Saliency GrudgE Posted February 26, 2007 Share Posted February 26, 2007 I am curious I am a server admin and a leader of my clan. I had received a yahoo message from a different clan member that one of my players was kicked from his server by Pb for a cvar r_intensity exploit. Now there is bad blood between our clan and this one. The other clan has said they are searching for the SS and the pb log to verify with me they also wouldn't tell me what version of Pb they are running just that it the latest. I have searched and found little info on this cvar command. I am a admin with punksbusted and haven't found any info there either. Is this a cheat or could it be a issue with their server being in the UK. They said they submitted it to "The Cheat Police" But since they aren't a full punkbuster support site I have little faith in them. So I pose the question here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raistlin Posted February 26, 2007 Share Posted February 26, 2007 (edited) Looking at the cvar list that pbbans recommend for COD2 //pb_sv_cvar r_intensity IN 1 is commented out so is an optional cvar which this other admin obviously has a restriction. It just means that your player had his set outside of the range the admin of that server allows, and I wouldn't have thought that it was anything to get excited about, just means that he needs to change his to be inside their allowed level if he really want to play on there. But he would have had a warning message saying his value was outside their limit before he was kicked and would have had time to change it . Unless COD2 is exceedingly different from ET and Wolf Edited February 26, 2007 by Raistlin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saliency GrudgE Posted February 26, 2007 Author Share Posted February 26, 2007 I was thinking it had to be server side setting wasn't sure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fozzer Posted February 26, 2007 Share Posted February 26, 2007 There are certain cvars that "tweak" the brightness / gamma etc. These are normally the culprits :P pb_sv_cvar r_picmip pb_sv_cvar r_gamma pb_sv_cvar r_intensity pb_sv_cvar r_overbrightbits pb_sv_cvar r_mapoverbrightbits Most admins set them within restrictive ranges to create an even playing field for all, and players must correct any discrepancies between what they have set, and what the server demands, within a specified time or a kick is given. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RocknRoll Posted February 26, 2007 Share Posted February 26, 2007 There are certain cvars that "tweak" the brightness / gamma etc. These are normally the culprits :P pb_sv_cvar r_picmip pb_sv_cvar r_gamma pb_sv_cvar r_intensity pb_sv_cvar r_overbrightbits pb_sv_cvar r_mapoverbrightbits Most admins set them within restrictive ranges to create an even playing field for all, and players must correct any discrepancies between what they have set, and what the server demands, within a specified time or a kick is given. Are you suggesting that these be set? ( from the PBBans Cvar List ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fozzer Posted February 26, 2007 Share Posted February 26, 2007 I'm saying its entirely at the server admins discretion, most of this kind of discussion leads to arguments between the "tweak v cheat" brigade :P Heres an example of an old server.cfg from the past. pb_sv_cvarempty //[empty cvar checks before being loaded below] ;Stock Cvar Range List - pb_sv_cvar [cvar_name] [type] [value(s)] pb_sv_cvar cg_errordecay IN 100 pb_sv_cvar cg_hudDamageIconHeight IN 64 pb_sv_cvar cg_hudDamageIconOffset IN 32 pb_sv_cvar cg_hudDamageIconTime IN 2000 pb_sv_cvar cg_hudDamageIconWidth IN 128 pb_sv_cvar cg_hudObjectiveMaxHeight IN 70 pb_sv_cvar cg_hudObjectiveMaxRange IN 2048 pb_sv_cvar cl_freelook IN 1 pb_sv_cvar cl_maxpackets IN 30 100 pb_sv_cvar com_maxfps OUT 0.000001 40 pb_sv_cvar m_pitch OUT -0.011 0.011 pb_sv_cvar mss_q3fs IN 1 pb_sv_cvar pb_sleep IN 0 500 pb_sv_cvar pmove_fixed IN 0 pb_sv_cvar r_lodbias IN -200 0 pb_sv_cvar r_lodscale IN 0 4 pb_sv_cvar r_nv_fogdist_mode INCLUDE nv pb_sv_cvar r_overBrightBits IN 0 2 pb_sv_cvar r_picmip IN 0 3 pb_sv_cvar r_picmip2 IN 0 3 pb_sv_cvar r_uifullscreen IN 0 pb_sv_cvar rate IN 5000 25000 pb_sv_cvar snaps IN 20 60 ;Cheat Protected Cvar Range List - pb_sv_cvar [cvar_name] [type] [value(s)] pb_sv_cvar cg_drawGun IN 1 pb_sv_cvar cg_fov IN 80 pb_sv_cvar cg_hudDamageIconInScope IN 0 pb_sv_cvar cg_shadows IN 0 1 pb_sv_cvar cg_thirdperson IN 0 pb_sv_cvar r_drawSModels IN 1 pb_sv_cvar r_drawWorld IN 1 pb_sv_cvar r_entfullBright IN 0 pb_sv_cvar r_flares IN 1 pb_sv_cvar r_fog IN 1 pb_sv_cvar r_intensity IN 1 pb_sv_cvar r_lightmap IN 0 pb_sv_cvar r_showCullXModels IN 0 pb_sv_cvar r_shownormals IN 0 pb_sv_cvar r_showtris IN 0 pb_sv_cvar r_xdebug IN 0 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F u R y Posted February 26, 2007 Share Posted February 26, 2007 I am curious I am a server admin and a leader of my clan. I had received a yahoo message from a different clan member that one of