The Riddler (DayZ)

Sinnaman makes a good point though that I have observed on my server as well when it seems to freeze up. Every time I have seen our server freeze, we are near capacity (was 40, now 50) and one thing I have witnessed when its frozen is in the player list showing somebody trying to join. I have even gotten in the habit of checking the player list when we suspect the server is frozen and every time I see a player trying to join. Its certainly plausible that the last player trying to connect could be in conflict with another player who tried to join at the exact same second. Sinnaman - since we're both on Fragnet, send in a ticket right after a crash; the kind support folks with Fragnet replied back to one of my tickets indicating there is a "bug" in .52 causing crashes and they sent off our logs for BI to review. Might be worth it if indeed the BI people are able to review said logs. You make a good point as well in regards to a memory leak. I have sat inside a house logged in as Admin and just observed the memory usage that the server is using (can't recall the command you can type in to see the performance). It fluctuates up and down, but over longer periods of time, i.e. the longer the server is running before restart, the memory count seems to continue to rise and rise and I wonder at some point if it starts to leak off or possibly run out thus causing poor performance and eventually a lockup.

Made me laugh. Pretty much sums up Elektro on our server.

Thanks for playing on our Server. We are looking forward to a new version on Stable. Also thanks to those on these forums who have joined our TS to report cheaters/hackers. We were successful in capturing video and gathering the names of two players using an ESP hack this past week. Below is a guide we have come up with to help combat a cheater/hacker when they are encountered on our server. For the most part they hang around high populated areas around the coast, but we have certainly witnessed them inland in and around the Vybor and NWAF: There is a way to tell who is hacking; these days in .52 its more obvious than ever. The player will teleport around so quickly that they can be spotted from very far away especially when on open flat ground. This is even more visually apparent when you're driving a VS3 and a player will not only keep up with the truck, but out pace it and start doing circles around the moving vehicle but their character will look like they're just standing still. I have plenty of video evidence to support all of this. Killing hackers is not easy, but its absolutely possible to kill them. I have proof positive video evidence of it and had the hack confirmed by the admins on here as well as the BI developers; We killed the said hacker(s) and got the name(s) before they could log out or respawn leaving the dead character as "unknown entity". Furthermore, we've started noticing hackers like to use the name "unknown entity" to try and conceal their player identity if they do indeed getting killed. Below is a strategy that we have used numerous times to kill said hacker(s). The number one thing you don't want to do is just "run away" or worse attempt to log out. That is what 90% of the hackers expect you to do and so they'll teleport ahead of you, take aim and you become "unconscious" or "you are dead" almost instantly. If you attempt to log out it makes things even easier for them as your players stops moving making you easy prey. Over the past few months, myself and a few other admins got so sick of our server getting overrun by cheaters that we have developed tactics to combat the hackers and they have proven to be successful. Please note I've died more times trying to kill a hacker than I have killed hackers, but getting just one of their names is worth 100 character lives to me. Below is a list of tactics we follow: Immediately begin recording (all of us admins have Fraps ready to go at the push of a button AT ALLTIMES)Don't run awayDon't stop movingStart to run randomly around the area, and if possible, get out into the open (like a field etc) so the hacker is easily spotted as they teleport around. zig zag, giggle, do whatever it takes but don't stop.Stay away from walls especially if they are using a melee weapon. This is the number one way I've watched hackers AXE somebody in the back of the head as they'll clip through the wall with the axe raised.Try to melee the hacker; we've found this to better than attempting to shoot them unless you have a scout in the distance who can zero in a shot while the other players are in a melee battle. If you are alone and have a shotgun, they seem to be the best gun for taking them down as they don't change direction well. Shoot/Melee into the lane they are teleporting into. You'll start to see the pattern in which they move around and you'll start to get accustom with their moving patterns so you can anticipate shooting them. Hackers can't teleport into a building upstairs. If they are using a non-assult rifle we'll move into the upstairs of a small building.Don't get frustrated if you die; the hackers will almost always hang around a high populated area like the coastal cities so you can get after them again once you respawn. If they have an assault rifle; there is no denying this, you're screwed 99.9% of the time. <<< I am being as honest as I can with this. Another way to have absolute proof of a hacker is when you A.) break their legs, or B.) knock them unconscious. They have the ability to still move across the floor as if their legs are not broke/passed out and they will always at that point try to get away. The problem they'll have is, they have to bandage or find a way to fix their legs, both of which requires them to crouch and perform an action in place. That is the time we have killed them the most if not outright from a blow to the head. It is at that point where we will screenshot their name, bring up the player list while recording, and make a verbal point in the recorded video of the said player, then kick and add their name to the ban list. The video evidence is then turned in for proof positive ID on the said hacker. If we receive word back they do not believe this person was hacking, the player name is removed from the banlist. To date we've never had to remove a single name.

