greywolf2 Posted February 1, 2011 Member ID: 35 Group: **- Inactive Registered Users Followers: 44 Topic Count: 345 Topics Per Day: 0.06 Content Count: 4812 Content Per Day: 0.90 Reputation: 420 Achievement Points: 28063 Solved Content: 0 Days Won: 2 Joined: 09/01/09 Status: Offline Last Seen: May 11, 2020 Share Posted February 1, 2011 For those who are trying to understand how PB works ----- Here is a bit of information you can get if you look. PunkBuster is a computer program that is designed to detect software used for cheating in online games.It does this by scanning the memory contents of the local machine. Acomputer identified as using cheats may be banned from connecting toprotected servers. The aim of the program is to isolate cheaters andprevent them from disrupting legitimate games. PunkBuster is developedand published by Even Balance, Inc. Contents 1 History 2 Features2.1 Published features 3 Incompatibilities 4 Enforcement 4.1 Global GUID bans and Hardware bans 4.2 Attacks on PunkBuster 5 Games using PunkBuster 6 EULA Details 7 See also 8 References 9 External links History Tony Ray founded Even Balance to develop PunkBuster after his experience with cheaters on Team Fortress Classic. The first beta of PunkBuster was announced on September 21, 2000 for Half-Life. Valve Softwarewas at the time fighting a hard battle against cheating, which had beengoing on since the release of the game. The first game in whichPunkBuster was integrated was id Software's Return to Castle Wolfenstein. Features Published features Real-time scanning of memory, a feature also prominent in manyspyware programs, by placing a PunkBuster Client on players' computerssearching for known hacks/cheats using a built-in database. Throttled two-tiered background auto-update system using multipleInternet Master Servers to provide end-user security ensuring that nofalse or corrupted updates can be installed on players' computers. Frequent status reports (encrypted) are sent to the PunkBusterServer by all players. When necessary, the PunkBuster Server raises aviolation which (depending upon settings) will cause the offendingplayer to be removed from the game and all other players to be informedof the violation. PunkBuster Admins can also manually remove players from the gamefor a specified number of minutes or permanently ban if desired. PunkBuster Servers can optionally be configured to randomly check player settings looking for known exploits of the game engine. PunkBuster Servers can be configured to instruct clients to calculate partial MD5 hashesof files inside the game installation directory. The results arecompared against a set configuration and differences logged, andoptionally, the client removed from the server. PunkBuster Admins can request actual screenshot samples fromspecific players and/or can configure the PB Server to randomly grabscreenshot samples from players during gameplay. However, it ispossible for a game hack to block screenshots (producing a blackscreenshot) or remove all visual features of a hack (cleaning thescreenshot) to remain undetected, leaving the effectiveness of thisfeature diminished. An optional "bad name" facility is provided so that PunkBusterAdmins can prevent players from using offensive player names containingunwanted profanity or racial slurs. Search functions are provided for PunkBuster Admins who wish tosearch player's keybindings and scripts for anything that may be knownto exploit the game. The PunkBuster Player Power facility can be configured to allowplayers to self-administer game servers when the Server Administratoris not present entirely without the need for passwords, in which theplayers can call votes to have a player removed from the server for acertain amount of time. PunkBuster Servers have an optional built-in mini HTTP web server interface that allows the game server to be remotely administered via a web browser from anywhere over the Internet. PunkBuster Admins can stream their server logs in real time to another location. Non-profit organizations like Anti-Cheat Inc, Airdale Ops Network, PunksBusted, PBBans and AASA are examples of groups that use this feature to create shared banlists for their members. PunkBuster has initiated Punkbuster Hardware Bans, that banshardware components upon detection of cheats that disrupt or circumventPunkBuster's normal operation. These bans mean permanently banningplayers whose HD id matches the blacklist at Evenbalance. The cheatwill have to buy a whole new hard drive to be able to play again. Incompatibilities Some games (like Crysis + Bioshock 2) do not have a 64-bit versionof PunkBuster. For this reason, 64 bit clients will not be able to playin PunkBuster enabled servers, unless they run the 32-bit client of thegame. PunkBuster does not allow Windows users without administrativeaccounts to connect to any games. Upon connecting to a game, the userwill be immediately kicked for having insufficient OS privileges.Starting with PB client v1.700, a Windows servicewith full administrative rights is used in complement with the ingamePunkBuster client, allowing updates without user rights elevation.However, some games might still require administrative rights