[ANY] Smacbans 0.2.0 (Updated 2013/05/13)
 

Introduction

Simply blocks known Cheater catched by SMAC (Sourcemod Anti Cheat) from your server.
If a client connects on your server it sends the STEAM_ID to our API.
Then our API checks whether there is a positiv match in our database.
If so, the client will be kicked.
Already checked players are cached to prevent unnecessary load and traffic.

Installation

Get one of the following extensions for SourceMod : Curl or Socket
If you want to autoupdate the Plugin you can download the Sourcemod Auto updater : Updater
Upload the downladed archive onto your gameserver.
Load the plugin via sm_plugins reload or do a mapchange.
A smacban-block.cfg will be created in : addons/sourcemod/config
Edit the config ( if needed ).

Upgrade

Replace "smacbans-block.smx" in "addons/sourcemod/plugins" with the new version.

Cvars

• smacbans_block_log_enabled (0/1, default: 1)
• If activated all informations about a player ban will be stored in a log file.

• smacbans_block_public_messages (0/1, default: 0)
• If activated all players on a gameserver become an ingame message of the status of the joining player.

• smacbans_block_recheck_undetermined (0/1, default: 0)
• If activated all uncheckable players will be checked in the next check again.

• smacbans_block_welcome_message (0/1, default: 1)
• If activated newly connected Players become an ingame message that the server is protected by smacbans.com

• smacbans_block_message_verbosity (0/1/2, default: 2)
• Defines how detailed the ingame Messages should be, 0- No message, 1- Only Block Messages, 2 - All messages

• smacbans_block_cache_messages (0/1, default: 0)
• Defines if status messages shoud appear if the client is already in cache

• smacbans_block_version
• Defines the version of the block-Plugin ( can not be changed )

Stuff

You have found a bug or have ideas for imporovements ?

Write a Bugreport
Changelog
Documentation

Sourcecode and documentation for developer

Github repositority
Development builds
Information about development builds


FAQ`s

Q: Is this service for free?
A: Yes! There is no payment for using any of our services.

Q: Why another global Banlist / What is the differency to other ban lists ?
A: Our bans are only SMAC-Bans.
So our database have a lot of valid cheaters banned from trusted communitys.

Q: How does the Banning process works ?
A: Some trusted Servers running SMAC.
If you get a SMACBan there, the ban will be transfered into our global banlist.

Q: Why ist the list of trusted server not public ?
A: To protect the server.

Q: Where can i check if I'm banned
A: Directly on our forum portal (left seite) of smacbans.com.
In our webtool. Or you can use a small desktoptool (SMACheck) to check a player status and other infos.

Q: Is it possible to integrate a smacbans.com-check in a webpage
A: Yes. All Infos to do that can be found in our webtool.

Q: Is the ban process save ?
A: The ban process is as save as SMAC is. If there is a false positive people have the option to protest a ban at our forums.
We do not transfer all bans (such as Bunnyhop and co).

Q: When was smacbans.com founded ?
A: We started in April 2012

Q: How trustworthy are your service ?
A: We are no less trustworthy than other global ban lists.
No global banlist in the world is 100% secure.

Q: Who are you guys ?
A: We are all owner of large communities in Germany and Europe.
We were transferring our Banlists Manually in the past years.
One day we decided to transfer the bans automatically.
After some times to we have decided to share our banlist.

Q: When will be the bans removed from SMACBans.com databse ?
A: If there is a SMACBan, the Ban never will be removed except in case of a false positive.
Q: What can I do if get banned ?
A: If the Ban is valid, there is nothing to do.
If you think that you have been banned wrongly you can protest a ban in our Forum. LINK

Q: Can I report a Cheater ?
A: No we do not accept reports or demos.
We do not Ban manually. Our system is fully automatic.

Q: Why would anyone run this & SMAC at the same time ?
A: To block old cheaters, like VAC do it.

Q: Would it be possble to add a whitelist through smacbans.com ?
A: NO! We do not support cheater!

