PBBans Own System of Banning

[Knives*]

1)

 

After speaking with MaydaX a few days ago, he told me that the detection of PBBans is only as good as PunkBuster. In other words, if cheaters know how to bypass getting banned by PB, then PBBans cannot and will not ban them. And anyone who gets picked up by PB will mean that they get banned by PBBans in the MDI.

 

I've been thinking... if that is the case, why use PBBans? Why not just rely on PB? Does PB not also do permanent bans? What makes PBBans better than using just PB alone?

 

2)

 

I recall reading that the Valve crew that works on VAC offered to help PB improve their outdated system but PB refused their assistance. Both VAC and PB have flaws. I was thinking that based on the knowledge that the people here have on banning and the techniques used by cheaters, couldn't PBBans create an anti-cheating system of their own that can and would surpass VAC and PB? Create a hybrid of the anti-cheating systems of PB and VAC but with a far better detection rate that stays up to date automatically and can evolve as new cheating techniques are developed. This way you would have the best anti-cheat protected system on the market.

 

Is it possible? Thoughts?

[surfy]

To answer part 1.

PB on its own only enforces 2 minute kicks for the majority of their violations. PBBans enforces a ban on the GUID that triggered the ban, for life across streaming servers.

 

PB, does not accept Punkbuster screenshots as evidence against hackers, PBBans does as long as the server is streaming at the time. PBBans has its own MD5 detections. For some games we accept in game demos (COD4), PB doesn't.

[MaydaX]

After speaking with MaydaX a few days ago, he told me that the detection of PBBans is only as good as PunkBuster. In other words, if cheaters know how to bypass getting banned by PB, then PBBans cannot and will not ban them. And anyone who gets picked up by PB will mean that they get banned by PBBans in the MDI.

 

I've been thinking... if that is the case, why use PBBans? Why not just rely on PB? Does PB not also do permanent bans? What makes PBBans better than using just PB alone?

 

We require PB to ban players for cheating but that doesn't mean we require PB to raise the violations. We use PB logs to: verify PBSS and Demos, scan for known cheat files and scan for cheat cvars (In supported games) to name a few. Plus as Surfy said many PB violations are 2 minute kicks and the player can just play again on another server with an updated hack. Using PBBans means those people get banned and can't play on any streaming server.

 

I was thinking that based on the knowledge that the people here have on banning and the techniques used by cheaters, couldn't PBBans create an anti-cheating system of their own that can and would surpass VAC and PB? Create a hybrid of the anti-cheating systems of PB and VAC but with a far better detection rate that stays up to date automatically and can evolve as new cheating techniques are developed. This way you would have the best anti-cheat protected system on the market.

 

It's not that easy. If it was there would already be better alternatives for anti-cheat and even more developers would do it themselves instead of contracting PB and VAC.

[Knives*]

Two minutes is a joke. I thought PB would be better than that. To those that don't use a service such as this are kicking themselves in the ass. Thanks for clearing this up.

[jamin]

If only it were a perfect world Knives.

I was wondering the same thing though, silly 2 minute ban. I mean I get the whole PB warn for being out of certain limitations in game, but I mean you would think they could make it a bit more advanced to tell the difference between a seemingly harmless cvar violation and a clear and blatant hack, which PB should then ban permanently? Guess that's what PBBans are for.