Banned for 'ping masking'

[tylerstudmoney 0]

I just got some kind of 'warning' from inverselogic and then banned for 'ping masking'.

 

What is ping masking? This is the only time I've ever been accused of anything - I am no cheater.

 

I built this PC this weekend, it's a fresh install of windows 7, a fresh install of steam, and a fresh install of TF2. (I don't even have a custom HUD)

 

Immediately, my thought was "It must be Turbo Lan" - Earlier today I noticed devices in my device manager lacking drivers, so I just put the driver disc in and did the 'install everything' option. My motherboard is an Asus Z97-AR, and apparently one of the 'tools' (or bloatware, not sure yet) it installs is:

 

https://www.asus.com/us/Motherboards/Z97AR/HelpDesk_Download/

 

http://dlcdnet.asus.com/pub/ASUS/lan/Turbo_LAN_Win7-8-8-1_VER10401.zip?_ga=1.86551576.1441391387.1433885537

 

 

From what I've read, this "Turbo Lan" is supposed to prioritize traffic locally, you can select either 'bandwidth' or 'latency' - I assume it's just prioritizing local connections, don't really imagine it would do much under normal circumstances, but maybe if I'm streaming netflix or downloading something while I'm playing it would throttle it to maintain my ping in game. Sounds cool enough. Definitely doesn't sound like anything 'malicious'.

 

I immediately said "Oh, it must be Turbo Lan" when I was accused of 'ping masking' - because it's the absolute only thing I could think of. Then inverselogic said "Bullshit".

 

Not "Bullshit" - I'm not a cheater, I don't appreciate being called a liar or having my integrity attacked, and I don't even know for sure that the turbo lan garbage even had anything to do with it - or if he was just salty because I'd been kicking his ass and I have a low ping. I play on this server specifically because it's the lowest pinging server that runs turbine.

 

I alt-tabbed out, uninstalled turbo lan (It seemed unneccesary to begin with, and the only reason I care about my ping is for playing video games - and if it's getting me flagged as a cheater, what the hell good is it?) - and I reconnected.

 

I want to know, from a mod or admin's perspective, what is 'ping masking'?

 

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Tyler "Stud Money" Bonafacelli killed 'Murica's Hero with reserve_shooter.
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(TEAM) Biggs :  ?
tbarnes killed primetimegaming6 with obj_sentrygun3.
Durzo Blint :  ping masking messes with the server or some shit
1-800-DINOSAUR killed Biggs with blackbox.
Durzo Blint :  just joined, not sure
Tyler "Stud Money" Bonafacelli :  Hmm... My motherboard came with this "TurboLan" software...
♫♥_Fatality_♥♫ killed kaiganaban with ambassador. (crit)
inverselogic :  bullshit
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Tyler "Stud Money" Bonafacelli :  Is that what you mean? I didn't think it 'messed with ping' I thought it just shaped my traffic.
Tyler "Stud Money" Bonafacelli :  Look up the Asus Z97-AR
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inverselogic killed gugamr1 with blackbox.
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Tyler "Stud Money" Bonafacelli :  I'll disable it, didn't think it did anything but prioritize connections
♫♥_Fatality_♥♫ killed Tyler "Stud Money" Bonafacelli with ambassador. (crit)
*DEAD* Tyler "Stud Money" Bonafacelli :  brb
] disconnect
] recconect
Unknown command "recconect"
] reconnect
Unknown command "reconnect"
] retry
Commencing connection retry to 66.55.148.156:27025
Connecting to 66.55.148.156:27025...
Connected to 66.55.148.156:27025

