Met My First Hacker Today

[Blaeringr]

He was hanging out inside the George Lucas Sation in Leesti. Yes, inside. The station was firing on him as I entered, on his small viper craft. As I entered, my shields dropped very suddenly as a stream of dumbfires pounded my ship. I quickly spammed shield cells, but he still got my shields down and hull to 75% before I could dock and escape his attack. He sat, hovering over my landing pad, the station blasting his tiny viper the whole time. I thought maybe he had zipped out of the station, spamming shield cells to not get his ship destroyed, but no, the whole 5 minutes I sat in the docking bay he hovered overhead with all the station's turrets blasting him. As soon as I launched, there he was, blasting an endless stream of dumfires, I managed to dodge some and get my shield cells going agains, but they just kept coming with no time to reload and I eventually lost my ship.


Rebuy cost of 4 Mil.

I reported the player's name as soon as it happened.

This kind of problem is a game breaking issue as far as I'm concerned for games. If Frontier doesn't plan to address the issues of allowing the clients to dictate how much health, shields, ammo, etc. a player's ship has, the hackers are going to lead this game down a path that leads to more fair minded players deciding they have no option but to cheat as well. I'm not threatening you, Frontier; I'm not saying I'm going to hack my client like this. I am saying expect it to become the norm if you don't address the matter soon. A quick Google search makes it clear just how easily and extensively anyone can do this.

 

[CMDR DeadPorkins]

Experienced something very similar at George Lucas station. Something fishy going on there, eh? I won't be going back anytime soon. This activity has been going on for several days, if not longer, since I only first arrived there less than a week ago.

 

[Soon(TM)]

Oh dear, that is troublesome.

I know the game uses P2P but I didn't think the client would be that weak!

I wonder what will happen to his account when FD check it.
Surely its not worth the risk hacking if it means your account could be banned from the game?

 

[Cmdr Andy B]

just keep reporting them so FD can ban their accounts for violating the EULA. if it costs them the price of the game once a week to keep doing it they'll soon get tired of it, if they don't at least FD will have a regular revenue stream to fund the development and servers

if you want to avoid them once spotted save to the menu, take a note of the server address then keep quitting and reloading until you are connected to a different matchmaking server - hey presto no more cheater

 

[CMDR DeadPorkins]

How am I supposed to report them unless they kill me? I'm too busy releasing chaff and hammering down on the throttle to turn around and look at who's firing on me. I'm lucky I survived the onslaught. And believe me, I've never been under so much laser fire from within the station as well as outside the station. It seemed like there were at least 3, if not 5 of them all working together. It would be nice of Fdev to send out a fleet to the station and take these guys out, doncha think?

 

[Luponator]

just keep reporting them so FD can ban their accounts for violating the EULA. if it costs them the price of the game once a week to keep doing it they'll soon get tired of it, if they don't at least FD will have a regular revenue stream to fund the development and servers

if you want to avoid them once spotted save to the menu, take a note of the server address then keep quitting and reloading until you are connected to a different matchmaking server - hey presto no more cheater

Until you get randomly put in the same instance a different day, or meet onther player who can run CheatEngine.
FD need to act, and not rely on players spotting cheat users.

 

[Soon(TM)]

Ok, I've done a 5 min Google search and found some scary stuff!
I'm not posting any links or anything because I don't want to risk any warnings from moderators etc.

But I can say I've found information that suggests that a certain piece of software was usable during beta and possibly gamma that allowed players to input their own credit balance!!!!

I've also found information that states that the game is basically a single player game with "some" server interaction but almost everything is in the game client, it goes on to say that certain files can be edited to increase ammo clip sizes to 100000 and shield cells to infinity so they can be spammed like a God mode?

It also says that the P2P connection is UDP based ( whatever that means) so you can block it in firewalls and stop yourself from having to do combat with other players but still keep your FTP? Connection to the ED server so it doesn't notice any disconnect?

FD is this for real?

I bet I get a warning for this post.....

Meh.....

 

[CMDR DeadPorkins]

Ok, I've done a 5 min Google search and found some scary stuff!
I'm not posting any links or anything because I don't want to risk any warnings from moderators etc.

But I can say I've found information that suggests that a certain piece of software was usable during beta and possibly gamma that allowed players to input their own credit balance!!!!

I've also found information that states that the game is basically a single player game with "some" server interaction but almost everything is in the game client, it goes on to say that certain files can be edited to increase ammo clip sizes to 100000 and shield cells to infinity so they can be spammed like a God mode?

It also says that the P2P connection is UDP based ( whatever that means) so you can block it in firewalls and stop yourself from having to do combat with other players but still keep your FTP? Connection to the ED server so it doesn't notice any disconnect?

FD is this for real?

I bet I get a warning for this post.....

Meh.....

Nothing wrong with putting the info out there. If moderators have a problem with it, I'd call that censorship.

 

[Cmdr Andy B]

i just did a quick search myself and i wouldn't rely too much on those cheat sites being accurate, one site i visited states that the game was released for both PC & Mac OS in December, shows how much they know as FD are still working on the Mac version and it wont be out for months

 

[Agony_Aunt]

If Frontier doesn't plan to address the issues of allowing the clients to dictate how much health, shields, ammo, etc. a player's ship has, the hackers are going to lead this game down a path that leads to more fair minded players deciding they have no option but to cheat as well. I'm not threatening you, Frontier; I'm not saying I'm going to hack my client like this. I am saying expect it to become the norm if you don't address the matter soon. A quick Google search makes it clear just how easily and extensively anyone can do this.

