Bans due to launching games on ReFS

[adrynalyne]

On 21/08/2025 at 21:36, Joe User said:

I try not to system shame. If you want to run FAT32, ExFAT or ReFS, well... that's your choice. It might not be a good choice, but it's in the OS.

That’s not the point. For that you will have to read from the beginning. 

[Joe User]

On 22/08/2025 at 00:04, adrynalyne said:

That’s not the point. 

Nah, it is. I don't expect some software to work properly on FAT32, ExFat or ReFS either. But that's on the company that writes crap code, not on the end user. 

[adrynalyne]

On 21/08/2025 at 22:07, Joe User said:

Nah, it is. I don't expect some software to work properly on FAT32, ExFat or ReFS either. But that's on the company that writes crap code, not on the end user. 

This tells me you missed the point. 

[funkerwolf]

I would like to remind you of what we were accused of: manipulating game data, which actually did not happen.
 

On 22/08/2025 at 08:25, adrynalyne said:

This tells me you missed the point. 

You are precisely missing the point by defending those who violate the rights of users and players, while also defending activision for free.
 

Spoiler

And such a letter comes to all those who were banned without reason, and they use ambiguous wording. Even when filing a complaint with the BBB, they respond in the same vague manner with the wording, "we do not disclose reasons to protect our detection systems."

[adrynalyne]

On 21/08/2025 at 22:30, funkerwolf said:

I would like to remind you of what we were accused of: manipulating game data, which actually did not happen.
 

You are precisely missing the point by defending those who violate the rights of users and players, while also defending activision for free.
 

  Reveal hidden contents

 

I’ve not defended Activision but please, please quote me where I did. 

[funkerwolf]

On 22/08/2025 at 08:36, adrynalyne said:

I’ve not defended Activision but please, please quote me where I did. 

This was not specifically about you, the topic has already grown to several pages...

[adrynalyne]

On 21/08/2025 at 22:39, funkerwolf said:

This was not specifically about you, the topic has already grown to several pages...

You literally accused ME.  
 

You are precisely missing the point by defending those who violate the rights of users and players, while also defending activision for free.

[funkerwolf]

On 22/08/2025 at 08:44, adrynalyne said:

You literally accused ME.  
 

You are precisely missing the point by defending those who violate the rights of users and players, while also defending activision for free.

I apologize if I've offended you in any way. It's just that responses like these, without understanding the essence of the problem, honestly start to confuse me. It's just some kind of impenetrable wall of misunderstanding on the way. Although the problem seems quite obvious and is extremely easy to reproduce, no one wants to take it on. And then it happens every time that the rights of players and users are violated, and no one takes responsibility for it. I did run into problems, yes, but were there any warnings anywhere? No.

Just like false bans are not considered by anyone, I don't have the opportunity to go to court, otherwise I would win easily, because there is evidence. And there have already been precedents of this kind; a player just experienced a BSOD during the game and afterward received a letter stating that he manipulated game data, and the appeal was denied. By the way, Activision does collect telemetry, and the dxdiag provides comprehensive information about the system, so what prevented them from simply implementing a block to prevent the game from launching in such cases? But no, I am only to blame for upgrading my computer to the max...The problem lies in the lack of concrete information and the attitude towards players and users.

Edited August 22, 2025 by funkerwolf

[adrynalyne]

On 21/08/2025 at 22:48, funkerwolf said:

I apologize if I've offended you in any way. It's just that responses like these, without understanding the essence of the problem, honestly start to confuse me. It's just some kind of impenetrable wall of misunderstanding on the way. Although the problem seems quite obvious and is extremely easy to reproduce, no one wants to take it on. And then it happens every time that the rights of players and users are violated, and no one takes responsibility for it. I did run into problems, yes, but were there any warnings anywhere? No.

Just like false bans are not considered by anyone, I don't have the opportunity to go to court, otherwise I would win easily, because there is evidence. And there have already been precedents of this kind; a player just experienced a BSOD during the game and afterward received a letter stating that he manipulated game data, and the appeal was denied. By the way, Activision does collect telemetry, and the dxdiag provides comprehensive information about the system, so what prevented them from simply implementing a block to prevent the game from launching in such cases? But no, I am only to blame for upgrading my computer to the max...The problem lies in the lack of concrete information and the attitude towards players and users.

