need help. PLEASE!!!!

[avaterera]

First of all I would like to apologies for my English

I have bought you software legally about half a year ago and I’m very satisfied .
But I also play a lot in game called America’s army: operations and I have got a problem.
AAO is protect against hackers by PunkBuster (evenbalance company) And last time after PB updated I was kicked for “blocked O/S Privileges” I discovered it is because ProcessGuard is running. Even when I deleted all programs from protected tab I’ve got the same kick. I was able to play just when I uninstalled PG. Is it legal this what PB is doing with shareware licensed program? I know that for many people only way to go was to uninstall ProcessGuard.
Please help me.. I want to use PG still. What to do?

Thu 24 - 02:46:02 [READ] c:\games\america's army\system\armyops.exe [1000] was blocked from reading c:\program files\processguard\pgaccount.exe [1436]
Thu 24 - 02:46:02 [READ] c:\games\america's army\system\armyops.exe [1000] was blocked from reading c:\program files\processguard\pgaccount.exe [1436]
Thu 24 - 02:46:02 [READ] c:\games\america's army\system\armyops.exe [1000] was blocked from reading c:\program files\processguard\pgaccount.exe [1436]
Thu 24 - 02:46:02 [READ] c:\games\america's army\system\armyops.exe [1000] was blocked from reading c:\program files\processguard\pgaccount.exe [1436]
Thu 24 - 02:46:02 [READ] c:\games\america's army\system\armyops.exe [1000] was blocked from reading c:\program files\processguard\pgaccount.exe [1436]
Thu 24 - 02:46:07 [READ] c:\games\america's army\system\armyops.exe [1000] was blocked from reading c:\program files\processguard\procguard.exe [1608]

I’m scared because if BP can scan my process it also can look like that:
Thu 24 - 02:53:02 [MODIFY] c:\games\america's army\system\armyops.exe [732] was blocked from modifying C:\some running process [220]

[gkweb]

Hi,

there is absolutly no need to uninstall ProcessGuard.

Just add ArmyOps.exe into your protection list, protect it against what you want, and allow it to READ, Install global hook, and Access physical memory.

It should run fine now ;)

Regards,
gkweb.

[avaterara]

I tried this, but I told you, that even if I don’t have any programs in the protection tab PB kicks me. PB kicks me even if protection is OFF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[avaterera]

from another forum

PB is somehow still checking memory if (yes here comes the beauty) PROCESSGUARD is installed. If yes, KICK if Disabled KICK if all priveleges given KICK so PunkBuster FORCES you to shutdown PG. Can they do that? It's like they want to SHUTDOWN my firewall they cant do that! I hope The server crash will become public PB makes me really mad! And if i get it ALL server gonna blow! >:\

[avaterera]

Here's a chunk of my a PG log where I blocked AA from the world just to see what it was scanning.

It started scanning all of my processes, doing "modifies" on all of them. Then it came to processguard files and stalled (because they had "no read" rules, of course):

Thu 24 - 02:46:02 [READ] c:\games\america's army\system\armyops.exe [1000] was blocked from reading c:\program files\processguard\pgaccount.exe [1436]
Thu 24 - 02:46:02 [READ] c:\games\america's army\system\armyops.exe [1000] was blocked from reading c:\program files\processguard\pgaccount.exe [1436]
Thu 24 - 02:46:02 [READ] c:\games\america's army\system\armyops.exe [1000] was blocked from reading c:\program files\processguard\pgaccount.exe [1436]
Thu 24 - 02:46:02 [READ] c:\games\america's army\system\armyops.exe [1000] was blocked from reading c:\program files\processguard\pgaccount.exe [1436]
Thu 24 - 02:46:02 [READ] c:\games\america's army\system\armyops.exe [1000] was blocked from reading c:\program files\processguard\pgaccount.exe [1436]
Thu 24 - 02:46:07 [READ] c:\games\america's army\system\armyops.exe [1000] was blocked from reading c:\program files\processguard\procguard.exe [1608]


It goes on like that for a while. The funny thing is that there's about 100 entries before and after that that look like this:

Thu 24 - 02:53:02 [MODIFY] c:\games\america's army\system\armyops.exe [732] was blocked from modifying C:\some running process [220]

This isn't any new news, it's just creepy to see punkbuster systematically scan all my active processes and doing checksums. What a piece of crap.

[avaterera]

KICK NOTIFICATION: ****** has been kicked for an undefined reason: YOU HAVE BEEN KICKED VIA PUNKBUSTER (FOR 0 MINUTES) ... RESTRICTION: BLOCKED O/S PRIVILEGES

[Oddbod]

Hi

I still play a lot of quake 3 & have processguard installed & have never had any probs with PB.Make sure u have granted the game the internet access it needs in Ur firewall & follow gkweb's advice on the settings Ur game should have in the protection list.

U can also try PBWEB.exe from the evenbalance.com, it a offline PB updater.

[avaterera]

-{ Quote: "Hi

I still play a lot of quake 3 & have processguard installed & have never had any probs with PB.Make sure u have granted the game the internet access it needs in Ur firewall & follow gkweb's advice on the settings Ur game should have in the protection list.

U can also try PBWEB.exe from the evenbalance.com, it a offline PB updater." }-

I have trayed everything you sad. Everything started when PB released his new update (yesterday)

[avaterera]

This kick massage is showing only when PG is installed, even if it don’t protect anything… when I uninstalled PG everything is back to normal.

[avaterera]

but i still want to use PG...

[Pilli]

Hi avaterera, Some games prgrams makers do not like ProcessGuard because it has been used to trick the game. However, if other users here are not experiencing this problem with your particuler game then maybe youd could state what OS you are running and what version etc of the game.

Than you. Pilli

[avaterera]

I didn't know that PG has been used to trick the game. I'm running on XP Pro with sp2 and AAO version is 2.3. Even if PB don’t like PG he can't force me to uninstall PG - this is illegal I think. ProcessGuard cost a lot of money, and i still want to us it, but I'm in America's Army clan and I want to play too

[avaterera]

help me! I need both programs

[Pilli]

-{ Quote: "avaterera help me! I need both programs " }- We are trying, may have to wait for another PG -America's Army player to respond on this.

You could put ProcessGuard in learning mode whilst installing and running your program so that ProcessGuard can add the correct files and allows.

If that does not work disable each of the four general tabs one at a time until the game starts working then report here on your settings so that we can maybe help a bit more.

Pilli

[avaterera]

I trayed everything…you can believe me. I spend eight hours trying to resolve this problem without results. My conclusion after eight hours of trying: America’s army wont work until PG is installed.

You can try yourself. You can download AAO here: http://www.americasarmy.com/downloads/

This isn’t only my problem. Number of AA players is still increasing, and I thing that because of PB DiamondCS will lose a LOT of money.

