Multi-player game ends earlier for some players

[cyclone 0]

Hi, I just had some experience that during a match, some players has "game ended" while still several minutes left (3-7 minutes), while other players finished game at full 30 minutes.

I know there exists a speed hack which can cause this, because i have seen speed hack users in one of the matches i played.

I just wonder if anyone can give me an official explaination of how this could happen and what is causing this? is it caused by some sort of cheat, like speed hack?

i would like to get an answer from someone who really understands and knows, such as suma, because we need the reason to decide if a team is cheating or not, so, please give the as accurate as possible information.

Thanks!

[DonkeyPunch 0]

While you at it, could someone please shed some light on what this error message means:

cannot load mipmap 0\j1t1j1j1.pac

I have done some research and know that MIPMAPPING are video card controls, possibly associated with, but not exclusive to, RivaTuner. RivaTuner initself does not appear to be any kind of cheat, although I have 'heard' but not seen that it can remove fog, possibly remove objects, and has even been rumoured to change colors within games.

Like Cyclone, I am looking for some 'official' answer to what the above file controls. I 'assume' that the beginning part of that is the file O.PBO, and the file itself 'could' be part of that O.PBO if it were not compiled, but again, since there are no websites out there that get into this much detail, i can only guess at this point.

And just as a side note, this email is out to here so that I can learn more about these messages that come up, and I can decipher which 'could' be cheats and which are bogus. Who knows what has been put into these different versions and upgrades to know what to look for.

Thanks,

DonkeyPunch

[zinco 0]

It is a texture file out of O.pbo looks like a ground texture. I believe all the textures in O.pbo are on nogova.

Alot of times my game would crash on loading and i would get a message "cannott memorymap O.pbo". if i reboot it is fine. i think that is a seperate issue though and was discussed in another thread. i think 1.92 is gonna fix that one. as far as your message goes i have no idea i just know it is the texture shown above.

[DonkeyPunch 0]

Quote[/b] ]It is a texture file out of O.pbo looks like a ground texture. I believe all the textures in O.pbo are on nogova.

So, since you were able to extract this pic from the O.PBO, woudl it also be conceivable that one could extract this file, change it, then 'reinsert', or recompile it back in the O.PBO? Or more so, I wonder if it were possible for an external program, say, RivaTuner, to adjust this file while still inside it's compiled state? I know these are questions that we will probably never be answered, nor will they confirm my suspicions, but it certainly makes me wonder about some of these error messages that appear, and people blow off as nothing. I just hope that Flashpoint 2 has better security than what is in place currently with Cold War and Resi....

DonkeyPunch

[zinco 0]

people have been decompiling .pbo's and changing textures and then recompiling. why they would do it with that texture is beyond me.

i have never seen a message like that, but i think someone with alot more expertise than me might be able to answer.

you can run a check file on O.pbo but i think suma said not to check that one for some reason. maybe it is different for different versions of resistance.

i wish we could check O.pbo and 0_wp.pbo because it leaves open ways to cheat on nogova.

[zinco 0]

this really sucks because we will probably never have a sure fire way to catch all cheats, and now everyone is suspicious of eachother.

if it gets overrun by cheats i will find another game.

[DonkeyPunch 0]

Quote[/b] ]this really sucks because we will probably never have a sure fire way to catch all cheats, and now everyone is suspicious of eachother.

if it gets overrun by cheats i will find another game.

THIS is the precise reason that I am asking these questions. The question poised by Cyclone is an important one going around right now. I personally have seen the speed hack demonstrated for me, and I personally know of the side effects of said cheat. And lately, more and more maps are 'ending early'. Do we blame it on the speed hack, or can it be blamed on bad scripting.

I remember the day when I would play a good player and think highly of that person to be this good at the game. NOW, when I play a good player, I am thinking 'What kind of cheat they are using'. It is sad, but we all think it...

As for the checking of the O.PBO, I would guess that it may be because of the shear size of it that would cause it to be left out of the check. (at 177 Mb, might take a while)

Thanks again for the info....

DonkeyPunch

[benu 1]

The speed hack is really old, it's been around a few years ago. I did look into it at that time but haven't bothered testing it with ofp. But from what i've HEARD the game ends earlier only for those that use the hack, all other get to play the full length. And afaik there is no other cause for such a strange phenomenon. So imho if the game ends earlier for some people you can be quite sure that they used the speed hack.

