Can we have a list of banable programs?

I have nothing to say on that program because I never heard of it till 2 days ago. I’m only going to comment on OBS, Shadowplay and other software that’s only used to record game play or stream it to a service.

I use OBS (still active), but no email received (already checked).

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Again though, you’re not actually being constructive, you’re saying OBS is 110% not getting people flagged and funny enough, it does “change the game in any way” via overlay

What? How? It doesn’t do anything with the game. It doesn’t track heroes. It doesn’t track stats. It doesn’t tell you what players on the other teams have their ults charged.

Having overlays that have NOTHING TO DO WITH OVERWATCH isn’t the same as the other two programs that track whats going on in the game and giving you feedback.

Dude you cant just nit pick at some part of those message and ignore others. They literally say anything that modifies the game, be it functionally or visually is not supported and to be used at your own risk. An overlay modifies it visually.
Is it ambiguous? TOTALLY! Hence why this thread exists

How is an overlay that post when someone gives you bits or whatever on twitch modifying the game?

People could give bits to play a message about the enemies ult charge, obviously cheating. A competitive violation no doubt.

I literally used Pursuit once, for about 1 minute until I realized I can’t use it at all because I only have 1mb upload speed (yes, it’s very sh*tty). It raises my latency to an unplayable 800 ping. Never touched it again, then a few days later I got that email, threatening to permanently ban my Silver Border 5 star account.

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I guess it’s a good think they send warnings and just didn’t flat out ban you right?

How is an overlay that post when someone gives you bits or whatever on twitch modifying the game?

Psssst, does it look different than plain overwatch? Yes?
Read the actual ToS.
This is not a new issue, we had that same problem back in WoW with add-ons.
a 100% of the WoW mods that arent blizzard are against the ToS…in theory but they let most slide. This is the issue we have right now, theres very few program that are being used and we kinda need to know WHAT is fine and what is not.

I’m totally behind a visor ban, the ult thing was just asking for it. The thing is…im not sure how youre trying to argue that overlays dont change the looks of the game when obviously, if they didnt change the way the game looks in ANY way…they wouldnt be called overlays

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No… I’ve messed with them and I don’t see the overlays on my OW screen. OBS can place the overlays on the stream and not effect your OW game look in any way at all.

With what you’re saying, chat programs like Discord are also bannable because they have an overlay as well.

Stop taking this to extremes. It clearly says “programs that give an unfair advantage”. OBS with overlays for twitch are not doing that.

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At this point you’re just trolling pretending you don’t understand.

Here’s the ACTUAL line of text in the EULA, a thing you seem to be ignoring

any code and/or software, not expressly authorized by Blizzard, that can be used in connection with the Platform and/or any component or feature thereof which changes and/or facilitates the gameplay or other functionality

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What or how is OBS changing Overwatch or facilitating in playing the game?

Visor and Pursuit were not banned because they contain an overlay. They were banned because they read data from the game and give the player feedback and display that info.

Visor would try to tell you when the other teams ults are ready. This is facilitating game play for you. I’m going to assume Pursuit does something similar.

OBS does NOTHING like this. It doesn’t even interact with OW in any way at all. It doesn’t try to read TCP/IP data packets. It doesn’t modify ANY of the game files. It simply places an image on the screen of a stream.

I’m going to keep using Nvidia ShadowPlay every single night to either record and/or stream my game. I’m positive I will not get a message from Blizzard.

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All of them. It’s rather simple, if it’s not Blizzard’s officially made, it’s not allowed. This has been the standards with Blizzard for years now, dating back to WoW’s release.

Edit: Of programs related to their games.

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Overlay…do you not see it still…?

Pharazon is correct, its basically ALL of them…until they are said to be ok which is the goal of this post

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So you stand behind the fact that using Discord can also get your OW account banned?

Also you didn’t answer the question you quoted. How is OBS changing OW? It’s not even accessing the game, it’s data or it’s files. It’s like you’re saying I can change the layout if your living room by standing in your front yard.

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Yes because that is what the EULA is very specific about.
Again, Pharazon knows it too, basically, not a SINGLE PROGRAM is allowed according to the EULA, usually blizzard says which ones are if theres enough questions about it

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Omg you’re gonna make me say Overlay again arent you?
Lol this is ridiculous

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Do you even know what an overlay is? It’s nothing more than a floating window that stays on top of every active window.

Steam has an entire build-in overlay for all it’s game.

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I got an email in late March from Blizzard saying I was banned for “hacking.” I’ve never used programs such as Visor or Pursuit at all.

I highly doubt it would be Discord, Steam, Shadow Play or OBS considering that most people who do use them i.e. streamers.

However I have used OverTool in the past, which is used to data mine. It is outdated however, and I haven’t datamined in general for about 2 years, Nor have I ever used it while the game was running. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I haven’t heard about account bans due to data mining.

The only program that I can think of that would That I’ved used besides OverTool that could’ve gotten me banned is OverTrack, which purpose is to record stats and map wins however, unlike Visor, it doesn’t show real time information such as when the enemy has an ultimate. It works in the same way as OBS and Shadowplay, so it doesn’t read or effect the game data directly.I’ve seen some streamers such as Kephrii without getting banned. So I don’t think this wasn’t the reason why I didn’t get banned either. I also deleted quite some time before the Visor & Pursuit controversy happened since my system is pretty low spec and couldn’t handle both at the same type (with nothing in the background i get around 35-50 fps during large teamfights). I haven’t seen anybody else getting banned from it either.

They claim programs such as Steam, CCleaner, Origin, security programs, etc. won’t cause a trigger, but nothing is perfect, so anything is possible. Valve has posted a page that shows what programs could cause VAC errors (don’t know why we can’t post links in the forums, but just search up VAC Errors on google and the result Disconnected by VAC: You cannot play on secure servers should pop up).

Blizzard should consider investigating these issues were innocent players are being banned for “cheating.” List common programs that players should be weary of i.e. If “Malwarebytes” were to block the anticheat, list it as a potential conflicting program.

I highly doubt they’ll do it considering:

  • They will assume anyone who was banned for cheating was cheating and
    believe the player in question would be lying about not cheating.
  • They have faith that their anticheat is so accurate, that they may overlook any possible errors and mistakes that it could have made. (they did tell me they research it when They were reviewing my case however, whether that’s accurate or not is up for speculation. They may research it but may have not done enough in my case.)
  • They fear that if they released any potential conflicting programs or bugs, that actual hackers would find more ways around the anti-cheat. It could be due to a Better Safe Than Sorry type of deal.

There are most likely different reasons for them not to share potential programs or bugs.

Not sure if they watch any demos/replays when the anti-cheat (most likely being Warden based on past Blizzard titles) is triggered to make sure both types of evidence matchup. Though it could make sense to do so.

Hard to really tell what leads to their decisions when it comes to banning players considering how quiet they are about it (though I don’t agree with complete silence, I can understand why).