SRL Archive - General Botting Help

1. Introduction
2. How Jagex catches you

Introduction
Hello and welcome, in this tutorial you will learn how to not get your account banned on Runescape. All data in this tutorial is based on autoing experience of more than 2 years.

How Jagex catches you
1. The Runescape Java client can detect mouse clicks. If your mouse is teleporting and clicking or clicking too often, these un-human actions may cause your account to get banned.

2. Players are one of your worst enemies in botting. Making your account looking like a bot puts you under the pressure of being reported. For example: making a bald level 3 with an iron axe, and random event clothes will most certainly get you reported.

3. Jagex "flags" you. Whenever you get reported by a player, Jagex will "flag" you. When you are "flagged", Jagex will try to send you (mostly, unsolvable) random events. During the random event Jagex will (Somehow) monitor you solving the random event. If you do not solve the event or are having too hard of a time solving the random events continually, Jagex might ban your account. *Not verified yet…

4. Caring is saving! When Jagex is thinking about banning you, they will look at all of the records they have on your account. Including all of the dates and times when you failed to (or had too hard of a time) solving the random event, records on how many times you have been reported, records on how long you have played and etc… They will check your account for recovery questions, why? Because they want to see if you care about your account, if you don't you have a higher chance of getting banned. *I verified this, look below if you want to see how.
I have created 10 accounts and botted on them all with either SCAR or RSBot, half of them without recovery questions.
Accounts with recovery questions
Level 37 with 67 woodcutting and 50 mining, still going.
Level 66 with 80 woodcutting, still going.
Level 48 pure, still going.
Level 15 with 67 mining, got banned.
Level 35 mage pure, still going.
Accounts without recovery questions
Level 33 with 40 woodcutting, got banned.
Level 53 with 66 fishing, still going.
Level 66 with 40 smithing and 52 mining, got banned.
Level 3 skiller, got banned.
Level 90 main account, got banned.

So basically to avoid getting banned:
Don't use scripts with un-human mouse actions.
Don't get reported by players.
Take caution of random events.
Care about your account (or at least pretend to, if you really don't :P).


Thank you for reading. Be safe ;).

List of digged threads for information (most of information comes from my experience)...
http://villavu.com/forum/showthread.php?t=48035
http://villavu.com/forum/showthread.php?t=46424
http://villavu.com/forum/showthread.php?t=12
http://villavu.com/forum/showthread.php?t=48381
http://villavu.com/forum/showthread.php?t=47022
http://villavu.com/forum/showthread.php?t=46615

Making a bald level 3 with an iron axe :)

And yeah the guide tells the truth.

I am sorry Ultra, but point 1 and 3 are only partly true.

1. Jagex detect clicks, every 20 msecs, not mouse movements.
2. Very true!
3. Untrue, at least not certified by any authority on that matter. Every account is flagged at creation time. How the flag-bucket is filled depends on a great number of parameters.

There is a thread here somewhere written by a former mod. He has all the details. I need to dig that up.


but: keep up thje good work!~ Do some digging, wrap up some details, revamp your tut, and I might just stickify it!

3. I believe when an account is flagged that they actually start the macro detection software. Plus I read it in the leaked PMod forums. :P

mormonman: That's kinda what i wanted to say >.<, thanks.

I agree with all the above thoughts.

Here is something I wrote for (mostly for newbies) on another message board but I think it bears repeating here:

Jim's Rules for not getting banned:

Remember first and foremost, you need to make your script look and feel like a real human is operating the controls.
Jagex probably looks for two main things, that is a character who is playing far longer than a normal human can, and a character who is far more fast and efficient than a real human is. I'm sure that Jagex can spot 90% of scripts from just checking those two characteristics.

Here are my rules you should keep in mind when writing your scripts:

1) Before you start with your script, you should play the game for an hour and pay attention to your actions. How long does it take you to mine a rock or chop a tree? How often do you stop and take a break? How often do you chat with your friends? How often do you walk around and turn the camera?

2) Once you have a good "feel" for how your character should look, you can then start to write your script. Remember, you DON'T want the script to run any faster than a normal human would play the game.

