How is Bohemia Interactive addressing the Multiplayer cheats that are rampant?

[Motavar 11]

To All,

How is Bohemia Interactive addressing the Rampant Multiplayer cheating that is happening on servers? Like most PC gamers I'm used to people warping and spawning items but it's pretty sad when people are able to kick players out of games, crash servers, restart missions, send people into predator mode, and run around completely invincible.

Invincible players is pretty much the breaking point of the game.

Sure you will say "this is Beta", "there is no anti-cheat enabled right now", or "get a private server". But I'd like to at least hear from Bohemia that they are aware of the issue and will resolve it for launch. Unfortunately I have guild of players right now that will not purchase the game until some of these major cheats are prevented via server-side checks :(

Any update?

-Motavar

[dale 11]

you need to read, go through the forums and check each forums especially Servers and Administration, you also need to understand that the hackers are only as good as the server admin allows them to be.

So crap server admins = no protection from hackers.

I will not answer your question though as you will learn more about the game and its development if you just sit and read the forums, and I guarantee you will answer your own questions.

[chortles 263]

The devs are aware of the issue and have made some changes during alpha, plus introducing anti-cheat during the beta, but re: what you said about "server-side checks":

We pride ourselves on the open platform that Arma games are built on. Unfortunately this extremely flexible platform can both be used for creative modding and malicious purposes like MP griefing. Most solutions for improved security mean taking away freedom and putting restrictions in place (there are obviously many real world comparisons to draw here). For a very practical example of this you can see the response to deliberately removing three scripting commands: improved security' date=' but broken community content.

I do not believe for a moment we can have both freedom and fully secure MP without serious restrictions. The only seemingly valid method would be an approach taken by the DayZ project via its MMO architecture. Keep in mind this concept does not gel with Arma 3 as it was designed - it means all client actions are validated on a server, and this makes client-side modding and scripting much more difficult. Acceptable for DayZ, not for Arma 3. We will however do our best to improve security, reduce vulnerabilities and walk the fine line between freedom and security based on your feedback.[/quote']

[h.IV+-I.esus- 10]

It's pretty bad as it is, hacker-wise.

I've only really been playing online with ARMA 3 since the beta landed... when anti-cheat was supposedly introduced.

But what, 8/10 games I've played have had hackers show up and ruin everyone's good time.

It's quite frustrating when you spend the good part of 1-2 hours securing an objective and locking it down, only to have a hacker roll in and teleport everybody up into the sky, or just plain kill them... doing it over and over until everybody leaves the server.

Personally I don't understand why someone would buy the game purely to go online and be an ass-bandit.

It's a shame something like VAC can't or won't be used.

People would be far less likely to hack when their Steam account is on the line.

I never saw this kind of behavior on ARMA until DayZ's popularity exploded.

As much as I loved playing that mod, it truly was the downfall of ARMA.

Edited July 6, 2013 by h.IV+[I.esus]

[TSAndrey 1]

;2435094']It's pretty bad as it is' date=' hacker-wise.

I've only really been playing online with ARMA 3 since the beta landed... when anti-cheat was supposedly introduced.

But what, 8/10 games I've played have had hackers show up and ruin everyone's good time.

It's quite frustrating when you spend the good part of 1-2 hours securing an objective and locking it down, only to have a hacker roll in and teleport everybody up into the sky, or just plain kill them... doing it over and over until everybody leaves the server.

Personally I don't understand why someone would buy the game purely to go online and be an ass-bandit.

It's a shame something like VAC can't or won't be used.

People would be far less likely to hack when their Steam account is on the line.

I never saw this kind of behavior on ARMA until DayZ's popularity exploded.

As much as I loved playing that mod, it truly was the downfall of ARMA.[/quote']

1. There is no anti-cheat at the moment

2. VAC is horrible

3. In my whole A3 playtime, I saw maybe 2-3 obvious cheaters max

[h.IV+-I.esus- 10]

Hence my 'supposedly'.

Chortles up there reckons it's there.

I just got back into a game... 15 mins later, hackers arrive.

We all got killed and a screen came up with AAN News "DIS SERVER B FKED", with LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL in different colors scrolling along the bottom of the screen.

Third time today.

