Sna.ke

Just based on your MiXeD CaSe i can tell you probably don' know what you're talking about. First of all, game modes doesn't matter to anti-cheat software (like VAC and PunkBuster). Both are used in PvP and PvE (co-op) games and both do very good jobs. Anti-cheat software's purpose is to prevent modified game files and memory/code injection in the game client. It does not have deep levels of integration to monitor player gameplay or anything like that. It simply monitors memory, DLLs, and common injection methods for "fishy" stuff going on in the user's game client. The problem it seems with BattlEye is it has an odd ability to be so easily bypassed. For the last month or so we've been hearing rumblings about most hackers being catchable, but some were using bypasses that didn't appear in the log files. In the last week or two, it seems these bypasses became public and hacking has just EXPLODED. It's not all BattlEye's fault. ARMA2 is designed to be script and it's designed to accept the game client's word/commands as valid, even in scenarios where what the game client is suggesting should be ignored. The one thing you are right about is that switching would be expensive. VAC is only an option of the game is required to run through Steam (which ARMA2 is not) so that's out. That leaves PunkBuster which would have expensive licensing. Integrating it into the game would also require development time and extensive testing. At the end of the day, using a piece of software that has proven itself as valid vs one that has proven itself as bypassable is probably the right choice. Just another thing to point out that is mildly amusing: When talking about VAC and PunkBuster, cheaters/script kiddies/hackers refer to being "undetectable" by VAC and PunkBuster. In BattlEye it's referred to bypassing the software completely. Kind of scary.

It is always a good idea to kick/ban with actual proof. If you don't have proof and someone complains on these forums, it is considered "admin abuse". But like I said, it's a good idea no matter what the game is. On the other game servers the clan I'm with has run, we've always required our admins have definitive proof before banning. If something obvious happened right in front of their eyes, they were encouraged to screenshot and record it. The main reason is, if the player turns around in 3 or 4 months and submits a Ban Appeal, that admin may not be around or with the clan anymore, and we don't want to unban someone that was obviously cheating. Also, all of these recordings and screenshots helped us train new Admins in identifying hackers vs non-hackers. So yes, hard evidence should be required. Now, on the other hand, getting hard evidence in DayZ without constantly being recording your screen is near impossible. The log files are either bypassed or so confusing to the point of unhelpful. So admins have to be really careful when banning.

Don't. It will make maintaining it harder. If you're finding it hard to maintain now, you haven't properly separated out your classes to only handle the duties they need to perform/you aren't using interfaces properly. Your main code should be interacting in with the config files in a way that whether the files are located on disk, on FTP, or over Custom Protocol #32 (made that up) they call the same functions and the instantiated class is what calls the appropriate actions. It's so easy to think linearly with .NET Windows Form development, but it's incredibly important to plan out your application ahead of time. It often helps to split your Solution into two projects: Class Library and Windows Form. This way you aren't tempted to put business logic where it doesn't belong :)

The value isn't added to server.cfg, it's added to your ARMA2OAProfile (the one that defines all of your difficulty settings). Also make sure you restart your server after. I have a feeling it won't actually help though. Hackers aren't sending bullets across the map, they're just setting player damage through scripts to "1" (dead).

I am so waiting for a "How to Identify Hackers" portion of your discussion. Right now it feels like I'm running around with my head cut off.

I know there was a bunch of hackers on US 917 today. They executed a script that basically caused the server to flip the fuck out and freeze in memory. Hosting ARMA2 servers is fun :|

So you blew up a friend's / your clans camp, and sniped someone that objected and you want to know if your friend/clan can catch and ban you. Gotchya. Yes, both of these are logged.

Why?

How do you shutdown your server? Does your script kill the process or is a "#shutdown" initiated? I've heard of these issues occurring, and I heard it was related to improper shutdowns. The best way to restart your server is to get BEC to initiate a #shutdown and let a restart script see your server offline and bring it back up.

Sorry, if I find and can definetively prove that there is a hacker on the server (logs, screenshots, demo/recordings, etc), that bastard is getting banned. I'll report it, but he is no longer welcome on the server. Scream admin abuse all you want, but banning a hacker is less abusive/disruptive to my server population than the hacker script killing the entire server, or breaking everyone's legs.

UDP is used in games because TCP has such a high overhead. Having to confirm receipt of packets and resend if failed is not really ideal and is actually detrimental to the game client. It's better for UDP's "connectionless" protocol, where the server can send and forget. If the client doesn't receive packets it doesn't matter to the server. If the client doesn't send packets, the server just keeps the projectile/player moving on the same trajectory as it was moving before. As long as the server keeps the latest valid it's fine. I've noticed that ARMA2 operates a little differently in this scenario, but I'm not an ARMA2 developer so I can't really speak to that. Anyways, most games do use TCP for some traffic and communication. The most common use is to capture PING to the server. One other thing, Windows does have a default cap on the number of connections it can make/keep alive. This is related to TCP connections though, and would not affect UDP. I have not seen a Linux implementation with this. (Source: I've run into this on an application before, where the number of connections exceeded this arbitrary cap. A registry adjustment and a server reboot fixed the issue) Slightly unrelated topic: I've seen several times references to kicking people for high Ping (getting ridiculous now as kicking for > 100ms). Why? Maybe this is from old engine technology, but I know an Epic developer had an article a long while back about why kicking people for high ping on a server that relies on UDP traffic is a dumb idea. I just assumed that ARMA2 relied on TCP so ping was more relevant?

