BWSentinel Features

BWSentinel is an anti-hack device for online games of BW. It will run on BW version 1.10 only. It runs concurrently with BW and detects automatically when a game is played. Throughout the game, BWSentinel will collect some information and take random snapshots. The collected data is sent regularly to a game server on the Internet. Admins can then check those data for traces of potential hacks.

The Sentinel client should be running on the machines of each player participating in the game. One player cannot verify if the Sentinel is actually running on the other side, but Admins will be able to verify it on the server. If the Sentinel client of one player stops running at any time during the game, it will be recorded on the server.

IMPORTANT NOTE: BWSentinel will not be made public. It has been used successfully in TL Ladder final tournament but no further developments are planned. If you need an anti-hack program please turn to www.bwscanner.com written by TravelToAiur.

Hack detection

Maphacks, mineral hacks, etc, all use the same technique. They get access to the BW engine memory and change some stuff in there, mainly code. BWSentinel will scan that memory during the game and detect any change, whaveter hack it is. So far, we have tested it successfully on every found hack (approximately 20).

Each player IP will be recorded and collected on the server. The player IP is used to figure out the player's country.

Installation & Usage

1 - Download bwsentinel.exe and save it anywhere. There is no installer/uninstaller, just a simple executable.
2 - Start bwsentinel.exe & BW in whatever order
3 - Log on to BNet and play as usual

WARNING: If you are using a no-cd loader or some batch file to switch between 1.09 and 1.10 versions, make sure those files are located inside the Starcraft directory (usually c:\program files\starcraft), where the original starcraft.exe is located. Otherwise snapshots will not work and the game will not count.

How it works

1-First, when you start BWSentinel, it will check the availability of the game server. So if you have a firewall, like ZoneAlarm for instance, you might get a warning like this. Make sure you allow BWSentinel to access the Internet.			2-Once BW is started, BWSentinel should display the "Waiting for game" message. Like this: You're ready to start a game.
3-As soon as the game is started, you should see a message at the top left of the BW window. That message will last 3 seconds.			4-During the game, you can take snapshots using the usual PrintScreen key. Those snapshots will be sent to the server and then deleted automatically from your local disk. BW snapshots are resized and recompressed to an average or 15k per image.

5-When the game is over, you have 30 seconds to save the replay on your disk. You should see a count down message at the top left of the BW window. If the replay is saved during those 30s, it will be sent to the game server, otherwise it will not. After that, BWSentinel goes back to the "waiting game" mode.

WARNING: If at startup you get a message "Sentinel server not available", it means the Sentinel client is not able to talk to the Sentinel server. Therefore, a controlled game cannot take place. In that case, please contact the tournament admins.

Credits

BWSentinel is written by jca with the help of various people, including 0x64, Brefan, HurtnTime, Liquid.Meat, & Liquid.Nazgul. For all suggestions/bugs, please email me at jca@bwchart.com. Thanks.

For more info, check out www.teamliquid.net.