So my account is gone..

TomCom1995

I would avoid downloaders like SARS/ARC honestly, they're way too dangerous, cache ripping is much safer as there's no external tool interfacing with VRChat's APIs.

The way SARS/ARC as far as I remember is by trying to spoof VRChat packets to download Avatar Asset Bundles, which lights up like a Christmas tree on VRC's End, it's practically holding up a big sign saying "BAN ME".

Insane part is I was going to use SARS, but when I saw the requirement for a license on their discord and the need for a vrchat account I put it down for later, I almost lost my account too.

Anteupplaya

@TomCom1995 what would be a useful tool? besides sars? i truly only ask cause i wanted to use sars to try some things with contacts but yt tutorials suck and ect.

TomCom1995

I would once again, recommend against using downloader tools like this, to my knowledge, cache ripping is safest.

When you download avatars in VRChat it stores them in a folder:
C:\Users[YourUsername]\AppData\LocalLow\VRChat\VRChat\Cache-WindowsPlayer
Avatars and Worlds appear as folders with random names like: AD208B20840AA572
If you sort by creation date the most recent downloaded avatar will be at the top, use this and cache clearing to single out specific avatars to rip, it's how I do it.
The avatar/world is stored in the file named _data, you can use AssetRipper to decompile these into (broken) Projects then use FACS01 to do repair work, though a more detailed guide is much better.

I would also like to point out that SARS on multiple occasions has given broken project files, I have a friend who isn't tech savvy and sends me projects to repair, and never in my life have I seen such a destroyed project file, missing files are very common when using SARS.

Anteupplaya

id prefer to cache rip but again i dont know how to

zeta.zaza

VRChat can't hack into your pc and see what you have installed. that'd be nuts.

the recent ban wave comes from, as tom said, installing VRCA files using SARS, which VRChat detects. this is why SARS specifically tells you to sign in with an alt account, because there is an almost guarantee that any account linked to this behaviour will get banned. this is why we pay close attention to the warnings and the risks. i lost my alt twice, my main is unaffected.

why the hell are you using the same name for everything? lol

CodeAngel

I'm wondering if any users who exclusively used ripperstore got hit with a ban, it would have to be a pretty huge one though, we had around 50.000 reuploads a day according to internal metrics

Anteupplaya

@zeta-zaza I actually did use my alt. both my accounts got banned

Anteupplaya

but fair on using the same name for everything. just to lazy

base

i got banned as well. tried submitting an appeal as well but not sure if it'll work. you're better off not using arc and js creating a new account so dont stress about it

Anteupplaya

this community is so supportive. i love it heh

Reym

better do the cache ripping than using any program to spoof vrchat api, most likely get flagged which not fun, be safe there when you do ripping

Anteupplaya

how could I cache rip?

picturesque

Tom said how to right here

Anteupplaya

i do have one final question. would I be ok re uploading my avatars to a new account?

Anteupplaya

NVM MY ACCOUNT IS APPEALED

picturesque

@Anteupplaya Congrats on getting your account back
and to answer the previous question. Yes, you can just remove the avatar ID from the pipeline manager.

Reym

@Anteupplaya congrats!!

XIXTheSus

Don't download avatars using Sars\arc, don't hotswap using Sars\arc. That's 100% red flag to VRChat to ban you. Don't use avatars that are ripped using methods above from other users (some of my friends go banned together with uploader of one avatar that he was wearing).
Wear (or be with person that wear) avatar, then extract it from cache and repair using sars\arc.
Thus, it still not 100% that you can't be banned. VRChat at any point can add scanner for sars\arc or\and add checks for a lot of thing in unity through SDK. Use original base model files and apply textures for it, convert assets files to fbx, and rename all folders (files) to something different...
I think you get the point.

Sinner

@CodeAngel I didn't get a bann on my account but I do have avatars banned and removed/turned into a robot because I got them from the ripperstore reuploading tool, they weren't over the mb limit and they were tagged if they were "nsfw". Now I'm a little bit scared to wear older avatars that I got from ripperstore tool, I had a couple avatars removed that I loved (mostly edits of avatars).

picturesque

@Sinner Some avatars just end up being removed/turned into robots just because they are unsupported, didn't pass the security check and countless other reasons VRC doesn't tell us about, because how closed they are to there rules. It's common that some avatars don't work anymore and do not pass the check. It happens. I've had a friend try different HS tools, and some avatars worked while others just spawned as robots/error bots. So, don't be scared to use the other avatars; they are fine to use. Plus, I have another who used the reuploading tool back then, and they uploaded 250 avis using it. there account is still going strong. Hopefully, this eases some concerns.