PunkBuster - an answer to cheating?

[old.bys]

Found an interesting thing today, and as I play so much cs I thought it might be insteresting.

check out http://www.punkbuster.com/ for info on a client server system that prevents cheating, it sounds good.

some people may have big brother concerns about it, but if the admin who are running it don't abuse the servers they run in the first place why abuse this?

have a look, it's worth it.

 

[SAS]

If it's the system where a client has to download a file before he can play then I doubt BW will use it.

Servers should be a case of:
1) game
2) patches

End of story. Forcing a player to download a file before play will result in less players on the servers as most will not have a clue where to get the file or go elsewhere.

 

[old.Hobbes^^]

And what if everywhere else used it too? and the only ones left open are full of a'holes cheating.

If I can't get into a game, I go check up CS homepage for patches, then I go whine on the Servers forum (proof in this forum)

From the FAQ I read you can put the URL into the message of the day and the person can play the game for about 5 minutes before being booted.

 

[Guest]

>>If it's the system where a client has to download a file before he can play then I doubt BW will use it.

Don't BW already do this with the Q3 OSP mod?

I don't know the merits, or lack of, of Punkbuster, but I do know that cheating (real or imagined) is a big issue for a lot of players.

What have BW to lose by using stuff like this and declaring that their servers are, to the best of their knowledge, a cheat-free zone?

 

[old.Anatoly]

If you look at the webpage then it is possible to set up a server so that it says who is running punk buster and whether they are using any recognized cheats but it won't boot anyone off.
This would mean that Barrysworld could start using it in this mode, so that people can see who is using it, then slowly convert the servers over to compulsory use of the software, or have a few that use it and see how people respond.
They could at least start having it as an option on Clan servers and maybe as required on league servers, after all if you are playing in a league then you should have the technical skill to download and install the program.
I know it will never totally eradicate cheating but it should put out of action all the commonly known cheats, so only those skilled enough to create their own proxies or whatever use them, rather than some kid who downloaded it from the net and has no clue as to how or why it works.

 

[old.bys]

good points but...

you havn't read the faq on punkbuster sas.

Will I have to have PunkBuster running every time I play Half-Life?
Not necessarily, although it is a good habit to get into. Some servers will be PunkBuster monitored for REQUIRED compliance, others may be monitored for OPTIONAL compliance, and (hopefully few) others will not be PunkBuster monitored at all. If you choose to play on a server configured for REQUIRED compliance, then you will have to run the client and be Authenticated or you will be removed from the TFC server. If you forget to run the client before launching the game and connect to a monitored server, you will be reminded in-game and given a grace period within which to comply before being dismissed. Servers that are configured for OPTIONAL compliance will announce globally in-game which players are and which players are not PunkBuster authenticated."

This means that players don't have to have the client installed, the guys at punkbuster have thought of what you thought of obviously.

As Anatoly says, why not begin to use the service and slowly migrate it, after all you have to give the people connecting to BW game servers a little credit as they managed to get that far, which means they are not total morons.

|Blood:¥en:Sushi|

oh and here is a direct link to the faq, have a read:

http://www.slugworks.net/punkbuster/faq.html

[Edited by bys on 06-12-00 at 18:51]

 

[old.Foxile]

Anatroly is right. We should be offered the option to have PunkBuster running on our clan servers.

The CS community in general is losing faith in the game, due to the high number of cheaters. This programme will help to make it much harder for them to cheat, so they might just learn to play instead.

Either way, when you fire up the client, I think you can ask it to monitor which ever server you want, so you should be able to get it to watch your clan server...in theory.

 

[old.Hobbes^^]

on a funnier note someone posted a trojan to a popular cheat site and managed to wipe out tons of peoples machines. One of the guys who machine got toasted actually runs a different major cheat site. lol. paybacks a bitch.

 

[old.darren_monghay]

While I agree that things should be kept as simple as possible for anyone to join in games, I also think that people should be at least offered the chance to play on as cheat/exploit free servers as possible.

I know Valve and the CS team are working on some fixes for the next release of CS, (cliffe even mentions punkbuster in the post on cs.net) but it would be nice to at least get a chance to use this potential solution.

Just adding my support for this program.


JDM

 

[old.Splitter]

This punkbuster thing is a damned good idea.....As for newbies being put off...well before they get kicked they get told the punkbuster url as i understand it and get told to download the software..
Splitter.

