22 replies to this topic

[Protozoan]

I've had some very questionable and suspicious matches with players in the past in Mental Omega, and witnessed things that just should not be possible.

 

I'm wondering if it is possible for players to cheat in Mental Omega and hack the game?

 

And if there is, is there going to be any kind of way to stop this from happening?

[Darkstorm]

As I understand, most cheating programs made for YR shouldn't work for MO. That doesn't stop anybody from cheating though, just makes it a bit harder. I'm not quite sure what kind of cheating you're talking about here.

[Martinoz]

Shouldn't work, mismatching.

[Oktavia]

You haven't said what was so suspicious about these matches.

Edited by Oktavia, 26 May 2014 - 06:10 AM.

[Meyerm]

Is lag a possibility? I don't have much online rts experience, but lag in fps games often takes the appearance of "superpowers" and hack-related things.

[Protozoan]

You haven't said what was so suspicious about these matches.

 

Abnormal build times & cash.

 

Is lag a possibility? I don't have much online rts experience, but lag in fps games often takes the appearance of "superpowers" and hack-related things.

 

Nah, it doesn't work that way with RA2.

[Petya]

Afaik there are hacks for MO3 which don't cause system errors, so they can be used in multiplayer too.

[RP.]

 

You haven't said what was so suspicious about these matches.

 

Abnormal build times & cash.

 

 

That will cause a desync quite fast. Trust me, I've tried. inb4 ermahged hacker

Only thing that works is mostly client-sided, like shroud. Shroud cheat isn't really shroud removal, it just unloads / skips loading of the shroud file.

Things like godmode and such desync instantly.

[Protozoan]

Afaik there are hacks for MO3 which don't cause system errors, so they can be used in multiplayer too.

 

[doctormedic]

Well this is Perfect

[Allied Commander ???]

Well rulesmo editing is also called a 'cheat',

Spoiler

just like I complete Soviet missions with the help of Psychic Beacon.

[Meyerm]

Rules editing means you can't play multiplayer unless the other people have the same rules file. Rules editing is only cheating if used against other people.

[Darkstorm]

It's also a file edit which cases a mismatch.

[Divine]

Well rulesmo editing is also called a 'cheat',

Spoiler

just like I complete Soviet missions with the help of Psychic Beacon.

I don't get it. Why?

Spoiler

Edited by Divine, 26 May 2014 - 06:45 PM.

[Allied Commander ???]

 

Well rulesmo editing is also called a 'cheat',

Spoiler

just like I complete Soviet missions with the help of Psychic Beacon.

I don't get it. Why?

Spoiler

 

Did Libra use Topol-M ???

[Meyerm]

You can build armies in covert op missions my giving a unit you control mind control abilities and an enemy vehicle type you face the ability to deploy into a production structure. Make units you want to build free, done.

[Divine]

 

 

Well rulesmo editing is also called a 'cheat',

Spoiler

just like I complete Soviet missions with the help of Psychic Beacon.

I don't get it. Why?

Spoiler

 

Did Libra use Topol-M ???

 

I tweaked 3 parameters of Libra's weapon.

 

Burst=30

Range=20

Warhead=Nuke

 

(that means 2 nukes / second)

 

And then I lol'd as she shot down 4 barracudas with 1 dart, then pwned the pacific front's base in 30 seconds.

Edited by Divine, 27 May 2014 - 02:43 PM.

[lovalmidas]

Most cheats that have been deployed in other game lobbies can, theoretically, work in MO. Desyncs occur only if data packets between players have mismatches. So as long as the data sent is not 'suspicious', game won't trigger a premature end. Most of the time, one can check the SYNC files to see what are compared (and hence, what are not).

Things that goes through the sync check (or at least appears in the sync file, I doubt AlexB puts pointless objects in the log):

• Map Level
  • Units (this includes damage settings; when one unit is destroyed in one client, but not the other, you'll probably get a desync due to a missing unit entry)
  • Structures
  • Animations
  • Terrain features (e.g. trees, ore drillers)
  • Particle systems (oh, no wonton meteor shower cheats for ya. And I am not talking about the game mode )
  • House (no changing of house ID halfway, I suppose)
  • Map scripts - Taskforces, ScriptTypes, TeamTypes, TriggerTypes, AITriggerTypes and Tags (this is why you must have wholly identical maps even if you have the same physical map - besides, I believe the game does a separate check)
• INI Level
  • "AbstractTypes" - this includes
    • Campaign ID. No idea why this appears in the sync file.
    • Sides
    • HouseTypes
    • OverlayTypes
    • SuperweaponTypes
    • WarheadTypes
    • SmudgeTypes
    • TerrainTypes
    • The Big Four - BuildingTypes, InfantryTypes, UnitTypes, AircraftTypes
    • AnimTypes and VoxelAnim Types
    • ParticleTypes and ParticleSystemTypes
    • WeaponTypes and WarheadTypes
    • BulletTypes (means projectiles)
    • Tiberium (your four ore types)
    • Stuff from your AI ini file: Taskforces, ScriptTypes, TeamTypes, AITriggerTypes
    • Stuff from your terrain ini files: IsotileTypes (no custom tiles for ya)

All this pretty much means a direct tweak on the .ini or .map files will result in FAIL.


Things that can bypass the sync check, and potentially cause cheats (that doesn't involve mutual ini editing):

• Client-side graphical edits. I think.
  • As mentioned earlier, 'disappearing' shroud. This game has a habit of displaying every unit in the damn game (cue animations on top of the shroud) - oh nevermind the player isn't supposed to see it, we'll just cover it with blackness!
  • Perhaps... one can test if using different voxels/SHP for a unit will trigger a desync (this may be useful in, say, identifying targets on your own screen. Or just make those damn towering buildings shorter!)
• Tweaking the pre-requisites on the fly (afaik the game checks ini files before starting a match). Just as a trainer program can enable the President IFV in XWIS matches, so can it in MO, probably. I doubt the game checks the other player's pre-requisites (for one, it never checks the AI's pre-reqs).
   
• Building placement. It was a well-known cheat amongst XWIS players - Either placing a building beyond the allowed Adjacent= range, or placing into shroud are working cheats in YR.
   
• Map resize? This is questionable but interesting. Suppose both sides have the same map, which is actually larger than the actual playing map. Suppose the cheating player uses a trainer to change the map size on his side. Cue bombardment from offmap.
  • Just so you know, units work outside the visible map boundaries. I just made Singularity a bit more troublesome to troubleshoot because currently I have unintended units walking outside the visible range, lol. Death from Above and Ego Ergo Hax have Allied planes approaching from offmap and reloading offmap. Also, an offmap structure ensures the player's survival too.
• Death of Money hacks? This is questionable, considering that money information is sent to the Observer, yet this never appeared in Ares sync logs.

 

If only I can witness a high-level cheat... using Tool-assisted programs to jointly control player's units (Dune 2000 AI allocates its units into taskgroups with general orders associated with it, and it is possible to have a player control an AI-controlled team - you jointly build stuff too. Amazingly, Dune 2000 AI is not a cheating type). I really want to see this kind of cheat happening.

 

EDIT: Bold and underlined key ideas.

Edited by lovalmidas, 28 May 2014 - 12:01 PM.

[Frosayoi]

I've confirmed that moneyhacks will not work in multiplayer, neither will adjusting "Cost="

[Handepsilon]

Considering that would cause the unit to get trained faster, it would probably cause desyncs