Team Fortress
Map: ctf_turbine
Players: 19 / 33
Build: 2806431
Server Number: 4

[TF Workshop] Map 'ctf_turbine.bsp' does not appear to be a workshop map -- no workshop/ prefix
The server is using sv_pure 0.  (Enforcing consistency for select files only)
Unable to initialize DirectSoundCapture. You won't be able to speak to other players.Tyler "Stud Money" Bonafacelli connected
Compact freed 651264 bytes
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Redownloading all lightmaps
Blocking MOTD URL ''; must begin with 'http://' or 'https://' or be about:blank
Blocking MOTD URL ''; must begin with 'http://' or 'https://' or be about:blank
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FCVAR_SERVER_CAN_EXECUTE prevented server running command: menuselect
Lotus: Welcome to Lotus! Halloween items are enabled. Have fun playing here
'scout.cfg' not present; not executing.
Lotus: Say radio to turn on radio, say stop to stop radio.
♫♥_Fatality_♥♫ killed gugamr1 with ambassador.
[sMAC] This server is protected by SourceMod Anti-Cheat.
Ruby killed tbarnes with sniperrifle. (crit)
'Murica's Hero killed kaiganaban with shotgun_primary.
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Durzo Blint killed inverselogic with deflect_rocket. (crit)
We don't force ads on players and as such rely on donation, consider donating? - lotusclan.com/donate
ZeÃœberMedic killed GreenFire with blutsauger.
♫♥_Fatality_♥♫ killed Ruby with ambassador.
Tyler "Stud Money" Bonafacelli :  Uninstalled 'turbo LAN v.095' that came with my mainboard. Let me know if anything is different.
1-800-DINOSAUR killed ZeÃœberMedic with blackbox.
Tyler "Stud Money" Bonafacelli :  My ping is the same...
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Teams will be auto-balanced in 5 seconds.
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♫♥_Fatality_♥♫ killed kaiganaban with ambassador. (crit)
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Biggs killed inverselogic with obj_sentrygun2.
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Lotus has servers across Western, Central and Eastern United States
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Lotus also has servers in the United Kingdom, France and United States
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Lotus: inverselogic initiated a voteban against Tyler "Stud Money" Bonafacelli for "Exploiting".
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♫♥_Fatality_♥♫ voted for banning Tyler "Stud Money" Bonafacelli.
'Murica's Hero voted for banning Tyler "Stud Money" Bonafacelli.
inverselogic voted for banning Tyler "Stud Money" Bonafacelli.
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Tyler "Stud Money" Bonafacelli voted against banning Tyler "Stud Money" Bonafacelli.
Ruby voted against banning Tyler "Stud Money" Bonafacelli.
ZeÃœberMedic voted against banning Tyler "Stud Money" Bonafacelli.
1-800-DINOSAUR voted for banning Tyler "Stud Money" Bonafacelli.
Austin34 connected
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Durzo Blint voted against banning Tyler "Stud Money" Bonafacelli.
Tyler "Stud Money" Bonafacelli :  wty
Dr. Phil voted for banning Tyler "Stud Money" Bonafacelli.
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Nighty the Silly Colt voted for banning Tyler "Stud Money" Bonafacelli.
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Ruby killed Tyler "Stud Money" Bonafacelli with bonesaw. (crit)
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Tyler "Stud Money" Bonafacelli was moved to the other team for game balance
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tbarnes voted for banning Tyler "Stud Money" Bonafacelli.
*DEAD* Tyler "Stud Money" Bonafacelli :  wtf am I exploiting?
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GreenFire voted against banning Tyler "Stud Money" Bonafacelli.
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Kolbyhoski voted for banning Tyler "Stud Money" Bonafacelli.
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GreenFire killed ZeÃœberMedic with scattergun. (crit)
Disconnect: Added to banned list.
 

[+Dr. Obvious 14,606]

It would be nice if you added your steam_id so we can actually track the ban.

[Minia 1,211]

All I was able to find was this: http://stats.lotusclan.com/index.php?mode=chat&game=tf&server_id=22&filter=tyler

 

A message from inverselogic on the server warning you to turn off your false ping. However he is no admin, or even lotus regular as far as I am concerned. It would appear he then called a voteban on you. In other words, it would appear people have voted you off the server. But votebans only last for 30 minutes, which would explain why I have not been able to find any ban on our database relating to ping masking. Despite there not being a rule about ping masking, I would appreciate it if you didn't do it.

 

Anyways, ping masking is a method used in some ways to, calibrate your ping. For example, if you have an average ping of 30 you can set a mask on your ping of 30 so that if your ping is 30, it will display your ping as 1. As far as I can tell it is only a visual effect, it does not affect your gameplay or lag. It just seems to be an easier way of knowing your own ping.

 

Now, heading for a way to resolve this and understand what happened. It would be great if you could send us your steamid so that we can check you on our database. Also try connecting to our servers to see if you're still banned, if you are we will be able to take a look at it using your steamid.

 

tl;dr You were votebanned. Votebans only last 30 minutes. You should be unbanned, try connecting to our servers. If you're still banned give us your steamid and we'll look at it. P.S I would avoid masking your ping for now. Thank you.