 

[old.bys]

It's good to see that the support for this great idea is there

|Blood:¥en:Sushi|

 

[old.AfterShock]

Damn Good Idea i say.

 

[shabazz]

yeah im all for this ;o)

BTW barrys servers are no way as bad as some of the (cough) Jolt ones, and other ones.
The other day, some dood skin changed in front of me then pretended to be on my team (durrrrr). A quick AK to the head soon sorted him out

 

[old.Godeh]

Damn - I was just about to start a thread to ask if BW could possibly run 1 or 2 server with the Punkbuster software running on it.

 

[old.Clanless]

Thats the real beauty of playing on a server group like BW in Europe, or El Nino, Mourning After, and Domain of Pain here in the states: you don't have to set all your server ports up with PunkBuster, you can test it on one or two to see if there are any performance issues, or if it is too difficult for a player without the client side software to download the client. It already sounds like a couple of clans would like it to be run on their server, great way to test. On a side note, PunkBuster also offers a clan tag registering service. Once your tag is registered with PunkBuster, only those that you have authorized are able to wear that tag on a PunkBuster monitored server. Kinda nice...

Clanless

P.S. PunkBuster currently has detection enabled for the Asus driver wall hack, the OpenGL wallhack, Lambert, and just recently added, 5 flavors of Aimbot. Sounds good to me...

[Edited by Clanless on 19-12-00 at 22:24]

 

[Krazeh]

As the head admin to the UKCSL and a keen CS player I find it slightly disturbing that BW would not consider the use of the punkbuster system on the grounds that the user has to download a small file.
As I understand it the punkbuster client is a small one off download (as it updates itself automatically when your online) which i'm sure very few people would be opposed to.
As BW are a commercial company dedicated to online gaming I believed they would be one of the first in line to get hold of punkbuster to allow thier users to enjoy cheat free online gaming but it appears they seem to care more about having to use one or two more files than eliminating cheating.
I strongly feel that BW and other major online gaming companies should seriously consider the use of punkbuster otherwise we are never gonna rid ourselves of cheats and we may as well give up on online gaming here and now

 

[Embattle]

It a bit stupid having the optional running of this since the people who do cheat wouldn't run it.

Believe it or not but the people who make cheats are fairly smart, how long before a cheat using this system gets made?.....not long.

 

[Krazeh]

The whole punkbuster system has been designed to prevent the client and server files being hacked to allow cheats to play on monitored servers.
Due to the auto updating features in the punkbuster system all the punkbuster clients and servers in the world can be updated in a very short time to remove any hack that is produced.
Also the punkbuster team has introduced a signature method to ensure only authentic updates will be accepted by the client and server

 

[SAS]

"As the head admin to the UKCSL and a keen CS player I find it slightly disturbing that BW would not consider the use of the punkbuster system on the grounds that the user has to download a small file.
As I understand it the punkbuster client is a small one off download (as it updates itself automatically when your online) which i'm sure very few people would be opposed to."

A few things are stopping us running it.

1) Drchris never runs beta code on servers unless it's a game/mod. This punkbuster is still in beta and last I heard they are fixing crashing bugs, so it's not even stable.

2) Krazy UKCSL is a CS league the BarrysWorld 20+ CS servers are all for the public and not everyone will have heard of punkbuster nor even know about the BW web site to find information about it.

3) Since this program is not officially for the mod nor made by valve or the cs team I'm not happy with the idea of a program on my machine auto downloading stuff when I am online. I'm not a cheat as you know I hate cheating as does the next man, but I feel a program which I have no control over scanning my files and conacting the net now and then a tad annoying. As would a lot of other people.

Don't get me wrong it's a good idea, but unless A) It's a solid program and comes out of beta. or B) the cs team add it to the CS.exe then it won't be added to the servers.

Clan servers / leagues is a different matter, I'm just taking about public servers, and I'm sure bigfoot/cheesebury will look into it.


[Edited by SAS on 20-12-00 at 09:18]

 

[Embattle]

Originally posted by Krazylegs
The whole punkbuster system has been designed to prevent the client and server files being hacked to allow cheats to play on monitored servers.
Due to the auto updating features in the punkbuster system all the punkbuster clients and servers in the world can be updated in a very short time to remove any hack that is produced.
Also the punkbuster team has introduced a signature method to ensure only authentic updates will be accepted by the client and server

Don't ever get fooled into the belief thats its impossible to cheat.