The ultimate thread about Arma 3 anti-cheat discussion

[metalcraze 290]

Isn't Wasteland - DayZ without zombies?

[Smurf 12]

Isn't Wasteland - DayZ without zombies?

It's closer do Warfare.

Really enjoy your posture against EVERYTHING that isn't ARMA, including it's mods.

[sickboy 14]

Note how people complaining about cheaters are DayZ players. Usual ArmA game never really suffered from excessive hacking or anything.

That only speaks about your limited insight into the matter I am afraid, perhaps hiding in the confinds of private servers usually? (Nothing wrong with that, I prefer that too tbh :P)

Hackers/Cheating has always been a huge PITA for public play to the best of my knowledge, already back in OFP, also in ARMA1, and again also in ARMA2.

Just probably after long running time of the game, you barely hear about it anymore, and then an influx of new game modes (dayz, etc) can light it quickly back up.

But I do believe that amount of servers, and players does have an effect on how popular the hacking/cheating is.

[maddogx 13]

Yup, Wasteland is definitely gaining popularity. I actually overheard some kids talking about it (aswell as DayZ and Arma2 in general) on the bus a few days ago, so it's not exactly obscure.

Unfortunately, it's up to the creator(s) and admins to make working BE filters for it.

[metalcraze 290]

That only speaks about your limited insight into the matter I am afraid, perhaps hiding in the confinds of private servers usually? (Nothing wrong with that, I prefer that too tbh :P)

Mostly but except for these I wouldn't call UnitedOperations.net exactly "private" since joining it is as easy as checking its website for info and using sixupdater to install all mods with 2 clicks. It's one of the most populated servers in whole A2 and ~80 people can be playing there at once and never did I (nor my friend playing there for hundreds of hours now) encountered any hacks. Even when I played DayZ there (US3/US4) back when there still were no anti-hacking fixes ArmA2 got since then I haven't seen any hackers. Maybe me and my bro are just lucky like that or maybe UO has really good admins delivering swift justice - dunno

The only hacking I ever seen is when the server admin on the certain server wasn't turning on sig checks and was letting publics in to sweeten up the numbers. Then yeah - arty ruining missions, text saying "lolol you've been hacked" etc.

Edited February 12, 2013 by metalcraze

[sickboy 14]

I'd not call it comparable to a true public server either :)

Apparently signatures is insufficient or there would barely be need for BE's additional protections.

[chortles 263]

Yup, Wasteland is definitely gaining popularity. I actually overheard some kids talking about it (aswell as DayZ and Arma2 in general) on the bus a few days ago, so it's not exactly obscure.

Unfortunately, it's up to the creator(s) and admins to make working BE filters for it.

If I recall correctly (from seeing "how to download Wasteland" videos on YouTube) it's just an Arma 2: CO custom mission (made in the Editor) and not an add-on mod like DayZ is.

Speaking of the overhearings, I was actually at a GameStop where one of the employees kept asking customers if they'd heard of DayZ, and quite a few people had!

[Dwarden 1126]

just something to read about BattlEye's effectivity: https://twitter.com/FoltynD/status/306143298123333632

[antoineflemming 14]

just something to read about BattlEye's effectivity: https://twitter.com/FoltynD/status/306143298123333632

Wait, so ArmA3 will use who's cheat protection? BattlEye, VAC, both?

[Iroquois Pliskin 0]

Wait, so ArmA3 will use who's cheat protection? BattlEye, VAC, both?

What if: When BEye globally bans an ID, it's transfered into the VAC database? BattleEye = VAC enabled, eh?

[tonygrunt 10]

What if: When BEye globally bans an ID, it's transfered into the VAC database? BattleEye = VAC enabled, eh?

Even if that would happen (that I doubt), what would be the point of it? Both Battleye and VAC bans forbid you to connect to servers with one of those anticheats enabled for the games that you were banned.

The only difference is that VAC puts a notice on your steam profile.

The only way that you can play MP again on protected servers with either of them, is to make a new account and buy the game.

[Iroquois Pliskin 0]

Even if that would happen (that I doubt), what would be the point of it? Both Battleye and VAC bans forbid you to connect to servers with one of those anticheats enabled for the games that you were banned.

The only difference is that VAC puts a notice on your steam profile.

