Realmware's BF3/BF4 Settings Editor

[pipes1]

i was wondering if ppbans would ban for this

 

http://battlefield.realmware.co.uk/

 

EB/PB as far as i know has no official word on this just looking at the responses from everyone here on this

[Pisi-Deff]

Looks to me like it just offers a way to edit the game's config with a fancy gui. Nothing to worry about and/or ban for.

[Benway]

For me game settings always were part of the game / the package. Just a matter of taste, none of my objectives. To be 100% sure you might file a TT (and let us know the outcome).

[pipes1]

Benway i have filed a support ticket with pb asking them what they thought but got the general responce from alex that a program that modifies the game can cause a ban.

 

i inquired further, so ill keep you all updated

[-Slayer-]

Yes I hope it doesn't get pinged though it's only changing the profile file and not hooking into game critical files.

 

From looking it doesn't seem to effect anything that can raise a violation, it's just doing your game config settings like keybinds, video, audio without the need to fire up origin and battlelog go into a an empty (or better still Test Range which is where I did mine) server and then you can start to adjust your settings and hope no one joins the server your on and starts killing you while your trying to tweak to get the settings just right.

 

It's good they added Test Range it gives players a place to go in peace to tweak setup keys without the problem of being blown away while doing it. :)

 

edit: forgot to mention I don't use it or any external stuff as it's too high a price to pay if it does cause grief.

Edited December 22, 2013 by -Slayer-

[Benway]

Well, to put my statement more precisely, we (PBBans) will not actively search for Realmware's Settings Editor and it's not likely we will look into its effects - game setting files - if so, there would be some discussion here first. It makes no sense to search this, otherwise we had to search for Notepad++, Notepad2 or UltraEdit .. nuff said

Of course i can give no comment on EB's behalf; just two aspects to take into consideration: 1. the editor itself 2. the results, i.e. changed settings or setting files.
In theory PB could pick on the editor itself, like on any running application and subsequently issue a restriction kick or a violation. Usual precautions: unload and reboot before entering a pb server and there is nothing to worry about. Might be EB support gives more conservative responses after the common sense among players more and more diminishes and stuff that already carries 'cheat' in its name really is considered 'non-cheat-application', that based on nothing but wishful thinking, the intention "not to cheat" would make any difference  ...

For changed game settings: Only practical approach were Game-CVars, and our policy for the use of this method always was: Game cvars are restricted (by server administrators, we just provide suggestions), in case of violation, pb issues a KICK. Violating game cvar restrictions is never a bannable offense - see: game settings are part of the package. calling that 'cheat' is clueless, to say the least.

For games without cvar support like the BF series, game settings will just end up in some setting files. Game setting files are not exactly the playing field for EB violations, there always will be more suitable options to detect cheats (aimbots, wallhacks etc.), 99.99% of them will work without game settings whatsoever anyway. So a scenario of EB / PB by itself / checking into game setting (files) is quite hypothetical, and doing so was opening a can of worms; obviously you will not open a can of worms for no particular reason ("changing game settings is cheating"-whiners just ... give me a break) and for little if any benefit.

Using PB's admin tools (md5) to check into game setting files is usually not a feasible option. In most cases it will just cause "false positives" in the form of unreproducible kicks, and with very few exemptions we researched in the past, all these checks were just 'well meant' - not working reliably and always easy to circumvent. In result malicious players will circumvent all checks, and certain admins will just be happy - for no particular reason. A past example from BF series:

experiment:

pb_sv_md5tool a "1.1.2965-797.0" v "mods/bf2/Settings/Usersettings.con" SZ0 AT48 LEN256 1bcebda3b0d44b13a25fc04f9a1ddee6

(as an example for further considerations, use is not recommended) the cursive part is scanned by AT48 LEN256
 

rem
rem Settingsfile automatically saved by 48 Bytes (AT48), 53 Bytes is unsupported >  bf2
rem
SettingsManager.boolSet GSClPunkBuster 1
SettingsManager.floatSet GSDefaultLatencyCompensation 0.100000
SettingsManager.boolSet GSExtrapolateFrame 0
SettingsManager.U32Set GSExtrapolationTime 1200
SettingsManager.U32Set GSInterpolationTime 100  48 + 256 (LEN256) = 304 Bytes >
SettingsManager.U32Set GSPerfLogAtPlayerCount 30
SettingsManager.stringSet GSPlayerName "THIS IS A PLAYER NICK" 
SettingsManager.boolSet GSShowNetGraph 0
SettingsManager.boolSet GSUseObjectCache 1
SettingsManager.floatSet GSDefaultLatencyCompensation 0.500000
SettingsManager.boolSet GSExtrapolateFrame 2
SettingsManager.U32Set GSExtrapolationTime 2200
SettingsManager.U32Set GSInterpolationTime 500

A file like this, set to read-only (forces the game to use the last set of settings and keeps the game from overwriting) would pass all checks.

 

 

[pipes1]

its weird that ggc is detecting it as a hack, for an md5 which is where i got this from. i don't see any reason to ban for it and from what i can pull out of EB so far i guessing they wont either.

 

i know ACi wont ban for it either guess ggc sees something deeper.

 

 

as soon as i get the final responce from EB ill post the contents of the ticket here for all to see. and ill send you the link benway

[Benway]

i neither will comment other sites' practices (besides i couldnt care less), but i can express my sentiment "deeper insight" is not likely the right expression to describe this practice properly, at least i doubt it very much (: Merry Christmas

[pipes1]

here is what P/EB has stated, i got no further any more.

 

 

 

12/31/2013 13:30:32 - "pipes1"  

Note #10: no i was just inquiring if pb is detecting this as a cheat               

12/31/2013 13:03:10 - "Alex J"   

Note #9: I do not have any information regarding this program. If the program is legitimate, then I don't see why you would be banned by Even Balance. Are you kicked from PB enabled servers while using this program?

12/30/2013 07:38:04 - "pipes1"

Note #8: any update     

12/17/2013 10:22:30 - "Alex J"   

Note #3: Hello,

PunkBuster is designed to specifically catch cheat programs running in memory at the time a game is being played. Any process which modifies or manipulates the game may at some point be considered a cheat.

Modifications not intended by the game developer/publisher can be seen as cheating and may at some point be banned for. You will need to contact the game developer/publisher to find out what game modifications are acceptable for use.

In general, you should shutdown all unnecessary applications/processes/services on your machine before connecting to a PunkBuster enabled server. This is the best way to insure that nothing on your system is interfering with PunkBuster.  

 

Issue:

i was wondering if you would ban a player for using this software

Realmware's BF3/BF4 Settings Editor

http://battlefield.realmware.co.uk/

[egnin1]

I have used it since it first came out with BF3. And now i use it for BF4. Reason i use it is it gives you access to a lot of things that you would have to do in game or in test range and it also made my life easier when it also brought all my key bindings over from BF3 including joystick bindings. Hope this helps. All this program does is create a config settings editor for you. But i have always and will continue to never run it when playing the game so its not loaded up into memory. Also on the site for this settings editor. Its states its PBB safe. And also i have never heard of anyone what so ever getting band for using this editor.