Advanced In-Game Admin and Ban Enforcer - AdKats

[ColColonCleaner]

Just pushed what was on the test branch for AdKats to the main branch and dubbed it 7.6.0.0. That test branch hadn't changed in a long time and many people were running it so I don't expect any issues here. SourceForge has been updated with this version as well. Cheers.

https://sourceforge.net/projects/adkats/

[TonyOffermans]

Posting off topic here, sorry. I just had a problem with my provider, they have reset my server and I have trouble to get it running again. The GUID has changed and I had some work getting the plugins running, but somehow the stats are reset as well. The plugins are connecting to the database fine, AdKats seems to work ok with all bans in place and the tables are OK. But the logger plugin just seems to have 'forgotten' the stats as it may appear as a new server to it...

Any suggestion how to restore my old stats into my 'new' server? I cannot find any reference of the server GUID in the tables so I am a bit lost here... Thanks for advice from anyone

[ColColonCleaner]

Posting off topic here, sorry. I just had a problem with my provider, they have reset my server and I have trouble to get it running again. The GUID has changed and I had some work getting the plugins running, but somehow the stats are reset as well. The plugins are connecting to the database fine, AdKats seems to work ok with all bans in place and the tables are OK. But the logger plugin just seems to have 'forgotten' the stats as it may appear as a new server to it...

Any suggestion how to restore my old stats into my 'new' server? I cannot find any reference of the server GUID in the tables so I am a bit lost here... Thanks for advice from anyone

 

Shut down your layers.

Open your database and go to the tbl_server table.

Note your "new" and "old" servers both there.

Save the IP/port of your "new" server somewhere.

Delete the "new" server record.

Replace the IP on your "old" server with the new IP/port.

Start your layers.

[Kracklin_Bacon]

My !switchme is not working for admins/VIPs.

 

!assist puts us in a que verses instant move?

[ColColonCleaner]

My !switchme is not working for admins/VIPs.

 

!assist puts us in a que verses instant move?

 

Did you rename the !moveme command to !switchme? Or are you using a different plugin for this?

 

Yes !assist will put you in a queue, just like !fmove and !move will. You cannot move someone to a full team so it waits until a slot is open.

[Kracklin_Bacon]

Nope, I didn't rename anything. I was told to use !switchme ... I'll try !moveme (which I read is for admins only) That's good.

 

The !assist on other servers lets you move instantly to the losing team, even though they have more/less players.

 

Last night it was 7 vs 5 ... tried to use !assist to help the team with lesser players and it put me in a queue saying when a spot opens. They had 2 spots available? 

[Kracklin_Bacon]

Also, this teamswap setting ... high is set to 500000 and low is set to 0?

 

I think these plugins are aimed for servers running 64 players. We're running 32. I am so lost with these settings. I have Discord if someone can help me out?

[ColColonCleaner]

Nope, I didn't rename anything. I was told to use !switchme ... I'll try !moveme (which I read is for admins only) That's good.

 

The !assist on other servers lets you move instantly to the losing team, even though they have more/less players.

 

Last night it was 7 vs 5 ... tried to use !assist to help the team with lesser players and it put me in a queue saying when a spot opens. They had 2 spots available? 

 

 

Also, this teamswap setting ... high is set to 500000 and low is set to 0?

 

I think these plugins are aimed for servers running 64 players. We're running 32. I am so lost with these settings. I have Discord if someone can help me out?

 

In AdKats you can make any command available to any group of people. Some people might just have it set so moveme is only an admin usable command.

You can ignore the teamswap window stuff, the default settings there disables any restrictions.

AdKats works with any number of slots, as do most plugins.

 

Please look over the AdKats setup documentation which explains the settings and how to set up users with their permissions.

 

How do you want VIP stuff to work? Because how you want that to work will dictate how the settings should be set up.

