Over 2200 people online on ARMA2 cheat forums

[U.B.C.S. Ravin 326]

http://www.twitch.tv/puddn/b/324493060

10 hours and 50 minutes in you see him die from being ghosted.

At 11 hours and about 4 minutes on you hear Vip explaining to him how complicated even simply attempting to search for equipment the user might have to match the same results of individuals logging out around a specific timeframe yields a impossible amount of hits and numbers.

Right now, its not that simple to go 'ban' someone for ghosting, disconnecting, or avoiding zombie aggro. Nor is it easy for any admins to battle it or Devs. Please stop thinking it is...

Edited July 11, 2012 by U.B.C.S. Ravin

[Comrade Sniper 3]

I haven't encountered hackers yet, my friends have encountered plenty though. I always seem to log off just before the hacks begin :D

Edited July 11, 2012 by Comrade Sniper

[Wulfear 6]

Crysis.

lol I guess it's good I never bothered to play Crysis multi then. I don't know why, but there was nothing about that game that made me think "Hey, it might be fun to run around and shoot people here.". Maybe it was the horrible(but shiny looking) map design...or the guns that felt underwhelming. I do recall seeing people set off nukes in that game, so I'm guessing that's what you mean....Arma is a LOT worse off than that however.

[WeTheFallen 4]

ive died to several invisible players in close quarters(Thye like to taunt in direct first), been artilleried in stary sobor, and my personal favorite... killed by a church collapse.

in this vid, im in the starry tents..... i liked that character....

[The Poacher 31]

The game was made for modding / simulation so there was no need at all for any kind of antihack security. It's just beyond fixing. I wonder if it's going to be the same with Arma 3.

Basically this.

[Mercator 30]

The Dev attempted to do a search for a female character who disconnected in the last five minutes with a Lee-Enfield.

The search showed up with over 250 results, in the last five minutes.

Its a bitter pill to swallow.

If the server log is anything like the rpt log, those 250 results might actually be duplicate messages and be one person. It is kind of hard to believe that for a five minute period, just about every second a player dis/connects using a female skin and an Enfield on whatever server. If this was the case, I guarantee you the game would be temporarily unplayable due to desync and I didn't see any indication of that in the clip.

It's still sad though...

[hkurban 31]

The biggest problem with combatting hacks here is that a lot of these hacks are based on SQF scripts, which are also essentially the backbone of what makes DayZ work in Arma 2.

The way SQF files work is: a parameter tells the game to read the SQF script. Basically the parameter says "if this condition is true, run xyz.sqf" and it will search for the SQF file either in the MP mission .pbo file or the addon .pbo (In DayZ's case it is the addon .pbo.) From there, the game will read the language in the SQF file and apply the commands to in game.

For instance, there is probably an SQF called "drinking.sqf" that says, when the player right clicks and hits "drink water" on the water bottle, replace water bottle with empty water bottle, replenish the player's thirst meter, play the water drinking sound, and display the message "you have consumed 1 water bottle".

I have not encountered a hacker yet, but based on the hacks I'm hearing described and seeing in videos, it sounds like they are either supplanting their own SQF files in place of existing ones, or adding to existing sqf files in order to keep their original function and game integrity, while still being able to bring in their own custom content/actions.

With option A. A hacker would create a new script, call it "drinking.sqf" and replace the original. Then whenever drinking.sqf is activated, the hackers script would be called. With option B, drinking.sqf would still perform all of the intended functions, but would have the side effects the hacker implemented. For instance, say the hacker made it so that along with all of the normal effects, after the water animation is finished, drinking.sqf also spawns a fully functional, fully crewed Abrams tank in front of the hacker.

These are only some simplistic examples to show that most of these hacks are hard for the game to tell are hacks, because they are doing the same thing legit scripts do, which is to tell the game to do something beyond its normal parameters. It is therefore difficult for a game like this to track hackers other than through players experiencing their mischief in game.

My suggestion is to develop some sort of third party file checker that will check the integrity of the DayZ addon and mission folders to ensure there are no extra scripts and all legit scripts have not been modified. The biggest problem with this though, aside from the manpower allocation necessary, is trying to get Arma 2 and or Battle Eye to count this third party script checker as a prerequesite for joining a DayZ server.

[Mercator 30]

The biggest problem with combatting hacks here is that a lot of these hacks are based on SQF scripts, which are also essentially the backbone of what makes DayZ work in Arma 2.

The way SQF files work is: a parameter tells the game to read the SQF script. Basically the parameter says "if this condition is true, run xyz.sqf" and it will search for the SQF file either in the MP mission .pbo file or the addon .pbo (In DayZ's case it is the addon .pbo.) From there, the game will read the language in the SQF file and apply the commands to in game.

For instance, there is probably an SQF called "drinking.sqf" that says, when the player right clicks and hits "drink water" on the water bottle, replace water bottle with empty water bottle, replenish the player's thirst meter, play the water drinking sound, and display the message "you have consumed 1 water bottle".

I have not encountered a hacker yet, but based on the hacks I'm hearing described and seeing in videos, it sounds like they are either supplanting their own SQF files in place of existing ones, or adding to existing sqf files in order to keep their original function and game integrity, while still being able to bring in their own custom content/actions.

With option A. A hacker would create a new script, call it "drinking.sqf" and replace the original. Then whenever drinking.sqf is activated, the hackers script would be called. With option B, drinking.sqf would still perform all of the intended functions, but would have the side effects the hacker implemented. For instance, say the hacker made it so that along with all of the normal effects, after the water animation is finished, drinking.sqf also spawns a fully functional, fully crewed Abrams tank in front of the hacker.

