Punkbuster perma Ban?!

-LoVe-Selfs

I´ve pretty much stopped playing BF after ~1500h, but as i wanted to play a few rounds of deathmatch i get this message:

Stated reason: PunkBuster permanent ban issued on this Game Server for player '-LoVe-Selfs' ... GLOBAL PunkBuster GUID BAN f525244a

I reinstalled PB, checked Firewall, still the same...Is there a fix to this? I mean after all it really looks like i got a PB Ban, but how is this even possible if i have never cheated, nore got any fishy softwear on my pc...

DIRTYGreeny

For global bans you need to open a trouble ticket over at evenbalance..

https://www.evenbalance.com/troubleticket/new_ticket.php

Add the kick line to your ticket also..

Stated reason: PunkBuster permanent ban issued on this Game Server for player '-LoVe-Selfs' ... GLOBAL PunkBuster GUID BAN f525244a

-LoVe-Selfs

Thanks, i´ve allready done that. But what are the waiting times on a Supportticket for a 6 year old game?^^

DIRTYGreeny

-LoVe-Selfs wrote: »

Thanks, i´ve allready done that. But what are the waiting times on a Supportticket for a 6 year old game?^^

EB has live support but it can take them some time to answer tickets. I'm not them so I can't tell you why or what they do when checking out appeals.

harry0ld

I have the same problem, I have contacted evenbalance through troubleticket system but they don't give a damn.

DIRTYGreeny

harry0ld wrote: »

I have the same problem, I have contacted evenbalance through troubleticket system but they don't give a damn.

That all depends, if you did cheat then they are doing their job which may be to you it looks like they don't give a damn. I suspect they have evidence which tells them you had a cheat running. I guess you need some sort of info that points to your ban being a false positive, if you haven't provided it then what do you expect to happen? Do you have anything you think could have triggered a false positive?

harry0ld

How can I know that? There are a lot of system processes running in background when I'm playing. I have played this game since few years, suddenly got banned and I have no idea what could trigger that. However, I
don't think it's a coinsidence that many people have such problems now.

F_Stormen

Same here, No reason at all, never hacked.

Ban Link: https://www.ggc-stream.net/search/server/guid/C4098B4C
Date: 2/4/18, 8:32 PM
GUID: f55d1b1d3d856f69748a1355c4098b4c
Game: Battlefield 3
Violation: Violation (GAMEHACK) #88002

http://screenshots.gametracker.com/massget.php?ip=173.199.67.180&port=25200

search for F_Stormen

700h, used to be an admin long time ago. I'm an old fart with kids, I've got no intentions to hack. I dont even know howto. But thats not evidence enough :-)

I set up a ticket at evenbalance beause ggc says they only hold the ban for them.

UMADBRODENT

Evenbalance addressed my trouble ticket within a couple of days (This was last week).

I've been helping a friend by filing a help ticket on his behalf.

If they have information on your account that flags you as a cheater, whether it was you, or someone that hacked your account, they won't reverse it. The rationale is that if they unban you, whoever used your account would be able to use it again to play on ranked servers, so they'll maintain their ban.

In my case, it seems like it was some translation program which was supposed to translate in-game text to Portuguese. Instead it flagged the player and they were banned. No suspicious stats on their account or anything.

They advised me that if I believe a program is the cause of a false positive that I could send them the installer file and a link to the developer's page with the ban details and they would look into it.

That was late last week and I'm still awaiting a response.

F_Stormen

Intresting Umadbrodent. I have installed Logitech Media server to stream local music in network (FLAC), But had that for years before, ( not that last year though) Thats the only last software I can remember.

Anyhow, Lets say this wont budge. I wont be able to play BF3 again.
How do I get started to play again?
Can I buy BF4 and play with the same origin/EA login? Or is the punkbuster banning all my games from my computer?

Can I create another Origin login and install the same game BF3 (without buying it again) and start with another soldier from level 1?
Isnt worst than Prestige Level in COD
You think It might work=?

