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Permabanned for changing game.cfg even though Riot has said it's allowed.

Sokeri··117 votes·40,469 views

Hi, I'm GGS Sokeri.

I got permanently banned and after 31 days(!) I got a response: it was for (quote from Riot ticket response): "directly modifying the League of Legends game files, which is a ToU violation and punishable with a permanent suspension".

The only changes to "game files" were to a configuration file called game.cfg located somewhere in the LoL folders. I literally got permabanned just for changing one number.

Before touching anything I even researched if modifying "game.cfg" was allowed. I found numerous Riot employee and "Wrenchman" posts that said it's allowed or even instructed people to change the exact settings I was changing. Links are in the bottom of this post.

So the reason for the suspension was changing the resolution to get different aspect ratios (see 4:3, 16:9, 21:9 etc.). What this does is change the field of view. However, League of Legends natively supports ultrawide resolutions so buying a 21:9 monitor has the same effect. What changing game.cfg did was emulate this on a 16:9 screen. Here's what it looks like and how Riot themselves provide settings for ultrawide screens: http://imgur.com/a/FwIkY.

Why should players have to buy a 21:9 monitor if they can have the same effect for free?

What do you guys think about this?

Here are some links with Riot or Wrenchman approval of game.cfg modification:

  • Riot:

http://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/help-support/bWudBIZ0-bug-blue-and-red-squares-appearing-when-mousing-over-turrets

http://forums.na.leagueoflegends.com/board/showthread.php?t=28614 http://forums.euw.leagueoflegends.com/board/showthread.php?t=333742 http://forums.na.leagueoflegends.com/board/showthread.php?t=1601482&page=1#post18507108

  • Wrenchman:

http://forums.euw.leagueoflegends.com/board/showthread.php?t=1848181 http://forums.euw.leagueoflegends.com/board/showthread.php?t=998435 http://forums.na.leagueoflegends.com/board/showthread.php?t=98893 http://forums.na.leagueoflegends.com/board/showthread.php?t=59964 http://forums.euw.leagueoflegends.com/board/showthread.php?t=183343 http://forums.euw.leagueoflegends.com/board/showthread.php?t=10880&page=2

TL;DR: Changed screen resolution from LoL configuration file, permaban received even though Riot has said multiple times that it's allowed.

102 Comments

RiotKeyru147 votes

Hey GGS Sokeri,

I have went forward with removing the suspension from your account. For this particular modification, it is not something that we currently action on but may change in the future. That being said, we highly suggest to not tamper with game files or play on a resolution that we do not support. Sorry about this and good luck on the rift!

RuGu1 votes

What about modifying your key-bindings to allow for Attack-Move-Click on your left click? Is this still acceptable or should I just delete my config file tonight?

Ultraboomer5 votes

you can do that from inside the game.

EDIT: okay, apparently this is incorrect. pls ignore and read below.

Asyde3 votes

You cannot bind Mouse Button 1 (left click) to anything in-game. It must be done outside by manual entry in the keybinding files.

Sinister Anubis1 votes

{quoted}

You cannot bind Mouse Button 1 (left click) to anything in-game. It must be done outside by manual entry in the keybinding files.

He knows this. Thats why he asked. It was also something i sated earlier in this post.

Asyde3 votes

[{quoted}](name=Master Anubis,realm=NA,application-id=ZGEFLEUQ,discussion-id=XhXwwb0f,comment-id=00080001000000000000,timestamp=2016-01-06T00:30:11.470+0000)

He knows this. Thats why he asked. It was also something i sated earlier in this post.

I was talking to Ultraboomer who said it was possible in-game. I realize RuGu knows this as he has already done it.

Ultraboomer1 votes

hm, didn't know that. sorry. I thought you could bind any keys to whatever.

Asyde2 votes

{quoted}

hm, didn't know that. sorry. I thought you could bind any keys to whatever.

No worries mate! I used to think you could too, and only found out because i wanted to bind attack move to Left-Click and quickly realized you couldn't. There are some good articles on reddit and on youtube that explain in detail how to make these adjustments though.

@Riot, Can we get confirmation that changing the keybinding files is against the TOS? If so, I will remove it.