The only way that you can play MP again on protected servers with either of them, is to make a new account and buy the game.

True. But is VAC the anti-cheat protection in itself, or just a database on Steam? I vaguely remember it banning people back in 2005 in CS: Source MP <- Could be mistaken.

[Dwarden 1126]

for myself the only reasonable answer would be BE+VAC ... take it ofcourse as fully non-official

[cuel 25]

True. But is VAC the anti-cheat protection in itself, or just a database on Steam? I vaguely remember it banning people back in 2005 in CS: Source MP <- Could be mistaken.

VAC is both.

[TSAndrey 1]

for myself the only reasonable answer would be BE+VAC ... take it ofcourse as fully non-official

Why do you even need VAC? BE bans the same way! The only difference is that VAC is useless :p

[Dwarden 1126]

Why do you even need VAC? BE bans the same way! The only difference is that VAC is useless :p

that was meant in way that if there is need use to VAC, I would still fight for including BE .. you don't need to tell me about how BE bans...

[cuel 25]

I'd like to see an explanation why "VAC is useless"

[$able 2]

just something to read about BattlEye's effectivity: https://twitter.com/FoltynD/status/306143298123333632

Of course that doesn't really show it's actually effective thanks to the wonderful cd-key system.

[Oshi7 1]

I have a strong distrust of BE. I had two Arma II keys for separate characters on DayZ and one of them got randomly banned by BE and after 15 emails to BE Support I gave up on it. I was using these keys interchangeably, as I stream and make youtube videos and didn't want any cross-over. Never been banned from any anti-cheat before in my life, so it was particularly frustrating, especially when people instantly dismiss you because of it.

[dsi24 12]

for myself the only reasonable answer would be BE+VAC ... take it ofcourse as fully non-official

BE+VAC Red Orchestra 2 style?

I don't care if BE is in as long as it doesn't spam me while I'm playing the game, that just adds another vector for hackers to bother people from anyways...

[$able 2]

I have a strong distrust of BE. I had two Arma II keys for separate characters on DayZ and one of them got randomly banned by BE and after 15 emails to BE Support I gave up on it. I was using these keys interchangeably, as I stream and make youtube videos and didn't want any cross-over. Never been banned from any anti-cheat before in my life, so it was particularly frustrating, especially when people instantly dismiss you because of it.

See my PM. You are probably one of the thousands of innocent players that got their cd-key stolen.

[eddieck 10]

Of course that doesn't really show it's actually effective thanks to the wonderful cd-key system.

Is there a better alternative? As far as preventing a single person from buying a dozen keys (or 17, for that matter... yeah), I can't see how any system could stop that.

I could see Steam providing some basic protection against the "download 'hack' that is actually a key stealer" scenario, but only if the user doesn't use Steam's "remember me" function. In that case I would expect their Steam credentials would be accessible by such programs, so that doesn't really change anything either.

[Dwarden 1126]

Is there a better alternative? As far as preventing a single person from buying a dozen keys (or 17, for that matter... yeah), I can't see how any system could stop that.

I could see Steam providing some basic protection against the "download 'hack' that is actually a key stealer" scenario, but only if the user doesn't use Steam's "remember me" function. In that case I would expect their Steam credentials would be accessible by such programs, so that doesn't really change anything either.

the CD key theft gunna drop rapidly with STEAM adoption ...

there is also secureID introduced already in 1.63 beta and other A3 goodies ...

BE will be way stronger when used on A3 than it ever could be with A1,A2,OA (each generation it gets stronger and better)

[eddieck 10]

the CD key theft gunna drop rapidly with STEAM adoption ...

But is there currently a problem with that besides the scenario I mentioned before (key stealers masquerading as hacks)?

Unless there's some other issue, I can't see how the situation can be improved at all. Those programs would simply have to obtain the user's Steam credentials instead of a CD key. The end result would be similar.

[Iroquois Pliskin 0]

Unless there's some other issue, I can't see how the situation can be improved at all. Those programs would simply have to obtain the user's Steam credentials instead of a CD key. The end result would be similar.

A keylogger to steal an account is wholly different from some registry hack that pull out your CD-key.

If stolen, Steam can lock the account and then return it to its rightful owner - I personally know of several success cases of this happening.