Hacking Sony's ban behaviour

[DJPlace]

question about this...

the COD games.

even if i play disk copy of COD i can still get banned for doing that?

 

[NiQ1]

question about this...

the COD games.

even if i play disk copy of COD i can still get banned for doing that?

The CoD games are really notorious. They scan the HDD, looking for files that indicate the console is modded, such as common homebrew apps, the presence of the GAMES / ISOs directories etc. If it determines that the console is modded it reports it to both Sony and Activision as soon as you try to enter a multiplayer game, so no, it doesn't matter whether you play it from ISO or from the original disc. Even reverting to OFW will not necessarily save you, because there might be leftover files. If you want to play them safely you have to both revert to OFW (or DB, that also works) and do a factory wipe to remove all possible traces of mods.

Now, BO2 specifically has an "Anti-Ban" EBOOT, a patched executable that is supposed to remove those checks, allowing you to play it on modded systems. You can try searching for it online. The thing is, I have never tried it myself, nor do I know anyone who has, so I can't really comment on how effective it is, or in other words, if you use it and it turns out that it's no good and you get banned anyway then don't blame me. Also, an Anti-Ban EBOOT does not protect you from getting banned if you cheat, since those are checks on the server side.
Later COD games (BO3, Ghosts etc.) unfortunately don't have working Anti-Ban EBOOTs. The ones posted online are either outdated or fake. You can't play them on modded systems.

BTW this is all only related to multiplayer. COD can only report on you if you're logged in to PSN when running it. If you just want to play single player then just make sure you're not logged in to PSN when you run COD. It's perfectly safe. It's also OK if the console is connected to the Internet as long as it's not logged in to PSN.

 

[bonkmaykr]

I've been playing Black Ops 2 on my PS3 just fine. Granted, I spend most my time playing on PC because I suck with a controller and theres this bug that causes random util to throw when I don't want to (my controller is not broken). But I've had it for more than a couple of months now and aside from the instability, no issues. I don't use a patched eboot.

It's worth noting that the only homebrew I have installed on the system are webman, pkgi and a very crude file manager. Using Evilnat 4.91. I run the CoD games off of disc backups but most of my library are PSN purchases.

I spend the majority of my time on my PS3 either playing WipEout HD or watching Prime Video so if there's a threshold before BO2 seeks to ban you, I haven't hit it yet.

 

[NiQ1]

I've been playing Black Ops 2 on my PS3 just fine. Granted, I spend most my time playing on PC because I suck with a controller and theres this bug that causes random util to throw when I don't want to (my controller is not broken). But I've had it for more than a couple of months now and aside from the instability, no issues. I don't use a patched eboot.

It's worth noting that the only homebrew I have installed on the system are webman, pkgi and a very crude file manager. Using Evilnat 4.91. I run the CoD games off of disc backups but most of my library are PSN purchases.

I spend the majority of my time on my PS3 either playing WipEout HD or watching Prime Video so if there's a threshold before BO2 seeks to ban you, I haven't hit it yet.

Yeah, not everyone who plays BO2 on modded systems gets banned, and it might indeed have to do with what homebrew you have installed. Probably if you have homebrew that was popular when BO2 was released it increases the risk.
That said, if people tell you that bans are completely a thing of the past then they're uninformed - There are posts on Reddit of people who've been banned after attempting to connect to BO2 lobby even without using any mods.

 

[Deleted member 753700]

Recently went online on MW2 ISO backup and wasnt banned, the lobby I got in had a hacker too so I assume it's strictly a wild west situation now

 

[yinto]

Technically speaking, the only way a console can be banned is if someone goes around telling people their username and that they use CFW, right?

 

[0ink]

In case someone's reading this pinned topic, here's what's currently known / assumed:

Consequences of bans:
If you get caught and banned both the hardware and the account are banned.
Hardware ban means that console won't ever be able to log in to PSN again, with any account.
Account ban means the account is completely closed. You will not be able to log in to that account from any device, and yes, that does include PS4 and PS5, and if you had any store purchases, they're gone for good. For this reason it is extremely recommended to use a throwaway account when using PSN on a modded PS3.

How to bypass the ban:
The hardware ban can be bypassed by spoofing the console's IDPS (that's the unique ID that the console sends to identify itself), however it's not as simple as it sounds.
You can't just send any number and expect it to work. It has to be taken from a real, unbanned console. The only real way to obtain those is to dump them from dead units.
WARNING - There are people who sell IDPS numbers online. The problem is not all can be trusted, an unfortunately there isn't a way to know that in advance. The risk is that the seller might sell the same IDPS number to multiple people, which means that at some point it's very likely that two consoles will attempt to go online with the same IDPS at the same time, which would result in a ban of both, along with the associated accounts.
There's no way of bypassing account bans. The only way is to avoid serious consequences in the first place by using throwaway accounts.