Stand Alone Wolf1 votes

Unless of course you own a gaming mouse that allows for such things.

Inting Pillow40 votes

Thanks for quickly resolving someones issue instead of havjng them go through a 3 month process to fix their accounts . Kudos to Rito

Blitzedlegend2 votes

{quoted}

Thanks for quickly resolving someones issue instead of havjng them go through a 3 month process to fix their accounts . KEYRU to Rito

FIFY

HighH13 votes

FTFY* FTFY

UtilityPunk3 votes

It, That, This. They're all articulate ways of saying the same thing and this sentence is a self-referential double-entendre.

God, I'm such an English nerd :)

Dessem8 votes

{quoted}

Thanks for quickly resolving someones issue

quoth

I got permanently banned and after 31 days(!) I got a response:

It shouldn't take 31 days to tell someone why they were banned, though.

Raw13 votes

{quoted}

It shouldn't take 31 days to tell someone why they were banned, though.

Basically Riot banned the dude for 31 days and be like "oops". At least give the guy something for the trouble they put him through. http://www.auplod.com/u/uopadl6d63e.png

PersianShinobi1 votes

Nah, we can't use any resources that could be dedicated to busting those toxic players!

Raw4 votes

{quoted}

Thanks for quickly resolving someones issue instead of havjng them go through a 3 month process to fix their accounts . Kudos to Rito

"I got permanently banned and after 31 days(!) I got a response" Pleaseeeee http://www.auplod.com/u/uopadl6d63e.png

rtbf2061059055 votes

This only happens on NA though...

Asyde2 votes

{quoted}

Hey GGS Sokeri,

I have went forward with removing the suspension from your account. For this particular modification, it is not something that we currently action on but may change in the future. That being said, we highly suggest to not tamper with game files or play on a resolution that we do not support. Sorry about this and good luck on the rift!

Props for taking care of the customer Riot. I think you did the right thing here.

XIII Vanitas7 votes

Instead of permabanning, in cases like this wouldn't it be better if you contacted the player and warned him first?

Sinister Anubis7 votes

{quoted}

Instead of permabanning, in cases like this wouldn't it be better if you contacted the player and warned him first?

I'm sure it was a automated thing where a system found a change in his files and issued the banned automatically. However it would be nice if they could contact you about this.

Xonra2 votes

It is usually this, yes. Mostly because in most cases changes like this are mods for cheating (or considered as such regardless) and are very easy to spot.

The Ecdysiast4 votes

So you're saying that in the future you'll take action on someone owning a wide monitor, or make it so the game doesn't support wide monitors?

JerrBear72 votes

{quoted}

Hey GGS Sokeri,

I have went forward with removing the suspension from your account. For this particular modification, it is not something that we currently action on but may change in the future. That being said, we highly suggest to not tamper with game files or play on a resolution that we do not support. Sorry about this and good luck on the rift!

Please support more resolutions like this in the future, he had a good reason and any person would do the same.

leaugesbane1 votes

{quoted}

Hey GGS Sokeri,

I have went forward with removing the suspension from your account. For this particular modification, it is not something that we currently action on but may change in the future. That being said, we highly suggest to not tamper with game files or play on a resolution that we do not support. Sorry about this and good luck on the rift!

you and lytes hitler bots are still cancer

i tried to not believe the crap i heard but between some of these people ive met in bots and the Christmas in game store breaking i cant say i am excited to try and play any more.

even if you fixed the store so i can now buy champions and not sit on free rotation

-you still have your ineffective Hitler bots that are unfinished goods - this post proves it even if you fixed it this much effort for prof of a error is a bad joke -your game constantly bugs in some way -while its less then heroes of the storms there is still lag -game play is stale with just these few games due to balance teams failed ideology of we need to make "x players" happy -cant believe your player base is as bad as it is

an ex player who happens to be a friend pointed some things out and after playing im inclined to agree with him

figured feed back is important could be wrong and have been before.

