Cerven

Kyrah, your undying devotion to the Dev Team is fabulous, but we've got a monetary stake in our servers and I'd like to be able to protect my server rather than praying for an anti-cheat engine which has failed at every turn ( and even accidentally banned innocent people ). While I welcome any assistance that Battleye wants to provide, I again posit that this game has been out for YEARS without any sort of attention on this front, and it's taken this game's publicity for these issues to get addressed. That's freaking pathetic and smacks of desperation rather than a resolve to do things right. If, however, these updates actually do result in hacking being significantly reduced, I'm all for it. And l0p, are you running a server? I'd love to see it - again, most of the guys running scripts are running modified versions that can slip past the script restrictions, which was way the logs were so useful in determining when someone was injecting modified scripts. They're not running bypasses, mostly because most of the cheat sites don't offer up their own bypasses and ask people to 'code their own'. The public bypasses very quickly get shut down because they're just that: public. But hey, you're the all knowing source here with your fake statistics and snarky attitude. We DO happen to be on the same side here: the side that advocates that the development team ought to not be hamstringing our ability to monitor our own servers. Let's focus on that, which is the point of this thread.

Some sort of acknowledgement that they're even reading this would be nice. I'm not threatening to shut down my server - if we make the decision to shut it down, we'll just shutter it and be done with it. I'm willing to endure the bugs, the radical changes to the game, and everything else that comes with an alpha - rampant hacking and being hamstrung into mock acceptance of it really has little to do with the fact that it's an alpha, however. We've heard very, VERY little on this particular front from the development team, even though it's clearly one of the issues that is most plaguing the mod. If this is the endgame, if this is how it's going to be when the mod is done being worked on and the standalone is released - why even pursue the mod at all? The answer is simple: the mod is keeping people engaged. This mod is going to ultimately be the object that sells the standalone to a lot of people, and if the mod is riddled with hacking and is virtually unplayable for a lot of people, that hurts the validity of the standalone product. We're still in the infancy of this mod, and I expect that hacking will continue to be an issue for quite some time. That's expected and understood, at least for me. What I don't understand is, while you're still in development, why not give admins the ability to police the servers if you obviously can't do it yourself? I'm seeing servers continuing to get blacklisted for violating rules, so obviously that system works, at least in part. However, people getting hive banned for hacking seems to be a LOT harder of an issue to tackle, especially with it being increasingly harder for admins to gather evidence to substantiate a ban. You're going to have hackers on servers for the forseeable future - very few people legitimately believe Battleye has a chance in hell of fixing this problem, at least in the short term. Why not give admins the tools to fight back? Even if some servers use their admin powers for less than legitimate reasons, that still leaves many servers with good admin personnel that will work to make better places for people to play. Isn't that worth taking a risk for?

Actually it was pretty easy to prove someone was hacking before, the true 'hackers' really aren't that many in number, the majority of the people running scripts are just reading info off a website and running a program: they have no real knowledge beyond that. The log picks these people up, and we were banning them accordingly. We didn't ban anyone that we didn't know for 100% certain was hacking, and the logs had already been submitted. Again guys, you're welcome to have opinions, but quit spouting statistics, numbers, or facts unless you have real evidence to back it up. 90% of hackers aren't running bypasses, and it's not 'pretty damn hard' to prove someone's hacking most of the time. A lot of you guys are posting this stuff without ever having run a server on this game, and really don't know what we're up against here. It's alright for you guys to have opinions that run counter to ours - that's your right - but please don't post stuff that is just patently not true here unless you've got facts to substantiate it.

Ya I'll concur with this, your load times here are absolutely ridiculous. Is anything being done to remedy this?

This has absolutely nothing to do with an Arma update and everything to do with 1.7.2.5. 1.7.2.5 changed how the servers log information. That created the situation we're in. That's it.

Please, re-read my entire post before taking certain parts out of context, man. Stay on topic! Of COURSE admins can use scripting cheats just like a regular user. That's not in dispute here - shitty admins will be shitty admins regardless of what tools they have at their disposal. The problem here is that GOOD admins are now left powerless to defend their servers against the ongoing onslaught of hackers. Battleye hasn't done anything to show us that they're going to actually remedy the problem - instead their fantastic software resulted in a multitude of false positives and many people got GUID banned for over a week before a week before they realized they'd screwed up. My question to Battleye is this: Why is this only NOW receiving the attention from your organization that it deserves? Why did it take DayZ to get to this point? Didn't you realize you had MAJOR issues with your anti-cheat engine prior to this? Furthermore, if the holes can't be patched - fine. Give us, the admins, the ability to track these individuals so we can police our own servers and try to keep our own streets clean. Even if 50% of the servers are run by corrupt, asshat admins - it's better than having 100% of the servers under siege by these hackers 24/7.

While you're absolutely entitled to your opinion, please do a little research before just throwing something out there, please. We're not advocating for the ability to spawn tanks, drop cows from the sky, or the ability to teleport you at will to wherever we wish - hackers already can do all of these things. As of right now, what we're asking for is the ability to track people who hack. Duping - while not exactly a hack - is an exploit of the game system. But taking it a step further, we were able to see people teleporting, and more importantly - individuals who were abusing other players on the server via scripts. All of this has been taken from us. All of it. We are now completely, 100% relient on Battleye to catch scripters/hackers - and I think we all know how well this is going. So yes, I agree with you that giving admins increased power will probably make the '12 year old' asshole admins very happy because they can possibly twist these newfound powers to abuse their populace. But don't you think that having SOME servers that are corrupt is better than ALL servers being hacked nonstop?

