How to stop hacking in one easy step

[Anim]

How to stop hacking in one easy step

Dont build a game like its the 90's with client side registration when building an MMO, everything has been server side for a damn long time because of the ease of cheating with client side code. This, along side many other scew ups, is a MAJOR flaw in the game and honestly even if they fixed things now I still dont want to play with a game coded this badly.

[Psyqhical]

They did this with Xcom: Enemy Unknown to combat cheaters, but didn't work. The cheaters just wrote a bypass file that ignored the hash check. In the end the solution did nothing.

You guys need to understand that hackers are more resourceful than that.

[Erei]

*snip*

I don't hate you for doing this, in fact I pity you. If you have fun annoying people ingame, using cheats and hacks, it will only prove you have some twisted pleasure, or a sad life. In both case, it's sad.

[phangan]

LOL well i guess the integrity of the game files is already checked.
Anyway its been ages.. how about a few flags check and a $10/hour dude

[Derity]

Using checksums for game files wouldn't stop a damn thing, sorry op, you clearly have no idea how hacks work.

They don't change the games files one iota, they change data in memory once the program is running, or change the processes in memory responsible for the data. Programs like punkbuster work by creating a resident process, loaded before the OS kernel that looks for known hacks in memory while your game is running. Punkbuster enabled servers can also ask the client on your pc to take a screen shot that is submitted for checking. Its a constant process, find new hacks add their detection to punkbuster, look for the hack once its changed a week later, but this does nothing for unknown hacks.

There are other counters that I am not going to discuss here; suffice to say they have nothing to do with checksums.

^ This.

Completely preventing hacks has no magic pill solution, it's going to take constant updating detection to keep up with the hackers, they will pretty much always find a way in, look at any PC game.

The best thing they can do is like this guy said, get something like Punkbuster built in and ban as many as possible.

[necrofobic]

If I would truly do it to be a 1337 pro gamer then I would be less obvious, don't make vids and post them out in public. If you only knew how many closet cheaters there are in games...

The one on the topstats who you think are great players are 50% cheaters who hide it well (I know a lot of them)
Think of me what you want, I'm above internet rage, but it does bring attention to an issue that needs fixing ASAP

this x1000

the ones braggin about their leet skills and constantly performing 80% better than the rest of the playfield is more than likely just a cheat, its all about statistics, these suckers think its a normal thing to beat "bad luck"

this is happening in bf3/blops2 ALL the time, people doing twice as good as everyone else on the team for some utterly unknown reason, and they never suffer from bad luck and get snuck up on from behind when in a bad spawn situation

cheating is like a plague on pc atm, hacksites full to the brim with paying members


blops 2 being a prime example with its random spawns (that sucks) and dodgy netcode, you simply dont go 40/2 in 10 minutes without something being wrong, yet ull see those kinda scores almost every game

[squidgod2000]

Considering how Trion has failed to meet its own standard of quality at launch in stability, content, and momentum, I very much look forward into seeing if they can meet their own standard of quality on exploits/third-party hacks.

The login bypass issue on Rift was solved within a week with coinlock.

It wasn't solved with coinlock, it was solved by a guy on the forums who taught Trion how to do their jobs. Coinlock was an "Oh sh*t" reactionary move, not a solution.

[Alpharius]

I'm beginning to wonder whether game companies should begin suing individuals who have been found to be utilizing cheats as well as the fellow who write it.

I do understand that the battle between cheats and developers is something of an arms race. It might be better to just strike the killing blow by hitting at the persons responsible.

Otherwise, i'm also given to understand that alot of cheat-traffic and bot users seem to arise out of countries like China and Korea? Something about there being a micro-industry that uses script, bots and cheats to generate large amounts of in game currency which they sell for real money? Might be wise to monitor traffic originating from such locales more closely.

[necrofobic]

It wasn't solved with coinlock, it was solved by a guy on the forums who taught Trion how to do their jobs. Coinlock was an "Oh sh*t" reactionary move, not a solution.

but only after basicly calling everyone an idiot who cant keep their computer and passwords safe for over a week bfore they admitted their lil mishap

[Olaf]

Using checksums for game files wouldn't stop a damn thing, sorry op, you clearly have no idea how hacks work.

They don't change the games files one iota, they change data in memory once the program is running, or change the processes in memory responsible for the data. Programs like punkbuster work by creating a resident process, loaded before the OS kernel that looks for known hacks in memory while your game is running. Punkbuster enabled servers can also ask the client on your pc to take a screen shot that is submitted for checking. Its a constant process, find new hacks add their detection to punkbuster, look for the hack once its changed a week later, but this does nothing for unknown hacks.

There are other counters that I am not going to discuss here; suffice to say they have nothing to do with checksums.

Hex is right. Most hack writers have their hacks inject themselves directly into the games memory, thus becoming part of the game. Any hash checking solution would be easily bypassed, the hack would just intercept the 'HEY YOUR FILES ARE BAD' message and disregard it before the game can process it. I think the best solution would be to use an already established anti-cheat solution such as Punkbuster (this still wont stop all the cheaters but better than no cheat detection right?).