[Pilli]

Hi avaterera, Have you tried contacting the game makers about your proble?

Pilli

[avaterera]

not yet, but i will

[avaterera]

they told me to contact evenbalane (PB). I'll contact PB

[avaterera]

I just read, that someone asked PB about that, and they told him, that PG was using to trick PB (and PG is on white list), and if he still want to play AAO he must uninstall PG. What about that?

[Pilli]

-{ Quote: "and they told him, that PG was using to trick PB (and PG is on white list), and if he still want to play AAO he must uninstall PG. What about that?" }- Probably because they cannot be bothered to update and secure their code. Games makers would rather you were insecure than dig into their profits. It's a crazy world Avaterere .

Pilli

[gkweb]

see below

[Dwarden]

-{ Quote: "The fact is that ProcessGuard and AAO are working pretty well on my computer together since ProcessGuard v1.000, if you give full allowances to Armyops.exe then there is no problems with PunkBuster.

The error message you have from PunkBuster means that it founds that you are not running under an administrator account.
Sometimes it is buggy, and I have a friend which has the same message as you without ProcessGuard installed.

Moreover if the protection disabled you still have the PunkBuster message, the problem is not in any way caused by ProcessGuard, try instead to find some help on the official forum of your game (there is no conspiration from Evenbalance (Punkbuster makers) against ProcessGuard).

In the meantime, check your NTFS permissions and your firewall rules, also check that your account is member of the Administrator group.

Regards,
gkweb." }-

actually You mistmatching 2 different error messages :

Insufficient O/S Privileges are linked to certain administrator privileges ...
Blocked O/S Privileges are linked to usage of PG and similar programs ...

[gkweb]

I didn't play yesteday, so I just joined a server, PB was updating, and after I indeed got this message for the first time.

This shows that it is an issue with their last update (and not that PB has never worked with PG).

I will post in their official forum and will keep you informed.

Regards,
gkweb.

[avaterera]

Ok. Thx

[avaterera]

-{ Quote: "I will post in their official forum and will keep you informed." }-
can I have link to that forum?

[BourgePD]

-{ Quote: "KICK NOTIFICATION: ****** has been kicked for an undefined reason: YOU HAVE BEEN KICKED VIA PUNKBUSTER (FOR 0 MINUTES) ... RESTRICTION: BLOCKED O/S PRIVILEGES" }-

Unfortunate to have this 'problem'. I play AAO while running PG just fine.

Attempting to run AAO without appropriate User Rights Assignment appears to be your problem and is not uncommon.

Resolution:

Log in as an Administrator.
Go to START...RUN...type:secpol.msc <hit enter>
-or- Go to START...SETTINGS....CONTROL PANEL...ADMINISTRATIVE TOOLS...LOCAL SECURITY POLICY
This will open up the Local Security setting window.
Expand the Local Policies folder and select User Rights Assignment.
This will bring up a list of security settings for the computer.
You will need to add the user that will be launching the game to have the following privileges.

-Debug Programs
-Load and unload device drivers
-Manage auditing and security log
-Modify Firmware environment values
-Profile Single Process

This is done by double clicking on the setting and then the "Add User or Group" Button.
You can either type the user or group name into the field or click on advanced to select from a list.
If you select advanced, you may need to click on the "Object Types" Button and make sure all 3 boxes are checked.
Then click "OK". Click on the "Find Now" Button to generate a full list of all users and groups on the system.
Highlight the user you want to add the rights to and click "OK".
Keep clicking "OK" untill you are back at the Local Security Settings window.
Repeat this process for the rest of the list.

Note: If the user is logged in while making changes, the user must be logged out and back in for the changes to take effect, or Reboot PC.

That should do it. See you on Bridge SE but keep your head down. Alright then, soldier. Move out! ;D

http://forum.americasarmy.com/viewtopic.php?t=74794

http://www.evenbalance.com/index.php?page=faq-aa.php

BTW, another 'problem', or not, is that you do not appear to be a registered user at Wilders and therefore will not see this post until you return. Were you a registered user, it's possible to have received the contents of this post via email. With time and distance being a shortcoming of email, not sure you would receive a resolution faster but sure would have been an option.

Take care and have fun. ;D

[avaterera]

-{ Quote: "I didn't play yesteday, so I just joined a server, PB was updating, and after I indeed got this message for the first time.

This shows that it is an issue with their last update (and not that PB has never worked with PG).

I will post in their official forum and will keep you informed.

Regards,
gkweb." }-


When did u play last time???

[avaterera]

BourgePD ???

[gkweb]

BourGePD,

thanks for trying to help, however I am not in this case, I am under Administrator account, I just checked the user policies and I have them all.
Needless to add again that AAO has always worked for months under this same account and PG running.

The problem is elsewhere, and if avaterera confirms that only uninstalling ProcessGuard "solves" this problem, then it is really something related to ProcessGuard and not to system or user policies (in our case).

@avaterera
I have sent an email to Evenbalance, and informed Wayne as well. As soon as I have informations I'll tell you here.

Regards,
gkweb.

[BourgePD]

-{ Quote: "BourGePD,

thanks for trying to help, however I am not in this case, I am under Administrator account, I just checked the user policies and I have them all.
Needless to add again that AAO has always worked for months under this same account and PG running.

The problem is elsewhere, and if avaterera confirms that only uninstalling ProcessGuard "solves" this problem, then it is really something related to ProcessGuard and not to system or user policies (in our case).

@avaterera
I have sent an email to Evenbalance, and informed Wayne as well. As soon as I have informations I'll tell you here.

Regards,
gkweb." }-

Understood. That kick notification he got:

-{ Quote: "KICK NOTIFICATION: ****** has been kicked for an undefined reason: YOU HAVE BEEN KICKED VIA PUNKBUSTER (FOR 0 MINUTES) ... RESTRICTION: BLOCKED O/S PRIVILEGES" }-

seems key. I'm running AAO on my other box right now. The only issue I had when upgrading to AAO 2.3.0 was that I had to update PunkBuster manually. Hope he resolves his issues quick and gets back in on the fun.

;D

[BourgePD]

Alright. Now I'm baffled. Have been playing v2.3.0 since the day after it came out, this last evening even. Now I just started having problems.

Errors:

"Punkbuster is working to authenticate and/or update your PunkBuster software". Received that after performing a manual update.

Now also getting the error message "Blocked O/S Privileges". Seems bogus as I'm running the box as admin.

My logs show nothing unusual. Dropped a 'trouble ticket' at Even Balance.

I'm definitely not amused. ::)

[gkweb]

Welcome to the club of the baffled users ;)

[avaterera]

reply from PB:

At this time you need to choose whether you want to run processguard and/or similar programs or play on PB servers. Both are optional software so it is your choice. I understand if you don't want to close processguard. In that case, you just need to play on non-PB servers.

what now?