Regarding textures: There have been "funny" screenshots going round, with changed textures so you could see through bushes and forests.

You can check for changed files ingame as admin of the server using the #debug checkfile command, like #debug checkfile res/addons/o.pbo (not 100% sure about the syntax, have to look it up if this one is not correct). It's similar to putting the file into the checkfiles section of your config. You can even do it for maps. Only thing it doesn't work on is files whith filenames containing spaces.

[ale2999 0]

actually I remember in 2 instances of my mp life where my game ended 3 minutes earlier then other, and I never cheated.... I had to disconnect/reconnect to get syncronized again but I dont think that it was in 1.91

[DonkeyPunch 0]

Quote[/b] ]I did look into it at that time but haven't bothered testing it with ofp. But from what i've HEARD the game ends earlier only for those that use the hack, all other get to play the full length.

This is a completely FALSE statement. I have a completely CLEAN install of ofp, have NEVER installed of tested a hack or cheat of ANY kind and I have had mygame end early on MULTIPLE occasions. On ONE of those occasions, I was able to see the speed hack in use, by the opposing team. If you have not seen it, it is VERY obvious to spot.

Anyway, talk amongst your selves......and SOMEONE please come up with a fool proof anti-cheat checker!!!

DonkeyPunch

[benu 1]

You can set hotkeys in the speedhack to turn it on/off or to different speedsettings. It does not have to be obvious. You can set speeds like 1.5x or 50x. 50x is obvious, but only when someone is looking. 1.5x or 2x may not be obvious if you only use it for rate of fire for laws or similar.

Regarding the ending of missions: i said this is what i have heard, i have never bothered to dig out that old hack again and i have never seen it being used on my server, at least not obviously. And I NEVER had a mission end earlier for me in over 2 years of ofp online. I have never seen it earlier end for someone else too. And thinking about how the speedhack works i do believe that the game ends earlier for those using it and only for those using. Others said they have actually SEEN that (i haven't) and i believe it cause it fits in with how the hack works. But as i said before, this is no proof, i haven't tested it with ofp. Maybe i will do now (just to prove you wrong ;)) if i can find it somewhere without causing me too much hassle.

[zinco 0]

My game has never ended early, but i have a friend i play with all the time and his game has always ended up to two minutes early as far as i can remember. last night he reinstalled windows xp and the game from scratch, played a game and it still ends early.

[iNeo 0]

I think this whole thing is just a bug in the synch between server and some clients; obviously people who never cheated are affected by this. So I think we can strike the possibilty that this is connected to speedhack... the speedhack still exists though but I wouldn't say you can detect it by people having a game ending earlier.

Zinco, were you the host and he the client at all times his game ended earlier?

[zinco 0]

It happens to him on all servers. I don't think it happens every single time but it happens alot. He has cable and a good ping so i don't know. I have seen desynch alot that causes it, but with him it can be two minutes.....thats alot. I know for a fact he does not use a cheat. And besides that it happen on a brand new reinstall last night.

[DonkeyPunch 0]

Quote[/b] ]It happens to him on all servers. I don't think it happens every single time but it happens alot.

Zinco----Just a thought, but as common as the speed hack is, is it possible that the servers he goes onto that someone is using it? just a thought..

And thinking about how the speedhack works i do believe that the game ends earlier for those using it and only for those using. Others said they have actually SEEN that (i haven't) and i believe it cause it fits in with how the hack works. But as i said before, this is no proof, i haven't tested it with ofp. Maybe i will do now (just to prove you wrong ;))

Benu---PLEASE prove me wrong. I would LOVE to not associate the games ending early with someone using the speed hack. I just know that when this all started was during a match (team will remain un-named) and during that match, multiple guys saw someone using the hack (obviously someone not used to using it since they ran right past our flag runner going to our flag LOL) and 3 of our 7 players games ended early. I HOPE that bohemia would come out with a 'out-of-sync' statement reguarding 1.91 server side software, but until that happens, I have to go with what my gut instinct says. I KNEW of the concept of the speed hack before I even knew there was one out there. I mean, how hard could it be to just take the speed adjustments inside the singleplayer mode and move that to Multiplayer......For that matter, how hard would it be to take ENEMY tags and move those to multiplayer also??? I mean, if you think about it, if someone has enuff time on their hands, they can do anything. It is a shame people need to win so badly as to adjust their games in such a manner.....again, thanks for all the input....