How to avoid getting banned:
Unfortunately the only 100% sure way to avoid a ban is not to mod your console in the first place. Since a 2nd hand PS3 costs less than $100 these days, some people get a second PS3 and keep it unmodded just for PSN.

How to minimize the risk of getting banned:
The good news is we now know enough about the ban behavior to make it 99% safe (it'll never be 100% safe though).
The first thing you need to do is disable CFW / HEN syscalls before going online. CFW and HEN create custom system calls that allow homebrew to do things that the PS3 normally doesn't permit. Certain games can detect those syscalls and report them, leading to bans. Recent CFWs will allow you to temporarily disable those syscalls so you can go online without them being detected. This is baked into Evilnat CFW (accessible through the CFW tools menu), or if you have webMAN MOD installed (highly recommended), just press R2+Triangle. By default new CFWs will block access to PSN if syscalls are not disabled, in order to prevent accidents.
Note that disabling syscalls will break many homebrew apps (it's not a good idea to use homebrew while logged in to PSN anyway). To restore the syscalls, restart your console.
Another note: You may hear people talk about PSNPatch and SEN Enabler. These are old and outdated utilities. Everything now is baked into the firmware.

Things to avoid:
There are multiple things that increase your ban risk and you should not do:

• Cheat / use game mods - The overwhelming majority of people who get banned get banned for cheating. This should not come as a surprise to anyone. IMHO people who cheat online are asses and deserve a ban. Don't be an ass. Please note that sometimes a modded game is enough for a ban, even if you don't actively cheat, so avoid using any modded games.
• Sync hacked trophies - Another common cause of bans. If you use a trophy unlocker app to give yourself trophies and then try to sync them, a ban is very likely. Sony has heuristic methods on the server side that detect hacked trophies and ban the offending accounts. Giving yourself trophies you haven't truly earned is also a form of cheating. Unfortunately since it runs on Sony's server we have no way of knowing exactly what the algorithm is. We do know that one of the methods used is to check the trophy time stamp and see if you got a huge number of trophies in a short period of time. We do know however that it's not the only detection method, and we don't know them all.
• Spoofing your firmware version - PSN generally won't allow you to connect without being on the latest firmware. Some people who don't want to upgrade decide to spoof their firmware version, i.e., make the console report it's on the latest version when it actually isn't. The problem is that sometimes Sony changes things in the PSN protocol, and if a console says it's on the latest version but attempts to use an outdated version of the protocol then the spoof can be detected. Fortunately spoofing is not required as of the time of posting this - The latest firmware is 4.91, and there's already CFW based on it (Evilnat 4.91) and HEN supports it too.
• Unreleased / beta games - If you play those and then sync trophies you might get banned. The reason is that the list of trophies can (and usually does) change during a game's development cycle. The earlier the build, the more likely that the list of trophies are not the same as the final release, which means you'd be synching trophies that might not exist in retail PSN, leading to a ban, as you're not supposed to be able to play unreleased / beta games on a retail system.
• Pirated digital games - Unlike disc games, which can be purchased in retail store and/or second hand, digital games can only be downloaded from Sony's store, and that means Sony has a list of all digital games you have (or should have). Attempting to sync saved games or trophies from a game that's not on your purchase list is a dead giveaway that it's pirated. I know there are people who played pirated digital games and haven't been banned but note that this can be detected retroactively. Also note that if the same game has both a physical and digital release, they have different title IDs, which means that from PSN's perspective they're two different games.
• Playing one or more of the following games: CoD BO2 / BO3 / Ghosts / AW / Any later CoD game, Destiny, GTA V - These games are notorious for actually scanning your console, looking for homebrew related files and reporting on you, leading to a ban as soon as you hit the multiplayer button. Even if you revert to OFW, they may still find some leftover files and you might get banned anyway. If you've ever been on CFW or HEN and just have to play these games online you will need to both revert to OFW and reformat the HDD. Some (but not all) have modded EBOOT files (known as Anti-Ban EBOOTs) that remove those checks but you still risk your console and account if it so happens that the modder has not done a perfect job. Note that playing the single player mode is safe as long as PSN is not connected while using those games.