Q: It's possible to create extensions for this pugin?
A: Yes, there are some forwards for use.
Informations to all forwards can be found here: https://github.com/Impact123/SmacBans-Block#forwards



Special thanks to :

Impact
Proteus
GeNeRaLbEaM
Popoklopsi
MadMakz
fluxX
HSFighter
SMAC Development Team
Kigen
and all people working in our Admin and Mod Team @Smacbans.com

Smacbans.com

__________________
Sorry for my very bad english :shock:
Greetings HSFighter

Re: [ANY] Smacbans 0.1.9
 

it seems like everything now days requires the use of an api for some reason. what happens if you guys decide to abandon it or stop support? are everyone out of luck unless someone pick it up?? or am i not udnerstanding how api's are for?

Re: [ANY] Smacbans 0.1.9
 

The API is used as INTERFACE between our database and the banquery to ceck if a ID is baned.
It prevents a direct access to our database.

Re: [ANY] Smacbans 0.1.9
 

thank you for explaining. but i do not use this because i do not know if i can trust the trusted members who maintain this list. often these things start out with good entensions but then they get sloppy and start to ban people they do not like because there is no way to contest the addition of someone to the system and everyone just assumes the trusted members that add them is justifiable . i have seen it go on in a lot of gaming services so i speak from experiences

Re: [ANY] Smacbans 0.1.9
 

but any API key will work even a generic one that all can use rather than registering for one.

Re: [ANY] Smacbans 0.1.9
 

Ehm , you should probably translate the wiki's or remove them since i can bet not all are germans here.

Re: [ANY] Smacbans 0.1.9
 

You can change the language in the right top corner =)

But we will change the link to the english one.

Re: [ANY] Smacbans 0.1.9
 

Isn't this whole system redundant though? I mean everyone that has been caught by SMAC on our servers usually get VAC banned a few days/weeks/months later so I don't really see a need for something like this. i know theres alot of hackers in tf2 especially but not so many that they arrive in boatloads

i know you guys have a very tight nit group of trusted people but like i said early that tends to fall apart sooner or later. this is why we dont use sourcerep bans from anyone but our very own because everything is taintable especially in gaming

Re: [ANY] Smacbans 0.1.9
 

Thx

But VAC is not perfect.
There are too many cheats does not dedected from VAC.

We are no less trusted than other Banlists.

Originally, the list was meant only for us.
Now we decided to share it.

No one is forced to install our plugin.
But it helps against cheater!

Re: [ANY] Smacbans 0.1.9
 

And the Cheater gets banned instantly on all other servers running smacbans and cant play 3 other month in addition.
The main idea behind is to prevent that a player gets caught by SMAC can´t join to the next server and the next... and so on .... till he found a server without SMAC.
If he gets banned on one server, he cant play anymore on all server running smacbans and like Popoklopsi said.
We have now nearly 60.000 Blocks that means that 60.000 times a known cheater could not connect to a protected server.
Actually 250 Gameserver are using our block-plugin. No Problems until today.

Numbers doesn´t lie =)

Re: [ANY] Smacbans 0.1.9
 

Why not fix so if a player gets detected by SMAC, and you are running this plugin, then the plugin will also auto add the smac ban to the global banlist?

Re: [ANY] Smacbans 0.1.9
 

There are no manual bans. The bans are made by SMAC. The only reason for that we rely on trusted partners is that there's currently no easy way to make sure that the SMAC ban was made by an unaltered SMAC installation or has been manipulated. This is due to the nature of SourceMod. (If you think there's a secure way feel free to get in touch with us)

Through the trustees we have the possibility to check for the validity. That said, we had one case where a trustee had indeed attempted to fake a SMAC ban but we where able to figure this out quiet fast and took actions to make it easier to catch such attempts. This former trusted member is no more a trusted member.
All protests are beeing discussed and reviewed internaly with at least 3 to 4 different people from different communities on it.
In worst case we're going the "benefit for the doubt" way in case of a protest.

We're also following the SMAC community and development to keep eyes on FalsePositive reports (also those triggered in combination of 3rd party plugins & SMAC)so we can purge ID's banned falsely from our database.