To be fair, expecting private servers to be supported while the game is still in alpha, and rocket is trying to get the bugs sorted out in the major stream of the game, it's a little unrealistic. Still doesn't change the fact that people need to chill out with server reporting and getting all angsty about a server being offline for 5-15min while it's restarted. Even insta-removing a server from the hive when it is locked isn't a good procedure. I could see the server losing connection to the hive after 30 minutes of being locked until a restart happens. That way it falls within the maintenance mode scenarios, which generally result in a restart anyways before the server goes live.

Hey Fang, Thanks. I'm glad to have you and your group as a regular. It is possible that the latest patch did end up resetting the server. I know the server had an issue with stopping. It wouldn't listen to the #shutdown command, and hung around in memory and I had to force kill the process. I know this has a high risk of causing a server reset. Sometimes they reappear after a proper server reset using #shutdown, but that should have made them reappear by now if that was the case. Apologies. Happy hunting and surviving. Cheers, Sna.ke

We need better tools, logging, and documentation to assist with identifying hackers. Anyone have any resources to help understanding log files and general ARMA2 administration?

I don't "abuse" any rules, yet I'm here bitching about your attitude towards Server Admins. Personally, I think you need to get an attitude check. I've had a server of 30/50 people empty to about 10 on the first "Server will restart in 15 minutes" message. By the time I get to "Server will restart in 5 minutes" it's back up to 30-40 players. I can see where #Lock would help that. Hell, I may be able to restart the server early and get it back up quicker if the population drops to 0 and no one else can connect. I don't use the #Lock feature, but I'm starting to think that it is a better idea more and more. Players like you is what is driving this rift between Server Admins and Players. Don't like the way we run our servers, show us how much better you are at it by putting your $50-$200+/mo where your mouth is.

Why is this not sticky'd in this Forum? I was looking for this when I set my server up. Would be useful to sticky this (if it is mandatory to name your server under these guidelines). Especially considering the instructions references "See Google Group for Naming Guidelines" and then the Google Group is no longer used.

Just because he's kitted out doesn't mean he's a hacker. If he/she had weapons that you cannot get legally within the game, then yes that is a hacker. You cannot use weapons that don't legally appear in the game: Weapon List. If the weapon is valid in the game, then it is fair to use.

Yes the rules need to be followed, but the community has this weird rift between Server Admins and Players. The players seem to really despise Server Admins and have a hatred for them. I'm not saying Server Admins should be worshiped, but I'm regularly seeing posts on the forums with people complaining about a server being locked and screaming fowl. Then it turns out the server was only locked for the 5 minutes before a reboot. Us server admins are putting out between $50 and $200+ a month to host servers for the community, and there are a large number of users that can't wait to tell them to "fuck off". I understand rules need to be followed, but it's about finding a balance in this community. I think in some part there needs to be players chilling out, more education/documentation for Server Admins, and more patience from players. I also think what would help is if DayZ "staff" would start taking more of a presence and stance in these forums on certain topics/issues. Right now they're standing off in the sidelines and letting the Server Admins and Players rip each others heads off.

The responses in this thread only prove Splatters point. A lot of players in this community are pretty self-entitled.

I've seen a few people in this forum reporting servers for being locked, and the reason was that the server was about to restart. People like to rage at server admins because they feel so self entitled to play on all the servers, all the time. People even rage after a server has restarted. Nevermind the fact that it's recommended to restart the server every 6 hours. I understand some server administrators are doing some shady things, but reporting every server for a moments downtime or locking is not the way to approach this. No wonder the Devs are just ignoring this. FFS posting a list of 140 severs that are currently locked is not helpful, yet people are raging that that list isn't being dealt with. Instead of QQing over servers locked for 10 minutes, how about you rent your own and show the rest of us how much better at server hosting you are.

Were you kicked from the server or is it one you just stumbnled across? How long has it been locked. With the medium server population, it could be about to restart.

I'm just looking for beans and coke.

Why is this here?

To do so through this community, you cannot. All servers are connected to the hive. As for the "Loading Screen" issues. Don't minimize when you're connecting to the server. That can cause you to get stuck at the loading screen. If you're playing to only play with 5-6 people you know, then you're missing the point of the game. One of the biggest and most exciting portions of the game is when you run across another survivor. Is he friendly? Will he shoot you in the back? Did he even see me? Playing against just Zeds is a lame game. Just run into a building and shoot the zombie train in the face (because they walk when they enter a building).

Well it depends on what is causing it. If the server itself has crashed thats one thing, but Windows generally pops that message up anytime the Window stops accepting user input (generally caused by the UI thread blocking because it's doing some work for a long period of time). If this is the case, the application/server may still be running, but you just cannot interact with the application. Regardless, it's a bug.