3) You want to keep everything random. Make sure everytime you click the mouse, it is in a slightly random spot, you don't want to click the exact same spot over and over. Most of the mouseclick routines have a random function built in that makes this pretty easy. You want your script to also move the camera around randomly every 5 minutes or so, and check your stats every 10 or 12 minutes for the skill you are working on, just like a real human would.
However, don't go bonkers with making it too random, don't have your camera going up, down, left, right all the time, because that looks as odd as not having it move at all. Be careful with automated chats though. If your character says "Hi Everyone" over and over, even if it's only every ten minutes, it will start to look suspicious and someone will probably report you. Better to say nothing than to have a stupid or repetitive autochat that makes you look more like a bot.

4) Speaking of looking like a bot, that is another topic, don't look like you just got off tutorial island. Make sure your character is wearing appropriate clothes or armor. Don't just have the "generic bot" look, bald head, etc. Even full bronze armor and a bronze short sword is better than nothing.

5) Another thing to remember is you don't want to click too fast. Every time you click or move or do any action, you should put a wait statement. You want to keep this random also, so maybe you could have a statement that says something like
"Wait (1000 + random(500));"
This will enable your character to wait somewhere between 1 and 1.5 seconds between actions, exactly like how a real human would. I would time out how many logs you chop in 10 minutes or how many iron ore you mine in 10 minutes and try to make your script come out the same. Remember, if you are Jagex, and you have a readout of 1000 people chopping wood, and 999 are cutting a thousand logs per hour and you see one guy on the list who is cutting 2000 logs per hour, which one do you suppose you will focus your attention on???

6) Obviously this means don't get greedy. Make sure that you don't run your script any longer than you would normally play. It would be nice to run a script 24 hours a day and 7 days a week, heck you could get to 99 pretty quickly, couldn't you? But I'll bet if a character plays over 24 hours straight all sorts of alarm bells start to go off at Jagex headquarters. Why take that chance?
Always assume that someone from Jagex could look at your activity at any time.
In fact, I would say it would be good to limit yourself to 5 hours a day of scripting.
Also, remember to change your skill at least once a week. Real humans can't cut logs every day for a month, we would get way too bored. Change things up like a real human would. Even on your testing account, do a simple quest or two so that the account will look more real.

7) TEST EVERYTHING THOROUGHLY before launching. Anytime you write a new script, create a new character from scratch. Test the script on this new "throwaway" character. And by test, I mean sit there and watch the script. Don't just glance at it every ten minutes. Watch every second of the script. Make sure it looks very human like. Test the script for at LEAST 20 hours before you put it on your main. Don't shortcut this step. If you run a script for 20 hours on your throwaway character and it works fine, then and only then should you think about using it on your main. Remember, if you shortcut this step and something screws up, and you lose your main, then years of your work is going down the drain and you can never get that back. Make a new throwaway character for each new script you work on, that way if the character gets banned you know EXACTLY which script caused the ban. If you only have one throwaway character and you test ten different scripts on it, you won't know which one was the defective script that caused the ban.

8) Whenever possible, ALWAYS try to do the testing on some other computer than the one you usually use for your main. If you have a laptop, use that. I don't know how much Jagex can trace our activity, but it's best to keep some distance between the testing of scripts and the actual use of scripts. If you have a bad script and it gets your throwaway character banned, you don't want it to affect your main character in any way. Never talk or chat about your main when testing scripts. Obviously don't ever tell anyone in game or even in real life that you are using scripts. It probably only takes one person to complain and Jagex will flag your account and pay close attention to it. That is exactly what we don't want.

9) Don't make your script "too perfect", remember, real humans sometimes mis-click on things, make sure your script makes mistakes too. You don't want it to make a lot of mistakes, just a couple per hour. The easiest way to do this is to build a random function into where the mouse clicks, you will have to play around with it to make sure that it is only making a couple mistakes per hour.

