Can Anti-Cheats think you are cheating when you are not?

[AHBAP]

I was playing cp_orange on a community server this morning. I got perma-banned 2-3 minutes later after joining the server even tho I didnt even shoot anybody. I luckily managed to talk with the server owner and got the ban revoked but the owner said that I was gonna get VAC banned.

To clear things up, I dont cheat. I have never cheated in my entire life on tf2 neither I downloaded a hack software. I didnt even know what the Anti-Cheat was accusing me as (Angle-Cheats) before I asked it to some people on discord. What Im trying to get to is that can VAC ban you even when you don't cheat? I know that it can happen to some other third party Anti-Cheats since im 99% sure that I didnt have anything installed.

For the last question, is there a chance that I might have accidently installed a file like a malware to my computer that might have triggered an Anti-Cheat? I dont even know if that is possible since its way too stretched for an option but I still think there might be a really tiny chance for it to be true. Even so Im still thinking about not touching tf2 until my new computer gets delievered.

And for the record, I dont have neither a VAC or a community server ban. I'm writing this just to get informed about VAC and other Anti-Cheats. Dont think of me as a closeted cheater trying to whine out in the forums. Any help on this topic would make me happy.

[Cathulhu]

Ursprungligen skrivet av twofort thugshaker:

I was playing cp_orange on a community server this morning. I got perma-banned 2-3 minutes later after joining the server even tho I didnt even shoot anybody. I luckily managed to talk with the server owner and got the ban revoked but the owner said that I was gonna get VAC banned.

Which is utter nonsense. A server owner has no power to cause VAC bans.

While technically false positives are possible and they do happen, they are extremely rare.
And they are usually reversed within a few days after the ban was given.

[AHBAP]

Cathulhu I think there was an missunderstanding. The server owner didnt say that he will ban me, he just said I was "cheating" (which Im not) and I would get banned on steam/VAC. I just got really confused if the valve anti cheat can also ban innocent players since it also happend on a community server. Thanks for your reply.

[Cathulhu]

Again, a server owner can not know if someone is getting VAC banned.
They were making an assumption. That's it.

[[13]Tone_o_Pirata]

Eu 😭😭😭😭🥺

[AHBAP]

Alright, thank you.

[J4MESOX4D]

Anti-cheats typically work via a file scan which searches for KNOWN cheats signatures either injected into the games directory on the users PC or hooked to the active executable process. Recognised cheats are stored on a database and the scan is simply searching for any of those being used when users are connected to the games protected server.

If any community server owner threatens a VAC ban or says this will happen, just ignore them as they are lying. You can only be banned this way if you are using or have used a cheat which is already on the database or becomes known down the line.

[AHBAP]

Do you think the Anti-Cheat might have thought different safe files on my tf folder are cheats? I use custom viewmodels which changes the animations for first person since most of the base animations kinda look janky and outdated. Tho Ive been using them for over a year now and something like this never ever happened to me. Also just before this I was talking to a guy in the same server about custom viewmodel mods before getting the ban and he seemed pretty much fine.

[J4MESOX4D]

Ursprungligen skrivet av twofort thugshaker:

Do you think the Anti-Cheat might have thought different safe files on my tf folder are cheats? I use custom viewmodels which changes the animations for first person since most of the base animations kinda look janky and outdated. Tho Ive been using them for over a year now and something like this never ever happened to me. Also just before this I was talking to a guy in the same server about custom viewmodel mods before getting the ban and he seemed pretty much fine.

If it's not a cheat then you wont get banned. People can ban you for no reason on community servers so don't worry about that or let it make you paranoid.

[AHBAP]

Alright, thank you for your response!

[Ettanin]

Why do you care about the bovine manure an inept server admin spouted?

[AHBAP]

I dont really care that much about the owner tbh. I just thought it was strange that the bot decided to randomly ban me out of all the people in the server. Tho I did dig a little bit deeper and saw that the bot does ban a bit too much people daily (about 1-2 per day).You might think its not that much but its a small Turkish server that cranks up 50-60 people at max on an average day. I doubt that your average turkoid cheats THAT much in a video game like tf2.

[J4MESOX4D]

Ursprungligen skrivet av twofort thugshaker:

I dont really care that much about the owner tbh. I just thought it was strange that the bot decided to randomly ban me out of all the people in the server. Tho I did dig a little bit deeper and saw that the bot does ban a bit too much people daily (about 1-2 per day).You might think its not that much but its a small Turkish server that cranks up 50-60 people at max on an average day. I doubt that your average turkoid cheats THAT much in a video game like tf2.

People will even ban players that are better than them on community servers. Best not to read too much into it.

[Hammer Of Evil]

Ursprungligen skrivet av twofort thugshaker:

I'm writing this just to get informed about VAC and other Anti-Cheats. Dont think of me as a closeted cheater trying to whine out in the forums. Any help on this topic would make me happy.

no, being banned from a community server does not mean you will be VAC banned. A server admin cannot see the files running on your computer, and cannot make an accurate assessment about your use of cheats. A server admin has no control over VAC.

VAC (Valve Anti Cheat) only bans people who tamper with protected game files, while connected to a secured server. VAC has the ability to monitor game file processes, and can notice any tampering with them. VAC is automatic.

The reason you are confused is because every single cheater lies with everything they have to try to get unbanned. all of their reasons are fake. every single one.

if you don't use cheats, you won't be banned.

downloading is not 'accidental' - you go to the website, select, and download, and install / allow a program to run.

if someone says 'download this, its a cheat' and you download it, allow it to run, and use it on a VAC-secured server, you will be banned.

'malware' is nearly impossible to get you vac-banned. the malware has to:

1) modify your game protected files, which are in a different place on every computer, this is almost impossible to do consistently without getting caught by anti virus process.

2) connect to a vac-secured server.

a malware attacker wants access to your pc, or banking information, they aren't going to use your compromised computer to play video games remotely, this is a foolish reason created by a cheater that doesn't want to cope that they were caught.

Once again. if you were cheating, you will be banned. That's the only way you get banned by VAC, this is how it's worked for 20 years.

if they have 'vac ban' on their profile, they 100% cheated. that's why valve put the notice there.

[AHBAP]

Thanks, that cleared up a lot of things.