a CHEAT? or an EXPLOIT of a poor dev decision?

Mon Apr 07, 2003 4:57 pm by bond_7007

Does anyone know how the unique Class 10 weapons make themselves available on a MP server?

Here are some questions that arise during our conversation with a regular player on my server.

A player who exits the game, while in space. This brings up an interesting Pandora’s Box. Number one, a player who uses the F1 key to exit while under attack from a faction or another player, can get away Scott free!

I thought of the idea that if a player exits the game in space, this should be similar to self destructing or hitting the escape pod. Well the Pandora’s Box this creates; well, what happens if players disconnect because of a server issue?

Ok, back to resolving this some other time.

The issue above arises with unique weapons.

1: If these CL 10 weapons are truly unique, then what happens when a player has like 5 sets of unique, and he never dies, because he always disconnects when he is on his last Shield. Do these weapons ever get back in the game?

2: What if a player one player has all of the unique weapons, and his account is banned or otherwise deleted?

3: So the main question is, how are these weapons handled?

4: Are they really unique in the fact that no more than ‘so many’ can exist in play at any one time?

Does anyone have any info on this topic, this is very important for server admins and non cheating players.

Thanks,

007 Commander

Mon Apr 07, 2003 6:00 pm by Apocalypse

simple answer, they are not unique.

still the f1 thing sucks and is a big big big exploit.

Mon Apr 07, 2003 6:03 pm by Stinger

It's an exploit, unless you do it while the server is rebooting, then characters go corrupt. Play with fire and you could get burned.

Mon Apr 07, 2003 6:22 pm by bond_7007

Thanks for the simple answer... may i have a detailed one?

In other words, when you "get" these weapons, and other players try the same thing to "get" them, it doesnt work.

So, is there a time limit on when these weapons can be "got" again?

I'm trying not to create spoiler here, if you know what I mean. Please keep your replies in the same manner.

Thanks,

007 Commander

Edited by - 007 Commander on 07-04-2003 19:24:18

Mon Apr 07, 2003 6:33 pm by Thrull

It really is simple. Derilect ships restock themselves when the server reboots, thus providing a new stock of l10 guns. Not sure why he didn't just say that...

Mon Apr 07, 2003 6:52 pm by bond_7007

So the server doesnt save any of the information that has happend in the world?

Whats the point of advertising a persistant world server ability then?

M$ thing i guess.

007

Mon Apr 07, 2003 7:02 pm by Kotau

I think they meant persistant as long as the server never reboots.

I just got done talking with someone who lived with one of the programmers, and he said that Lee (the programmer) got really pissed that they were rushing it so much, and cutting out some of the cooler features just to get it on the shelves asap. These features would have included a bunch of contraband cargo that was left out for Political Correctness, such as biochemical agents, exploding body parts, and illegal organs (not the captain nemo kind).

I am your fathers uncles brother nephew's former roomate too.
making us absolutely nothing.

So yes, blame ms

Edited by - kotau on 08-04-2003 11:53:59

Mon Apr 07, 2003 7:51 pm by Stinger

my second cousin knows a guy that has a girlfriend that dated the father of one of the janitors who works next to the Digital Avil place in Austin TX and she said they liked the game and it was as complete as it possible could be.

That makes as much sense as the previous post...

Mon Apr 07, 2003 8:16 pm by stevedroid

So the server doesnt save any of the information that has happend in the world?

It saves on a player level. E.g. a player's personal stats are saved even when a server is rebooted, but no it does not save things like the derelicts. You can't really expect to save every little event going on in the world - I mean you'd be talking about dozens of gigs of data.

Whats the point of advertising a persistant world server ability then?

It is persistent...until you reboot. You can think of a reboot as like restarting the world. It's not any different from EQ or other MMORPGs, those servers are on all the time and if they, for some unfortunately reason, need to be rebooted everything is reset with the exception of the player data.