Sinister Anubis3 votes

{quoted}

you and lytes hitler bots are still cancer

i tried to not believe the crap i heard but between some of these people ive met in bots and the Christmas in game store breaking i cant say i am excited to try and play any more.

even if you fixed the store so i can now buy champions and not sit on free rotation

-you still have your ineffective Hitler bots that are unfinished goods - this post proves it even if you fixed it this much effort for prof of a error is a bad joke -your game constantly bugs in some way -while its less then heroes of the storms there is still lag -game play is stale with just these few games due to balance teams failed ideology of we need to make "x players" happy -cant believe your player base is as bad as it is

an ex player who happens to be a friend pointed some things out and after playing im inclined to agree with him

figured feed back is important could be wrong and have been before.

Wth does this have to do with this post at all? How is any of that relevant?

leaugesbane1 votes

[{quoted}](name=Master Anubis,realm=NA,application-id=ZGEFLEUQ,discussion-id=XhXwwb0f,comment-id=000800070000,timestamp=2016-01-06T02:41:37.508+0000)

Wth does this have to do with this post at all? How is any of that relevant?

riot induces its own issues. again, the shop was down the whole of December according to what my friend said it happens every champion release and holiday sale for the last 3 years 2 of which he played and saw it first hand.

when a game like this has been out for so long but cant fix these issues its a bigger problem then people are willing to give it credit for.

secondly the part i shoulda added was the report function as i was told got noticably worse in the abused department after the tribunal got taken down

my buddy told me people started constantly saying "do this or reported" if its true and i believe it with people i met in bots thats stupid and a negative impact on the game.

like my buddy i share the no nonsense attitude to this behavior so its better for people to just quit playing to avoid passive aggressive trolls who start purposely throwing to get you worked up so you become repotable

as i understand it he had 14ish promos that had this kind of behavior become loses it was 3 games each promo? 28 games plus all the games it took to reget that promo after each tilt it caused due to frequency.

this is the second time ive seen a post like this and i literally logged into check this post and boom a second one that was praobly another false postive since riot has no replay function and it was likely the same

do this or reported

in mass for scripting which i would be surprised if there was a method of proving innocence

the second post was a bye becuase the customer no services wouldnt even give it a chance http://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/player-behavior-moderation/gA9ePu5O-i-was-banned-for-scripting-hacking-what-the-heck-i-wish-you-all-the-best-and-farewell

agian all things my friend experienced all things that are still happening after 2 years soon to be a 3rd

Ayame Isaki I don't have Riot's logs, however, based solely on the information you provided (and Wuks' subsequent request to see your process list), I wouldn't be surprised if you have some sort of malware or virus on your computer that triggered a hacking flag on Riot's end. However, if this is happening in kernel space or a compromised windows service (such as svchost.exe) it won't show up in your task list; you need something more sophisticated.

One way you can track something like this down is to inspect your network traffic using something like Wireshark; however using such a tool while playing league will absolutely get you on the ban list, so it is a catch-22. I doubt the malware is League specific, so you could use Wireshark and surf the web and check for strange connections (either inbound or outbound) on strange ports.

Good luck, and thank you for your service.

wouldn't be surprised since hes ex millitary supposedly and would be a second false ban via as my friend called it lytes hitler bots that are negatively effecting the game and being used as a weapon

i remind you people like wathcing replays for when they get stuck on improving

people like improving after all

and any replay program is a 3rd party tool from a none riot site that can cuase a risk of a virus

yes it could be something else and probably is but just another example of how riot hasn't done everything it can do to insure the integrity of the game

Sinister Anubis1 votes

{quoted}

riot induces its own issues. again, the shop was down the whole of December according to what my friend said it happens every champion release and holiday sale for the last 3 years 2 of which he played and saw it first hand.

when a game like this has been out for so long but cant fix these issues its a bigger problem then people are willing to give it credit for.

secondly the part i shoulda added was the report function as i was told got noticably worse in the abused department after the tribunal got taken down

my buddy told me people started constantly saying "do this or reported" if its true and i believe it with people i met in bots thats stupid and a negative impact on the game.

like my buddy i share the no nonsense attitude to this behavior so its better for people to just quit playing to avoid passive aggressive trolls who start purposely throwing to get you worked up so you become repotable

as i understand it he had 14ish promos that had this kind of behavior become loses it was 3 games each promo? 28 games plus all the games it took to reget that promo after each tilt it caused due to frequency.

