Paranoia & Cry of Fear Questions

[Markiee]

Hello

About a week ago or so I downloaded the Half-Life 1 mod called "Paranoia" Which to my surprise was rather well done and fun to play.

It wasn't until recently, about a day ago or so. I started hearing about how it could potentially get you VAC-Banned because of some .dll file the mod is using. Which got me worried of course.

So I browsed around the VAC Section here on the forums and tried to find some conclusive answers on google, I got some question answered but it wasn't really that clear.

Some said that you only risk a ban if you played Half-Life 1 online with Paranoia still installed. Others were not so straight forward. Now I did NOT play Half-Life 1 Deathmatch or Counter-Strike 1.6. However I did play the single-player aspect of Blue Shift.

Being a gamer with zero-tolerance for cheating and hacking myself, it would really suck (for lack of a better word) to get a VAC Ban on record, for playing a modification to Half-Life 1. And to even be banned by a "Anti-Cheat" program when you didn't even use any cheats.

Now, granted I do not play Half-Life 1 online at all. So the ban wouldn't hinder my gameplay at all, but I rather not be tainted as a cheater when I'm not a cheater.

I would understand and respect a decision to give me a VAC-Ban if I had actually used cheats or hacks. (However I would never do such a thing, seeing as I have a zero-tolerance towards it) But since I haven't even used any type of cheats, it just feels weird that you could risk a ban for that.

Now I understand that the only "Proof" that I'm not a cheater is my word, and I understand it doesn't carry much weight due to the popular excuse "My Brother/Friend/Whoever did something" However I hope some will at least help me clear this matter up.

I wish to know exactly, how the Paranoia mod could potentially get you banned. And now that I deleted everything and reinstalled STEAM, could I eventually play a Half-Life game without fear of a VAC-Ban?

And does playing the single-player aspect of Half-Life put me at risk?



For those thinking TL;DR: I simply want to know how the Paranoia mod could get you banned. And does playing the single player of the Half-Life games while having Paranoia installed risk getting you a ban?


Thank you for your time
-Mark

[Taner]

Originally Posted by Markiee

Hello

For those thinking TL;DR: I simply want to know how the Paranoia mod could get you banned. And does playing the single player of the Half-Life games while having Paranoia installed risk getting you a ban?

The HOT QUESTION about SAFE PLAY: I've heard that playing your mod is a big risk for my STEAM account. The playing PARANOIA online can make my STEAM account banned by VAC. Is that true?

Answer: The anticheating services WILL NOT BAN YOUR ACCOUNT IF YOU PLAYING OUR MOD ONLINE. The VAC will detect opengl32.dll as a cheat in case if you will try to play another HL1 mod (CS1.6 for example) online on the server with VAC protection. We have NO PRECEDENT that some account was banned, because VAC just prevent you from playing on the server with anticheating protection. If you want to play online with other HL1 mods, just delete opengl32.dll file (or replace it to other detectory), but don't forget to put it back when you want to play PARANOIA. Without opengl32.dll in the Half-Life folder, the new graphic effects in PARANOIA will not be available.

[Satoru]

Here is the straight and narrow

1) Paranoia uses a custom opengl32.dll
2) IF YOU USE THIS DLL IN ANOTHER HALF LIFE GAME YOU WILL BE VAC BANNED

They say so even in their Q&A, where they conveniently say 'oh just delete the dll before playing another game' which if you forget ONCE you get VAC banned.

Ergo

Q: Can the opengl32.dll file in Paranoia get me VAC banned
A: YES

[Markiee]

Originally Posted by Satoru

Here is the straight and narrow

1) Paranoia uses a custom opengl32.dll
2) IF YOU USE THIS DLL IN ANOTHER HALF LIFE GAME YOU WILL BE VAC BANNED

They say so even in their Q&A, where they conveniently say 'oh just delete the dll before playing another game' which if you forget ONCE you get VAC banned.

Ergo

Q: Can the opengl32.dll file in Paranoia get me VAC banned
A: YES

So only by playing Half-Life 1 or Opposing Force online, I will risk getting VAC-Banned?

I haven't played any of those online while I still had Paranoia installed. However I did play Blue Shift singleplayer.

EDIT: I did play some Source Games online, like Counter-Strike Source. But seeing as they run on a different engine. I guess they are not at risk? Right?

[Satoru]

Source runs on a different engine so that's not an issue for your situation.

Paranoia is a great mod, but the problem is that it does run the risk of getting you VAC banned in old HL games if you forget to remove the custom dll.

[Markiee]

Originally Posted by Satoru

Source runs on a different engine so that's not an issue for your situation.

Paranoia is a great mod, but the problem is that it does run the risk of getting you VAC banned in old HL games if you forget to remove the custom dll.

Ah okay, I only played the old HL games on single-player tho. Blue Shift and HL1 Single Player. Didn't even have deathmatch installed.

When I learned about this I deleted Paranoia, even reinstalled steam to be sure.

So since I didn't play the old HL games online. I should be safe?