thoughts on hacking

(H0RSE) #1

I came across this post on the Bethesda forums, and wanted to now what you guys thought about it - any opinions, suggestions or knowledge on the subject.

First off the game looks great, and sounds like a great idea, TF2+Borderlands+Mirror’s Edge= Awesome. However while I was watching the S.M.A.R.T. trailer a red flag popped up, the narrator says how you will be able to gain exp which will allow you to unlock guns, gear and abilities “…and you can do this introspective of whether you play offline in traditional single player style mode with no internet connection…” This suggests or even confirms that character information will be stored locally. It happened with Borderlands, it happened with Diablo 2 open battle-net and it will happen with Brink, if a toon’s stats and info are stored on local files they will be hacked. Server’s will either be kicking people every 2 seconds for hacking or worse yet letting them stay, this game is a multiplayer game, so make it a multiplayer game… [censored] single player, make players connect to a secure game server via an account to retrieve their character info and this game won’t be ruined by an easily avoidable problem. And if single player mode is unavoidable than don’t let players take that toon online.

(Grimi) #2

That post caught my interest aswell. The problem will be to blend the online and offline play without local storing. With my limited experience I would say it’s impossible to prevent hacking and still allow offline play with a character you can go online with.

(BioSnark) #3

It will be nearly as easy online if there is no distinction between custom maps and vanilla (default) maps. Anyone can make an xp farming map. As such, the unlocks have to confer no real advantage or the system will be something of a joke (not that I’d like if it these loopholes weren’t possible).

(H0RSE) #4

I’m thinking you can hack all you want offline, but once you go online, they system will ‘verify’ to see if your character is legit. They could also have local storage for offline only, and server storage online.

(Grimi) #5

This is beyond my expertise but I’m sure hackers will find a way to alter the information to make it appear as legit once they go online to authenticate. As far as I’ve got it you are to be able to play Brink without even having a connection at all at any time which means you can’t authenticate towards a server when saving progress or logging on/out. But I might have got this part all wrong as you do in fact play it through Steam.

(AnthonyDa) #6

What’s wrong with someone unlocking everything in 2 min ? It shouldn’t gives him a huge advantage like in diablo or Bordenlands.

Also, you’ll probably won’t see such hacks in BRINK, especially on consoles.

(INF3RN0) #7

I saw tons of potential problems with this, as well as XP unlocks bringing about the equivalent of ranked server problems. I can only hope SD has thought ahead.

(INF3RN0) #8

[QUOTE=AnthonyDa;221530]What’s wrong with someone unlocking everything in 2 min ? It shouldn’t gives him a huge advantage like in diablo or Bordenlands.

Also, you’ll probably won’t see such hacks in BRINK, especially on consoles.[/QUOTE]

If what we have been told is true, then yep it shouldn’t be a big deal at all. They would only ruin the extra bit of pleasure each time you unlock something new. After all unlocks only add ‘variety’ and not advantage :wink:.

(H0RSE) #9

It’s not just about people giving their guys all the upgrades, it’s about altering the properties of the upgrades themselves, like modding guns in Borderlands.

(Shiv) #10

Modding server side information based on character flags?

what?

character unlocks generic medic upgrade 9.2… the server knows what this is… when he does his wee little jig and pops out some healing goodness the client says “I DID JIG, GIEF HEALTH” server goes “heres health chummy, have a good one”
How does he mod this exactly?

Its not the same as borderlands… which has randomized statistics on weapons… which is probably part of the reason they are client side (client side guys)… the client tells the server the weapons stats… why would brink do this when the weapons/abilities are all locked… almighty damage booster of +2 damage will always be almighty damage booster of +2 damage… it wont be almighty damage booster of +1 to +6 damage based on rolled statistics on client pickup… oooooo

so yeah… modding guns wont be an issue in brink… if it is… i am sorry bob… we cant be freinds :x

Unlocks shouldnt be a big deal… it should be a nice cherry to go on a gorgeous cake… i am thinking a nice lemon drizzle… or maybe a stack of pancakes with suger… maple syrup if i am in the mood… o yeah.

(Nail) #11

Shiv is correct, weapons and ability upgrades will be handled server side.

(H0RSE) #12

how exactly? What if a player is playing SP - he hacks his guy so all the abilities are unlocked, then he goes online - are they now not unlocked? Are the abilities stored on the server? How are they handled server side?

(Grimi) #13

Also what happens if he in fact do unlock all abilites through real playing but still SP?

(H0RSE) #14

if you did it legit, you would have the lvl and xp values to match, and the game would see this, besides, you can’t unlock everything with one guy.

(Grimi) #15

Yeah, I actually saw your post on Beth forums and it explained it. But as you also said there what if xp/rank values can be hacked aswell to match the unlocks?

(H0RSE) #16

I can see doing something like logging into an account for online play (on PC) perhaps it will offer another layer of security.

(Grimi) #17

It would increase the security for those playing online but make everything worse for those who do not have an internet connection established every time they want to play.

(H0RSE) #18

It would increase the security for those playing online but make everything worse for those who do not have an internet connection established every time they want to play.

that’s why I said for online play…not needed for single player.

(Grimi) #19

Yeah but the things you unlock through Single Play will become available for online play aswell. But cheating that will enhance your performance should get filtered out in online play if you have an account login with some kind of scan.

(INF3RN0) #20

Why do I recall a SD post saying that all modes allow for character development?