UMADBRODENT

To get started playing again, you will have to purchase the game again, and I believe you will need to make a new origin/battlelog account. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong.

I think you can still buy bf4 on your current account, and not be banned by punkbuster. Other ban sites (ACI/GGC) might link you across games. I haven't researched all of these statements, it's just gut instinct. So what I mean by this is that while Punkbuster is built in to battlelog etc., ACI listings and GGC listings are sometimes used by local admins to maintain server bans specific to their servers. If you show up on either of those lists, you may be auto-banned on that particular server.

You will not be able to use your existing BF3 key to restart from scratch. You're tied to your GUID with both EA and PB.

My concern would be that something in your setup is causing a false positive. If you bought a new game and got banned again what assistance is EA or EB willing to provide in figuring out where the flag came from?

You always have to think about it from their side too. If a hack developer is looking for ways to circumvent PB's detection, that person may also try to play innocent and ask the same questions looking for clues by requesting support through even balance.

StarscreamUK

UMADBRODENT wrote: »

In my case, it seems like it was some translation program which was supposed to translate in-game text to Portuguese. Instead it flagged the player and they were banned. No suspicious stats on their account or anything.

a translator that was translating in real time?

UMADBRODENT

Supposedly, there's screenshots on their site and they apparently have tools for a lot of other games to do the same translations.

StarscreamUK

well that instantly screams violation. if its turning text in game into another language its directly modifying the game in real time, thats exactly what a gamehack client would do

what software is this?

UMADBRODENT

Best I can say is it's homegrown. Probably 1 or 2 developers. It doesn't appear that they're interested in getting an advantage over anyone, unless you say reading in ones own language is an advantage.

StarscreamUK

so someone is using homemade software that is monitoring the games contents in ram and changing values on the fly

my friend, that is an open and shut case.

that is a gamehack pure and simple.

UMADBRODENT

That's one narrative you can use.

Another is that among the files that are monitored, some are obviously used to modify damage caused, modify accuracy, spot impossible targets etc.

If the particular metric used to flag this player comes from left field, maybe it's worth examining.

What I mean is that aim bots may interact with files x, y, and z. (Bear with me on this) If this person's account was flagged for using files a, b, and c and 99.99% of hackers are flagged because of x, y, z, maybe it's worth looking at, especially if the player only has 50 hours on record and zero outlier stats.

It's difficult to build a case against the ban without actual information about how PB became aware of this tool or even how it works. ...and I'm not installing it to try to figure it out either

Don't get me wrong, I'm not ignorant about what you're saying. Blanket policy surely states anything that interacts with bf3 will be considered a hack and you'll be banned, but I'm going to wait for an official EB response, not just some moderator from another site.

Had EB stated as much in my original help ticket, I would have dropped the case. Instead, they stated that if I felt there may have been a false positive, to provide further information for them to research. That's what's going on now and I'm patiently awaiting a response.

Think of it as a good samaritan trying to save a player's investment into EA and their products.

Fighting for the little man...

-UMADBRODENT

StarscreamUK

well it can do it in one or two ways,

it either alters the content in memory = gamehack
or
it alters the gamefile contents = gamehack

there is no grey area, no ifs or buts, its a gamehack

UMADBRODENT

Any idea why they wouldn't tell me that in the original help ticket? I provided all the information mentioned here and more, still EB said to email them for further investigation.

Doesn't sound so black and white to me.

StarscreamUK

Because they always reply with template Emails

-LoVe-Selfs

So did i get this right, you dont even have to run any programms on your PC, its enought if you join a server with has such an addon running? Im sorry but how can i know if the admin is running a programm before i join a server?

Since ive played CSGO for like 200h i know how a real cheating problem looks like, so i allways was quite happy with EAs anticheat. But if you start banning innocent people we have a problem.
Ive nothing change on my PC (cause there was nothing fishy on it) and i can play on my alt account just fine. My account dindt got hacked, cause i checked the games played, ive played all of them by myself. If you want to ban me, at least tell me why...its been over a week since ive wrote the ticket to Even Balance and i still dont have an anwser.