[gkweb]

LOL

that's just completly hilarious, this is called software blacklisting, which means
that every user which prefer to play above all will throw PG away or will not buy it.

For other people like me for who the security is over the entertainment, then we simply cannot play anymore.

I hope Wayne will sue them...

[avaterera]

DiamondCS have got a problem because people who want to play in AAO won't buy PG...

[avaterera]

or mayby they will even complaint about PG in store (because of PG they can't play AA) . PB is a piece of ****!!!

[avaterera]

PG cost a lot of money...

[BourgePD]

-{ Quote: "LOL

that's just completly hilarious, this is called software blacklisting, which means
that every user which prefer to play above all will throw PG away or will not buy it.

For other people like me for who the security is over the entertainment, then we simply cannot play anymore.

I hope Wayne will sue them..." }-

I'm definitely not amused as AAO is the only online game I have been playing these days. Needs to be a satisfactory resolution other than "either this or that". ::)

[Peter2150]

To the game players:

Once solution you might want to consider is using First Defense-ISR by Raxco(www.Raxco.com). What you would do is install your game, Process Guard and all your normal software as you normally do. You would have your game ready to go, Process Guard running etc. Obviously in this configuration you couldn't go online and play. Then create another snapshot(call it games) of your disk with FDISR. When you want to play online, boot into that snapshot, turn off PG or as an extreme even uninstall it. Go on line and play to your hearts content. Even if something gets on your machine and infects you it doesn't matter. When you are done, just reboot into your primary snapshot, and if you like refresh the games snapshot which would get rid of anything bad the got on the system. Should be the best of both worlds. Only requirement is adequate disk space.

Pete

[gkweb]

That would be too much "extreme" for me but, anyway, thanks for trying to find a solution Peter :)

Regards,
gkweb.

[avaterera]

for me too much extreme too

[Josh00Si]

PB has blocked this for a very good reason. Those who play AA know the issue with cheaters in the game. Though it may be software blacklisting as of now I see it necessary for the game.

This is a quote taken from the most visited cheat site for AA.

-{ Quote: "Process Guard Info
Process guard is a program that was claimed to be able to be used to keep PB from hashing d3d8.dll. Processguard is a bit more special that other, similar programs in that you can set various priviledge rules on a process or file and have them be specific to another process or user. Now, there's programs for setting file priviledges that do almost the same thing, but don't protect files once they've been loaded into memory, opened, or executed... in other words, anything already involved in a running process.

Alas, since the 1.147 update, PB kicks people for having processguard simply installed even if the main executable isn't running and the user has no PB or AA-related access rules. Now, there's 3 processes that belong to processguard, and two are perpetually running on the kernel-level and can't be killed from task manager. Those two processes are blacklisted by PB, and I believe it's on a filename basis because I've tried changing their checksums and also blocking PB entirely from accessing processguard files and I still got a kick.

The kick message is "blocked OS priviledges." I should also note that a trace on armyops.exe reveals that processguard is one of the very first processes that PB scans for.

The solution is to uninstall processguard or to remove its processes and reboot whenever you want to play AA.

It is possible that a similar process-level access-control program could be used to restrict scanning access to certain files allowing us to hack. However, this won't work on files that have whitelisted checksums. Meaning, for example, that "A file resulting in anything but these 3 checksums will result in a ban." That means that failure to checksum will also result in a ban.

That won't hold true for all files, however, as it's perfectly normal for PB to not be able to hash certain system files and those involved in antivirus programs. Thus a "failure to checksum" a file won't always result in a kick." }-

They have been using this software for a very long time to block certain aspects of there cheats.

[avaterera]

so I have to uninstall PG in order to play AAO?

[BourgePD]

-{ Quote: "The solution is to uninstall processguard or to remove its processes and reboot whenever you want to play AA." }-

Far to cumbersome. As far as I am concerned EvenBalance has no business whatever telling any of us what security softwares we will and will not on our machines. I am angry beyond words at

-{ Quote: "At this time you need to choose whether you want to run processguard and/or similar programs or play on PB servers. Both are optional software so it is your choice. I understand if you don't want to close processguard. In that case, you just need to play on non-PB servers." }-

that type of response. Their approach goes far beyond attempting to eliminate "punks" and has entered the realm of extreme intrusiveness and are attempting to control what security-related softwares users are 'allowed' to run on their machines in order to play a game.

I have no intention of uninstalling PG, probably my most important installed security app, to appease EvenBalance and their 'PunkBuster'. Perhaps the folks at DCS can weigh in with a solution.

;D

[Peter2150]

-{ Quote: "That would be too much "extreme" for me but, anyway, thanks for trying to find a solution Peter :)

Regards,
gkweb." }-

Rebooting is to extreme??? It is obvious that crying about this isn't going to help. The game people for whatever reason won't let you play with Process Guard. So if you want to play you have no choice to but to be unprotected.
What I was suggesting was a way to be able to play while unprotected, without suffering any penalty should something get on your machine.

If that is to extreme I withhold my towel for all the crying. ;D

Pete

[gkweb]

Peter,

that requires to buy another software, to use extra HDD space for this, and only because of bad choice of someone else, in the sole purpose to play to a video game.

Yes I call that "extreme" for me :)

Regards,
gkweb.

P.S : that's not clear yet if they will change the ProcessGuard blacklisting or not. I have sent them an email providing a solution, and I am also awaiting Wayne's come back to hear his thought.

[BourgePD]

-{ Quote: "Rebooting is to extreme??? It is obvious that crying about this isn't going to help. The game people for whatever reason won't let you play with Process Guard. So if you want to play you have no choice to but to be unprotected.
What I was suggesting was a way to be able to play while unprotected, without suffering any penalty should something get on your machine.

If that is to extreme I withhold my towel for all the crying. ;D

Pete" }-

As I mentioned, the process is cumbersome in that more often than not, uninstalling PG requires intervention via Safe Mode and manual verification that files procguard.sys, procguard.dll and pguard.dat are removed. Then of course, there's the process of re-installation...

Still, EvenBalance has no business telling users what security softwares we will and will not on our machines.

Seems to me a workable solution can be had between DCS and EvenBalance. I still have a 'trouble ticket' open with EB and working toward a peaceful resolution.

Thanks for your input though. ;D

[Peter2150]

It is not as troublesome as you would think. You would first setup a game snapshot, which does take a bit of time as it is copying your whole disk. Then once that is done you reboot into that snapshot, uninstall PG in that snapshot and basically set it up to play. THen it would be a matter of if you want to use your machine for non game activity you would reboot into your primary snapshot, and when you want to play just reboot into the game snapshot.

Once set up this is as quick as a reboot. The caveat of course is while playing the games if you wanted to do something where you need the protection you would have to quit the game. This is a trade off.

