BASH 911: CVAR out of range

I received the following email from bf, a BASH reader:

I came across your blog "BASH" and wonder if you could help me out. On certain COD2 servers I'm now getting kicked off because my CVAR=10,000 (or something like that). I would never use any type of cheat for online play (vs. just the computer I have, but not COD). How do I fix my CVAR range, whatever that is, so that I no longer get kicked off by Punkbuster?

I'll try and tell you what I think and I welcome any readers to chime-in and suggest their thoughts:

1. Try and remember what the exact CVAR error message is. Your error message sounds a bit vague.

2. Note that when PunkBuster can't determine that a player's gaming environment is functioning properly and/or has not been altered, an Integrity violation is raised. This also involves the detection of modified game or PunkBuster files. These violation numbers are between 10000 and 29999.

http://www.punkbuster.com/publications/d3-pl/index.htm

It's possible that if it's a PunkBuster 10000 code one of their game files was corrupted. Reinstall PunkBuster.

3. Having said that, could it have been this one?

VIOLATION (CVAR) #9001: Cvar cg_hudObjectiveMaxRange = 10000

If this is the one, open your console, (type ~ to open it)

Then type:

/cg_hudobjectivemaxrange 2048

followed by Enter.

CVAR's are client side variables known as console variables and can be changed in the config_mp.cfg file:

C:\Program Files\Activision\Call of Duty 2\main\players\yourname

One of the lines in this file should read:

seta cg_hudObjectiveMaxRange "2048"

Variables in these files can be changed by the user. You may have accidentally overwritten one of the variables. Possibly a CoD2 modification may have done something to alter this number. I am not sure right now. Possibly someone reading this might know more.

Does changing a line in the config_mp.cfg file constitute cheating? In my opinion, no it does not. Not unless, the server your on expressly forbids you from using a value outside a given range.

4. If this happens again, you can always type the name of the variable in the console, like

"/cg_hudobjectivemaxrange"

The console will tell you the current value of the parameter and it's maximum possible value. In this case it is 2048.