However, like with any global ban list, such as SteamBans, everyone has it's own thought. One likes it the other don't. There's no perfect middle.

Re: [ANY] Smacbans 0.1.9
 

is there anyway to apply to become a trusted member then?

Re: [ANY] Smacbans 0.1.9
 

why im asking is because we are having like 10-20 people getting detected by smac every single day on our servers, and I would also like to see those players being banned on a global list, since many of em are cheaters that returns on a new account.

Re: [ANY] Smacbans 0.1.9
 

I would not say no ... but i even would not go so far and say yes. I don´t wanna exclude but like we told before.
There are over 10 communitys as RAW-Member ( read and write ). If you get the OK of all of them you can become a trustee. But pls Consider :

From SMACBans Forum :

Everything clear now ?

Re: [ANY] Smacbans 0.1.9
 

what i dont understand is why anyone would need this if they are running SMAC. from what i have seen on my own servers is the very moment a player triggers one of the many SMAC modules we run they are instantly banned, sometimes before they even join a team.

is this meant for people who want to keep SMAC banned people off their server but can't be bothered with install SMAC on their server themselves? it just seems sooo redundant.

Re: [ANY] Smacbans 0.1.9
 

If the plugin isn't for you lyric, it isn't for you, but others may want to benefit from the collective bans of other communities. It lessens the possibility for cheaters to join a server. It's no different than other global ban lists; if you want full control over who and who isn't banned, don't run it, fairly simple.

Re: [ANY] Smacbans 0.1.9
 

i graciously disagree especially when you have hidden communities participating in maintaining a list of cheaters. i would never trust a community generated list even if it were maintained by sourcemod itself because the community in genral is just terrible on all accounts

Re: [ANY] Smacbans 0.1.9
 

Same question: Why is a VAC ban not only localy on the Server where the cheater is detected?

Punish the cheater and get other server free of them ;D

Re: [ANY] Smacbans 0.1.9
 

i notice this happens a lot here. well let me start by saying whats so wrong with me asking questions and getting details about this? why are you trying to stiffle my inquires? i thought this was open source community? discussion is such a bad thing here i suspect since so many comments get deleted by staff with unnprofessional comments. i dont understand where this place has gone so wrong with people giving their opinion and trying to figure out if this is something they need.

my comments do not prohibit anyone from using this so i dont see why you are attacking my opinion.

Re: [ANY] Smacbans 0.1.9
 

why do you get so defensive when i question your little closed system here??? this is exactly why you cant trust community lists. people who question you or your actions are labled invalid or troll and its painfully stupid..
yeah i may have issues understanding how something as redundant as this would ever be needed especially when it has a dash of private community contribution mixed in. but you released this and you should answer them. i dont see the need to be so secretive or defensive when questioned. it just makes you guys look bad and futher solidifies my opinion that community maintained lists are just bad bad bad.

Re: [ANY] Smacbans 0.1.9
 

All your questions have been answered.

Re: [ANY] Smacbans 0.1.9
 

@lyric, no one is attacking your opinions, but you clearly do not want to use a global ban system and instead slander anyone involved with the inner workings of it. There are numerous lists, all run by different individuals. Kigen's, SteamBans, EasyAntiCheat, E-Sports, etc. They all exist to give server operators the opportunity to benefit from their collective bans.

Re: [ANY] Smacbans 0.1.9
 

No you havent. I asked if this was something someone would want to use if they didnt have SMAC installed. its the only reason i can see anyone would want to be redundant with this. nobody has answer that but instead they tell me i shouldnt ask you questions regarding your private closed group of cheat adders.

slander? so sharing a different opinion on community maintained lists is slander? i have no further words to give on this....

Re: [ANY] Smacbans 0.1.9
 

Re: [ANY] Smacbans 0.1.9
 

i have asked the same question now 3 times and you cunningly avoid answer it. im not here to answer your loaded questions.

is this plugin for people who do not run SMAC

why would anyone run this & SMAC at the same time?

please stop avoiding my question and deleting your posts. it makes you guys seem you have something to hide.