[BourgePD]

-{ Quote: "It is not as troublesome as you would think. You would first setup a game snapshot, which does take a bit of time as it is copying your whole disk. Then once that is done you reboot into that snapshot, uninstall PG in that snapshot and basically set it up to play. THen it would be a matter of if you want to use your machine for non game activity you would reboot into your primary snapshot, and when you want to play just reboot into the game snapshot.

Once set up this is as quick as a reboot. The caveat of course is while playing the games if you wanted to do something where you need the protection you would have to quit the game. This is a trade off." }-

That's not the only trade off. I don't 'need' imaging software in the first place. :P

[Bowserman]

An update on the situation can be found here (http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,12776178~mode=flat~start=20#12788439).

Good news for those of us with ProcessGuard and also enjoying playing games :).


Regards,
Jade.

[monsunami]

wow. I have that same blocked o/s message and is "desperate" to find out what is going on. lol, i just stumbled on this thread after putting "americas army" in the search button. I am surprised that process guard might be blocking punkbuster. I will have to look into that. Don't want to lose process guard though.

[BourgePD]

-{ Quote: "An update on the situation can be found here (http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,12776178~mode=flat~start=20#12788439).

Good news for those of us with ProcessGuard and also enjoying playing games :).


Regards,
Jade." }-

Ditto. ;D

[Gavin - DiamondCS]

Please note that uninstalling doesn't REQUIRE Safe Mode. Situations requiring Safe Mode should also never arise anymore, because the installer WON'T let you uninstall unless you do it right. Disable protection, close PG, uninstall, reboot. Still a long procedure if you include backup of DAT files

[spiff5000]

What if you change the file name for pgaccount.exe to something else, like "pgacct.exe", and change the two registry entries that refer to it:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\ShellNoRoam\MUICache
Value name: C:\Program Files\ProcessGuard\pgaccount.exe
Value Data: pgaccount

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
Vlaue name: !1_pgaccount
Value Data: "C:\Program Files\ProcessGuard\pgaccount.exe"

[dekm]

Funny, I'm having the same problem with Call of Duty PB. ONly difference is I don't even have Porcess Guard installed. This just happened today as well. Worked fine yesterday. I wonder if there is something in my virus security app from avast that pb doesn't like.

[Keyser]

BF1942 doing it too. I h8 PB. Blocked OS Priv. How much security do we have to give up to play games???????

[BourgePD]

Best thing to do is register a complaint politely with the folks at PB. Be heard:

http://www.evenbalance.com/index.php?page=support.php

You can also do the same at the appropriate game forums.


;D

[Addock]

Well if you all are running windows 64 bit it might be the reason for the trouble. Ihave just now as of march 6th got the errors you have been discribing. I think it is the windows 64bit. They must have disabled support for it or forgot about it anyhows. I have burned the back half out of the internet for answers for anything and nothing works. So until PB gets it fixed we all are going on withdrawls. EERRR. >:{.

Ps parden the spelling and write PB about the problem.

[war59312]

I just got this in quake 3. :(

Running winxp sp2 pro 32bit so not just 64bit.

I am running pbweb as i write this to make sure pb is up to date.

Well thats no use.

This just started happening today.

Well e-mailing them now. :(

Typical response. :(

Please temporarily disable other security type programs you have running such as anti-virus, process guard, SDProtector, etc. to find out which of them is blocking PB's access to resources on your computer. You either need to run PB without the blocking program(s) or play on non-PB servers.

All right guys is this true?

This is a temparary measure. We are working with Diamond to get better detection in that will allow you to run PG and play on PB servers.

And what about this:

We have contacted Diamond, I think they may have made an announcement on thier site. As soon as we have a good way to detect programs restricting PB, we will remove the check.

I dont see any announcment anywhere?

[brutt01d]

I have the **** too. Return to Castle Wolfenstein...

The months before, they caused a lot of problems with "insufficient OS privileges" kick. That was luckily fixed by logging in as admin and giving extra rights to the user (we are not crazy yet to play as administrator, that's moronly unsafe). At the same time our EnemyTerritory server was made clean of PB just but kicking its ass and runs without that ****.

Now, the **** the evenbalance created now is over the top! We have W2k+Novel here, nobody has admin rights and we all run McAffe VShield Virus Scan, which we cannot even disable. Now that is simply unbearable!!! There is no other way than not to play the game!! Well, all that remains is to play EnemyTerritory... The ****ers are really killing the game (RTCW).

[azumi21]

-{ Quote: "I have the **** too. Return to Castle Wolfenstein...

The months before, they caused a lot of problems with "insufficient OS privileges" kick. That was luckily fixed by logging in as admin and giving extra rights to the user (we are not crazy yet to play as administrator, that's moronly unsafe). At the same time our EnemyTerritory server was made clean of PB just but kicking its ass and runs without that ****.

Now, the **** the evenbalance created now is over the top! We have W2k+Novel here, nobody has admin rights and we all run McAffe VShield Virus Scan, which we cannot even disable. Now that is simply unbearable!!! There is no other way than not to play the game!! Well, all that remains is to play EnemyTerritory... The ****ers are really killing the game (RTCW)." }-

i am a rtcw player too. same error (4fc) as you and many more.
these pb idiots are really pissing me off.
i'm all for kicking cheaters, but i will not leave my system vulnerable
to let them have full control.

[dekm]

Well, seems like a lot of people are having this problem all of a sudden. Here is another thread that has been quite active the past few days over at punkbusted.com

http://www.punksbusted.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=6074&st=0

[war59312]

Yes this issue started with 1.150 of PB.

I hope it's fixed soon.

And thanks for the link. Just made a post there as well and still waiting from a pb to respond to another e-mail.

Still have not recieved a single reply from Dimond. :(

[Wayne - DiamondCS]

From the punkbusted forum ...
-{ Quote: "This is a new restriction usually caused by over-protective anti-virus and security software such as ProcessGuard." }-
Their GAME protection is what's over-protective (modifying other processes is often a policy violation) - not security programs (which are simply trying to prevent such attacks), and telling people to turn off security software in order to play what is just a game is recklessly irresponsible - and this at a time where Internet attacks have never been more abundant.

"Client-side cracking" (where the cracker has physical access to the software) is virtually impossible to prevent completely due to the nature of software and all things digital, so although they're using extreme measures, in reality they're not much more effective at stopping crackers, and crackers are only a minority of people using the program anyway so it's inconveniencing everyone just because of a few. There are many ways to go about protecting software, and as a software vendor ourselves we are no different - our software is subject to attacks by crackers, so we too have to protect our software ... but not if it means compromising or inconveniencing customers! That is when things have gone too far, so don't just sit back and let them do this - tell them how you feel.