this is the second time ive seen a post like this and i literally logged into check this post and boom a second one that was praobly another false postive since riot has no replay function and it was likely the same

do this or reported

in mass for scripting which i would be surprised if there was a method of proving innocence

the second post was a bye becuase the customer no services wouldnt even give it a chance http://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/player-behavior-moderation/gA9ePu5O-i-was-banned-for-scripting-hacking-what-the-heck-i-wish-you-all-the-best-and-farewell

agian all things my friend experienced all things that are still happening after 2 years soon to be a 3rd

wouldn't be surprised since hes ex millitary supposedly and would be a second false ban via as my friend called it lytes hitler bots that are negatively effecting the game and being used as a weapon

i remind you people like wathcing replays for when they get stuck on improving

people like improving after all

and any replay program is a 3rd party tool from a none riot site that can cuase a risk of a virus

yes it could be something else and probably is but just another example of how riot hasn't done everything it can do to insure the integrity of the game

your buddy lied too you then. I been here since season 1 and none of that has happened. well not to that extent tho.

1ZslqTY3fd4 votes

{quoted}

Hey GGS Sokeri,

I have went forward with removing the suspension from your account. For this particular modification, it is not something that we currently action on but may change in the future. That being said, we highly suggest to not tamper with game files or play on a resolution that we do not support. Sorry about this and good luck on the rift!

wtf? riot just perma banned someone for no reason and he had to make a post on the board to get unbanned? do you see how ridiculous this looks for you riot?

Silents4295 votes

It wasn't for no reason, he modified the game files.

1ZslqTY3fd4 votes

{quoted}

It wasn't for no reason, he modified the game files.

he was allowed to modify it. The only reason Riot unbanned him is because they shouldn't have banned them in the first place. do you see how ridiculous riot's ban policies are if they are taking back bans like that? how many other unjust bans were dished out? Not everyone would make a post about it on the boards. if you don't have a brain to see what I'm implying, stay out

Silents4291 votes

Based on links from 5 years ago. No he isn't allowed to.

Trídent2 votes

It's still allowed...

70640285DEL16 votes

Lol his "Suspension"? You guys permabanned him. Maybe somehow calling it a suspension is technically correct, but this still smells like doublespeak. Anyways, good in you guys for taking responsibility ultimately.

Ada Wong4 votes

{quoted}

Hey GGS Sokeri,

I have went forward with removing the suspension from your account. For this particular modification, it is not something that we currently action on but may change in the future. That being said, we highly suggest to not tamper with game files or play on a resolution that we do not support. Sorry about this and good luck on the rift!

I understand there is an automated system that likely bans players for modifying their game.cfg file, however could you please forward this to the developers so they may fix the following.

1.) Allow full modifications to the Game.CFG File, removing the checks from the anti-cheat system in place, Every Game I have ever played allows changing this file because it no way allows cheating to the game other than what people might complain about on resolution (Personally I have had no reason to change this yet because I still use dual monitors which it supports) however I have a 60 or so inch television I might play on in the future) and if I need to change this because the game won't fit full screen then I would get banned for it.

2.) Support all native resolutions to fit full screen / wide screen monitors.

3.) Might also need to make a public sticky telling people modifying this file is illegal now so they don't get banned.

I am also sure that "Curse Voice" Overlay, and Custom Skin Interfaces make more changes than what modifying a few lines of text for game options do.

Thanks.

ABrawlFF Critler1 votes

i could use some assistence i tihnk i have a bad program i implimented trying to improve my gaming and with all the sites i have been to and trying different things out that i somehow infected league and its gotten my banned

JackTheTripper1 votes

Congrats riot did something decent for once! Congrats GGS Sokeri!

disregardable6 votes

They've been pretty clear that they don't want to allow anything that provides an advantage in the game. I honestly feel like this is toeing the line a bit, because you're obviously doing it to gain more screen real estate than other players. At the same time, you have a fair point about the 21:9 monitor. Feel like it could go either way.

DrCyanide2 votes

I fully agree it's toeing the line in this case, but at the same time, I've had to modify the config files in order to get my chat back when a bug placed it completely off the screen.

