CHawk Posted January 16, 2009 Share Posted January 16, 2009 I downloaded a program called Alienware AlienGUIse and showed it to some friends. So they installed it and shortly afterwards went into a COD4 server and immediately recieved an "Unknown Windows API" error. The Alienware program can be found here: http://www.alienware.com/community/aliengu...me-manager.aspx The below picture is a screenshot of the message recieved after running this program and then joining a COD4 server with PB enabled. This seems to be a false read or something that punkbuster has not added into it's known Windows API database, but hopefully this can be fixed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ice Man Posted January 16, 2009 Share Posted January 16, 2009 Open up a ticket with evenbalance as we are PBBans and we will not be able to help with compatibility and the alienware program http://www.evenbalance.com/troubleticket/new_ticket.php I downloaded a program called Alienware AlienGUIse and showed it to some friends. So they installed it and shortly afterwards went into a COD4 server and immediately recieved an "Unknown Windows API" error. The Alienware program can be found here: http://www.alienware.com/community/aliengu...me-manager.aspx The below picture is a screenshot of the message recieved after running this program and then joining a COD4 server with PB enabled. This seems to be a false read or something that punkbuster has not added into it's known Windows API database, but hopefully this can be fixed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EAS Kevlar Posted January 16, 2009 Share Posted January 16, 2009 Are you running Windows 7 Beta on the computer? I got the same exact error when I tried to play COD4 on it. Nothing to fix it if you are running the Beta windows since evenbalance doesn't support the Beta operating systems. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CHawk Posted January 16, 2009 Author Share Posted January 16, 2009 Nope, just Windows Vista. Everything was fine before they installed the program mentioned above. all this program does is change themes around. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EAS Kevlar Posted January 16, 2009 Share Posted January 16, 2009 yep, just do as ice man said then... Open up a ticket with evenbalance as we are PBBans and we will not be able to help with compatibility and the alienware programhttp://www.evenbalance.com/troubleticket/new_ticket.php Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CHawk Posted January 17, 2009 Author Share Posted January 17, 2009 well I recieved a response from PB, and I didn't really approve of it. It's as if they're blowing it off so they don't have to fix something that needs to be fixed. I'm sure they have recieved money for being part of certain games so they need to start working with Microsoft and getting some of these bugs worked out. What I don't get is this "tool" has absolutely nothing to do with any game. Below is the response I got. 01/17/2009 04:20:46 - "Hendrik Thole" Note #2: This tool hooks a certain API call. This is something we cannot allow. You will have to close this tool before joining a PB enabled server. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duality Posted January 17, 2009 Share Posted January 17, 2009 Hendrik is a good guy - he will have looked into this for you. He isn't blowing it off - one can only assume that certain hacks make this API call. Hacks use various methods to inject their overlays into the game, and they probably use the same method that this tool uses to change desktop themes. Look at it this way - you are better off getting a kick for a program like this being forbidden by PB, than getting a false positive gamehack kick and a subsequent ban - which is what would happen if they were really blowing this off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CHawk Posted January 17, 2009 Author Share Posted January 17, 2009 Seems to have blown it off or the ticket wouldn't be closed with his vague response. If I had received a message from him that they have tested this program and found that it uses a certain API call that they have absolutely no way of bypassing to exclude this program then I probably would have been OK. Not a 'if your getting an error on pb after installing a program all ya have to do is exit it'. That was already tried. Didn't work. The only way to not get the error was to change back to Windows default Theme. This program does have an overlay that sits on the desktop but it does not overlay the game. So there is something there that is making the difference between this overlay being sent to just the desktop and not the game that punkbuster should be able to decipher. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fozzer Posted January 17, 2009 Share Posted January 17, 2009 Seems to have blown it off or the ticket wouldn't be closed with his vague response. If I had received a message from him that they have tested this program and found that it uses a certain API call that they have absolutely no way of bypassing to exclude this program then I probably would have been OK. Not a 'if your getting an error on pb after installing a program all ya have to do is exit it'. That was already tried. Didn't work. The only way to not get the error was to change back to Windows default Theme. This program does have an overlay that sits on the desktop but it does not overlay the game. So there is something there that is making the difference between this overlay being sent to just the desktop and not the game that punkbuster should be able to decipher. It's not a vague response Bro, Hendrik has told you it can not be allowed and he has told you how to resolve the kick. 01/17/2009 04:20:46 - "Hendrik Thole"Note #2: This tool hooks a certain API call. This is something we cannot allow. You will have to close this tool before joining a PB enabled server. If you use any programme of this nature you are taking a chance that it may not be compatible to run at the same time as your gaming on a PB enabled server. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CHawk Posted January 17, 2009 Author Share Posted January 17, 2009 I'm not trying to get on anybody's bad side here, but just closing this tool did not rectify the situation. Switching back to the default Windows theme did. Therefore certain themes within this program use this particular API function call and if the themes within these programs are used then PB doesn't like it. I'm getting the feeling PB doesn't want my desktop to look goooood...lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RocknRoll Posted January 17, 2009 Share Posted January 17, 2009 I'm not trying to get on anybody's bad side here, but just closing this tool did not rectify the situation. Switching back to the default Windows theme did. Therefore certain themes within this program use this particular API function call and if the themes within these programs are used then PB doesn't like it. I'm getting the feeling PB doesn't want my desktop to look goooood...lol And THAT is why you only get "Kicked" and NOT "Banned". You asked them "Why" and you were answered. If you don't want to get kicked, you need to loose the "tool". Evenbalance ( PunkBuster ) is supposed to help keep cheaters out. It's not supposed to be concerned with you being able to run every silly program you feel like running. It works fine if you are running what you NEED to be running in order to play the games. If you are running anything more and it works, GREAT!! If you are running more and it's not working, stop running it or don't play. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CHawk Posted January 18, 2009 Author Share Posted January 18, 2009 And what exactly gives punkbuster the right to say what I can and can't run on my computer if it has absolutely nothing to do with cheats? I supposed that is in their TOS? If a legitimate program is using a windows API function call then we (punkbuster) are not responsible to update our program too work with these legitimate programs. Correct me if I am wrong here but isn't Windows 7 going to be using API function calls in some of their desktop functions? If this is so and punkbuster can't do anything about it here it seems like there's going to be some serious problems ahead. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ToothfairY Posted January 18, 2009 Share Posted January 18, 2009 And what exactly gives punkbuster the right to say what I can and can't run on my computer if it has absolutely nothing to do with cheats? I supposed that is in their TOS? If a legitimate program is using a windows API function call then we (punkbuster) are not responsible to update our program too work with these legitimate programs. Correct me if I am wrong here but isn't Windows 7 going to be using API function calls in some of their desktop functions? If this is so and punkbuster can't do anything about it here it seems like there's going to be some serious problems ahead. Read the EULA m8 instead of just ticking the "Agree" box ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ice Man Posted January 18, 2009 Share Posted January 18, 2009 And what exactly gives punkbuster the right to say what I can and can't run on my computer if it has absolutely nothing to do with cheats? I supposed that is in their TOS? If a legitimate program is using a windows API function call then we (punkbuster) are not responsible to update our program too work with these legitimate programs. Correct me if I am wrong here but isn't Windows 7 going to be using API function calls in some of their desktop functions? If this is so and punkbuster can't do anything about it here it seems like there's going to be some serious problems ahead. nothing we can do. you can rant all you want at us but we are not punkbuster, we are PBBans and we use punkbuster software to our advantage. I'm sure punkbuster will figure out how to use windows 7 when it is actually released commercially ;) and yeah might wanna read up on the End user agreement for pb. -Dan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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