These are only some simplistic examples to show that most of these hacks are hard for the game to tell are hacks, because they are doing the same thing legit scripts do, which is to tell the game to do something beyond its normal parameters. It is therefore difficult for a game like this to track hackers other than through players experiencing their mischief in game.

My suggestion is to develop some sort of third party file checker that will check the integrity of the DayZ addon and mission folders to ensure there are no extra scripts and all legit scripts have not been modified. The biggest problem with this though, aside from the manpower allocation necessary, is trying to get Arma 2 and or Battle Eye to count this third party script checker as a prerequesite for joining a DayZ server.

People that have made missions and used/wrote scripts themselves know all this. But maybe it's kind of a bad idea to explain to the entire forum, how hacks can be done in Arma...atleast have people interested in that sort of childish behaviour, google all of that together by themselves :D maybe their adhd will prevent them from having the patience for that lol

[frodevil 15]

I counter cheaters by disconnecting, not giving them a chance to kill me... There's probably no other way to battle that if you're not a server admin...

So basically not playing the game/combat DCing?

[alan.dougherty@ntlworld.com 24]

Even as a server admin we can't battle this. DayZ staff had personally told us we can't ban individuals who are disconnecting during PVP/Avoiding zombie aggro due to how rampant it is being abused.

Basically, you are screwed regardless right now until their standalone DayZ is out.

Disco during PvP or to avoid zombies is not hacking.. it's meta gaming the mechaincs.. and you can't fight that..

I think the OP is talking about the scriptkiddies that insta kill all players, or spawn items that should not be in the mod...

Battleye usually takes care of that, but with new scripts, comes new BE updates, and it may take it some time to find and ban them.

[☣BioHaze☣ 7337]

Online game hackers must be a group of the biggest RL vaginas EVER.

This is one of the main reasons I usually don't play PC games online, unless it's with friends.

Consoles and handhelds have hacking, but it rarely gets to the scale that PC games get hacked.

[funionz 7]

The problem is the networking architecture chosen by the BI dev's. It's simply not a secure design. Yep, this doesn't matter when running a sim on a closed Dept. of Defense network (actually, their sim network architecture is designed on purpose so that any client can 'hack' any other client -- they allow different games/sims to be plugged into each other, e.g. a dedicated flight-sim for pilots, connected to Arma for the ground troops. The pilot's sim can simply tell the ground troops that they're dead, without having to spawn a bomb/missile inside Arma or have to ask the Arma server whether it's allowed to do this. Every client can override the decisions of others, which makes contracting the development of a new sim cheaper for the DoD), but it does matter for a competitive multi-player game, which Arma was also designed to be.

True, but you have to also keep in mind that most of Armas community relies on mutual respect for one another and games are generally scheduled events that consist of two consenting parties, not just thousands of random strangers forced to play together. The system was great for what it was, now its being used in a whole different sense that is causing alot of the problems. I know i've also heard that CBA causes a lot of security issues also.

[God Killer 6]

I have never seen a game where hackers can just come in and kill everyone with 1 action. Whoever is responsible for security in this game needs to be fired.

You should be banned for such ignorant blasphemy.

[Wulfear 6]

You should be banned for such ignorant blasphemy.

heh. Ok maybe firing is a bit harsh since it sounds like the whole damn team would have to be fired........but blasphemy? lol moron much?

[skudd3r 44]

1 out of 5 deaths is by someone hacking, mostly with teleport scripts. I have had someone spawn a ship on my head b4, that was fun.

[the.ogbizzle@gmail.com 17]

being able to set and change server passwords will fix alot of hacker/server hopper related issues. But the devs think locked servers give an unfair advantage to the owner. its sad.

[Mastiff (DayZ) 42]

I thin logging to avoi zed aggro is ok unless it is abused, ive spent hours creeping in this game and there is nothing more annoying than creeping perfectly tohave a zed glitch through a wall or door and kill you. Doing it to remove zombies from an entire area is a bit crap

[God Killer 6]

heh. Ok maybe firing is a bit harsh since it sounds like the whole damn team would have to be fired........but blasphemy? lol moron much?

Obviously you don't know of sarcasim.

Next time ill /sarcasim.

[fml 29]

More people on the cheat forums than the actual game forums.

[cik 2]

Over 2200 people online on ARMA2 cheat forums

Thanks for advertising your site, moron.

[svardskampe 45]

I've actually searched for those forums to know what NOT to do, since I saw here it was so abundantly abused;

- NEVER pick up any item without a small picture next to it in the gear menu.

- NEVER check so-called "ammo crates" (I believe they are blue), as they are hacked in.

- NEVER run scripts yourself, even for good or legit use, since it can get you a permaban without you being actually "hacking"

[fml 29]

I've encountered enough, but stayed hidden. They have spawned BM-21 rocket launcher vehicles etc.. It's insane.

You havent encountered enough if you havent been dropped from 500 feet in the air, instantly died, or seen the whole server, including yourself, nuked.

[slez@comcast.net 6]

cumputer

Basically the name of my laptop

[Lukio (DayZ) 24]

The biggest problem is that ARMA 2 servers running DayZ mods are (out of necessity) public servers. Since a while its well known in the ARMA 2 community that most public servers usually have some weird hacks going on due to the way ARMA 2 is open to scripts & mods. Almost all clan/squad servers are locked down, usually with additional addons or tools running that lock the server down even more and notify if any hacks were used or even blocks them (e.g.DooACS)..

[fml 29]

I thin logging to avoi zed aggro is ok unless it is abused, ive spent hours creeping in this game and there is nothing more annoying than creeping perfectly tohave a zed glitch through a wall or door and kill you. Doing it to remove zombies from an entire area is a bit crap

"I think abusing log in is okay unless you abuse log in."