I’m not offended, I am just not interested of being singled out for something I didn’t do. 
 

 

[funkerwolf]

On 22/08/2025 at 08:59, adrynalyne said:

I’m not offended, I am just not interested of being singled out for something I didn’t do. 
 

 

It's just time to sleep, after Wireshark my head sometimes spins worse than from VR lol. And yes, by the way, if anyone didn't know, Activision also unofficially prohibits its use. I wouldn't be surprised if they start banning for MikroTik too.

[Case_f]

I still don't understand why some people seem to be so stuck on booting from ReFS as being the critical feature that defines if it is or isn't supported...

Also, comparing running something from ReFS to running it from FAT32 or ExFAT is not a very good comparison, given that both FAT variants lack fundamental features I could absolutely understand being critical, like file permissions/ACLs.

Edited August 22, 2025 by Case_f

[Joni_78]

Issue here in my opinion is that big software companies are dictatorships like Russia for example. They do what ever they wan’t and just don’t care if thousands of people get banned for some mistake they did by accident.

[adrynalyne]

On 22/08/2025 at 00:28, Case_f said:

I still don't understand why some people seem to be so stuck on booting from ReFS as being the critical feature that defines if it is or isn't supported...

Also, comparing running something from ReFS to running it from FAT32 or ExFAT is not a very good comparison, given that both FAT variants lack fundamental features I could absolutely understand being critical, like file permissions/ACLs.

Do you recall hearing about that incident of Linux users being banned for running Windows games?

It’s the same idea. The difference in file systems clearly triggered their automated detection system. 

The problem that makes it difficult to fight Activision on is that their terms protect them, especially since Microsoft doesn’t support ReFS in this scenario. 
 

Im not saying Activision is right in what they are doing, just explaining the ‘why’ you questioned.

On 22/08/2025 at 00:33, Joni_78 said:

Issue here in my opinion is that big software companies are dictatorships like Russia for example. They do what ever they wan’t and just don’t care if thousands of people get banned for some mistake they did by accident.

Mmmm, vey poor analogy. 

[funkerwolf]

On 22/08/2025 at 10:33, Joni_78 said:

Issue here in my opinion is that big software companies are dictatorships like Russia for example. They do what ever they wan’t and just don’t care if thousands of people get banned for some mistake they did by accident.

It's true)

On 22/08/2025 at 14:10, adrynalyne said:

Do you recall hearing about that incident of Linux users being banned for running Windows games?

It’s the same idea. The difference in file systems clearly triggered their automated detection system. 

The problem that makes it difficult to fight Activision on is that their terms protect them, especially since Microsoft doesn’t support ReFS in this scenario. 
 

Im not saying Activision is right in what they are doing, just explaining the ‘why’ you questioned.

Mmmm, vey poor analogy. 

If this really helped them, there would have been a huge number of cheaters before and there still are now, but for some reason, they ban those who play their own way and do not actually violate anything. I am most astonished by the bans for DLSS, why are players prohibited from using the capabilities of their hardware while it is being advertised?

[funkerwolf]

On 22/08/2025 at 10:28, Case_f said:

I still don't understand why some people seem to be so stuck on booting from ReFS as being the critical feature that defines if it is or isn't supported...

Also, comparing running something from ReFS to running it from FAT32 or ExFAT is not a very good comparison, given that both FAT variants lack fundamental features I could absolutely understand being critical, like file permissions/ACLs.

Games and applications shouldn't care where they work, unless it's specified somewhere. On my SSD under refs, everything works much faster. The same goes for the tablet, yes there are some moments, but nonetheless. And the fact that anti-cheat companies are going deep into it should probably be concerning, shouldn't it? And even if these file systems were really the reason for violating something, there would be bans in other games as well, but that doesn't happen.

[funkerwolf]

Well, in the short time that I wrote the article on Habr, the voting below shows such a picture.

[funkerwolf]

I remembered some moments here, and I wrote to support and appealed that I was willing to provide access to my computer to prove that I did not violate any rules and did not cheat. But for some reason, this was also ignored.

