Modified config

[Harnu 0]

Exactly what is this. I'll see people with modified configs all the time. Like 1.90 and 1.91. But whats this with modified configs with island .pbos. Have people edited the entire island like making buildings invisible, or trees not there so they essentially have an equivilent to a sort of "wall hack".

Or is it simply a misunder standing?

[Mister Frag 0]

If you see messages about modified islands, then the player(s) who are generating the message have most likely stripped the island of vegetation and other objects to allow them to see and hit enemies with impunity.

The checkfiles command in the server's .CFG file can be used to catch and disconnect players trying to exploit that particular cheat.

[kegetys 2]

In case of unofficial addon islands, its also possible that the user has a different version of the island than the server

[Angry Radish 0]

I understand how to use the checkfiles, but how can I get it to disconnect the users?

[ACES_KEVIN 0]

So how do you test this....has any1 here done this....so they can report to bis how to stop it.

Could get serious in some multiplayer maps.

Kevin

[ralphwiggum 6]

i think this has been worked by BIS. that's why we see modified config/island message. it is BIS's intention that instead of trying to make a system that will be outdated and manipulated, they will leave it upto users to decide on how to act when certain message comes up.

[CarolCray 0]

Kevin... Yes it has been tested, and yes it does work. Fact is simply removing all the vegatation from an Is. is only the tip of the iceberg my friend.

Word to the wise,

"modified config/island message" = BOOT!!

"modified config.bin message" = BOOT!!

Accept no substitues!

Been catching red-handed a ton of ppl modifing there armour setting lately. Here's a post I made about this in another forum:

======

Ok it's been getting outta handly lately almost to the point where I'm about to throw in the towel with all the ppl logging on with modified this and that messages. Then when you try and ask them civil like, they either ignore you or get all pissy and holy'er that tho on you. I only have maybe 2 more weeks to play on-line (or off-line for that matter) and I refuse to have it ruined by pimple popping pustulating pimps. The next person I catch driving a jeep the size of my foot... hopping out and shooting me dead. I swear I'll track your IP and shoot your freaking dog/cat/hamster/whatever dead as jack rabbit then eat it right in front of you!

-end rant-

-begin solution-

Now for those of you who are honest and have somehow unknowingly had your files altered. Mostlikely by a add-on that used a .EXE to install it (BAD IDEA! I offer a simple fix. There are se7en main files that MUST NEVER BE ALTERED!

CONFIG.BIN

DATA.PBO

DATA3D.PBO

ABEL.WRP

CAIN.WPR

EDEN.WRP

INTRO.WRP

If any of these files are altered it produces a message when you log on such as:

"TOMMY USES MODIFED CONFIG.BIN FILE" ect.

Now the config file is special, notice exactly what it says, "config.bin" as apposed to a typical:

"TOMMY USES MODIFIED CONFIG FILE - 1.90" (or 1.85 / 1.91)

In this case it simply means he is using a different OFFICIAL patch ver. 1.85 / 1.90 / 1.91 ect. Also note this is the ONLY file that produces this 'variable' message because each patch alters this main file. If the message says "CONFIG.BIN FILE" it's more than likely a cheat. OR the work of some egotistical addon creator that has no idea what he is doing so he had piddle with all your files just to get his stupid add-on to work in the game. idiot.

Here's the bad news...

If your files are goofed and your are just an innocent bystander that was playing with your files with O2 or De-PBO or messed with your Config.bin (BadDog! nothing short of a total re-install will help you.

======

Dear Suma,

I know we have had our moments but implementing a sum-check for these files into the game was nothing less than a sheer stroke of pure genius! I dunno what we would do with it. What I do know is without it, this game would be worst that both CS and Quake3 combined... ie. Cheaters Paradise.

The Se7enth Angel sounded his trumpet and they were loud voices in heaven which said... wurd to your muther.

Se7enthSeale

[benu 1]

Satchels Dynamic Range uses a modified a config.bin, as adding more sounds to the game is not possible without it. Not all users with a modified config.bin use it to gain an advantage, most use it to gain a better gaming experience. I use satchels DR myself. But i couldn't care less if you boot players with modified config.bin as i play on my own server most of the time.