[Kracklin_Bacon]

Auto balance Whitelist

Reserved Slot

High Ping Whitelist - Up to 250 ping

VIP Kick Whitelist - No more being kicked when an admin or VIP joins

[ColColonCleaner]

Auto balance Whitelist

Reserved Slot

High Ping Whitelist - Up to 250 ping

VIP Kick Whitelist - No more being kicked when an admin or VIP joins

 

There isn't a way to do a partial ping whitelist, where they are whitelisted unless they go above an even higher value. It's either whitelisted or not whitelisted.

 

The others are doable, but i was more asking how you want to manage it. If you're alright managing it via a VIP role in AdKats, that's perfect. You can set durations there and they will automatically expire over time if that's what you want. Just make a role called VIP and add your VIPs to it, turn on feeding reserved slots/whitelists in the orchestration setting section and you'll be good.

 

Autobalance whitelist for VIPs doesn't mean giving them the moveme command, there is an option in the role group settings (setting section 4-2) to give a role autobalance whitelist. Then you just need to turn on feeding whitelist to multibalancer in the orchestration setting section (assuming you're using multibalancer).

[Kracklin_Bacon]

Thanks! They basically donate through our website and I manually add them to the list. I’ll take a look this evening. Thank you for the help!

[Kracklin_Bacon]

Thanks! They basically donate through our website and I manually add them to the list. I’ll take a look this evening. Thank you for the help!

[Kracklin_Bacon]

Somehow settings are locked and it’s asking me for a AdKats password??

[sixpax12]

Somehow settings are locked and it’s asking me for a AdKats password??

 

Someone set a password in section 0 ... 

[ColColonCleaner]

Somehow settings are locked and it’s asking me for a AdKats password??

 

As sixpax said, someone set the password.

If you don't know the password, shut down your layers, go to the adkats.cfg file on your layer and remove the password line (or change it to what you want it to be), then start up your layers again.

[TonyOffermans]

CCC first of all: I cannot thank you enough for the amazing work you have done for our community. AdKats adds a whole dimension to the adminstration of my BF4 and your incessant support for it is invaluable. Please run for office.

 

Of course, I have an issue again now. As I might want to migrate my database to another provider, I could use some advice here (I am an SQL newbie). I read in the old forum there were some issues with the design but was unable to locate a conclusion on the issues. If I shutdown the layer, use MySQL workbench to export the database into a self contained file, including create schema and restore it to my local SQL server, the content seems OK? Would this method be sufficient to migrate everything to another server? Your considerations are highly appreciated.

[ColColonCleaner]

CCC first of all: I cannot thank you enough for the amazing work you have done for our community. AdKats adds a whole dimension to the adminstration of my BF4 and your incessant support for it is invaluable. Please run for office.

 

Of course, I have an issue again now. As I might want to migrate my database to another provider, I could use some advice here (I am an SQL newbie). I read in the old forum there were some issues with the design but was unable to locate a conclusion on the issues. If I shutdown the layer, use MySQL workbench to export the database into a self contained file, including create schema and restore it to my local SQL server, the content seems OK? Would this method be sufficient to migrate everything to another server? Your considerations are highly appreciated.

 

The only issues you should run into are around infraction points. If the backup is basically a bunch of insert statements you're going to have double the infraction/forgive points on people because of how i calculate that table. There are triggers on the main records table that automatically updates the infraction points table when punishments/forgives are added/removed.

So basically do the backup/restore and check the values in that infractions table between databases. If they look the same then you're golden.

[Kracklin_Bacon]

As sixpax said, someone set the password.

If you don't know the password, shut down your layers, go to the adkats.cfg file on your layer and remove the password line (or change it to what you want it to be), then start up your layers again.

 

I found the password in the config file. Thanks, Col! Awesome plugin as always. Everything is running smoothly alogn with the balancer. All night server was balanced and did great! Thanks!