I've contacted the head of Punkbuster who promptly got back to me and told me it was just a temporary measure until they can work out an alternate solution. The main problem is that ProcessGuard can be used to prevent process modification, and Punkbusters protection relies on process modification, so ProcessGuard was being used to easily defeat their protection, so you can understand why they've taken a temporary measure, but they have gone too far and they themselves admit it's an extreme solution, and the ease in which programs like ProcessGuard can be used to defeat the protection is also a good indication of how weak the protection actually is (as opposed to ProcessGuard being "over-protective"). I'll try to work with him to find a solution that will help increase their protection without compromising their customers security. Wish me luck ...

[BourgePD]

Good luck, Wayne! ;D

[Detox]

All the best Wayne - as I sincerely doubt the PB folks will be willing to listen :-X

All the same, let us hope otherwise!

[Wayne - DiamondCS]

-{ Quote: "All the best Wayne - as I sincerely doubt the PB folks will be willing to listen" }-
This is why it's important for others to let Punkbuster know how they feel - many hands make light work :)

[Detox]

hmmm this is a very good point - I had not thought about it that way before. I suppose I had ought to send in my complaints about BFVN while we are at it.

(BFVN= Battlefield Vietnam)

[Socio]

-{ Quote: "An update on the situation can be found here (http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,12776178~mode=flat~start=20#12788439).

Good news for those of us with ProcessGuard and also enjoying playing games :).


Regards,
Jade." }-

Hey that is pretty cool seeing Wayne step up like that, and he did so quite politely too, I am impressed.

If it had been me and someone put my current customers at risk by having to disable or remove my product, put future sales of that product in jeopardy and slandered my companies good name by virtually labeling one of my products a cheat tool I would have been stomping some serious mud holes in someone’s back end I can tell you that right now, but then I have a slight temper what can I say.


Thanks for stepping up Wayne!

[Dwarden]

Good to hear this news Wayne ... as PB going to expand into many upcoming games solution will be really welcome ...

[azumi21]

-{ Quote: "This is why it's important for others to let Punkbuster know how they feel - many hands make light work :)" }-


very true!

e-mail them:

support@evenbalance.com

let them know how you feel about them ruining your online games.

[dekm]

-{ Quote: "very true!

e-mail them:

support@evenbalance.com

let them know how you feel about them ruining your online games." }-

YAP YAP, Agreed! Here's what I sent them.

Dear Sir or Madam,

I'm writing this email to inform you that your anti-cheat software has made the game I paid hard earned cash for useless. A few days ago I tried to log on to my favorite server on Call Of Duty United Offensive only to be kicked indefinitely. After researching what was happening I came to the conclusion that something your company had updated in it's software was not allowing my game to function. The error I receive is "blocked o/s privileges :507". I understand this is supposedly related to ProcessGuard as something hackers were using it to disable PB and I should shut "Please temporarily disable other security type programs you have running such as anti-virus, process guard, SDProtector, etc. to find out which of them is blocking PB's access to resources on your computer. You either need to run PB without the blocking program(s) or play on non-PB servers.". I have gotten this canned message along with a lot of other unhappy gamers. Well I have never heard of Process Guard until this week and I disabled all other security software "quite ludicrous if you ask me, considering Pb is supposed to stop hackers not encourage them to perform other malicious attacks on gamers?" none of that works. I understand you are very busy people with a lot of other problems to sort through. All I/we are asking in the gaming community is that you at least acknowledge that there is a serious error with your update and you are working to sort it out. Our tickets are falling on deaf ears.

[GameServerGuy]

I'm going to try and keep this short, so I will drop some of my manners for the sake of efficiency.

I don't speak for Even Balance or work for them. I'm a simple game server admin who forks out a not so insignificant sum of money, to supply a place for legit people to have some fun. I do my best to keep the cheating selfish losers out. All for free. I and about 20,000 other server admins use Punkbuster to aid in this job.

I am not going to blame Even Balance for this situation with PG. This is caused dirrectly by the cheat writers. So let's put the real blame squarely where it belongs and leave it there.

I encourage Diamond to work with EvenBalance for a solution, so that both products can coexist. Some people would argue that their basic security has more priority than punkbuster. I can understand that. Logical thinking.
However, EB's product is also very important to online gaming and obviously millions do like to play online or they wouldn't be using it. So in the short term, I guess you have some choices to make. The world will never be perfect and niether will software.

If you want PG then I suggest you play on non punkbuster servers until this is resolved. There is nothing wrong with that. There are quite a number of them. Although you might be playing along side with a lot of banned cheaters these days.

For you league players the choice is a little harder as most leagues enforce PB use. But then again I would expect that for league play, you are playing on trusted servers anyway. I would certainly hope you are. Yes I know you won't like uninstalling PG for that, but it's not that hard to do until resolved. You can use a common firewall product while playing, so it's not like you are unprotected.

For a large number of game server admins. We want EB to continue in the direction they are taking.
Yes I happen to know that as a fact. Game admins also have communities and for the most part they are taking a stand of support behind EB. Remember we are the people that give you a place to play for free. We have a right to protect our systems and communities from abuse by idiots with downloaded skills and we are using PB for that task. If you read the gaming forums you will see the vast majority of players also appear to be behind this as well. These are significant numbers as compared to the few complaints.

PG is a fine product. But it is just a product. PG choses an invasive method and so has EB with their product. Both have a right to do that. PG inhibits PB function and now PB limits PG's use while it is active. I'd say that is fair in a coldhearted sort of way, for now.

The future dictates that this situation is going to be an issue seen more often between certain products on the market. In this particular case I feel it's best to resolve this so both products may function together for mutual benefit.

I'm here with purpose. I obviously wish to lobbie PG and EB to work together for everyones benefit.... except for cheaters and other low life types of course. I'm not here like some, with indignation that EB has done wrong. Neither am I blaming PG for blocking PB's important functions. I'm here to encourage co-opperation as compared to a non productive standoff. So far it looks like there might be co-opperation and that is excellent. Good Public relations for both companies.

Although this is a problem for those with PG. For a number of others, PB has had a positive side to it. Some people have discovered their systems were rooted or infected with other malware etc. That's a good thing. Hell of a way to find out unfortunately. But it has helped these people in the long run.

Seeing as I touched the subject, I can't resist.
It's also nice to see a couple of cheaters here in this thread. I recognise your writing styles, poor as they are. Did you guys buy PG or steal it like most cheaters when they found out it could help them cheat? How many never registered a purchase after download? The Crack for PG sure made the rounds fast in your groups.
Word sure speads quickly in the cheater forums and the righteous indignation starts as some can't resist posting here I see.

[azumi21]

-{ Quote: "I'm going to try and keep this short, so I will drop some of my manners for the sake of efficiency.