What i worry more about is the kind of paranoia that gets spread and that you'd rather boot/ban innocents than let one potential cheater go unpunished. That's the "spirit" that destroyed the cs community. I played cs for nearly 3 years and was server admin most of the time. I never saw many cheaters, but many players calling other players cheater. A friend of mine is really good at cs, every time he plays he gets called cheater and most of the time kicked or banned. After each clanwar the losing team calls the winning team cheaters. The whole community sucks. All because of that cheater paranoia. Whenever i read such hysterical crap i am really happy that i do not play any league and have my own server and can laugh about all the people who worry more about being cheated on than to enjoy the game.

[CarolCray 0]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote </td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">adding more sounds to the game is not possible without it.<span id='postcolor'>

Wrong... guess again. There are several excellent quality sound packs out that DO NOT use anything but a different SOUND.PBO file.

Ps... Please post the name of your server, that way eveyone we kick we'll just send them to your server ok? Nice attempt at defending the cheat infested game CS. Gimme a break, everyone and his pet monkey knows it has nothing to with "the spirit"... Good grief, cheaters ruined that game... FACT! Not "hysterical crap" as you so elegantly put it... Now that I think about it... You remind me of the guy last night that said the reason his config.bin was goofed was beause he had Keg editor upgrade... we laughed for 10min and desided we would let him play... on account he was so funny. 3min into the game his BMP took 6 laws into it without any damage... oh no he wasn't cheating was he benu. Musta been 'mass hysteria' huh? You know like when a group of ppl see a UFO... LoL!

Have fun.

[InqWiper 0]

The bad thing about CS wasnt just the cheat paranoia, it was the cheating, the TKing and all other childish behaviour.

Now that the cheat paranoia seems pretty much gone its just the childish behaviour that ruins the game.

I dont think I would play the game if there were only mature people playing it anyway, I like realism or unrealism, not a mad mix.

[Harnu 0]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (CarolCray @ Jan. 10 2003,15:09)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE"></span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote </td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">adding more sounds to the game is not possible without it.<span id='postcolor'>

Wrong... guess again. There are several excellent quality sound packs out that DO NOT use anything but a different SOUND.PBO file.

Ps... Please post the name of your server, that way eveyone we kick we'll just send them to your server ok? Nice attempt at defending the cheat infested game CS. Gimme a break, everyone and his pet monkey knows it has nothing to with "the spirit"... Good grief, cheaters ruined that game... FACT! Not "hysterical crap" as you so elegantly put it... Now that I think about it... You remind me of the guy last night that said the reason his config.bin was goofed was beause he had Keg editor upgrade... we laughed for 10min and desided we would let him play... on account he was so funny. 3min into the game his BMP took 6 laws into it without any damage... oh no he wasn't cheating was he benu. Musta been 'mass hysteria' huh? You know like when a group of ppl see a UFO... LoL!

Have fun.<span id='postcolor'>

Se7enth. What DID ruin CS was a lot of histarical morons. And crappy anti-cheat software.

I can go onto a server anytime now in CS and withing 30 seconds someones complaining to someone else about "waa he's cheating!". Then all the morons that kick people because "They're too good not to be cheating". I got kicked quite often from server for just being good at a game and having a bit of luck. Then P.O.S. anti cheat software. I got kicked out of a clan I was in there before because I had a "Recoil.txt" that supposedly was a no recoil script. As a matter of fact, it was just explaining how recoil worked in the game I got it becuase when I was new, I couldn't get the hang of recoil. Not to mention Client Side anti-cheats that did NOTHING.

I welcome people to cheat in CS. BEcuase mainly, it's hard to come across a good cheater anymore. It's more satisfying to see a moron with an aimbot or wall hack and keep killing them just becuase they're morons. And when I do find a good cheater, I don't really mind them, I respect they they actually know how to cheat

Enough about CS, get back to OFP.

In Satchels Sound Pack I was under the impression that it did alter something like the Config.bin. I never d/led it myself, but it's what I've heard. Sure, theres quality sound packs that use nothing but the SOUND.PBO, but what about if there are some that do alter other things. Why keep them out. Are you really that paranoid of cheaters?

[whisperFFW06 0]

Benu is right, the only way to add a sound (not replace, which is made by many addons, but add new, differenciating Vulcan from Shilka, for exemple, or interior / exterior sounds, like it is done in Satchel DR) is to change the config.bin.

Only changing sound.pbo makes some replacement on existing sounds, but what does Satchel RF is completely different.

