Project Reality Forums

You will be banned!!!
After detecting cheats that block punkbuster from capturing screens we have to rethink our routines...

After discussing with a wide range of players and administrators of and for Project Reality,
Helix are starting to rethink our routines on how to increasingly make cheating on our servers more difficult.

The first thing we thought of was that people that have a blank Punkbuster screenshot should get banned from the server.
I’m not thinking about they who just have one blank screenshot but them who m we never have got a successful pbscreen from…

This might sound rather drastic for some. As usual, we disagree.
After going threw quite a few Punkbuster screenshots we have found that consistent blank screenshots of a player is extremely rare.
When we have only black screens from the same player we have to deal with it accordingly...

When we implement this new routine to our daily tasks of administrating our severs,
we also know that we take on a responsibility for the players that do not cheat and are being banned.

It lies on us to inform them of why and of how they might correct this so that our server can take screenshots while they play.
We will do so. Information will readily be on our own forum and on any major forums that we think our player base might read.

If you have been banned from one of our servers, and don’t know why please contact us here at our server feedback topic.

You should just manually update your punkbuster and give us a heads up, and we will remove the ban....

Walkthrough in how to manually update your punkbuster:

1. go to mycomputer/C/program-files
2. create a folder called Punkbuster
3. download this file called "pbsetup.exe" from Punkbuster (also instructions on this page if you get confused)
   SAVE PBSETUP.EXE TO THE PUNKBUSTER FOLDER YOU CREATED
4. goto your punkbuster folder and run your pbsetup.exe

This program will detect all games on your system that use punkbuster (if not manually add them to the list).
You can then tell it to update each games punkbuster!

That’s all there is to it really....
The only important thing to remember is to make a Punkbuster folder in program files and download the exe to there.
The rest is as easy as clicking on pbsetup.exe

Thanks to wooly-back-jack for info regarding Punkbuster update, and I would also thank Hx.Clavdivs for all help....

If more servers server admins start doing the same thing as us, we probably should have some information regarding this sticky somewhere....

NB: 98% of all Players don't have to think about updating their Punkbuster manually.
But somethimes things don't work in this "perfect" world and you have to do something your self...

EDIT: just some extra info!!!

Why do you have to update punkbuster? Second is this ALL PR servers or just helix.... because it says "Banned on SERVERS" but you say your from helix?

If we update will it affect PB on other servers?

Desertfox wrote:Why do you have to update punkbuster? Second is this ALL PR servers or just helix.... because it says "Banned on SERVERS" but you say your from helix?

I don't know why it helps updating the punkbuster; i have not made it...

HeliX is the first server doing this now, but more will follow....
And there is already others who have said that they ban players on if they always returns blank pbscreens....

i can't edit the topic title.. had to be something bit more general....

BTW: We have BUSTED another cheater on our server....
This time with a clean pbscreen!!!



GUID: 4dbd76acd68551b6f0e60cc5d4230d2a
Nick: [UAG] [UA]-=DeathruleR=

Good luck too you.. You are soon on the Master Ban list!!!!

Do you know how the servers are supposed to update?

'[R-MOD wrote:eddie']Do you know how the servers are supposed to update?

Your server has to stream to punkbusted...

You find some info here

Good job on this, I know there are plenty of hackers out there and this should get rid of most of them. I hope all servers do this.

'[R-PUB wrote:R@ge']
The only important thing to remember is to make a Punkbuster folder in program files and download the exe to there.

Sorry, whats is wrong with mine PB folder in Battlefield2 folder, that i need to create another one?

Had to manually add mine, but it's super easy. It updated everything in less than a minute. Thanks for the info.

Can someone answer my question on whether doing this will affect PB on other servers.

Won't this get rid of anyone who doesn't go on the forums?

'[R-PUB wrote:trogdor1289']Can someone answer my question on whether doing this will affect PB on other servers.

NO!!!!
If you update your punkbuster, you will only have the newest version on your PC...

This have nothing to do with other servers, or server settings....

Cerberus wrote:Won't this get rid of anyone who doesn't go on the forums?

The problem is quite small......
Only 2% of all players have to manually update their punkbuster.

Yes, it’s drastic, but we can't accept that 20 of 1000 players is cheating!!!

Remember, you don't have to update your punkbuster, for 98% of all players everything is fine......

EDIT: we hope that they manage to find our website, or this....
We will inform everyone about this there.....

Cerberus wrote:Won't this get rid of anyone who doesn't go on the forums?

I THINK (could be completely wrong) the idea is that PB does generally auto update, but sometimes (often enough) it doesn't work like it should and yours doesn't. If you read forums enough you most likely have seen people having problems with punk busters not automatically updating. Seems to be a semi common issue.

Doing it manually seems easy enough and is just extra re-assurance that you wont get banned for no reason.

Desertfox wrote:Why do you have to update punkbuster? Second is this ALL PR servers or just helix.... because it says "Banned on SERVERS" but you say your from helix?

Helix is a reputable squad (clan) and their word is solid and we @ the [DVB] will support them by adding the culprit to our ban list.

cheers,
PMED

This is an inconvenience for those who have to do it manual, but it's a tiny one well worth the effort. Keep up the good work Devs - cheaters/hax/exploiters and insta-proners is the only thing out there that can make PR look bad.

.. now what are we doing with the insta-proning dolphin wannabes?

'[R-CON wrote:DJJ-Terror']Sorry, whats is wrong with mine PB folder in Battlefield2 folder, that i need to create another one?

yes because doing it with this exe the manual way will update ALL punkbuster protected games on your system, no point it being hidden away in your pb folder.
Have yourself a nice clean easy access Punkbuster folder and keep ALL pb games and mods uptodate

Cerberus wrote:Won't this get rid of anyone who doesn't go on the forums?

no you will get innocents registering to moan about being banned if innocents get banned, then Admins can point them in the right direction in what to do.

and I wouldnt worry about being globally banned by Punkbuster wrongly, this is more server admins pulling together and joining forces. get banned from one and you will be added to the other participating servers.
Its sort of similar to playing on a Game service providers servers such as Jolt or something.
Participating servers
Team of Admins
(maybe an admin IRC channel on quakenet?)
this can work.
Like r@ge says, punkbuster is ok on most machines, sometimes it can mess up.
So best to be sure and keep all your PB games uptodate, plus keeping it uptodate will help some with ingame lagg (if you havent played in a while for instance pb sometimes lags you as it needs to update)

Even if someone hasn't updated punkbuster yet, they usually wont be able to play for more than 10 min at a time because they will get kicked from server for not updating punkbuster.