Re: [ANY] Smacbans 0.1.9
 

thank you

Re: [ANY] Smacbans 0.1.9
 

Edit first post:

• Link to documentation now on English language.
• Plugin now in Attachment aviable
• Add a question from lyric to the FAQ

English Changelog will be aviable tomorrow.

Re: [ANY] Smacbans 0.1.9
 

Would it be possible for you to add the ability to allow specified accounts to join a server regardless of their SMAC ban status? In other words, a cfg file that has a list of steam ids which bypass the block check?

Re: [ANY] Smacbans 0.1.9
 

On my server, there have been cases where the client css updated and SMAC started mistakenly everybody ban.
And what if someone tries to rewrite your plugin so that it sends all the steam ids in a row in your database?
translate.google.ru

Re: [ANY] Smacbans 0.1.9
 

You need to update your SMAC. An update came out a month ago to fix this.

Only a select few servers can write to the database. Reading from it is public, writing is exclusive to only a few "trusted" servers.

Re: [ANY] Smacbans 0.1.9
 

Sure it is possible. Our head coder had this part already working but the community decided to work without it so it was never released. Do you really want to unblock catched Cheater on your server ?


It is techincally not possible to write into the database before you get confirmed by the Admin team. I think you can understand that we wont talk about our infrastucture and our security filters.
Like ddhoward told before. There are only a few selected Server who have the ability to ban.

Re: [ANY] Smacbans 0.1.9
 

some feedback:
I'm using it now about 6 months+ and had never any errors or problems with players.
If you got a question or any problem then you will get usually fast replies.
from what I know: the admins are experienced and are in the community for a long time.

I can only recommend using this if you want to get rid of known cheaters + its free.
They also provide a "Protest a Ban" in case of false detection.
thumbs up for you guys!

Re: [ANY] Smacbans 0.1.9
 

Suggestion:
Would it be possble to add a Whitelist for this Plugin?

Like a text file where you can put Steam ids which won't be blocked:



greetz cREANy0

Re: [ANY] Smacbans 0.1.9
 

I somehow doubt you even brought his suggestion up with your community but rather, you just want total control over the bans.
In the end it's the server owner's server, they should be able to let people past the banlist exclusively on their server(s).
If you can't agree with that policy then it's unlikely people are going to use your plugin. If you don't add a whitelist, chances are someone else will.

Re: [ANY] Smacbans 0.1.9
 

With exception to false positives which they already deal with, smac bans usually consist of valid cheaters and thus no reason to allow exceptions... That being said, it's trivial for someone to add if not officially supported. Kigen's original anti cheat was forked allowing that feature as it wasn't supported, so the same can be true here.

Re: [ANY] Smacbans 0.1.9
 

Add new qestion to FAQ.

Re: [ANY] Smacbans 0.1.9
 

Why it should not be allowed?
I think every Server Owner should have the option to decide if they want to use this feature or not.

I use this plugin because i like this Plugin really and it's good against cheater, but i have not on all servers the kick function activated.
On my Servers where running maps like de_dusd2 , ... its activated.
I have some people who want to play on this server but they can't because they used a Cheat in a other game some years (2-4) ago and are blocked.
I don't want to deactivate this features because 2-3 people can't join.


So it would be useful to add a whitelist.



greetz cREANy0

Re: [ANY] Smacbans 0.1.9
 

Those are the consequences you pay for cheating. people these days dont think before they act and think there are no such things as consequences to there actions. i think its a good thing they dont allow for whitelisting as that would defeat the whole purpose of something like this

Re: [ANY] Smacbans 0.1.9
 

I'm not in support of a whitelist, but it gives end-users back a small amount of control over who and who isn't banned within their own server, thus widening the appeal and the number of users that may download it.

If a community doesn't want to use the feature, then they wouldn't exactly be required to use the feature, since it should be handled on a per-server basis. A simple KV that imports steams into a Trie and checks against connections prior to executing any action would suffice. That's what, 20 lines? If you want to get a bit more involved and multi-server then a secondary database that stores entries, requiring you to query it and get a result prior to executing any action. That's still less than 100 lines.