In all actuality, I understand the paranoia that goes with bad admins abusing their powers unfairly. It sucks, and people shouldn't have to deal with admins abusing players so they can benefit. But this knee jerk reaction in the other direction is way more damaging than allowing admins to 'run amok'. Instead of having - let's say 50% - of servers with bad or corrupt admins, you now have 100% of servers that are essentially powerless to stop hackers from attacking them at will - nevermind the fact that now it's essentially impossible for us to catch them after the fact. Does giving the admins tools create an enviroment where abuse could happen? Yes. Will all admins abuse that right? No. So to me it's a no brainer. Give admins more power, at least in the interim period until you get things tightened up. If people feel abused on certain servers, they can report it using the same method they always have - the forums. At least in that scenario, some servers will be able to protect their people from continued, unabated harassment from script kiddies and their ilk. Otherwise, we're in the situation where we are now - where every server is essentially a free for all for hackers.

We're just frustrated, man. We're doing everything on our end here to facilitate less cheating, and instead we're getting railroaded by the development team. And the lovely little ticker message from Battleye informing us that they've 'banned 12k valid hackers since June' doesn't really hold a lot of water with me. Would someone with some authority care to explain why the continued hamstringing of admins somehow supercedes the absolute bedlam of hackers that pervades servers across the board right now? Some of us are actually TRYING to do the right thing here, and you're essentially handing the controls of the servers back to the hackers. Either explain your position and why you're doing what you're doing, or give us the tools to police our own servers. Your narcissistic version of anarchy that you've bestowed upon us is only serving to irritate both players and admins alike.

Use a Bittorrent Client, upload the torrent file to it, and it will download the update.

I'd just appreciate the time changing option we were told would be implemented 'soon' weeks ago. Also wouldn't mind seeing BEC get implemented like they said was on the agenda. Other than that, our server has been fine so far. Can't really blame them for the bugs in the game right now.

Ped, let's let the DayZ Dev Team speak for themselves, they don't need you to do it for them. You don't admin/own a server evidently. You're a staunch supporter of the Dev team - that's great - SO ARE WE. If we weren't, we certainly wouldn't be putting our money where our mouth is and hosting servers for people to play on. So yes, our contribution to the project is visibility - we create places for people to play. The development team doesn't do that - we do. We're not telling these people that they're awful individuals or that their mod is bad, we just want some support on our end so we can make the experience better for everybody. Can't you get on board with that rather than just putting people on blast without any factual evidence to back it up?

I'd love to read your source that says we can't have our servers shut down when we aren't available to monitor them.

Apparently paying 30 bucks a month entitles us Admins to disregard personal integrity because we're owed something. :D

Because it's still breaking the rules, however you slice it. I'm a server admin - does my opinion count for more with you? Locking your server to gain a tactical advantage is AGAINST THE RULES. Just like hacking is. You and I both know it's wrong, and you can't justify it by saying 'Well I pay for the server, I do what I want', just like you can't set a bomb off in an apartment just because you rent a room.

What are you looking for it?

There's an L85A2 on the ground in the SW Barracks of the NW Airfield. No, it's not a trap ( at least not one set by me ), but you probably should be careful if you've decided you want to get it. Good luck to whoever scoops it up!

I thought about staying and watching it unfold, but I'd likely just get shot anyway, lol.

What server are you hosting? I'd like to join it.

Actually according to the letter of the law, we can't. We're supposed to present evidence in the form of a ticket, and allow the developers or battleye to do it, which can take days, if not longer.

You don't pay for servers by the hour, it's not a hooker motel buddy.

I've run a few servers on a multitude of games over the years, and the solution is a little simpler than you think. A server owner like myself makes a post on a public forum ( like this one ) advertising his server, explaining what they're about, what the rules are, etc. etc. In my instance, I'd provide a link to my website where you'd fill out a small application, telling me about yourself. After that, you'd be given probationary access for 30 days, and at the end of that you'd be a full time member. Our clan would sponsor the server, and to join our clan you'd have to pay a monthly membership fee ( something like 5 dollars or somesuch to pay for the server ). However, if you just wanted to be a server member, you'd pay nothing and be free to play as long as you were within the rules. Clan members usually get perks like priority seating in the server, teamspeak access, etc. Usually people end up wanting to be clan members just based on the fact that the server is well run, people are respectful when they have issues, that sort of thing.

You're of course right - they're not going to admit that they're completely impotent to fixing an issue that is literally ruining a good few players' experiences out there. Me personally, I'd be ok with 'We are aware and working on it', provided that was actually true and not just them blowing the community off.

I dunno, BI has taken a pretty good shine to DayZ and it hasn't gone unnoticed. I know Rocket has to be aware of the hacking issue, and considering he works for BI, it's not a ridiculous leap in logic to assume that they're at least discussing the issue. If not, well, that's poor on them. The people who have invested in this idea emotionally and with their wallets honestly deserve some sort of official response, even if it's 'there's nothing we can do'. It's not that I have confidence or lack of confidence in your capabilities, either - you're just not in a position of authority, that's all.

And while people continuously say 'you paid X amount of dollars for Arma 2, not DayZ', you and I both know that a huge amount of players here bought Arma 2 SPECIFICALLY to play DayZ. Whether you or anyone else likes it or not - that matters. Believe me, to BI it definitely matters. To be clear - you may be right. We may end up having to wait for a standalone version of the game in order to address these issues. I'm really ok with that - but a lot of people here will have very sour grapes if they end up having to pay another 30-50 bucks just to escape the hacking.