10) As a followup to that last point, don't make your scripts "too sloppy", you don't want the script to get stuck doing something stupid over and over again for an hour. As a good example, when I was writing a woodcutting script, I found that the script would sometimes click on a bush thinking it was a tree. Obviously without some sort of error checking routine, the script would have clicked on the bush 500 times trying to cut it down. The reason it couldn't tell the difference was that the bush was the same color as the tree. Do you think that was just coincidence? I think not. Jagex probably has lots of things like that to catch scripters. Make sure you have good error checking routines to catch any unforseen circumstance. My solution was to keep a count of how many times I had tried to cut a tree, if it got to five and there was still no log in my inventory, the script runs in a random direction and turns the compass so that hopefully it can find a correct tree to cut instead of being next to that bush.

11) Unless you have a way to deal with randoms, NEVER leave your script unattended. I'm pretty sure that Jagex keeps count of how may times your character has failed a random event, and if your total goes too high, then you are probably running a bot. Even just logging out when a random happens may be bad also, we don't really know.

12) If you DO get banned on your throwaway character, post the details on this forum. Tell us where you were, what you were doing, and post the script you were using at the time if you can. Make it as detailed as possible. If we get 1000 people who get banned and we get a good report from each one of them, we can probably figure out what triggers a ban. The more we know about the banning process, the easier it is to defeat it.

Remember, Jagex has over one million paying members each giving them $5 per month. That is FIVE MILLION DOLLARS THEY ARE EARNING EVERY MONTH!!! They are hardcore serious about not letting anyone screw that up, and if scripting became widespread, you are guaranteed it would mess that up. If I was in their place I would be doing everything I could to squash scripting as hard as I could. If they just let tons of people use scripts, the players who didn't know how to run scripts would get all bummed out and quit, and that's what Jagex definitely doesn't want. So be aware that they are dead serious about coming after you and unless you are 100% positive you know what you are doing, don't do it. They have eliminated appeals for scripters, so once they catch you it's all over. Just like they used to say about the wildy, if you aren't prepared to lose everything you have, this isn't the place you ought to be. Be smart and be safe. Happy scripting!

JIM

Nice one, Jim. My thoughts exactly. But you already knew this of course :) I was referring to a post I read on this board somewhere written by a former mod, giving a detailed inside info on the banning mechanism

Of course, if five million dollars is potentially at stake, don't you think Jagex has a way of putting out false information? I certainly would do that. "Leaked" info which potentially is completely false and could lead to anyone who uses it becoming instantly banned.
I'm 99% sure that any "mod" insider info is a trap. I'm also sure that Jagex has someone on their payroll who is also posing as a member here, to keep tabs on us. You can bet your life on it. Anyone who seems too good to be true probably is. Watch any WW2 prison escape movie and there is always a mole put there by the camp commandant. Don't be foolish enough to think this is any different.

I think its like this when a player reports you:

Player sends a report > Server obtains it > Server sends a hard random.

However most of todays Java's bots easily solve ALL random's…

But they have eliminated most of the randoms, haven't they?

Does anyone have a list of the current randoms? What are considered "hard" randoms versus "easy" randoms? Seems like they are all of equal difficulty to me.

From: jimthesoundman
But they have eliminated most of the randoms, haven't they?

Does anyone have a list of the current randoms? What are considered "hard" randoms versus "easy" randoms? Seems like they are all of equal difficulty to me.

Hard randoms are prison pete, evil bob island, and abyss.

From: mormonman
Hard randoms are prison pete, evil bob island, and abyss.

and mime

From: jimthesoundman
But they have eliminated most of the randoms, haven't they?

Does anyone have a list of the current randoms? What are considered "hard" randoms versus "easy" randoms? Seems like they are all of equal difficulty to me.

http://runescape.wikia.com/wiki/Random

And maze for bots.

Nice. Once when I had autoed for like 24 hours mod paul teled right next to me and asked if had ever autoed? I was real lucky to be there to ansver him. (like 4 years ago)
Anyway my account got banned shortly after that.

I've been thinking more about this thread. I'm sure that due to the overwhelming amount of accounts in the free world, there is no way they could check every potential bot, it must be an automated process. Especially if the mouse is doing something that is a real tip-off like jumping around the screen or if they are typing entire sentences at a time instead of one character at a time.