Things that won't get you banned:
Connecting to the Internet by itself will not get you banned. It is only possible to get banned if you log in to PSN. Doing things that require an Internet connection but don't require PSN (e.g., downloading game updates, synching date and time) will never result in a ban.

"Pirated digital games ... Sony has a list of all digital games you have (or should have). Attempting to sync saved games or trophies from a game that's not on your purchase list is a dead giveaway that it's pirated."

But you can legitimately sync saved games or trophies from a game that's not on your purchase list. Your friend from any region of the world (as for games not availale in your region) can log in using your PS3/4 download his purchased or PS+ games on your console. Then you can play those games and sync stuff. Maybe this info about digital games is outdated/false? People on Reddit say that it is fine to play it and sync. And I didn't find anyone complaining about getting banned for playing digital games and syncing using CFW / HEN.

 

[ray_ray696]

Just don't go on psn, there is no need to do so. All these games are available to download for free if you know where to look.

 

[bonkmaykr]

"Pirated digital games ... Sony has a list of all digital games you have (or should have). Attempting to sync saved games or trophies from a game that's not on your purchase list is a dead giveaway that it's pirated."

But you can legitimately sync saved games or trophies from a game that's not on your purchase list. Your friend from any region of the world (as for games not availale in your region) can log in using your PS3/4 download his purchased or PS+ games on your console. Then you can play those games and sync stuff. Maybe this info about digital games is outdated/false? People on Reddit say that it is fine to play it and sync. And I didn't find anyone complaining about getting banned for playing digital games and syncing using CFW / HEN.

I guess the rationale is that with a PSN download Sony may check the licenses of all the accounts available on your PS3, but if they think you're playing from a disc then they just have to assume you own it legally.

 

[Lun4ria]

I guess the rationale is that with a PSN download Sony may check the licenses of all the accounts available on your PS3, but if they think you're playing from a disc then they just have to assume you own it legally.

Ive tested this on a burner account and it didn't get banned for syncing trophies, im not saying its safe but i think in some cases accounts wont get banned for it..

And I'm obligated to say try and find a copy of the game on disc instead of resorting to piracy

 

[NiQ1]

"Pirated digital games ... Sony has a list of all digital games you have (or should have). Attempting to sync saved games or trophies from a game that's not on your purchase list is a dead giveaway that it's pirated."

But you can legitimately sync saved games or trophies from a game that's not on your purchase list. Your friend from any region of the world (as for games not availale in your region) can log in using your PS3/4 download his purchased or PS+ games on your console. Then you can play those games and sync stuff. Maybe this info about digital games is outdated/false? People on Reddit say that it is fine to play it and sync. And I didn't find anyone complaining about getting banned for playing digital games and syncing using CFW / HEN.

Sony also knows which accounts are activated on which consoles (mind that each console has its own unique IDPS) and probably also which account had ever logged in on which console.

So, a more proper check would be: Account trying to sync trophy from a digital game -> Check IDPS of the PS3 the account is logged on with -> Lookup all accounts that are activated on that console / that have logged in on that console -> Check if any have the game on their purchase list.

There would be some false negatives but no false positives that way.
But anyway, this is theory because Sony has never done it so far. It's mostly for the extra paranoid.

 

[Xdqwerty]

I fear syncing my PSN account to my pirated ps3 games (aka all of them) cuz I don't wanna get banned

 

[NiQ1]

I fear syncing my PSN account to my pirated ps3 games (aka all of them) cuz I don't wanna get banned

The above applies only to digital games and DLCs. Disc rips are safe because there's no way of tracking who purchased what games in retail stores.

Also, it doesn't seem that Sony cares much about the PS3 these days - they have the info they need so you'd expect them to have already done something about it yet they haven't, so I very much doubt they ever will. But yes, if for any reason in the future they decide to start giving a f then yes, they can do it retroactively.

 

[Xdqwerty]

The above applies only to digital games and DLCs. Disc rips are safe because there's no way of tracking who purchased what games in retail stores.

Most of them are digital games

 

[SG-17]

Is just staying logged out of PSN enough to completely avoid a ban or should I delete the profile that my main PSN is attached to from the PS3 I want to jailbreak?

 

[LaggySnake]

Is just staying logged out of PSN enough to completely avoid a ban or should I delete the profile that my main PSN is attached to from the PS3 I want to jailbreak?

You don't need to remove your PSN account.
You can also login to it with a jailbroken PS3 if you disable syscalls before logging in. The CFW I'm using doesn't even allow you to login if you haven't disabled them.
Still, having an alternative PSN account instead is a safer bet.