Post by {GSR} Rollin~Death -=SR=- on Jul 25, 2006 5:57:58 GMT -6
This thread was seen in
dayofdefeat.net/forums/showthread.php?s=06e7f5c7a45f82c55ae36c76796a15e4&threadid=52735&perpage=15&pagenumber=1
BY: Pyrolistical
An Anti-cheating Guide For Admins (and general tips for all)
I am writing this guide to hopefully help all admins be better at detecting real cheaters. I have seen far too many false accusations based on misinformation. Although part of this guide is specific to DoD, a lot of it can be applied to all mods.
Watch professional demos
In my opinion, you have to watch at least one professional demo before you should be even allowed to be an admin. You need to know what professionals are capable of doing, or else how can you know what is possible? Check out some first person(non-HLTV) demos at www.gotfrag.com/dod/demos/
False Accusations of Wallhacks
1. Headphones are wallhacks
A good pair of properly configured headphones (select "Stereo headphones" in Sounds and Audio Devices Properties -> Speaker settings -> Advanced...) is basically equivalent to a wallhack. You can tell exactly where somebody is if they make a sound. And its even easier if they are making continuous footstep sounds in conjuction with stopsound. I can practically track a person through the wall in 1 vs 1 (low noise) situations.
2. Map captures/icons, mini-map, previous lives, teammate deaths, map triggers, Ventrilo/Teamspeak/Mic tells location
If somebody captures a flag or runs by a flag not held by their team, this information is known by everybody. The Mini-map can tell you if that person behind the wall is friend or foe. Whoever killed you or your teammate can tell you their location as well. And people can legally use Ventrilo or the Mic to tell each other where enemies are. And depending on the map layout, you can sometimes extrapolate where someone will be, even after a lot of time has passed. Thus it is very difficult to say for certain that person x does not know where person y is. If person y did not make any sounds, didn't set off any map triggers, didn't cap any flags, didn't even go near any flags, didn't kill anybody, was not seen by the enemy, did not hide in a common spot, did not have his gun sticking out, then perhaps you can say with some certainty that nobody on the enemy team should know where person y is. It is very difficult for anybody watching a demo of person x to know all the information person x used or had (how do you know he didn't get information over ventrilo?).
False Accusations of Aimbots
1. Snappy aim doesn't prove use of cheats
A lot of good players have snappy aim. Even if a person is snapping between two enemies, this does not prove "his aimbot is getting confused!" Even humans get confused when there is a lot of enemies on the screen. Sometimes in the heat of the battle you can't tell if you put enough bullets in your enemy, so you shoot at some guy, snap to the next, then snap back after you realize you didn't kill the first guy, then finally back snapping to the second guy. Take snappy aim into consideration, but don't base your whole judgement on it.
2. High resolution allows for easier aim
Did you know that a person running at 1600x1200 sees 2.44140625 times the pixels than someone running at 1024x768? The cross-hair is also smaller at higher resolutions, so its easier to aim since it covers less of your target. Check out this image to see what I mean:
img342.imageshack.us/img342/9839/rescmp0jh.png
That image shows the difference between 640x480, 1024x768, and 1600x1200.
False Accusations of No-Recoil hacks
1. Some people can counter recoil
If a guy fires a M1 Garand, and his cross-hair stays in the middle, he must cheat right? Wrong! I know some people who have learned to counter recoil at each shot. What they do is they counter recoil as they fire each shot, not after each shot. If you watch somebody doing this, you will see their recoil going sideways. They can only counter the vertical recoil, since the horizontal recoil is unpredictable, although, you can get lucky and guess. Then your cross-hair won't move much at all. Go ahead and try it for yourself. Pull your mouse downward at the same time as you fire a Garand.
2. M1 Carbine, K43, Thompson, and MP40 already have low recoil!
I think this point is fairly self explanatory and fairly well known, but I've seen people accusing others of no-recoil hacks when they were using those weapons.
False Accusations of Whitewalls/Illegal models
1. Some colorblind people see camouflaged people more easily
In World War II, the US army used colorblind people as spotters, since camouflaged didn't fool them. Thus it is hard to tell if a person is colorblind, or if he/she is using whitewalls/illegal models. Just because you didn't interpret that round thing in the distance as a proned enemy, doesn't mean everybody will see it the same way as you.
2. Monitor/Gamma settings
Just because a part of the map looks pitch black on your computer, doesn't mean everybody sees what you see. Increasing your gamma (legally) to the max, and having a good monitor can go a long way to seeing things in dark areas. This is most notable in Natural Selection. The default settings makes all the maps dark and moody, but after some (legal) cvar changes, all the maps look colorful and bright. Here's an example of what my monitor (DP-930SB) can do.
This is what I normally see/use: img304.imageshack.us/img304/...tiger2b21vc.jpg
This is with SuperBright on: img304.imageshack.us/img304/...kedgamma3pj.jpg
(Note: This is not the default SuperBright, you have to turn it on, and then increase the brightness and contrast all the way up to get this.