my players was kicked from his server by Pb for a cvar r_intensity exploit. Now there is bad blood between our clan and this one. The other clan has said they are searching for the SS and the pb log to verify with me they also wouldn't tell me what version of Pb they are running just that it the latest. I have searched and found little info on this cvar command. I am a admin with punksbusted and haven't found any info there either. Is this a cheat or could it be a issue with their server being in the UK. They said they submitted it to "The Cheat Police" But since they aren't a full punkbuster support site I have little faith in them. So I pose the question here.Hey man im a clan leader to have you had any compliants before with this member.. if so you wanna have a word with him and see if he is lagit or a hacker or w/e ya get me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saliency GrudgE Posted February 27, 2007 Author Share Posted February 27, 2007 No complaints before I fully trust him but still wanted to check up. we have bad blood with the other clan and it seems their leader might have been a little zealous thinking he had something when in reality he has nothing. I am glad now I can go back and let him know before accusing people of hacking be familiar with his server settings. Also pays to do some research before making such strong allegations. All he accomplished now was make himself look foolish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benway Posted February 27, 2007 Share Posted February 27, 2007 cvar r_intensity exploit I don't understand, what is this supposed to be? r_intensity is a game specific cvar in all quake3 engine games, that should be restricted by server cvars like pb_sv_cvar r_intensity IN 1 1.5 (or whatever setting in particular). Altering a game setting by puting a value into console has nothing to do with cheating. Period. As stated the allowed settings have to be restricted if this is required/desired by the server admin to whatever he wishes - his server = he makes the rules, anything else on game-cvars are suggestions, not more. On a sidenote r_intensity is capped by games itself, e.g. /r_intensity 4 would be ignored and capped to 2 - the particular value depends on game. All settings inside the allowed limitations of a server are legal, outside the the limits results in a kick. The whole story. Nothing to discuss or to start a waffle about. Now if an admin did not do his homeworks and a player uses a setting that was not, or not properly resticted, this is the admins failure; How would you call holding someone else liable for own mistakes? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
{MOB}Kraz3D Posted February 27, 2007 Share Posted February 27, 2007 where do you get that list, because occasionaly people have weird errors n such and id like to be able to give them a link or something Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scarlet Posted March 2, 2007 Share Posted March 2, 2007 i would just like to clarify a few points here please. bulldog aka grudge i have not spoken to you over this issue at all, i have spoken to kraut and winters and did say i would try to find more information although i have asked the cheatpolice if they could shed some light on the issue as im a trusted admin there is no bad blood here either mate i was only making you guys aware of the issue. I was shocked to see kp kicked via pb. as he was also deemed to be a friend.. and the information i was recieving over r_intensity was there is a default server side setting which is set by admins of the said server, but this would not generate an exploit just a default setting that must match the server. I have actually tried this to see what actually the kick is for. I was kicked for having a different setting ie. pb kicked v3n0m for r_intensity 2 when default is 1. which i see from the post is acceptable considering no servers are the same. All i was trying to say is that the actually kick relating to punkbuster did not say that with KP...... it said r_intensity exploit and im assuming this is different due to the 2 kicks not matching. i could not get punkbuster to kick me from the server with the same kick info. I do not wish to argue this issue i can not find any info at all with reference to Pb r_intensity exploit or violation. It may have been something inocent but as a fellow gamer and friend felt the need to inform a trusted clan please do not judge me for asking for help with this kick and making you aware of the situation. As a trusted admin i too wish to help clean up gaming but its a big field and sometimes ever mole hill needs to be looked at to see if there is a valid reason for it...... if there isnt then i apologize publicly for picking at sal!ency KP for his kick...... I just needed someone to clarify the kick information and as of yet there is no info found just server side config setting Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raistlin Posted March 2, 2007 Share Posted March 2, 2007 The only thing I could find was comments