[Prophet731]

The only issues you should run into are around infraction points. If the backup is basically a bunch of insert statements you're going to have double the infraction/forgive points on people because of how i calculate that table. There are triggers on the main records table that automatically updates the infraction points table when punishments/forgives are added/removed.

So basically do the backup/restore and check the values in that infractions table between databases. If they look the same then you're golden.

 

If I remember correctly, if you dump the database with export triggers and such, it will add those at the end of the script so it wouldn't run. I'm not 100% sure though. I know i've done it quite a few times and the infraction points always seem to be correct.

[ColColonCleaner]

If I remember correctly, if you dump the database with export triggers and such, it will add those at the end of the script so it wouldn't run. I'm not 100% sure though. I know i've done it quite a few times and the infraction points always seem to be correct.

 

Maybe the export process has been improved over the years. Several people, ADK included ran into issues with that.

[Prophet731]

Maybe the export process has been improved over the years. Several people, ADK included ran into issues with that.

 

I would have to look around for my SQL dump I had from ADK. It's somewhere on my hard drives lol

[TonyOffermans]

I don't have any debug info, but I am trying to find out why a player can't join. I see him being kicked: AdKats > Say > Enforcing permanent ban on PLAYERNAME for ban reason. The ban reason I recognize as my own (not very flattering). Yet when I display this playername or any substring in section A13-3 ban search nothing comes up (no players matching substring have active bans). /unban playername is of no effect, and there's no ban for him left in Procon either (I let AdKats feed almost everything). How can I find out where this ban is listed and how to get rid of it? This player should never have been banned in the first place. Thanks for your help!

[ColColonCleaner]

I don't have any debug info, but I am trying to find out why a player can't join. I see him being kicked: AdKats > Say > Enforcing permanent ban on PLAYERNAME for ban reason. The ban reason I recognize as my own (not very flattering). Yet when I display this playername or any substring in section A13-3 ban search nothing comes up (no players matching substring have active bans). /unban playername is of no effect, and there's no ban for him left in Procon either (I let AdKats feed almost everything). How can I find out where this ban is listed and how to get rid of it? This player should never have been banned in the first place. Thanks for your help!

 

Someone with the same IP as him is banned from your server.

If you aren't running the BFAdminCP you'll need to check your database. Look for that ban message in your adkats_records_main table. You'll see target_id on that record. The player in tbl_playerdata with that ID is the banned player.

If you don't want to go through this hassle again you can turn off default enforcement by IP in the ban settings then new bans won't be enforced by IP. I don't have a master switch to turn it off for all bans in the settings but you can execute a query on the database to do that.

update adkats_bans set ban_enforceIP = 'N' where 1=1

Edited July 22, 2019 by Prophet731
Put SQL query in code block

[TonyOffermans]

Hey CCC looks like you have some understanding of how the system works.... Found the guy by IP address. Yes, they use the same IP. Your method gives me every enforcer action and also the name of the linked account. Nice. My main man told me some providers in Russia sell cheap internet access with shared WAN IP's for multiple customers... The banned player is a sniper/assault player with suspicious HS, a smurf account that has not played for 5 years until two weeks ago. Plays a lot of different maps. My trusted (but banned) player plays Silk Road map exclusively as engineer in LAV. Looks like they are different players to me.

 

I ban on IP as well as on EA_GUID and Soldiername... Maybe overkill but I thought it might prevent cheaters from returning with another account on the same IP Address. So, you would advice me not to ban on IP address?

And the SQL update is different from A13-2 Enforce New Bans by IP = False HOW? It is now set to true. Isn't that your master switch? THANK you for helping out!

[Prophet731]

Hey CCC looks like you have some understanding of how the system works.... Found the guy by IP address. Yes, they use the same IP. Your method gives me every enforcer action and also the name of the linked account. Nice. My main man told me some providers in Russia sell cheap internet access with shared WAN IP's for multiple customers... The banned player is a sniper/assault player with suspicious HS, a smurf account that has not played for 5 years until two weeks ago. Plays a lot of different maps. My trusted (but banned) player plays Silk Road map exclusively as engineer in LAV. Looks like they are different players to me.

