAC tho, and having both is excellent anyway.

 

[=GG= Mr Moe]

Personally never had any issues with it except for the update problem, but its not hard to do it manually...

Mostly this. Not hard to do manually but quite a bit annoying at times.

 

[[BW-UK]NorS]

Great news

 

[Borkac]

this is good coz example homefront from the start all players were cheaters and now all are maximum lvl we wont see cheaters from the first day here

 

[Floyd]

this is good coz example homefront from the start all players were cheaters and now all are maximum lvl we wont see cheaters from the first day here

Oh, to be young and naive again...

Lets hope you're right! With the recent influx of newer players recently, its been rather annoying having to listen to a lot of accusations of cheating being thrown. I'd hope I'm not pulling my hair out listening to the whines from day one.

 

[REZ]

I feel the same as everyone in that the more protection against cheating, the better. With that said, I have 'zero' experience with PunkBuster and I always hear people b!tching about it.. like it bans you for no real reason etc. Does that really happen? What is actually happening when someone gets booted 'for no reason'?

 

[WiFiDi]

I feel the same as everyone in that the more protection against cheating, the better. With that said, I have 'zero' experience with PunkBuster and I always hear people b!tching about it.. like it bans you for no real reason etc. Does that really happen? What is actually happening when someone gets booted 'for no reason'?

eh sometimes but mostly its the fact that it doesn't let you use your steam overlay it odesn't auto update like its suppose to and everyone and there mother knows how to get around it. so yea i don't like it at all.

 

[SuperTaz]

I feel the same as everyone in that the more protection against cheating, the better.

I agree 100% with your statement.

 

[Mormegil]

Well, how am I suppose to use my AIMBOT?!

 

[SuperTaz]

Well, how am I suppose to use my AIMBOT?!

Well, you can if you want. You will just have a nice place on our Master Ban Index just for you.

 

[Oldih]

Well, how am I suppose to use my AIMBOT?!

Yeah, RO is ruined FOREVER!!!

 

[tofupunk]

I feel the same as everyone in that the more protection against cheating, the better. With that said, I have 'zero' experience with PunkBuster and I always hear people b!tching about it.. like it bans you for no real reason etc. Does that really happen? What is actually happening when someone gets booted 'for no reason'?

Mostly, it's no biggie, you get kicked all the time and you might have to reinstall or the worst case scenario - reinstall windows.

However sometimes it's really a ***** and bans you. I remember being PB-banned in a game for using macros for logging in as admin, kick commands and stuff. The false positives can be really annoying, but also costly(i.e. buying the game again).

That said, there are some games where PB really does its job, and besides it being a total *** sometimes I am glad TWI are using it.

 

[blkmgc]

Talk about overkill.