Note2: This second picture is just faked to what I see. My digital camera wouldn't take a picture that looked right. So obviously the HUD doesn't look like that with SuperBright on.)
Miscellaneous Items
1. Widescreen resolutions
People who are using widescreen (16:10, or even 16:9) resolutions see more than non-widescreen (4:3) people. So you may not see what they see, even in a first person demo. Note also, people using 4:3 resolutions see more than non-widescreen LCD users (which mostly use 1280x1024, which is 5:4, less than 4:3).
2. Lag kills
If somebody is getting packet loss, then he/she may exhibit some funny kills. For example, you may see him fire his gun at nothing, and then later, he moves his cross-hair over a person and kills him without having the gun fire again.
3. People who do bad, probably don't cheat
This doesn't really apply to admins, as much as it applies to noobs. (Although, I do have demos of clan leaders of accusing me of cheating when I was doing bad and got a few lucky kills) If somebody has less than a 2:1, are you sure you want to call him a cheater? He probably just got lucky, and you were just pissed for dying to him.
4. Don't perpetuate bad logic
Far too many times I have heard admins say, "Oh look at him, he was doing so good last week, and now he sucks. He must have turned off his cheats!" Good players can have bad days as well! Do not assume anything. Just because a player has inconsistent skill, it does not mean he is turning cheats on and off! Don't be lazy. Demo him and get solid proof that he is really cheating.
Spectating/viewing demos of suspected cheaters
1. Do not be biased towards lucky kills
Doesn't it sound silly to say, "Oh he didn't cheat for pretty much the whole map, but then he turned on his hacks and got these 3 godly kills! Therefore, he must cheat!!" I am not saying that, that can't happened. I'm just saying be very very careful in your judgement when you say that. It can be very well that those were just 3 lucky kills.
2. Remember the mini-map doesn't show on demos playbacks
You'll never know what information a player gotten from looking at his mini-map in a demo.
3. Don't focus on their cross-hair
You don't know what a person is looking at even in their first person view. Sometimes they may be looking at the edges of their screens. Just don't miss anything.
Conclusion
So given all of above, does it mean we can't possibly accuse anybody of cheating? Well no. You just have to be very careful when you do. Make sure you take all of the above into consideration. And besides, those who blatantly cheat (and when I say blatant, I mean really really blatant), you can detect those easily. Those are the ones who cause the most trouble anyways.
It is in my humble opinion that there are far less cheaters than what everybody thinks. There's a lot more skill than cheats. Please remember that before you accused somebody of cheating.
If anybody would like to add to this guide, please do tell. I'll give you full credit.
Last edited by Pyrolistical on 08-25-2005 at 11:24 PM
dayofdefeat.net/forums/showthread.php?s=06e7f5c7a45f82c55ae36c76796a15e4&threadid=52735&perpage=15&pagenumber=1
BY: Pyrolistical
An Anti-cheating Guide For Admins (and general tips for all)
I am writing this guide to hopefully help all admins be better at detecting real cheaters. I have seen far too many false accusations based on misinformation. Although part of this guide is specific to DoD, a lot of it can be applied to all mods.
Watch professional demos
In my opinion, you have to watch at least one professional demo before you should be even allowed to be an admin. You need to know what professionals are capable of doing, or else how can you know what is possible? Check out some first person(non-HLTV) demos at www.gotfrag.com/dod/demos/
False Accusations of Wallhacks
1. Headphones are wallhacks
A good pair of properly configured headphones (select "Stereo headphones" in Sounds and Audio Devices Properties -> Speaker settings -> Advanced...) is basically equivalent to a wallhack. You can tell exactly where somebody is if they make a sound. And its even easier if they are making continuous footstep sounds in conjuction with stopsound. I can practically track a person through the wall in 1 vs 1 (low noise) situations.
2. Map captures/icons, mini-map, previous lives, teammate deaths, map triggers, Ventrilo/Teamspeak/Mic tells location
If somebody captures a flag or runs by a flag not held by their team, this information is known by everybody. The Mini-map can tell you if that person behind the wall is friend or foe. Whoever killed you or your teammate can tell you their location as well. And people can legally use Ventrilo or the Mic to tell each other where enemies are. And depending on the map layout, you can sometimes extrapolate where someone will be, even after a lot of time has passed. Thus it is very difficult to say for certain that person x does not know where person y is. If person y did not make any sounds, didn't set off any map triggers, didn't cap any flags, didn't even go near any flags, didn't kill anybody, was not seen by the enemy, did not hide in a common spot, did not have his gun sticking out, then perhaps you can say with some certainty that nobody on the enemy team should know where person y is. It is very difficult for anybody watching a demo of person x to know all the information person x used or had (how do you know he didn't get information over ventrilo?).
False Accusations of Aimbots
1. Snappy aim doesn't prove use of cheats
A lot of good players have snappy aim. Even if a person is snapping between two enemies, this does not prove "his aimbot is getting confused!" Even humans get confused when there is a lot of enemies on the screen. Sometimes in the heat of the battle you can't tell if you put enough bullets in your enemy, so you shoot at some guy, snap to the next, then snap back after you realize you didn't kill the first guy, then finally back snapping to the second guy. Take snappy aim into consideration, but don't base your whole judgement on it.