[Joe User]

On 22/08/2025 at 17:42, funkerwolf said:

I remembered some moments here, and I wrote to support and appealed that I was willing to provide access to my computer to prove that I did not violate any rules and did not cheat. But for some reason, this was also ignored.

No need to worry, they already have your money. After all... isn't that what really matters?

/s

[Joe User]

On 22/08/2025 at 00:25, adrynalyne said:

This tells me you missed the point. 

Not really, DRM and anti cheat are a plague. And automated DRM, anticheat, and automated customer service are a pandemic.

[funkerwolf]

On 24/08/2025 at 02:55, Joe User said:

No need to worry, they already have your money. After all... isn't that what really matters?

/s

The stigma of cheaters is now a question of how to remove it. If everyone plays football instead of solving problems.

On 24/08/2025 at 03:00, Joe User said:

Not really, DRM and anti cheat are a plague. And automated DRM, anticheat, and automated customer service are a pandemic.

I installed Delta Force here and to put it mildly, I was shocked at how invasive it is; I had to manually remove the anti-cheat. I couldn't even play because it started in some incomprehensible language with some hieroglyphs, and there's no way to change it.

[adrynalyne]

On 23/08/2025 at 17:00, Joe User said:

Not really, DRM and anti cheat are a plague. And automated DRM, anticheat, and automated customer service are a pandemic.

There ya go. Three tries later, you finally figured it out. 👏

[Joe User]

On 24/08/2025 at 02:26, adrynalyne said:

There ya go. Three tries later, you finally figured it out. 👏

You don't know how much that means to me...

[FloatingFatMan]

On 19/08/2025 at 21:49, funkerwolf said:

I just want justice and to have the cheater label removed from my account and my friends' accounts, not to mention the huge number of false bans.
^{I still sometimes get the feeling that everyone is simply afraid to go against Activision.}

If you want "justice", then you have 2 options.

1. Lawyer up, take them to court and sue them, costing you hundreds of thousands of dollars to do so against a massive corporation with almost unlimited money and lawyers that'd eat yours for lunch AND, even if by some miracle you win, what then? You get the cost of the game back maybe, but they still won't let you on their network, and you won't get your legal costs back.

or..

2.  Cut your losses and never EVER buy another Activision product again. Boycott them completely, including Microsoft.

Justice belongs to the people with money, not average folks.  Sorry to be blunt, but that's the reality of this world.

 

[+Nik Louch Subscriber²]

On 25/08/2025 at 08:26, FloatingFatMan said:

If you want "justice", then you have 2 options.

1. Lawyer up, take them to court and sue them, costing you hundreds of thousands of dollars to do so against a massive corporation with almost unlimited money and lawyers that'd eat yours for lunch AND, even if by some miracle you win, what then? You get the cost of the game back maybe, but they still won't let you on their network, and you won't get your legal costs back.

or..

2.  Cut your losses and never EVER buy another Activision product again. Boycott them completely, including Microsoft.

Justice belongs to the people with money, not average folks.  Sorry to be blunt, but that's the reality of this world.

 

Or… just use a standard setup for a gaming environment, don’t mess about with file systems that aren’t supported and don’t use anything that could potentially be identified as a “cheating app” (which by their definition is anything that restricts file system access to their game content and apps).

As per most people…

See, I game infrequently, but I do mess about with my OS a fair bit, and part of that would IMMEDIATELY be the consideration of “Wait just a second, I have heard about these cheat detection methods they use, *AM I DOING SOMETHING* that could trigger those?”

[FloatingFatMan]

On 25/08/2025 at 13:46, Nik Louch said:

Or… just use a standard setup for a gaming environment, don’t mess about with file systems that aren’t supported and don’t use anything that could potentially be identified as a “cheating app” (which by their definition is anything that restricts file system access to their game content and apps).

As per most people…

See, I game infrequently, but I do mess about with my OS a fair bit, and part of that would IMMEDIATELY be the consideration of “Wait just a second, I have heard about these cheat detection methods they use, *AM I DOING SOMETHING* that could trigger those?”

That won't get him his "justice".  His account his gone, his PC probably blacklisted, and I doubt he wants to buy the game all over again...