Shame, it's the only Domination server in Australia that doesn't have massive de-sync issues.

VAC may be horrible, but in my experience it's a damn sight brighter than BattlEye... and even Punkbuster for that matter.

Edited July 6, 2013 by h.IV+[I.esus]

[chortles 263]

I said some changes, I didn't say that anti-cheat was actually here. ;) BattlEye is on its way -- to dev branch first -- although said project lead did promise to consider VAC as an optional security layer. Unfortunately, Arma has multiple points of vulnerability as far as anti-cheat goes -- which, frankly, includes both the server (or rather, the admin) and the mission's coding itself -- and there's only so much that can be done besides "throw in BattlEye and maybe VAC" due to what the project lead said up top which I quoted.

[h.IV+-I.esus- 10]

Fair enough.

I guess the "have made" and "plus introducing anti-cheat during the beta" threw me off. ;)

Not that I've ever seen BattlEye stop hackers in ARMA II, but I suppose it's better than nothing at all.

It is pretty irritating when all I feel like doing is playing ARMA III online, and I can't because of the hackers. :(

[dale0404 5]

I have a feeling that the hackers are going to have a pretty hard time "hacking" once the anti-cheat measures get implemented. This is my opinion btw and I have no way of validating that statement until they get implemented!

[byrgesen 1]

;2435204']

Not that I've ever seen BattlEye stop hackers in ARMA II' date=' but I suppose it's better than nothing at all.

[/quote']

We will never stop hacking, we all know that.

But I have to add, in Arma II, a correctly configured BE filter could stop 99% of all hacking pretty much.

1000's of people got banned by BE and it did actually work, if you knew how to set the filters correctly.

The main problem in A2 was CD-key theft, which isnt a problem in A3, because its tied to your steam account.

So people would have to steal entire accounts to have a supply of keys to hack with, not really gonna happen tbh.

Again it comes down to the server admin, the filters are his responsibility to do.

So if you have an admin that doesnt know anything about the coding in the game, ofc he will not be able to protect you properly.

Im confident with the time and money they have put into Arma III, we will see people getting banned by BE as soon as it arrives.

We can only assume more money and time = more resources to develop the game and 3rd party AC, and the more tools we will have to help us.

If used the right way, BE is way more effective then VAC or PB can ever hope to be.

Just look at BE 2 years ago and compare it to BE now, the amount of stuff being logged had increased 100x and it will only get better tbh.

In the end we will be able to see every single action a player ever did on the server.

Edited July 6, 2013 by Byrgesen

[h.IV+-I.esus- 10]

I hope so.

Here's a sample of the hack I mentioned earlier... one of my friends recorded it.

Just mute the audio. :)

[byrgesen 1]

;2435238']I hope so.

Here's a sample of the hack I mentioned earlier... one of my friends recorded it.

Just mute the audio. :)

Agreed, its gonna be nice when theese #@!$#! are caught and punished ;)

[TSAndrey 1]

;2435196']

VAC may be horrible' date=' but in my experience it's a damn sight brighter than BattlEye... and even Punkbuster for that matter.[/quote']

BE is better than VAC/PB

[chortles 263]

;2435238']I hope so.

It should be added that the mission's coding matters as well, since the mission maker may or may not have left some of the loopholes for exploits -- and the quality of the mission maker's scripting can affect not just security but also "performance" (as in frame rate, server stability, etc.) too. It's not exactly a secret that one of Arma 3's most popular modes has questionable coding, to the point that BI's community manager/rep-on-other-boards has outright said that he heard that someone else's variant of that mode was way better optimized...

[tarabas 10]

BE is better than VAC/PB

And this is why? Describe the scan methods and effects please

[h.IV+-I.esus- 10]

BE is better than VAC/PB

I said "in my experience".

I've seen more hackers on BattlEye protected servers in the past year than anything else (even unprotected games) in my entire time gaming online (since 1995), Punkbuster protected servers second, and VAC protected servers maybe... twice ever.

Just saying "BE is better" really means nothing without anything to show us why.

I'm not saying it's technically worse, but from what I've seen it's not really doing anything anything superior to the others at the same time... again, "in my experience".