According to the ToU, I've done something "expressly prohibited by law and may result in severe civil and criminal penalties" (ToU wording) by modifying the X and Y location of where the chat box was drawn. Both myself and the OP did something that was "Modify[ing] or cause to be modified any files that are part of the Software in any way not expressly authorized by Riot Games" (EULA wording) by changing the config files by hand rather than using the Game UI to do so.

I'm not fishing for a permaban myself, by any means, but I think it still raises a question for how fickle EULA or ToU enforcement could be. Riot has said that programs that swap out skins are fine to use, so long as they only show up on your own computer... but changing two numbers that only change your own view is problematic?

Rendarkan1 votes

This is why I like having razer stuff.

DrCyanide2 votes

How would having razer stuff change anything?

Rendarkan1 votes

cause its green. Plus, like most other gear like it I can set up outside macros and skill combos to proc like a long combo of kat commands then assign it to like the letter 't'

DrCyanide2 votes

And it being green or being able to run macros helps move my chat from being off screen how? You sure you're replying to the right comment?

Sinister Anubis4 votes

Well some of those post is more then a year old and if i remember correctly they updated their ToS. However i'v never changed the game cfg file i have changed my input file to allow me to bind my left click to attack move, mainly because i play a lot of kalista or did at one point.

I just deleted my input file and allowed the to remake it after resetting up my bindings. Honestly it was more of a pain to deal with holding shift to move the map more then anything. And i dont adc as much anymore so i dont really mind if i need to hold shift to attack move.

OneTrueGzus2 votes

make a supp ticket with all that GL

Sokeri15 votes

I did, however the community needs to know IMO. It's unacceptable to allow something and then permaban for it.

Daen9 votes

[{quoted}](name=GGS Sokeri,realm=EUW,application-id=ZGEFLEUQ,discussion-id=XhXwwb0f,comment-id=00000000,timestamp=2016-01-05T22:23:47.827+0000)

I did, however the community needs to know IMO. It's unacceptable to allow something and then permaban for it.

I agree that it would be unacceptable for Riot to say one thing and do another, but when considering the fact that you are using information from when Riot was first becoming a company the line becomes far more blurry. It's not entirely reasonable to expect that comments Riot made half a decade ago should still be valid today, and most of those comments are meant to fix problems rather than allow players to give themselves an advantage.

I can't speak to Riot's perspective here, but as an impartial observer I feel like this is a situation where improper information was used to achieve a result that falls under giving an advantage. That being said, I also see your point, where you are essentially utilizing a different monitor spec emulated within your own.

This is an interesting case.

junglerboy169 votes

I'd argue that the "advantage" here is of negligible quality since it basically boils down to personal preference. If any player can capitalize on that resolution setting's "advantage" over the other resolutions by simply having a monitor of the appropriate size, then every player should have equal access to that resolution setting. What is unfair is saying you can't give yourself the resolution you prefer when it is an openly accessible change that is available to certain players for absolutely no reason other than their personal monitor.

Daen1 votes

{quoted}

I'd argue that the "advantage" here is of negligible quality since it basically boils down to personal preference. If any player can capitalize on that resolution setting's "advantage" over the other resolutions by simply having a monitor of the appropriate size, then every player should have equal access to that resolution setting. What is unfair is saying you can't give yourself the resolution you prefer when it is an openly accessible change that is available to certain players for absolutely no reason other than their personal monitor.

Fair point. It's a slightly blurred thing when we're viewing it as editing game files to give yourself extra (ultrawide) screen real estate, but it's more cut and dry when viewed that way. I get the feeling this case is going to prompt some internal debate on how this stuff will be handled moving forward, guess we'll see!

Hyrum Graff2 votes

{quoted}

Fair point. It's a slightly blurred thing when we're viewing it as editing game files to give yourself extra (ultrawide) screen real estate, but it's more cut and dry when viewed that way. I get the feeling this case is going to prompt some internal debate on how this stuff will be handled moving forward, guess we'll see!

Personally I hope they just allow setting all resolutions from within the game (and then remove support for any resolutions they feel give an unfair advantage).

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