SERVER RESTARTS ARE NOW 2 HOURS AND AUTOMATED!

I wish you would read closer before replying; seriously i'm not trying to be a dick either, but you need to read closer as I've already covered the points you've made several times in detail, but I will digress one last time. The option in fragnet has always been there and we've always been a public server. Never switched from Public to Private and with this server, we won't ever do that, we'll simply rent a second server if we want a private shard. There is a way to tell who is hacking; these days in .52 its more obvious than ever. The player will teleport around so quickly that they can be spotted from very far away especially when on open flat ground. This is even more visually apparent when you're driving a VS3 and a player will not only keep up with the truck, but out pace it and start doing circles around the moving vehicle but their character will look like they're just standing still. I have plenty of video evidence to support all of this. Killing hackers is not easy, but its absolutely possible to kill them. I have proof positive video evidence of it and had the hack confirmed by the admins on here as well as the BI developers; We killed the said hacker(s) and got the name(s) before they could log out or respawn leaving the dead character as "unknown entity". Furthermore, we've started noticing hackers like to use the name "unknown entity" to try and conceal their player identity if they do indeed getting killed. Below is a strategy that we have used numerous times to kill said hacker(s). The number one thing you don't want to do is just "run away" or worse attempt to log out. That is what 90% of the hackers expect you to do and so they'll teleport ahead of you, take aim and you become "unconscious" or "you are dead" almost instantly. If you attempt to log out it makes things even easier for them as your players stops moving making you easy prey. Over the past few months, myself and a few other admins got so sick of our server getting overrun by cheaters that we have developed tactics to combat the hackers and they have proven to be successful. Please note I've died more times trying to kill a hacker than I have killed hackers, but getting just one of their names is worth 100 character lives to me. Below is a list of tactics we follow: Immediately begin recording (all of us admins have Fraps ready to go at the push of a button AT ALLTIMES)Don't run awayDon't stop movingStart to run randomly around the area, and if possible, get out into the open (like a field etc) so the hacker is easily spotted as they teleport around. zig zag, giggle, do whatever it takes but don't stop.Stay away from walls especially if they are using a melee weapon. This is the number one way I've watched hackers AXE somebody in the back of the head as they'll clip through the wall with the axe raised.Try to melee the hacker; we've found this to better than attempting to shoot them unless you have a scout in the distance who can zero in a shot while the other players are in a melee battle. If you are alone and have a shotgun, they seem to be the best gun for taking them down as they don't change direction well. Shoot/Melee into the lane they are teleporting into. You'll start to see the pattern in which they move around and you'll start to get accustom with their moving patterns so you can anticipate shooting them. Hackers can't teleport into a building upstairs. If they are using a non-assult rifle we'll move into the upstairs of a small building.Don't get frustrated if you die; the hackers will almost always hang around a high populated area like the coastal cities so you can get after them again once you respawn. If they have an assault rifle; there is no denying this, you're screwed 99.9% of the time. <<< I am being as honest as I can with this. Another way to have absolute proof of a hacker is when you A.) break their legs, or B.) knock them unconscious. They have the ability to still move across the floor as if their legs are not broke/passed out and they will always at that point try to get away. The problem they'll have is, they have to bandage or find a way to fix their legs, both of which requires them to crouch and perform an action in place. That is the time we have killed them the most if not outright from a blow to the head. It is at that point where we will screenshot their name, bring up the player list while recording, and make a verbal point in the recorded video of the said player, then kick and add their name to the ban list. The video evidence is then turned in for proof positive ID on the said hacker. If we receive word back they do not believe this person was hacking, the player name is removed from the banlist. To date we've never had to remove a single name. If the admins on here feel the information I've provided is against our forums rules, I respect that and understand why this post will be removed. Happy Hunting Folks,

You are right on point man. It does get ahead by 3 mins and the server does crash sometimes before the 2 hour point. I just witnessed it crash about 35 mins. into this last restart. It always seems to happen as somebody is joining from what i've observed. The script does what we need which is restart the dang server at about 2 hours. It seems to hang less vs. our normal 4 hour restarts. Just hope .53 fixes some of this stuff.

We understand how important it is to have significant proof before banning anybody and thus why the only players to date we've banned are proof positive hackers. Each player we've caught we have created a folder on our FTP for and in those folders are screenshots of the playerlist, and video(s) of the player in the act of cheating including video of their name on screen after checking their pulse. We do all that so we can always backup our case of a "just cause" ban.

