Yeah know... I have thought about the aspect of security and the cheats that can be done, etc etc...
At current I can hop into ANY server and Cruise at 990/k - not cool...
I can do all kinda crap that is gonna make this a not fun game once alot of other people can and will figure out how to do it...

I believe the ONLY way that they are going to resolve these issues is to make all server sided INI files over rule everything on the client... You log into the server, it sends you the specs for the way things are and thats that... CRC checks can be hacked, just as the game can now...

I think the only way this game is gonna be saved from a Diablo style death is going to be when they implement server only mod... Client files would then mean nothing...



Emo1313 - Freelancer File Repositry
http://freelancer.solutionvii.com

I'm sure this won't be the most popular stance, and I'm also sure that everyone reading it will stomp on me with both feet - however, I really don't see the reason for all the fuss over cheats? And really, only the trainers are cheats, the rest are mods.

Ok so Billy can go nice and fast and his weapons are strong.. AND? If he's abusing it, ban him. The game isn't CS and PvP isn't the main obj. Hell, there's NO main obj. Everyone's acting like it's the worst thing ever but I havn't seen it doing anything towards ruining the game. Ok, so a player can torment the other players... well, NEWSFLASH, they can do this without cheating. (And do.) Since no other ship can hold a candle to the Titan, lvl 38 players can quite easily sit in NY and pick on the newbies all day long if they choose. I'm sure alot of people (myself included) run a few mods on their client to liven things up a little. I, personally jacked up the refire rate on all the guns. (I like miniguns) However, I changed the damage and energy use to even it out. I also changed the thrusters so that they give different speeds. Simple thrusters being SLOWER than they were before. I'm in the process of changing the standard speeds of the ships so that they're all different. (Freighters can keep pace with Light Fighters? No.) I'm doing this to make the game more balanced and fun. I'm not putting in any death cannons or invncible shields, and I don't think too many people are going to, as it makes the experience too easy. Of course you're going to have assholes that do that, but you'll always have those, and the CS community hasn't EVER managed to stop them.

I'm not saying that it's a non-issue, I'm just saying it's not that big of a deal, and on the servers where there's no PvP, I don't see how it hurts ANYTHING. (I, myself, dislike Non-PvP servers.)

There, that's my two cents on the topic. Let the flames commence.

I can see both sides of the storey here but most server admins I know like to play the game...not police it for abusers.

Leaving it up to the community to limit cheating is not the right stance any company should take in designing ANY type of multiplayer game. Maybe give them the choice (as some games do allow it) but they need to address it.

If they address it and leave it up to the server ops to decide whether to cheat or not, perhaps they can make most people happy.

One caveat that hasn't been mentioned however and doesn't involve cheating...right now, if a client mucks around too much with the wrong settings in an .ini file he can EASILY crash the server.


-V
The Nets Edge
Freelancer .INI File Parser
Freelancer IDSName Matcher

My idea could also be used so that servers and clients could sync files. so that if the server has some mods on then he client can get the necesary files needed without having to find them/mod the files themselfs. Sort of install on demand even. Such a program I think would make things alot easier for server admins also because then they don't have to worry about people totally crashing the server because of ini file descrepancies.

This is one of the reasons I do not like to play on PVP servers, because the only way to get past a level 38 Titan Newbie killer camping at Manhatten is to "CHEAT". And since I have no idea how to do multiplayer cheat to get past that newbie killer, I just leave and blacklist that pvp server.

you jsut need to edit a few ini files to give your shields a boost and weapons, or else get the battleship mod. then see the little bugger jump when you come at him in a full sized BS. lol I bet that would scare the heck out of him. that and the battleship mod that puts it in manhatten you can but for I belive it was arround 400 creds, that would leave you to selling all your old equip and buying some shield gens and nanobots hehehe I dont' condone cheating in a multiplayer situation, except in the situation of people going out of thier way to make gameplay bad for others. Newbie killing is bad form and people like that need to learn a few lessions.

btw, why can some one shoot a lvl 1, in the middel of New York whitout getting the entire navy/stations/tradelane, on his ass??

if they are strong enought they could shoot you them either bugger off without attacking the navy people and come back, or jsut duke it out with th enavy guys, or even camp the ringways.

Before Freelancer microsoft made a little game called allegiance (imho, the greatest game ever). Allegiance was originally the test bed for most of the code thats in freelancer, and for directplay. This game had the exact same problem, namely, the server doesnt actually check to see if its playing the same game as the client. A few players, one of whom is a good friend of mine, would equip scout ships with 4 of the best weapons, missiles that could blow up any base, gigantic shields, then modify their acceleration and velocities to a dozen or more times the normal values. The player base responded by making a program similar to the one described in the first thread, basically it just checks the files to see if they are the same as they should be. Two major problems arise with this system. Firstly, only mods that have been given an OK by the powers that be can be played publicly. Secondly, many of these variables can be edited once they are loaded into a players name. Thirdly, it doesnt deal with any program that doesnt actually change anything in the game, but merely mimics a player, albeit a very very good one(aim hacks, etc).

Im not sure how MS EVER planned to make this game an mmporg.. I dont think they really intended to make this game multiplayer, or they would have made it like diablo 2 with a central character server, etc...