Hello everyone. This topic is here to provide our admins and our game users with information on why people/you were possibly banned out of our server.
First I would like to explain that we run PBbans.com streaming game monitor to our servers. To find out more about what www.pbbans.com is and does visit there website. I will be going over what types of violations can be issued by pbbans and some minor details.
PBBans Options:Accept MD5 Bans | Accept PB Bans | Allow Personal Greetings | Announce New Bans | Enable MD5 AutoUpdates | Enforce BansExternal Bans:Enforce EBL - Level 2To begin here's a list of violations and there corresponding numbers.
Technical Violations: (Resolution: Reinstall PunkBuster from the latest game update patch)#101 - Communication Failure
#102 - Communication Failure
#131 - Initialization Failure
#132 - Protocol Error
#141 - Distress (This indicates a problem trying to update to the latest version of PunkBuster - it may indicate a problem reaching one of our Internet-based Master PB Servers which can be caused by firewalls, router problems, etc.)Miscellaneous Violations:#111 - Bad Name (Resolution: Change player name or play on a different server)
#112 - Too Many Bad Names
#113 - Too Many Name Changes (Designed to eliminate name change spamming)
#114 - Protected Name (Resolution: Change player name or play on a different server)
#121 - Negative Score Too Low (usually from Killing Teammates)
#151 - Extended ASCII Characters in Player Name (Resolution: use regular letters, numbers and symbols or play on a different server)
#9001 - CVAR value failed range check
#9002 - MD5 Tool checkIntegrity Violations:When PunkBuster is unable to verify that a player's gaming environment is functioning properly and/or has not been alterred, an Integrity violation is raised. This also involves the detection of modified game or PunkBuster files. These violation numbers are between 10000 and 29999.
Cheat/Hack Violations:When PunkBuster detects a cheat or hack by repeated positive identification on a player's computer, a violation is raised. These violation numbers are 50000 and higher. Families of cheats are listed below. Resolution: Remove cheats and hacks from the computer.
#50000s - Aimbot
#60000s - Wallhack
#70000s - Multihack
#80000s - Gamehack
#90000s - 'Cheat' Video Drivers
#100000s - Speedhack
#110000s - Autofire
#120000s - Game Hook
#130000s - Attempted PunkBuster HackPBBans Cheat/Hack Violations:The following are violations that are unique to PBBans only.
Generic CVAR Scan (GCS) - Partial or full match of a cheat CVAR.
Generic BIND Scan (GBS) - Cheat CVAR found in players key bindings.
MD5 Cheat File Match (CFM) - MD5 signature match to a known cheat file.Violations listed in red above are added to the PBBans MBI (Master Ban Index).
Violations listed in blue above are added to the PBBans MBI if they are cheat related.
Violations listed in green above are PunkBuster errors and non bannable violations.
Violations listed in grey above are PBBans violations.
I get kicked from PunkBuster servers for "handshaking failed" or "Losing Key Packets", how can I fix that?Some other software programs such as virus scanners, firewalls and Internet security software packages are suspicious of any new services and kernel drivers when they are first released. Some of these will block our new components thereby causing the "Losing Key Packets" kicking.
Until these various packages are updated to correctly identify PnkBstrA.exe, PnkBstrB.exe, and PnkBstrK.sys as components of the PunkBuster Anti-Cheat System, players who experience PunkBuster kicks due to these conflicts need to either manually adjust the settings of the other software running on their system or disable the other software while playing on PunkBuster enabled servers.
The new PunkBuster components make use of network resources and also frequently update files in the Windows system folders. This activity triggers warnings or blocks by some other security programs, some of which consider all unknown programs as threats or malware. Our new components are simply extensions of the existing PunkBuster system using new services and kernel software drivers, and are each signed with Verisign / Authenticode digital signatures for verifiable authenticity purposes.
Most major security packages do not block our new components; users with other software that causes these conflicts should contact the vendor of their security package and request an update to correct this conflict.
What is a Game Hook?A "game hook", simply means that you have a process running that is "hooked onto" your game process. Normally in an attempt to change the code on the fly. These things are normally:
1) A no-cd patch thingy
- Try reinstalling the game
2) An in-memory trainer or other 3rd party add-on
- Dont use these
3) Anti virus or spyware that scans (and for some reason wont release it's hold over) your process
- Try disabling your spyware or AV softwaare, and change provider if this solves your problem
4) A driver that identifies the BF2 process and attempts to "improove" your performce (ie: cheat the hardware testers to get better reviews)
- Try renaming the BF2.exe file and then start the game.