2. High resolution allows for easier aim
Did you know that a person running at 1600x1200 sees 2.44140625 times the pixels than someone running at 1024x768? The cross-hair is also smaller at higher resolutions, so its easier to aim since it covers less of your target. Check out this image to see what I mean:
img342.imageshack.us/img342/9839/rescmp0jh.png
That image shows the difference between 640x480, 1024x768, and 1600x1200.
False Accusations of No-Recoil hacks
1. Some people can counter recoil
If a guy fires a M1 Garand, and his cross-hair stays in the middle, he must cheat right? Wrong! I know some people who have learned to counter recoil at each shot. What they do is they counter recoil as they fire each shot, not after each shot. If you watch somebody doing this, you will see their recoil going sideways. They can only counter the vertical recoil, since the horizontal recoil is unpredictable, although, you can get lucky and guess. Then your cross-hair won't move much at all. Go ahead and try it for yourself. Pull your mouse downward at the same time as you fire a Garand.
2. M1 Carbine, K43, Thompson, and MP40 already have low recoil!
I think this point is fairly self explanatory and fairly well known, but I've seen people accusing others of no-recoil hacks when they were using those weapons.
False Accusations of Whitewalls/Illegal models
1. Some colorblind people see camouflaged people more easily
In World War II, the US army used colorblind people as spotters, since camouflaged didn't fool them. Thus it is hard to tell if a person is colorblind, or if he/she is using whitewalls/illegal models. Just because you didn't interpret that round thing in the distance as a proned enemy, doesn't mean everybody will see it the same way as you.
2. Monitor/Gamma settings
Just because a part of the map looks pitch black on your computer, doesn't mean everybody sees what you see. Increasing your gamma (legally) to the max, and having a good monitor can go a long way to seeing things in dark areas. This is most notable in Natural Selection. The default settings makes all the maps dark and moody, but after some (legal) cvar changes, all the maps look colorful and bright. Here's an example of what my monitor (DP-930SB) can do.
This is what I normally see/use: img304.imageshack.us/img304/...tiger2b21vc.jpg
This is with SuperBright on: img304.imageshack.us/img304/...kedgamma3pj.jpg
(Note: This is not the default SuperBright, you have to turn it on, and then increase the brightness and contrast all the way up to get this.
Note2: This second picture is just faked to what I see. My digital camera wouldn't take a picture that looked right. So obviously the HUD doesn't look like that with SuperBright on.)
Miscellaneous Items
1. Widescreen resolutions
People who are using widescreen (16:10, or even 16:9) resolutions see more than non-widescreen (4:3) people. So you may not see what they see, even in a first person demo. Note also, people using 4:3 resolutions see more than non-widescreen LCD users (which mostly use 1280x1024, which is 5:4, less than 4:3).
2. Lag kills
If somebody is getting packet loss, then he/she may exhibit some funny kills. For example, you may see him fire his gun at nothing, and then later, he moves his cross-hair over a person and kills him without having the gun fire again.
3. People who do bad, probably don't cheat
This doesn't really apply to admins, as much as it applies to noobs. (Although, I do have demos of clan leaders of accusing me of cheating when I was doing bad and got a few lucky kills) If somebody has less than a 2:1, are you sure you want to call him a cheater? He probably just got lucky, and you were just pissed for dying to him.
4. Don't perpetuate bad logic
Far too many times I have heard admins say, "Oh look at him, he was doing so good last week, and now he sucks. He must have turned off his cheats!" Good players can have bad days as well! Do not assume anything. Just because a player has inconsistent skill, it does not mean he is turning cheats on and off! Don't be lazy. Demo him and get solid proof that he is really cheating.
Spectating/viewing demos of suspected cheaters
1. Do not be biased towards lucky kills
Doesn't it sound silly to say, "Oh he didn't cheat for pretty much the whole map, but then he turned on his hacks and got these 3 godly kills! Therefore, he must cheat!!" I am not saying that, that can't happened. I'm just saying be very very careful in your judgement when you say that. It can be very well that those were just 3 lucky kills.
2. Remember the mini-map doesn't show on demos playbacks
You'll never know what information a player gotten from looking at his mini-map in a demo.
3. Don't focus on their cross-hair
You don't know what a person is looking at even in their first person view. Sometimes they may be looking at the edges of their screens. Just don't miss anything.
Conclusion
So given all of above, does it mean we can't possibly accuse anybody of cheating? Well no. You just have to be very careful when you do. Make sure you take all of the above into consideration. And besides, those who blatantly cheat (and when I say blatant, I mean really really blatant), you can detect those easily. Those are the ones who cause the most trouble anyways.
It is in my humble opinion that there are far less cheaters than what everybody thinks. There's a lot more skill than cheats. Please remember that before you accused somebody of cheating.
If anybody would like to add to this guide, please do tell. I'll give you full credit.
Last edited by Pyrolistical on 08-25-2005 at 11:24 PM