So there are MP proof sound mods, and non MP proof sound mods

[HK (HunterKiller) 0]

It's an unfortunate thing that people will cheat, but it happens in all forms in everything. I had the unfortunate experience of d'loading a user made island, it somehow altered my Nogova.wrp. I had the error coming up and slowly but surely things started to disappear off of Nogova, a building here, a bush there, until one day i had a blank island, it took about 2 days, Reinstall game!!. When peeps come on our server with the same message, i ask them if they have altered their island, unfortunately most of the time the answer is no, either because they haven't and have no idea why the message is there (bad addon) or because they have and know exactly why i am asking them. So i then go on to explain in as short and pleasent a way as possible that they are cheating, whether they know it or not, and of course the abuse starts. Only very occasionally do some of them realise what i am trying to tell them and are genuinely sore about it, and go and do a reinstall.

[benu 1]

CarolCray: Do you even know what you are talking about? Other soundmods REPLACE sounds, Dynamic Range ADDS new soundevents. You can only do this by modifying the config.bin. And imho no other soundmod can compare to this.

And as i said, i have been an admin for cs servers for nearly three years. I installed all those anti cheat tools on the server. I saw how they falsely accused players (there was an update once for HL-Guard i think which "detected" EVERY player as cheater and banned them). I saw wallhackers/aimbotusers playing while ALL anti-cheating tools where installed and up-to-date. But counting the number of cheaters which obviously cheated and the number of detected cheaters from the logs... those were small compared to the hysteria in the community. This hysteria killed the spirit more than anything else. Good players leaving the community cause they get insulted constantly. I'd hate to see such a negative vibe in the ofp community.

When players connect to my server with modified files (there have been some other warnings than changed worldfiles, config.bin or resource.bin) i tell them to reinstall. If they don't do that by the 2nd or 3rd they come to my server i ban them. But i don't go off telling everyone to ban ALL players which get a warning. I got a false fade warning two times in these 18 month of MP cause a server fucked up and put me in the player roster twice. Who can tell if such a modified files warning is alway reliable? And really, i don't want to be so paranoid as to expect a cheater behind every player playing on my server. That would spoil the fun for me.

[CarolCray 0]

Dear benu:

For your FYI I'm a registered Republican, totally immune to your DemonKraut... er Democratical double talking tatics. If you think consouling and theropy is the way punish little Tommy for tourching your car at 2am then more power to you... Your house will prolly be next.

You say, "When players connect to my server with modified files i tell them to reinstall." Well guess what pal... that's EXACTLY what we do! Where on earth did you get the impressing that every time someone shoots us we scream cheater? Clearly you are the one that is paraniod here.

Ps. I "USE" to have Satchels addon too, and imho it's not God's gift to OFP.

No responce Required,

Thank You and Good night... I have a country to save. Go play with your Liberals.

[Angry Radish 0]

Back on the topic, does anyone know how to use filecheck to actually disconnect the users with the altered files specified in the cfg?

The way I look at it, an easier way to handle the messages on the server (other than the 1.91, 1.85 messages), is just to tell them that they can play on the server if they can join without any messages showing when they join. That way you can rule out false positives, and you aren't directly accusing them of using a cheat, while giving them a chance to correct any improper patching, or replacing of files.

not that that is a end-all-beat-all of solutions, I don't think there is any one good solution to this whole thing.

[benu 1]

Just some things i have found out:

I put ALL the files from resistance into the filecheck for a day, and some players appeared with modified o.pbo in the log. One of them was a regular of my server. I gave him md5sum and told him to send me back the checksum, compared it with the server and they were the same. No modified o.pbo. But he has a slow computer and o.pbo is the biggest file i check for.

It seems that, if the client can't compute the checksum fast enough (timeout setting i guess) and send it back to the server a modified file warning is given. Although this file has NOT been checked on the players computer. I guess this could also happen due to other factors, eg having to d/l all those custom sounds from other players blocks your upload and you can't send those checksums fast enough. But that's just guessing for now.

The point is: a modified file warning doesn't have to mean ANYTHING. And this is especially true for the bigger files and slower client computers, but there may be other situations when false warnings occur.

[toadlife 3]

Don't worry gusys...as long as BIS doesn't add the ability to jump in OFP, most of the CS kiddies should stay away.

/me bunny hops out

[theavonlady 2]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (toadlife @ Jan. 15 2003,07:39)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">/me bunny hops out<span id='postcolor'>

No! No! Jump back in, Toadlife. We haven't heard enough from you recently.