I don't speak for Even Balance or work for them. I'm a simple game server admin who forks out a not so insignificant sum of money, to supply a place for legit people to have some fun. I do my best to keep the cheating selfish losers out. All for free. I and about 20,000 other server admins use Punkbuster to aid in this job.

I am not going to blame Even Balance for this situation with PG. This is caused dirrectly by the cheat writers. So let's put the real blame squarely where it belongs and leave it there.

I encourage Diamond to work with EvenBalance for a solution, so that both products can coexist. Some people would argue that their basic security has more priority than punkbuster. I can understand that. Logical thinking.
However, EB's product is also very important to online gaming and obviously millions do like to play online or they wouldn't be using it. So in the short term, I guess you have some choices to make. The world will never be perfect and niether will software.

If you want PG then I suggest you play on non punkbuster servers until this is resolved. There is nothing wrong with that. There are quite a number of them. Although you might be playing along side with a lot of banned cheaters these days.

For you league players the choice is a little harder as most leagues enforce PB use. But then again I would expect that for league play, you are playing on trusted servers anyway. I would certainly hope you are. Yes I know you won't like uninstalling PG for that, but it's not that hard to do until resolved. You can use a common firewall product while playing, so it's not like you are unprotected.

For a large number of game server admins. We want EB to continue in the direction they are taking.
Yes I happen to know that as a fact. Game admins also have communities and for the most part they are taking a stand of support behind EB. Remember we are the people that give you a place to play for free. We have a right to protect our systems and communities from abuse by idiots with downloaded skills and we are using PB for that task. If you read the gaming forums you will see the vast majority of players also appear to be behind this as well. These are significant numbers as compared to the few complaints.

PG is a fine product. But it is just a product. PG choses an invasive method and so has EB with their product. Both have a right to do that. PG inhibits PB function and now PB limits PG's use while it is active. I'd say that is fair in a coldhearted sort of way, for now.

The future dictates that this situation is going to be an issue seen more often between certain products on the market. In this particular case I feel it's best to resolve this so both products may function together for mutual benefit.

I'm here with purpose. I obviously wish to lobbie PG and EB to work together for everyones benefit.... except for cheaters and other low life types of course. I'm not here like some, with indignation that EB has done wrong. Neither am I blaming PG for blocking PB's important functions. I'm here to encourage co-opperation as compared to a non productive standoff. So far it looks like there might be co-opperation and that is excellent. Good Public relations for both companies.

Although this is a problem for those with PG. For a number of others, PB has had a positive side to it. Some people have discovered their systems were rooted or infected with other malware etc. That's a good thing. Hell of a way to find out unfortunately. But it has helped these people in the long run.

Seeing as I touched the subject, I can't resist.
It's also nice to see a couple of cheaters here in this thread. I recognise your writing styles, poor as they are. Did you guys buy PG or steal it like most cheaters when they found out it could help them cheat? How many never registered a purchase after download? The Crack for PG sure made the rounds fast in your groups.
Word sure speads quickly in the cheater forums and the righteous indignation starts as some can't resist posting here I see." }-

You type too much to not be affiliated with PunkBuster/Even Balance.

PunkBuster doesn't find any malware. It was an efficient way to keep of cheaters off.
Unfortunately with the latest Server Side update - it black listed Process Guard.
This needs to be corrected by them.

No one here is a cheater or a cracker.
This is a loyal Diamond / Process Guard forum.
We want our online gaming back with the proper security that is needed in this online world.

e-mail PunkBuster:

support@evenbalance.com

Express your views to them.

[dekm]

-{ Quote: "

I am not going to blame Even Balance for this situation with PG. This is caused dirrectly by the cheat writers. So let's put the real blame squarely where it belongs and leave it there.
" }-


??? Uhh have you even read any of the posts before yours? I don't have PG, didn't even know what the f&^%ing thing was until a few days ago. I think you are missing the point completely here. There are a lot of users getting kicked from servers with absolutely no security apps running and everyone is telling us it's PG. The only answer we get is that canned msg from pb, disable pg or go somewhere else! Then you come on here and tell us we are cheaters?

[Anon]

-{ Quote: "??? Uhh have you even read any of the posts before yours? I don't have PG, didn't even know what the f&^%ing thing was until a few days ago. I think you are missing the point completely here. There are a lot of users getting kicked from servers with absolutely no security apps running and everyone is telling us it's PG. The only answer we get is that canned msg from pb, disable pg or go somewhere else! Then you come on here and tell us we are cheaters?" }-

I received the following message from PunkBuster, but am unable to test it since when I use "Run As" on BF it starts to load and then goes back to the desktop.

03/09/2005 15:30:23 - "Stuart Dunsmore"
Note #4: However, the reason you are getting kicked is because of a program blocking PB, or in this case, more likely the power user not allowing PB full access. You should try to run the exe as an admin user to see if that is truely the issue.

***My Story So Far***

Reinstalled XP SP2 (latest updates) and Battlefield 1942, but nothing else extra was added to the system. Logged in as a Power User who has those 5 local policies, there is no anti-virus program, and no ad/spyware programs.

Connected to a PB enabled game and was able to play for a good 10 minutes, until PB updated to the most recent update. I was then kicked from the server because of "Blocked O/S privileges: 4fd".

Ran PBweb.exe as my administrator account and it verified that all the latest updates were downloaded and installed. Attempted to play on a PB enabled game as my Power User and I am kicked 5 seconds into the game.

There is a definite issue with my setup and I am surprised that there aren't more people having this issue. Appears that I won't be playing BF anytime soon.

[Pilli]

-{ Quote: "Seeing as I touched the subject, I can't resist." }- Please desist from unsubstantiated accusations. We do not want to precipitate a slanging match in this thread.

Any further inflammatory remarks from either side will be removed. Pilli

[Wayne - DiamondCS]

-{ Quote: "PG choses an invasive method and so has EB with their product" }-
This is incorrect. PG stops invasive methods (such as process modification), whereas Punkbuster are using such methods as a form of anti-cracker protection. They've admitted themselves it's an extreme reaction, and programs like PG and SSM have unintentionally demonstrated how easily such methods can be defeated anyway, so unfortunately all it's doing is inconveniencing legitimate users as crackers won't have any problems at all with it. Afterall, crackers were cracking Punkbuster programs before any of them ever knew about ProcessGuard.

[azumi21]

-{ Quote: "This is incorrect. PG stops invasive methods (such as process modification), whereas Punkbuster are using such methods as a form of anti-cracker protection. They've admitted themselves it's an extreme reaction, and programs like PG and SSM have unintentionally demonstrated how easily such methods can be defeated anyway, so unfortunately all it's doing is inconveniencing legitimate users as crackers won't have any problems at all with it. Afterall, crackers were cracking Punkbuster programs before any of them ever knew about ProcessGuard." }-

very true ^

another way to report problems with PunkBuster with a trouble ticket #:

https://ssl.evenbalance.com/troubleticket/index.php?game=cod

[war59312]

Well it appears PB are just ignoreing people with this issue and resoponding with a automatic response:

Please temporarily disable other security type programs you have running such as anti-virus, process guard, SDProtector, etc. to find out which of them is blocking PB's access to resources on your computer. You either need to run PB without the blocking program(s) or play on non-PB servers.

Seeing as thats what everyone is saying that PB is saying.

And I have not hear a word now since i made my first post.

:( This sucks!!!!!

Not only that but it apperars they made punkspusted close all the topics related to this as well as a few other forums. :(

[flutlichtjunky]

Apparently PB have chosen to place PG on some kind of 2banned" list and that having ti installed on your pc COULD mean you are a cheater trying to disguise your actions.

So even having it installed is reason enough not to be allowed to play. This was told to me at punksbusted by some ppl who have been very helpful.

And yes i have followed ALL other options inc running game from admin user and right click "run as" etc etc

I Havent tried uninstalling it yet as im waiting to see if they backout their latest update or put their heads in the sand and try to ride it out

[brutt01d]

Once again, it has nothing particular to do with Process Guard. It has to do something with any program which limits access of PB software to the system files. And there is obviously a limitless number of such programs. Any Anti-Virus, Firewall, Anti-spy or Process Monitoring software can cause the problem, as it seems to me. I don't think that it's the Software-name-specific black list or something. E.g. i have problems, seems like due to the McAffee Antivirus. And the symptoms are just the same. Well, I got the standard reply from the Evenbalance "ticket", just word to word the same as somebody posted here a bit above in the thread. Then I added some more notes on the ticket page, and only then I got a manual, as it seems to me, answer. Here's the history:

1 (the intial ticket itself):
"Blocked O/S privileges, 4fd, Return to Castle Wolfenstein; slso Enemy Territory.

W2k+Novel, McAffee VShield Virus Scan (I have no Admin rights to disable it and I will not. Yes, I have sufficient rights granted to my account by the admin to play with the previous versions of PB).
Now that is simply unbearable!!! There is no other way than not to play the game! And I'm not the only one! At least in my place/organisation we are 5 people affected by your last version of PB. You are really killing the games!!!

If it's a temporary measure (citation of your emails found in various forums), then just remove it, damn! It's much better to have still this dozen of cheaters on servers (who were obviously all the time there, playing with your older versions, and we could live with it somehow), than immediately lose a half of the gaming society in one week!!!! Do it now, before it's too late!"

2. Their automatic answer:

"Hello,

Please temporarily disable other security type programs you have running such as anti-virus, process guard, SDProtector, etc. to find out which of them is blocking PB's access to resources on your computer. You either need to run PB without the blocking program(s) or play on non-PB servers.

If you do have access an admin account, you can right click on the application you want to run and select "Run As". This will allow you to give admin access to that program and should allow you to play with a limited user."

3. My second appeal (with citations from their answer):

">EB:You either need to run PB without the blocking program(s)

I cannot disable the programs, I simply don't have and will not have rights to do that. It's not my private computer.

>EB: or play on non-PB servers.

Yeah, thank you so much, no I can't play on my favourite servers, but have to find those few crappy ones without PB and players on them. And for that I have payed my money having bought the game (quite a lot for me). Nice...

>EB: temporarily disable other security type programs

How long this temporarily will last? If you are going to develop a new protection method/system/new_approach from scrap (and it looks like that from the info in forums), then it's going to be take quite a long time... And also, what about the question that I asked initially: "why not temporarily rolling back to older version of PB"??? Do not you guys out there see how the gamers are outraged???? Many people (like me) simply are not allowed to make the changes you recommended in order to play. A lot of others will simply not understand why it happens to them! They will be frustrated and will quit trying to get into the game!!!"

4. Their answer:

"I'm sorry, we are looking into ways to allow limited users to play on PB servers, but our latest improvements seem to require an admin user to operate. And that is the only working solution we have right now."

The last one is apparently the manual answer, at last.

So it looks like they are atm quite far away from the correct solution of the problem, however the are not going to revert to the older PB version or soften the kick requirements. For me this means a) not playing anymore on my favourite servers b) Switching off the PB on our own clan server (maybe for good).

The situation sucks some serious ass...

[Socio]

-{ Quote: "
I encourage Diamond to work with EvenBalance for a solution, so that both products can coexist. Some people would argue that their basic security has more priority than punkbuster. I can understand that. Logical thinking.
However, EB's product is also very important to online gaming and obviously millions do like to play online or they wouldn't be using it. So in the short term, I guess you have some choices to make. The world will never be perfect and niether will software.

" }-


Well I do not see how unless DiamondCS were to compromise the integrity of Process Guard and dumb in down in such a way that Punkbuster or anything like can by pass it;s protection at will and I seriously doubt that would happen. However if it did that would be one update you could not force on me, I would rather be cheated in a online game by some zit faced hacker than jeopardize the security of my system by disabling or retarding its protection.

If you think about it you already make a lot of concessions in your security just to gain the ability to connect to a game server which makes it one of if the not the most vulnerable positions security wise that you put yourself in. It does not take much for a “evil admin” to hack in to your system while you are on their server, and by removing PG and other protection like it just makes it that much easier.

If you have ever been on a game server and all of a sudden your game slows down, your ping to the server skyrockets, hard drives start spinning, CD/DVD drive fire up. Next, you get the feeling like someone is browsing your drives and perhaps downloading or copying stuff from them which in turn hogs your bandwidth thus raises your ping and eats up system recourses thus slowing your game to a crawl. Then it is a good bet you probably have fallen victim to an evil admin who just violated your system.

I know have had this happen to me on several occasions, and had to immediately shut down my game and take my cable modem off line for a couple minutes and it stops. So there is no way I am going to make it easier for them by shutting down more of my security measures, instead I will just not play.

[GameServerGuy]

I will however leave my one comment as it is important and refrain from any further discussion regarding posts, as the mod has wished.

Fact. This thread is posted on a couple of cheater forums and cheaters are encouraged to post here. People should consider some of the content in this thread as not quite being as it's represented.
I don't work for EB as I stated and it takes more than one liners to respond to some things said here. I'm just an admin active in that community. I stream my servers to PsB.
PsB is not under orders to close threads by EB. They are independant of EB. Quite simply it is outside of their mandate. They stated that fact and have posted where people should go. Is everyone clear on that now?

Wayne.
Please excuse that one less than detailed single line statement. Of course PG stops process modification it's one of the things it does. I understand that. My understanding is that it opperates at kernal level, hense my comment. Sorry if it mislead by being less than very accurate.
I wasn't intending to address the obvious so left my statement a little lacking.