Really rebooting takes care of the larger weakness that the lvl 10 weapons do not respawn during play. I mean it'd be pretty lame if only one or two people scooped up the best weapons and no one else could get them. That's why a good server admin will intentionally reboot periodically.

The F1 thing is annoying though, but at the same time what if the person really has to quit (e.g. boss/parents/wife/mistress coming, need to eat/go to bathroom/stop massive bleeding/etc.) is it really appropriate to punish them for having an outside life?

Mon Apr 07, 2003 9:07 pm by bond_7007

So then, if this is how EQ and other MMPOG are, then I would never spend their montly fees to be a part. Knowing that if their server crashes, evertying I have done in that world is gone.

Yes I know that all of these things can be saved on the player... but stil.... ok, let me give one example.

I was making a cargo run with Niobioum from New Tokyo to Dresden. I sold my load in Dresden for 1600 each, nice profit. Now while i was leaving I went to the very next staiton, and lo an behold, I saw someone accidently sold Niobiom here, there were only 40 of them, but I bought them for dirt cheap, made one lane trip, and sold them for 1600 again.

The fact is, this is something that can only happen because another player had some interaction with that base. However all of this uniqueness is gone, just for a reboot? I think thats lame!

It's sad to say that we also have to reboot our servers, just to undo a poor design flaw in the development process. Like hogging all of the CL 10 weapons.

Here is my idea, on how I think a persistant server SHOULD be. Lets say during the expansion of FL, I buy or build my own base. My base is next to Planet New York. My base should be password protected so only players that have the password can enter. However, If I am not in the game, that base should still be there, for others to see. Maybe I can have a guest dock, so guest can dock and purchase items that I am selling with the prices that I provided.

However, if the server reboots, then is that base gone? Or is the base saved in my character file, which means that base will only exist if I am in the game. Hopefully the latter is not the case, and i never would ever expect it to be the case for any company that advertises a persistant world.

I need to make my own games, then I would be happy

Thanks for the info,

007 Commander

Mon Apr 07, 2003 9:23 pm by JTCurry5

LOL STINGER!!!!!! AHAHAHAHAAHHA!!! i can see you have connections in...high places...

*I hate my old signature, so I changed it...to this*

Mon Apr 07, 2003 9:34 pm by deucy

what Kotau says makes perfect sense, m$ is notorious for rushing things...
fl is an awsome game but I think more should have been added to it, especially in single player. my 2cents

Mon Apr 07, 2003 9:40 pm by Comont54

Hmm, maybe it could be sort of like cruise engines, the ship would need a certain amount of time to turn off all their systems, so when you quit the game in space, you would hear "System Shutdown Commencing" and you would have to wait a good 10-15 seconds before you quit. So much for a exploit, but an easy solution nonetheless.

PS: You dont need to restart the server to resupply the wrecks, every wreck and supply depot has its own timer, and always drops random guns when shot. And, "unique" weapons are just really powerful, they dont have a limit on them per server, i picked up 2 Blue Blazes and have a friends that has about 5 of them extra

"I Would Rather Die Standing Than Live On My Knees"

Edited by - Comont54 on 07-04-2003 22:42:13

Tue Apr 08, 2003 1:21 am by Stinger

It's sad to say that we also have to reboot our servers, just to undo a poor design flaw in the development process. Like hogging all of the CL 10 weapons.

This is a fallacy. If everyone docks or logs off a server, it regens the hidden items. On a server like Elite, the better idea is to do a manual reboot. It's not a poor design flaw for gods sakes, it a feature.

Rob "Stinger" Lordier
Moderator - Lancers Reactor
Creator Privateer FAQ
no good deed will ever go unpunished

Tue Apr 08, 2003 2:18 am by bond_7007

It would only be a poor design flaw if it worked the way we thought, or I thought. However, why not give the gamer the information on how these things work when we purchase the title; so we dont have to form blanket opinions on a product that may not be true. And in this case, it wasnt, thanks to you I know better now.

Thanks again for the information, as you can see from the other post here, alot of us didnt know how it works.

007

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