Then why do I have the option of a ban list.txt in my CP of Fragnet as a public server? Names are added as we catch hackers and at this time its the only reason we add a player to the list . The rules according to this document: http://dayz.com/files/pdf/Server_Hosting_Rules_Public.pdf states that: Hacking is a just cause for kick/ban especially when you have Video evidence and the players name. Fragnet has confirmed this with me and the complaint filed by a person who we banned was indeed hacking. Boneboys even confirmed this hacker for us after sharing the name and video with him and the GUID was added to the BEC global banlist.

Nice shot!!!!!

Good group of guys!!! Wish I was in Europe fulltime so my ping wouldn't suffer so much but still a great group!!!

Got some help from Fragnet on a simple way to restart the server every 2 hours without having to create a job for each 2 hour restart. I have not tested this yet on my server but plan to today. I will reply back once I've had a chance to test. I'll setup messages warning of the restart 15, 10, 5 and 1 min before the restart. If this works, it will make our scheduler's much more simple going forward. <job id="3"> <runtime>020000</runtime> <start>020000</start> <day>1,2,3,4,5,6,7</day> <loop>6</loop> <cmd>#shutdown</cmd> <cmdtype>0</cmdtype> </job>

You should read better before you post. We're not talking about Private Shards here. Please post something of use instead of insulting other server owners who are discussing banning/kicking. We are a public server and have a ban.txt file inside the Control Panel of our server. We're using Fragnet as our GSP. If we indeed catch a hacker (killed and video recorded) we add that player's name to the ban list and kick them immediately from the server by pressing "P" , highlight their name, and click "kick". We then follow up with an admin on these forums to report the incident along with the video evidence. It doesn't solve the problem with hackers, but it does at least slow them down. As far as complaints against the server for kicking, we've had a few reported but with recorded evidence and screen shots of the player list at the time we kicked, our provider has dropped the complaint and replied back to us that we had sufficient evidence for the kick/ban. Also we received this from Fragnet the other day regarding BEC. This might help some fellow server owners using BEC:

We appreciate everyone who plays on our server. We stay full all day long thanks to players like you. Thanks for making our server your home! Elektro continues to be the place of death. Please enter Elektro on the basis that you will probably be shot at before you're able to even say hello. Admins treat Elektro at this time as KOS. If you join our TS, we will know NOT to KOS. We are currently working to overhaul our schedule again with the changes brought forth by BEC. We're hoping this will keep the server running throughout the night with 2 hour restarts as it tends to freeze in the middle of the night. Fragnet has been helpful in reporting our crashlogs to BI, but until a new build comes out we'll continue to have this issue. Below is a message we received from Fragnet regarding the changes to BEC:

Really sorry about that man. All that can be done is to report it to us and try your best to get the hacker's name. We are lucky sometimes and will get their name, plus video evidence which we then report here. Thanks for playing and always feel free to join our TS!

Thanks for joining us! We're usually on in the evenings U.S. time and mostly on all day during the weekends. You're welcome anytime! Thanks for playing!

We have changed our restart times to 2 hours. Persistence remains off.

HAPPY NEW YEAR SURVIVOR'S!!!! THANKS FOR MAKING OUR SERVER YOUR HOME!!!

Thanks for playing!!!

Finally have our scheduler all fixed up once and for all!!!! Restart messages are now working!!! We are still seeing an occasional unexpected restart so please bare with us. The only good thing about those is new unexpected loot when the server comes back up!!! Re-loot the same area when it restarted!!! Thank you for playing with us!!! Met a lot of new people over the holidays on our TS.

I'm with Fragnet and we're seeing a hangup about once a day when at 40 players. Fragnet responded that this is a bug with .52. If you're on a private server that might be why you're not experiencing the issue as we don't have a whitelist. Here is the response from our ticket:

Elektro has become the new murder capital of all of Chernarus on our server. Please enter the city with KOS expectations. Nobody seems to be safe these days there and nobody seems to care to meet and greet. Players beware!

I'd like to get copies of my files to see how often this is happening on ours. I don't know if Fragnet will offer this or not though. We are indeed experiencing issues where we're having to restart the server manually. We have no other choice to get the server back up and running again. Here is what I received today from Fragnet in a ticket regarding our server hanging/crashing:

That's a good idea. Always join at xx:01 or xx:31 if the server starts on the half hour. Good advice.

Happy Holidays to all the survivors out there that make their home on this server. This server is for the players, by the players. Your contributions are what allows us to keep this server running. Thank you for playing with us!

Oh yes. Crazy times again in Elektro, the city of Death. :D Berezino had some action tonight as well. Multiple fire fights on both ends of town. It was fun times !!!!