on cheat protecting the cvar so in other words forcing the value from the server I guess much like setl on ET where a cvar is locked at a value Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RocknRoll Posted March 2, 2007 Share Posted March 2, 2007 r_intensity is a game specific cvar in all quake3 engine games, that should be restricted by server cvars like pb_sv_cvar r_intensity IN 1 1.5 (or whatever setting in particular). On a sidenote r_intensity is capped by games itself, Now if an admin did not do his homeworks and a player uses a setting that was not, or not properly resticted, this is the admins failure; So SHOULD pb_sv_cvar r_intensity be set? As a range? What SHOULD the range be? I tested the example ( pb_sv_cvar r_intensity IN 1 1.5 ) on my server and 6 of us ( 4 Clan, 2 Regulars ) got hit for being at "0". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fozzer Posted March 2, 2007 Share Posted March 2, 2007 So SHOULD pb_sv_cvar r_intensity be set? As a range? What SHOULD the range be? I tested the example ( pb_sv_cvar r_intensity IN 1 1.5 ) on my server and 6 of us ( 4 Clan, 2 Regulars ) got hit for being at "0". dont play the game but afaik the default setting is 1 I did say that these cvars are entirely at the server admins discretion. try this as a test: pb_sv_cvar r_intensity IN 0 2 This will force all players who connect to your server to have their r_intensity setting within 0 to 2 .. anything above 2 = kick if not changed within 2 mins. I always bring down the console after joining a server and wait for PB to do its thing .. it will tell you straight away if you have a cvar setting that is not compliant with the servers settings. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benway Posted March 2, 2007 Share Posted March 2, 2007 omg this range came to my mind, twas a random example - as you can ^read ;p Will knock up a kwick howto, first off: yes, r_intensity should be restricted serversided, though it's a minor visulal tweak (find it out yourself) ... all in sensible limits ofc that will open players with varying hardware- (unless you all play on the same PS2, do you?) setup nearly equal chances, as what follows is simply not true (missing something or pointless whine): all have the same setting = equality for all, in that case everything was hardcoded. To get an impression what i'm about try a.) adjusting you gamma, brightness, contrast etc. with your grafic-card driver b.) get a nice CRT-Monitor (e.g. Nec-Mitsubish 22'' or Sony 21'' tubes off e-bay for small change+less small change delivery ;p) with "Contrast-", "Superbright-", "Movie-" or "whatever-retailers-call-it-" Mode, and be aware tweaks applied to a monitor will not even showup in your pb_ss. preliminary remark: 1. Evenbalance provides punkbuster, updates, HW-Bans, TT-system and other tools everything else is based on. 2. PBBans provides Streaming, a MBI, an appeal-system, MPI3, several pb enhancements, knowledge-pooling re hacks and detecting them in general. 3. Game admins test out their own game up to all limits and in every direction to get a workable baseline of limitations of their own gaming environment - especially for competitive gameplay. 3. howto: - take a clean install of the game, no mods, no settings, no changes. Alternative: take install as is + revise cvar results accoringly - start the game - bring down console - enter /CvarList [not implemented in CoD2 :S] - enter /condump Cvars.txt now you have a working draft. Main work-tools are the game and google. Some basics: 1 2 3a 3b - edit cvars.txt; all cvars with set attributes like SRIC are either server sided or write-protected and can be put aside for futher considerations - now cvars with no attributes or UAL are left, remove the obviously uninteresting ones like ui_xyz, server123, cg_selectedPlayer, g_complaintlimit, g_motd etc. - with this list start the game and enter every cvar in console, use the autocomplete function and to get the default value enter the cvar w/h value. - change cvars in steps in both directions and check the results. /screenshotjpeg is an option for futher reference. - several settings in particular settings that affect visuals will need a /vid_restart to take effect - a (further not obligatory) indication is a "latched" "value" response in console like ]\r_overbrightbits "r_overbrightbits" is:"2" default:"1" latched: "3" - when finished, setup a nice guide like this one (again: note headline 3) that generations of gamers will rely on :P - now you can bash nubs coming up with pointless cheat or "exploit" accusations by posting a link. :lol: All the quoted links where produced by proactive game admins and players running thru the described process. I did it in the games i play. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saliency GrudgE Posted March 2, 2007 Author Share Posted March 2, 2007 All issues are resolved and Scarlet and I have chalked this up as bad communication not Bad blood. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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