BUT beyond that, I'm beginning to think that they must have real humans who can "mirror" your screen, similar to PC Anywhere, that program from long ago that used to let you view another persons desktop. I'll bet for members that the account may get flagged by "bot detection" software, but then I'm sure a real person will just monitor your activity on his screen for a while. If you are running a bot it is probably very easy to spot. The mouse will move from place to place in exactly a straight line every time and click on exactly the correct spot all the time. It will not pause or get distracted like a human would, etc. Some of the better scripts compensate for that, but I'm sure the average script sticks out like a sore thumb.
So I'm putting as much attention as possible into making my script look sloppy and humanlike.

Lol nice one thanks lol :)
Might not get banned this time

It is illegal for jagex to monitor your screen. If they do monitor your screen they can be sued.

From: NH3
It is illegal for jagex to monitor your screen. If they do monitor your screen they can be sued.

They can 'monitor' anything that you have agreed to

I don't think they are allowed to monitor anything on your computer or hard drive, and they aren't allowed to spy on what other windows you have open, besides the one running Runescape. But you are a fool if you think they can't project a mirror image of your browser window of Runescape on their screen, so they can see how you are moving the mouse and clicking on things. Just by looking at how you are moving and clicking on the screen, they probably can spot a bot right away.
I'm sure this only happens rarely, most of the bot detection is automated, as they only have a few dozen humans monitoring the game which has 75k to 150k players online at any given second. That is why you so rarely see or interact with Jagex Mods. But if you get flagged by the automated bot detectors, I'm sure a human really does take a good look at your account before issuing a ban. Always assume that at any time a J-Mod could virtually pop in and watch over your shoulder at the screen to see what you are doing. If your script looks that natural and humanlike you'll be fine. Just remember not to run the script more than a few hours a day at most. Greedy and sloppy people are the ones getting banned.

From: Zyt3x
They can 'monitor' anything that you have agreed to

^ What he said.

I have worked professionally for the government in the Information Technology field for 5 years. One of the first things people have to do is waive their rights to privacy while using our systems. By signing an user agreement and Acceptable Use Policy. As a network admin sometimes I do Hack peoples computers in my area of responsibility. I can Quite literally do just about anything once there.

~BraK

E: Please word this better next time. We don't insult each other here on this forum.

But you are a fool if you think they can't project a mirror image of your browser window of Runescape on their screen, so they can see how you are moving the mouse and clicking on things.

From: BraK

E: Please word this better next time. We don't insult each other here on this forum.

Wasn't meant to be an insult. I should have said he was being "ignorant and naive", or maybe I should have said he was "living in la-la land". Or maybe I should have said he was "deluding himself". He's certainly no fool, but he certainly might be living in la-la land if he thinks Jagex can't spy on him. There, that's much better! Everyone happy? Excellent. My apologies if I tread on anyone's toes. I'll just go back to lurking now. Have a nice day.

Just remember there's always a better way to say something. Everyone is entitled to an opinion. Wether or not it is correct doesn't matter. Debates and dicussions can be carried out in a civil way. Trust me we get some heated debates on this forum.

~BraK

From: NH3
It is illegal for jagex to monitor your screen. If they do monitor your screen they can be sued.

if it is in the runescape window they can monitor it all they like…

If Jagex has no idea that you are botting and have no reason to signal out your character then you shouldn't worry. We all should follow these principles, but keep in mind that if Jagex has no reason to look at your character, they won't waste time and resources. They can't watch every character in the entire game.

They only watch characters that they are suspicious of. They have to be suspicious for a reason. The anti-ban guide should focus around not doing things which are suspicious, such as the suggestions above.

Jagex does want to perserve that 5 million. They have struck a balance between spending ridiculous amounts of money monitoring every single character, but keeping botting at bay to not displease to many paying customers. My thought is that they don't care all that much. As long as the major botters and sloppy botters are banned, and players are happy, they don't focus to much of their resources on it.

This guide was helpful but I'd like to know how safe is it to 24/7 bot? I know it's all opinion but I have no idea it is considered "safe" to bot for.

Thanks for the guide man! Jim thanks too!
I think this will help a lot of people not getting catched :)

So has anyone got unbanned?