Excuse me, but really? There is no need to throw the toys out of the pram. Of course FD are going to address this. I'm pretty certain FD devs are watching the hacking threads and considering best how to counter it. But you know, hackers are clever people (not the script kiddies who run them of course), and making things impervious to their hacks can be tricky.

The best mechanism for dealing with these people is to report them. Screenshots, videos, time and place and commander name. You get that, and FD can confirm, then action can be taken. Its either then solo mode for life for those players, or account bannage and they lose the price of the game. Most people can't afford to buy a new licence every time they get banned.

And i must say, you were rather silly. When you saw what they were up to, you still decided to launch? Why didn't you exit and relog on in solo. Fly out of the station, and then go back to open?

 

[Daffan]

Oh dear, that is troublesome.

I know the game uses P2P but I didn't think the client would be that weak!

I wonder what will happen to his account when FD check it.
Surely its not worth the risk hacking if it means your account could be banned from the game?

P2P is a client to client setup. It's horrible

 

[Zeeman]

There is always the launch and quit take off technique...

That'll confuse them.

Z...

 

[Alkalizer]

This has happened to me in George Lucas as least 3 times, one of which reduced me from a 20 mil cr asp to a sidewinder.

 

[CMDR Starschulz]

This just happened to me before i could dock into lave station can you PM me the players name if you remember it? i want to know if it is the same guy

 

[Xaraman]

Excuse me, but really? There is no need to throw the toys out of the pram. Of course FD are going to address this. I'm pretty certain FD devs are watching the hacking threads and considering best how to counter it. But you know, hackers are clever people (not the script kiddies who run them of course), and making things impervious to their hacks can be tricky.

The best mechanism for dealing with these people is to report them. Screenshots, videos, time and place and commander name. You get that, and FD can confirm, then action can be taken. Its either then solo mode for life for those players, or account bannage and they lose the price of the game. Most people can't afford to buy a new licence every time they get banned.

And i must say, you were rather silly. When you saw what they were up to, you still decided to launch? Why didn't you exit and relog on in solo. Fly out of the station, and then go back to open?

Although I'm not of the ilk to knee jerk react to everything. The question does need to be asked of FDev. How are these hacks going to be addressed considering the games multiplayer engine seems to run on peer to peer which is incredibly susceptible to these sort of exploits?

They say they will punish ALT-F4 players because it is an exploit. However, if these alt-f4 guys are doing this because of a hack that other players are exploiting, FDev really don't have a leg to stand on. They can't punish people when their own multiplayer system is so open to exploiting and hacking that it requires other gamers to terminate the process of the game to survive.

 

[AsukaZ]

Perhaps if you've sitting there for five minutes weathering station fire without much effect, the station might pull out the big stick, a guaranteed one shot kill despite the numbers.

/edit
No then they'll just get hold of that weapon ...
Well I don't know what game they're playing but its not ED and it sounds boring. Cheap thrills at others expense.

 

[Cmdr Andy B]

There is always the launch and quit take of technique...

That'll confuse them.

Z...

yes, the logoffski maneuver, for those not in the know logging off and on again as soon as you launch will place you outside the station at around 10km distance.

this research lark can be fun, i've just found a site offering a keygen for ED, they even have a shot of what is supposed to be the box - it says Elite IV on it and has an age rating of 16 - i laughed so hard i could have died!

EDIT: here is a screen cap of what is supposed to be the box so everyone can have a giggle:



my conclusion? if you go looking for cheats for ED you are more likely to find yourself with a PC riddled with viruses and trojans.

 

[Blaeringr]

Excuse me, but really? There is no need to throw the toys out of the pram. Of course FD are going to address this. I'm pretty certain FD devs are watching the hacking threads and considering best how to counter it. But you know, hackers are clever people (not the script kiddies who run them of course), and making things impervious to their hacks can be tricky.

FD has had over a year of BETA testing during which these types of hacks have been going on. It's not an over reaction at this point to say that a fix is urgently needed. You may not think so, but it doesn't take long for a few hackers to encourage the emergence of many.

The best mechanism for dealing with these people is to report them. Screenshots, videos, time and place and commander name. You get that, and FD can confirm, then action can be taken. Its either then solo mode for life for those players, or account bannage and they lose the price of the game. Most people can't afford to buy a new licence every time they get banned.

I did report the player in question, thanks for the suggestion though. Give FD's foot dragging on this matter, over a year already, I'd say just reporting is only a start. The spirit of this thread was to encourage the community to apply pressure for them to get their butts in gear. Thanks for clarifying where you stand though.

And i must say, you were rather silly. When you saw what they were up to, you still decided to launch? Why didn't you exit and relog on in solo. Fly out of the station, and then go back to open?

When I saw what they were up to? As I said in the OP, I had assumed the station would deal with the player. I saw it firing on them when he attacked me, I assumed it was a player using a cheap ship in a suicide run to take out a much more expensive ship. In restrospect, I was wrong.

So not only did you mis-read that part about the op, you then ask why I did not respond with a known and declared exploit? That's a rather "silly" question, don't you think?

 

[Phier]

Anything with this much client side is going to get hacked to holy hell and back. Scaring people with virus talk etc doesn't really stop it. Look at the joke it turned Planetside 2 into. Far bigger companies have not been able to effectively stop this.

This is why they need a very strong single/coop game here, something I haven't seen so far.

 

[starjump]

This has happened to me in George Lucas as least 3 times, one of which reduced me from a 20 mil cr asp to a sidewinder.

Report and ticket it. If FD confirm it to be a hack then im sure you can get your money back. Its the best we can do until we get a better defence against these immature muppets. Also, since we can relog or go solo to get out of/into a station its not a massive issue for now since we dont see these idiots often.