This does not deter from the fact that your program is going to face further challenges along this line in the future and was my real main point. PB just happens to be the most widespread product of it's type, so it seems to be the one that has come up first, or second as was pointed out. It certainly won't be the last if you have a look at where all AC software is moving, including VAC. Counter what some people think. Online cheating is an issue game companies are very concerned with now. They weren't a few years ago but almost all have seen the effect to their bottom line and now are changing policy. There is more to come not less.

Anticheat software is designed to change, adapt and therefore is bound to bump into products like yours or yours into it. However, I think you got my point on the other comments I made. I'm sure EB will modify their approach as they have done in the past. You may find it in your interest that you also modify PG to accomodate for these types of programs in a co-opperative manner so your product cannot be abused for cheating. That's up to you.

Counter to the impression this thread leaves, there are tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of people playing without serious issue with pb. A software package such as yours would only benefit from co-opperation. So would EB for that matter. So it could be a win-win for both sides. Keep that in mind as my recommendation.

You say you are not a online game player if I remember correctly. It might be in your interest to study the situation somewhat and read up on the limitations and the problems involved. Yes pb does at times inconvenience players. So does any adaptive anticheat program out there. Tell me of one that doesn't and is any good? But because of cheat writers and cheat users, we all pay a price in this imperfect world. I'm sure we all can apply this inconvenience to other things in our lives because of dishonest people out there.

Wayne. You point out that you are less than impressed with the method PB employs. That's fine, it's your opinion. In the interest of all, I suggest and did before, to be a little more concrete in suggesting to EB what alternatives you have in mind that are effective, low resource usage accross cpu, memory, bandwidth and is dynamic while live. FPS games are very sensitive to the above.
I'm quite aware that we have an untrusted client situation in gaming and pb will always be attacked no matter what is employed. It is one reason it is dynamic. It's rate of evolution is not really the point of focus by me.

Now for those not using PG, writing in this thread and commenting on their issue. I made a very valid point that does cover at least one reason you may have problems with blocked priv. This is not speculation and you should seriously consider this. PB has accidently exposed infected or damaged systems. It's not designed to report what the problem is, so of course it can't tell you what infection or damage you have except with a code number usually.
Again, because I'm exposed to a large number of players as an admin and play myself, I do get far more feedback than the average player. I have to watch and read many forums to manage my servers effectively. A very significant amount of work as compared to a player that just jumps online for a game or two. Game admins are 24/7 so we tend to be a little more observant. You guys tend to forget or are ignorant to what goes on behind the scene to allow you a place to play. Pay to play is an option the admin community is trying to avoid.

I'm also just as sure there are combinations of things unrelated to infection that raise this blocked priv problem. The ticket reporting system EB has, is the approach to use. This is a small minority and EB are working with selected users from this group to discover the issues. This does take time, but already I notice an update that helped a few. Who cares if you get a canned response. You got acknowledged and logged. If they want to test with you, they will contact you. Your problem is not so unique it requires everyone to have a one on one with EB.

I'm also not nieve about why some people are complaining and I don't mean in this thread or directed at anyone here. The simple fact is that some of the private blocking methods of cheats have been exposed by this as well as catching cheats themselves. Some have not and that is obvious as well.
Cheaters by nature are liars. They will jump on any bandwagon they feel gives them an advantage. It's especially true for those with private cheats, that they can no longer use. They feel they can pose as legit in an issue and cause or make something seem a wider problem than it is. This situation is no different than things in the past. Just a variation on an old theme seen before. Never leave this out of the equation when reading forums.

For those that don't like my two posts. Sorry, I feel as entitled as you to give my side of this story and add some balance for people to consider.

[Oddbod]

Hi GameServerGuy.

I gotta say i dont agree with U at all on this matter, it was PB makers that decided to blacklist a lof of folk from playin their fav online games, they were the ones that hit the majority just to block a small minority of players who cheat.

I have played quake since quakeworld & even way back then there were cheats, U get them in every game, a small number who think it is funny to join a server with a aimbot/wallhack (some of which STILL aint detected by Ur beloved PB) & think it funny that they can win by cheating.

I still play q3 everynight & have been lucky not to have had this problem, a lot of friends have.I have also been a game admin & admin in clans & clan forums & there is no way U do that 24/7, in fact im my vast online experience it hard just to get a hold of a lot of admins at the best of times.

Evenbalance is actually putting people at risk when they tell them to disable security apps, most average users would prolly think that means Antivirus & firewall as well, they then go online & get attacked or whatever, at the end of the day it EB's fault as that is the advice they were giving out.

I have always been a big fan of PB as it keeps the worst idiots outa most decent servers, but this time EB went to far & tarred legitimate users with the same brush U use to tar the cheats.

Just remember it gamers that help pay for EB, if they ignore their users or accuse them of wrong doing with no proof, then they wont be in be about much longer.

Just my 2c

[BourgePD]

I’m hopeful this is but a temporary measure until an alternate solution can be had. Until then, I refuse to comply with irresponsible recommendations to remove security applications running on my machine for the sake of a game. Believe it or not, you AAO 'admin' folk are answerable to a higher authority - the customer. And this one, you just lost.

Meanwhile, the cheats still run their undetectable hacks on your servers and laugh all day. ::)

Old Buzzard

[Oddbod]

Well said BourgePD

Why should DCS change or weaken their product just to suit EB, EB cant even keep the really obvious cheats off properly (look on the net & U will see that there are plenty of tricks to hide bots & hacks from PB, i have seen servers runnin very tight PB rules still let on someone that was using a combo aim/wallhack bot, it ended up everyone else having to leave cause of that idiot.

PG is a security app for Ur pc to keep it safe & give U more control over it & to black certain attacks, PB is just a crappy online protection soft that doesnt even do a good job. Not exactly a hard coice is it?

[sukarof]

I think it sucks. Why isn´t it enough to disable protection in Processguard while playing? Or why isn´t it enough to allow the game to do what it needs to find cheats?
Why do I have to uninstall Processguard?
The funny thing is PG didn´t report any blocking at all when I got kicked (nor after). PG didn´t block punkbuster in any way.
Punkbuster (or Call of Duty:UO) had all rights to do whatever it needed to look for cheats (I checked allow everything in PG). But I guess PB finds that PG is on the computer and decides to cut me off. That approach seems a bit lazy to me :/

Unnecesary to say really; Yes I have Admin rights on my Windows XP Pro.

[flutlichtjunky]

Unfortunately PG is a banned tool on your pc.

Ive run through EVERY step to get my pc working. Inc stopping and exiting PG and ALL security apps bar ZA. No Luck

Uninstalled processguard. Game works

Im not happy but I just brought the game. Ill do this for a bit and be careful where i go on my pc for a while

[Pilli]

As this in no longer a direct user support problem for ProcessGuard I have decided to close the thread.

Thanks to all those that participated. Pilli