beforePunkBuster will function correctly. Valve's Steamoverlay will also cause PunkBuster enabled servers to kick the user,forcing the user to disable the service before starting the game. Even Balance refuses to fix the issue citing updates made to theoverlay as the problem. According to a Valve employee, Valve has triedto reach out to Even Balance in the past to try to remedy the issue,but to no avail. It is not possible to use Punkbuster-enabled Windows games under Linux through Wine.Wine developers state that it would be necessary to hack in the systemfor Punkbuster to work properly. Even Balance refuses to provide asolution to the problem, stating that they will not alter theircodebase to support Wine or Cedega or any other compatibility layer. Enforcement Global GUID bans and Hardware bans PunkBuster incorporates a system called global banning. Either the GUID (generated from the CD key) or parts of the computer hardware are banned from PunkBuster enabled servers. Most cheats simply will get a detection, but cheats that interfere with PunkBuster's software could get a global GUID ban. This will disallow access to PunkBusterenabled servers for that particular game. However, GUID bans can beeasily bypassed by obtaining a different GUID. Cheats which are evenmore interfering could end up getting the user banned from all PunkBuster enabled games by a hardware ban. As of June 30, 2004, Even Balance has incorporated the usage of unique hardware identifiers to permanently ban players from all PunkBuster enabled servers who raise a violation that corresponds to hacking or interfering with PunkBuster's normal operation and therefore violating the EULA. Even Balance uses multiple private one-way hashes so that no serial number information for individual computers can bedetermined by admins or anyone else who may try to obtain thisinformation from a hardware GUID. PunkBuster only gives a hardware ban if memory scans show that a cheat that is known to circumvent or disrupt PunkBuster's normal operation or its facilities is activated. As with previous PunkBuster GUID global bans, the new hardware GUID bans are permanent and will not be lifted. Even Balance has not disclosed which hardware parts are used to ban players, but trial and error has shown that the hardware GUID is based on the serial numbers of all available hard drives but not the MAC addresses. According to their EULA, Even Balance has the final say in matters of banning. Attacks on PunkBuster PunkBuster usually searches for known cheat program signatures as opposed to relying on a more heuristic approach. On March 23, 2008, hackers published and implemented a proof of conceptexploit of PunkBuster's indiscriminate memory scanning. BecausePunkBuster scans all of a machine's virtual memory, malicious userswere able to cause mass false positives by transmitting text fragmentsfrom known cheat programs onto a high population IRC channel. When PunkBuster detected the text within user's IRC client text buffers, the users were banned. On March 25, 2008, Even Balance confirmed the existence of thisexploit, and advised users not to run any other programs at the sametime as PunkBuster protected games. To read games supported by pb refer to this article http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PunkBuster Also good info on pb site also http://www.evenbalance.com/index.php?page=info.php Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackbart Posted February 1, 2011 Member ID: 51 Group: Fallen Members Followers: 51 Topic Count: 342 Topics Per Day: 0.06 Content Count: 5974 Content Per Day: 1.11 Reputation: 3766 Achievement Points: 45818 Solved Content: 0 Days Won: 1 Joined: 09/01/09 Status: Offline Last Seen: October 27, 2021 Birthday: 06/26/1949 Share Posted February 1, 2011 Bump Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options... Awards
Bama Posted February 1, 2011 Member ID: 19 Group: ***- Inactive Clan Members Followers: 101 Topic Count: 318 Topics Per Day: 0.06 Content Count: 4444 Content Per Day: 0.83 Reputation: 2763 Achievement Points: 29399 Solved Content: 0 Days Won: 7 Joined: 09/01/09 Status: Offline Last Seen: March 11 Birthday: 02/29/1968 Device: iPhone Share Posted February 1, 2011 Wow, I was not aware of the hardware GUID bans. I wasn't even aware that the GUID was different from the game key, as it would seem this article indicates (although it does not specifically say that the two are different). Are they different for COD4, or is it just two terms used for the same number in this particular instance? Good info Greywolf, thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options... Awards
Ph4nt0m Posted February 1, 2011 Member ID: 1 Group: **- Inactive Registered Users Followers: 39 Topic Count: 162 Topics Per Day: 0.04 Content Count: 1909 Content Per Day: 0.42 Reputation: 121 Achievement Points: 11489 Solved Content: 0 Days Won: 1 Joined: 12/06/11 Status: Offline Last Seen: January 4, 2020 Birthday: 06/28/1975 Share Posted February 1, 2011 The GUID is a unique id that is based on your game key, but not the same as your game key, so if you changed your game serial number in either the game options or registry then the GUID would also change, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WeednFeed Posted February 1, 2011 Member ID: 433 Group: ++ COD4 Admin Followers: 39 Topic Count: 345 Topics Per Day: 0.06 Content Count: 2346 Content Per Day: 0.44 Reputation: 3821 Achievement Points: 24149 Solved Content: 0 Days Won: 35 Joined: 09/17/09 Status: Online Last Seen: 11 minutes ago Birthday: 05/28/1957 Device: Macintosh Share Posted February 1, 2011 I LIKE IT! LOOKS GOOD ON THEM! Weed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options... Awards