DonkeyPunch

[iNeo 0]

Sounds likely that it's caused by the desync then. Makes sense.

[zinco 0]

well if someone else using it could cause his game to end early than that would make sense, but evertime it happens i think not. i play to much with the same guys all the time.

i would say that games ending early would not be definitive enough by itself to say cheat.

[cyclone 0]

2 year OFP playing i only saw early-ending game twice, both are in matches (coincident?) The first time i saw it happening is when the other team had players running past me at at least twice the speed i am at (that is also the first time i witnessed cheat except the ammo cheat in action in OFP), that is why i start to wonder when i saw the early-ending game happened 2nd time, maybe the other team is using that speed hack??

i have seen players with 10000+ desync many times, none of them had early-ending game. Blaming on lag or connection does not seem to justify the cause, besides, the players who had early-ending game did not have noticeable desync during the match.

as OFP is dying with all sorts of cheats i think the only fair matches or competitions could only be conducted in a LAN party, where each player's computer is inspected by 3rd party to verify it is clean.

I am still waiting for an official explanation about the early-ending game for some players.

[zinco 0]

I have seen people complain many times that "hey my game is over". i don't think u would always notice if someone elses game ended a little early unless they are done and there is still killing going on and they say something. I think it might have alot to do with the map too, and whether or not the timer is on a server side script or on each clients map. Should be on server side but if the make maker put a trigger in the map to end game and didn't specify it run server side that would definitely cause some funny stuff. the same is true with vehicle respawn. i believe all war games maps should be running server side.

as far as bis solving all the cheating i wouldn't hold your breath. hopefully ofp2 will have a system, but i think we are on our own. i have never been to a lan party and won't be going any time soon so i do not think that is a solution. if people cheat in a match let bad karma get em......it will eventually. in the mean time all we can do is work on file check and see what else the coders in the community can do to help us.

[benu 1]

I always play with voicecom. Did with the integrated til socket netcode and with rw or ts2 after that. Not once did someone tell me that his game was over earlier, even when desync went to 10000 for some guys.

To clarify, i said: using speedhack -> game ends earlier

I did not say: game ends earlier -> speedhack

I can only say that i never witnessed early ending games for myself or someone i played with, but that does not mean it has to be same for everyone else.

[iNeo 0]

ok so there are most likely 2 or more reasons why the game ends earlier for some people sometimes. As it doesn't happen a lot, desync and lag may still be one of the problems. Poor scripting sounds likely too. That's another possibly cause. Speedhack yet another one.

So with 2-3 or more likely causes, you can't say someone's using speedchat because the game's ending earlier for them, although that might have been why. To accuse someone for use of speedhack, you'd have to see them moving fast - and proof it somehow.

I know for sure speedhack isn't the only cause of early endings.

[DonkeyPunch 0]

Quote[/b] ]ok so there are most likely 2 or more reasons why the game ends earlier for some people sometimes. As it doesn't happen a lot, desync and lag may still be one of the problems. Poor scripting sounds likely too. That's another possibly cause. Speedhack yet another one.

As far as I am concerned, I have seen no documentation on the server and client becoming 'out-f-sync'. I think this is an assumption that people are making. Whether it is to take focus off the real issue or what I do not know. What I do know, like Cyclone, I have been playing this for a long damn time, and it is just recently that this game ending stuff has popped up. And like Cyclone, it only seems to happen in matches....If it gets much worse, then OFP will become a second game for me.....Because cheating ruins these damn games....

DonkeyPunch

[zinco 0]

I don't think it is a recent issue and i don't think anyone is trying to divert the issue from cheating. we will never be effective against cheating unless we look at these issues scientifically.

have you ever seen screen shots of a match ending score taken by different people and the scores are all different. or the player scores are different on different SS's. i have many times. this is due to the score being counted on the client side. scripting has changed alot over time because of these issues.

if there is a way to stop or detect the speed hack i want to be the first to know. if someones game ends early that is not near enuf for me to say they are cheating. if u are looking for official documentation u are going to be out of luck. this will only get better by us testing and coming up with solutions and working with bis.