 

I ban on IP as well as on EA_GUID and Soldiername... Maybe overkill but I thought it might prevent cheaters from returning with another account on the same IP Address. So, you would advice me not to ban on IP address?

And the SQL update is different from A13-2 Enforce New Bans by IP = False HOW? It is now set to true. Isn't that your master switch? THANK you for helping out!

 

He wrote it lol

[ColColonCleaner]

Hey CCC looks like you have some understanding of how the system works.... Found the guy by IP address. Yes, they use the same IP. Your method gives me every enforcer action and also the name of the linked account. Nice. My main man told me some providers in Russia sell cheap internet access with shared WAN IP's for multiple customers... The banned player is a sniper/assault player with suspicious HS, a smurf account that has not played for 5 years until two weeks ago. Plays a lot of different maps. My trusted (but banned) player plays Silk Road map exclusively as engineer in LAV. Looks like they are different players to me.

 

I ban on IP as well as on EA_GUID and Soldiername... Maybe overkill but I thought it might prevent cheaters from returning with another account on the same IP Address. So, you would advice me not to ban on IP address?

And the SQL update is different from A13-2 Enforce New Bans by IP = False HOW? It is now set to true. Isn't that your master switch? THANK you for helping out!

 

As prophet said, i wrote AdKats myself. Started in 2013.

 

That 'master switch' only applies to new bans. When a ban is created you decide at that point whether it should be enforced by any/all of the 3 metrics. Turning that off won't affect existing bans already in the system. This makes more sense when using the BFACP because then you can decide the enforcement for every new ban, whereas inside the plugin it just has defaults that apply to every new ban without you being able to change it from in-game. You can also edit bans on the BFACP to remove IP enforcement from an existing ban without needing to mess with the database.

[TonyOffermans]

As prophet said, i wrote AdKats myself. Started in 2013.

 

That 'master switch' only applies to new bans. When a ban is created you decide at that point whether it should be enforced by any/all of the 3 metrics. Turning that off won't affect existing bans already in the system. This makes more sense when using the BFACP because then you can decided the enforcement for every new ban, whereas inside the plugin it just has defaults that apply to every new ban. You can also edit bans on the BFACP to remove IP enforcement from an existing ban without needing to mess with the database.

 

Haha CCC I am well aware that you are the author of this masterpiece, sir. I was ironic. It is clear now what the difference is and what happened exactly. Unfortunately, I cannot get BFACP to work as my provider will not allow external access to the DB or RCON and does not provide web hosting either. I will treat this as an incident and want to keep my IP bans enforced so I unbanned the cheater, turned off Ban by IP and banned him again. Works too?

[ColColonCleaner]

Haha CCC I am well aware that you are the author of this masterpiece, sir. I was ironic. It is clear now what the difference is and what happened exactly. Unfortunately, I cannot get BFACP to work as my provider will not allow external access to the DB and does not provide web hosting either. I will treat this as an incident and want to keep my IP bans enforced so I unbanned the cheater, turned off Ban by IP and banned him again. Works too?

 

Yeah that trick should work great. Hopefully this isn't something you run into too often.

[Prophet731]

Haha CCC I am well aware that you are the author of this masterpiece, sir. I was ironic. It is clear now what the difference is and what happened exactly. Unfortunately, I cannot get BFACP to work as my provider will not allow external access to the DB or RCON and does not provide web hosting either. I will treat this as an incident and want to keep my IP bans enforced so I unbanned the cheater, turned off Ban by IP and banned him again. Works too?

 

I've thought about offering BFACP hosting in the past for those that couldn't run it or their providers refused to do what you just said. Obviously a cost would be involved with that type of thing thought.

[Kracklin_Bacon]

So quick question .... the ping kicker isn’t kicking high pingers.