BudSr Posted February 1, 2011 Member ID: 5 Group: **- Inactive Registered Users Followers: 11 Topic Count: 359 Topics Per Day: 0.07 Content Count: 2475 Content Per Day: 0.46 Reputation: 242 Achievement Points: 16234 Solved Content: 0 Days Won: 1 Joined: 09/01/09 Status: Offline Last Seen: January 25, 2020 Birthday: 02/02/1966 Share Posted February 1, 2011 if ya don't FUCKING CHEAT OR RUN CHEATS YA got nothing to worry about end of story. been seeing alot of bans from PB on our servers who gives a shit let them take it up with PB, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nutcutter Posted February 2, 2011 Member ID: 1540 Group: **- Inactive Registered Users Followers: 13 Topic Count: 40 Topics Per Day: 0.01 Content Count: 856 Content Per Day: 0.17 Reputation: 100 Achievement Points: 4812 Solved Content: 0 Days Won: 0 Joined: 06/28/10 Status: Offline Last Seen: May 6, 2017 Birthday: 09/20/1969 Share Posted February 2, 2011 BudSrXI if ya don't FUCKING CHEAT OR RUN CHEATS YA got nothing to worry about end of story. been seeing alot of bans from PB on our servers who gives a shit let them take it up with PB, I agree 99% but, when little things get you booted out of a game like my Microsnot keyboard and I get booted from COD for disallowed program/driver for using my talk key on occasion. Poeple get a lot of false positives and it gives it a bad image. It would be nice (not easy I am sure) to clean those up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sitting-Duc Posted February 2, 2011 Member ID: 561 Group: ++++ Senior Admin Followers: 84 Topic Count: 502 Topics Per Day: 0.09 Content Count: 5334 Content Per Day: 1.00 Reputation: 4610 Achievement Points: 41339 Solved Content: 0 Days Won: 29 Joined: 10/14/09 Status: Offline Last Seen: May 3 Birthday: 04/06/1992 Device: Android Share Posted February 2, 2011 Nutcutter BudSrXI if ya don't FUCKING CHEAT OR RUN CHEATS YA got nothing to worry about end of story. been seeing alot of bans from PB on our servers who gives a shit let them take it up with PB, I agree 99% but, when little things get you booted out of a game like my Microsnot keyboard and I get booted from COD for disallowed program/driver for using my talk key on occasion. Poeple get a lot of false positives and it gives it a bad image. It would be nice (not easy I am sure) to clean those up. The disallowed program/driver is a detect for programs that interfere with PunkBuster's detections. So to prevent false positives you cannot join if you are running one of these program/drivers, if you were to join then there is the chance that you would be banned for a false positive. ^^Also to note.. that reason IS NOT a false positive.. its actually meant to happen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options... Awards
PhantomOperator Posted February 2, 2011 Member ID: 1746 Group: **- Inactive Registered Users Followers: 0 Topic Count: 11 Topics Per Day: 0.00 Content Count: 135 Content Per Day: 0.03 Reputation: 0 Achievement Points: 785 Solved Content: 0 Days Won: 0 Joined: 08/29/10 Status: Offline Last Seen: June 8, 2014 Birthday: 01/24/1979 Share Posted February 2, 2011 Is there a reference any of you know for disallowed program drivers? I've gotten that in the past on other servers. I think it's due to somethingin the Catalyst control center for my X800 Pro AGP (yes I'm surprised as willit still runs...) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Damage_inc- Posted February 2, 2011 Member ID: 2048 Group: ***- Inactive Clan Members Followers: 0 Topic Count: 294 Topics Per Day: 0.06 Content Count: 6689 Content Per Day: 1.36 Reputation: 4709 Achievement Points: 48999 Solved Content: 0 Days Won: 5 Joined: 12/15/10 Status: Offline Last Seen: November 29, 2023 Birthday: 05/30/1967 Device: Windows Share Posted February 2, 2011 i h8 fkn cheaterz ,they should plead there shit case to pb.fk em..and those fkn cheaterz know what pb is and y they were bann'd . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options... Awards
BudSr Posted February 2, 2011 Member ID: 5 Group: **- Inactive Registered Users Followers: 11 Topic Count: 359 Topics Per Day: 0.07 Content Count: 2475 Content Per Day: 0.46 Reputation: 242 Achievement Points: 16234 Solved Content: 0 Days Won: 1 Joined: 09/01/09 Status: Offline Last Seen: January 25, 2020 Birthday: 02/02/1966 Share Posted February 2, 2011 well lets see jackass fucking morons. i have been with XI for over 5yrs. and hell never had shit like this so fuck off' and clean your computers before you join ours. if that does not help you are on your own. LMFAO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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