[TSAndrey 1]

And this is why? Describe the scan methods and effects please

BE bans public cheats in a few days, and private cheats every few weeks. VAC/PB ban public cheats in a few weeks and private cheats every few months.

---------- Post added at 06:56 ---------- Previous post was at 06:55 ----------

;2435788']I said "in my experience".

I've seen more hackers on BattlEye protected servers in the past year than anything else (even unprotected games) in my entire time gaming online (since 1995)' date=' Punkbuster protected servers second, and VAC protected servers maybe... twice ever.

Just saying "BE is better" really means nothing without anything to show us why.

I'm not saying it's technically worse, but from what I've seen it's not really doing anything anything superior to the others at the same time... again, "in my experience".[/quote']

That's because Arma 2 is client trusting, has a full scripting language, and was full of CD key stealers, which made BE bans useless.

[$able 2]

private cheats every few weeks

Actually most private hacks are constantly detected. You should ask the cheaters how much they enjoy having to buy (stolen) cd-keys every day. ;)

Anyway, I agree with what many are saying here: BE is clearly the worst anti-cheat system on the planet since no other game has ever been overrun with cheaters like ArmA 2 / OA has.

[ratszo 17]

So looking forward to the Battleye roll-out in beta.

Unleash the Hounds!

[Pakalolo 10]

As long as you have people willing to pay for hacks you will have hackers coding them and selling them for profit.

Weather or not you have seen them, they are there.

Not all hacks are detectable and neither BE, PB, or VAC can catch 'em all. Thats right....they are here to stay, right along side of the games being developed. Literally minutes after a game is released public or beta, several of the big names have cracked and injected their programs and the $$ flows. On each site there are thousands of members, some tens of thousands each paying a monthly fee to win a video game.

I've done it.

I ran a hack while i ran a Wasteland server just so i could see the douches teleport, create vehicles, and try to catch them before they fooked the game up. Didn't work. I never got banned or caught either (i guess i woulda had to ban myself...)

Thing is....all the anti cheats work in their own way, but each time they get updated to catch the new hacks the hacks get updated even faster (people get sooo mad when they cant hack...lol) and the circle continues. There is just too much $$$ to be made selling hacks to skilless, frustrated, bored, curious, and malicious people.

Oh and before you waste time typing about what a bad man i am for "hacking" let me first inform you that i dont really care about your opinion of me, so dont waste your time. I did hope to perhaps shine some light on the "hacker talk" currently going around. All this BE is better than VAC and "properly adminned servers wont get hacked" bs is just that. BS. Truth be told, you could be playing with a hacker and never know it. Not all are belligerent asshats.

[zooloo75 834]

Actually most private hacks are constantly detected. You should ask the cheaters how much they enjoy having to buy (stolen) cd-keys every day. ;)

Anyway, I agree with what many are saying here: BE is clearly the worst anti-cheat system on the planet since no other game has ever been overrun with cheaters like ArmA 2 / OA has.

No other game has as much freedom as ArmA does either.

Last night I had a guy spawn in weapons (he acted calm and wasn't being malicious with his hacks), I noticed he had a P07 and that new Opfor LMG. Here's the catch - the only gun available in my mission is the Rook-40. I banned him -- but just to play around with the kiddie, I asked him, "Where did you get that gun?" -- he must've been unaware that I was the guy that made the mission (even though when you join it says "Developed by Stealthstick") -- he said, "I found it." Then he says, "You can have it." I pick up the pistol, and a few seconds later he does one of those hacker pauses where you can tell they are scrolling through a hack-menu, and he spawns himself an LMG. -.-

Edited July 8, 2013 by zooloo75

[ratszo 17]

This topic will get more interesting once BE rolls out and the mass bannings begin.

I am curious if key theft will still take place with steam log-in?

Edited July 8, 2013 by Ratszo

[TSAndrey 1]

All this BE is better than VAC and "properly adminned servers wont get hacked" bs is just that. BS.

No, it's not. It's the truth

[Dwarden 1125]

You will sooner than soon know the answer on your question {grins evilly} :cool:

[St. Jimmy 272]

People who like to argue about BE, PB, VAC etc. should look this thread. There's also good amount of answers from Dwarden if you just keep clicking that small BI logo.

Sooner than soon sounds like in the next sitrep that's coming tomorrow :cool: