Hacking running rampant - PvP server

[czar]

<p>I want to let you all know that even today myself too are experiencing many types of hacks. In the past it was rare to run into a hacker. Today the gap between the hacks seen are ever growing smaller and with it I noticed more users are using them.</p><p>We get it. Developing a program to detect and defeat hacks are expensive. Relying on third party applications (PB) to spot the illegal user isn't exactly a perfect solution either. What is really the most reliable source for SOE from time and time again are the community itself. If the community are armed with the tools and the hackers know that likely most people have the means to deal with said events, we can drive back the hack usage into a rare event once again.</p><p>I will be happy to help out SOE to help us if they would point toward the steps to implement and the tools to utilize when experiencing these events.</p>

[Tenka]

i remember when i was playing from iraq on a lil bitty huawei sat modem, and i would lag out - like 8k ping- and stay lagged out for like a minute. my toon would still react to my input, minus ca's/spells. i would lag out in KP, and run like all the way across the zone before my connection would sync up. to the ppl that were there at tg (where the zerg was) i appeared out of thin air. i got accused of hacking but in reality i was playing on a connection that gave me a 600 ping on a really good day. if you put too much power in the hands of the on-lookers, it will no doubt turn into a witch hunt.

[-Arctura-]

<p>its pretty easy to spot... just attack someone (or show up near them)</p><p>and your entire game freezes up, then returns to normal for 1 second, then 1 second frozen, then back to normal, then 1 second frozen etc</p><p>(looks like you're playing Myst)</p><p>when (and if you are lucky enough) you kill the person doing it to you, it stops.</p><p>seen this over a dozen times with the same repeat offenders. Many of us are keeping track and have a list of these people.</p><p>its really quite sad to see lol</p><p>it has nothing to do with computer or PQs. top of the line system or crappy computer, it happens the exact same and only with certain players.</p>

[Wytie]

<p><cite>-Arctura- wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>its pretty easy to spot... just attack someone (or show up near them)</p><p>and your entire game freezes up, then returns to normal for 1 second, then 1 second frozen, then back to normal, then 1 second frozen etc</p><p>(looks like you're playing Myst)</p><p>when (and if you are lucky enough) you kill the person doing it to you, it stops.</p><p>seen this over a dozen times with the same repeat offenders. Many of us are keeping track and have a list of these people.</p><p>its really quite sad to see lol</p><p>it has nothing to do with computer or PQs. top of the line system or crappy computer, it happens the exact same and only with certain players.</p></blockquote><p>I dont normally post in threads like these, but you have explained a situation I have ran into 3 times so far.</p><p>I attack someone who did not wish to be attacked.</p><p>I lag out just as described above and my cpu just doesnt seem to be able to catch up until I restart eq2.</p><p> Well known trouble makers has caused this, but I dont care enough to recall their names here and anger the mods.</p><p>Way I figure it is they have found a way to ping me ingame forecing my client to lag to 1frames, which no matter what, it should never do and never does with my system except for after these specific pvp encounters.</p><p>Just be glad fame doesnt matter right now, because when it does all hell will break lose again with the real hacks.</p>

[Darkor]

<p>What was described above happend to me twice in a PvE enviroment but yesterday i had it happen once in a pvp situation when i was near my favorite qeynos shadowknight. It was impossible to move my character, so when my screen unfroze i was allready dead....</p>

[TerminalEyesore]

<p><span style="color: #ff9900;">If you want to know how bad it is REALLY getting, go to YouTUBE and search for EQ2 Hacks, and sort by upload date.</span></p><p><span style="color: #ff9900;">Then just watch a few videos, you'll be amazed at what's out there. They'll show you the programs in use, how to use them, and even where to download them. These guys are brazen about it, because they know Sony doesn't do much to curb it, even with the hackers making it easy to find them.</span></p><p><span style="color: #ff9900;">So don't blame me for pointing it out, its right there out in the open. And btw, I never use them, but I'd LOVE for Sony to actually go after these guys. I just don't hold out a lot of hope for that.</span></p>

[-Arctura-]

<p>the sad part is, alot of the people who employ these unscrupulous tactics are usually pretty decent at their class.</p><p>had an ACTUAL legit battle with one of the mages last night and got totally put to shame. was a good fight, was totally owned and made to look silly. I enjoyed the fight immensely, even though I lost.</p><p>What boggles me is that for whatever reason this person felt it necessary to (on several previous occasions) resort to... alternative and aforementioned methods to ensure victory... </p><p>also, not sure what causes it (keep your eyes out for this one), but when someone is lagging you out, chances are one of your arms will dissapear off your character. (or other body geometry)</p><p>cannot explain this, but it has happened to several people now, and is pretty strange.</p><p>(see attached pic)</p><p><img src="http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g69/Arctura000/WarWounds.jpg" /></p><p>this is nothing wrong with my computer. Had several people report this exact phenomena, immediately following someone screwing with their connection</p>

[EQ2Magroo]

<p>Had this on PvE server with certain characters too who were causing the game to freeze repeatedly and FPS drop to 1 (I think this is the lowest value it can display, so in this case it really means the game is so busy it's not bothering to call any of the graphics rendering routines)</p><p>When I issued a '/soga_models 0' command the problem instantly went away.</p><p>Where they a mage and on a cloud mount by any chance ?</p>

[AziBam]

<p>Ok, I'm biting.  I am far too hack ignorant to know if what is described above is actually what is happening.  If so, I wonder if this is also what causes some LDs in BGs.  I haven't actually had a problem on a regular server.  I honestly have never gone LD in a game where I've been <em>losing</em> in BGs though, ever.  I just assumed coincidence.  If what you are describing is happening though, maybe it's not.</p>

[WillCrusher]

<p><cite><a href="mailto:Adeyia@Antonia">Adeyia@Antonia</a> Bayle wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Had this on PvE server with certain characters too who were causing the game to freeze repeatedly and FPS drop to 1 (I think this is the lowest value it can display, so in this case it really means the game is so busy it's not bothering to call any of the graphics rendering routines)</p><p>When I issued a '/soga_models 0' command the problem instantly went away.</p><p>Where they a mage and on a cloud mount by any chance ?</p></blockquote><p>The quote above could explain this:</p><p><em>"What boggles me is that for whatever reason this person felt it necessary to (on several previous occasions) resort to... alternative and aforementioned methods to ensure victory... "</em></p><p>Could it not?</p>

[-Arctura-]

<p>no people on cloud mounts.... usually everyone i take out has a griffons or no mount, and i kill dozens of people every day, many race models. Many varieties of targets. If it were phenomena linked ONLY to 'certain soga models being rendered', then it would happen anytime, in PVE or no, city or no.</p><p>However, certain few players, the exact same people, NOT EVERY FIGHT, but often enough to get noticed, strange 1-fps spiking starts happening mid or pre-pvp. (sometimes Post-pvp after ive killed em and am looting their chest)</p><p>and if what you are getting at is that my own soga model is somehow lagging myself out... hate to say it but the model is onscreen 100% of the time, and the lag only happens in very specific pvp battles, and only with certain players (repeat offenders)</p><p>It <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>never</strong></span> occurs in pve with no enemy players around.<span style="text-decoration: underline;"> it <strong>doesnt</strong> randomly happen in the middle of a PQ with 2 to 3 X4 raids </span>of friendlies all bashing mobs and lagging out the zone. If it were merely a Soga model issue, it would crop up at that time, when over 90+ players are onscreen fighting dozens of mobs.</p><p>Us 'wolf-cryers' were not born yesterday. Its very [Removed for Content] obvious when it happens, its VERY different from any other form of performance loss.</p><p>Doesn't happen every day, sometimes fighting the aforementioned people does not result in this phenomena. If it were an issue native to EQ2 code it would crop up with greater consistency.</p><p>Also interesting it only happens when fighting individuals Champion-rank and higher <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p><p>Im not jaded to believe only Qs or exiles would do this, by all means if you are Qeynosian and have experienced Freeporters doing it please by all means share your experiences with this issue.</p>

[Rothgar]

<p>Please PM me the exact details of when this occurred.  If you don't remember, wait for it to happen again and let me know.  Send me the player's name, zone name you were in and the exact time it occurred.  I'll check the logs and see what we can figure out.  We log everything and if we find out they are indeed doing something to gain an advantage, we'll fix it and take action against those players.</p>

[Zutan]

<p>I'm pretty sure someone did this in Eastern Wastes on Guyk a while back.  I dont recall the character name, but any time I got within a certain range (fairly decent sized area) of him my system would grind to a halt (cant move, 1 frame every 5seconds or so ) and the ping meter would go off the charts.  If he moved away, or if I managed to get away it would clear up.    I ran into him a few times over the course of 30 to 40 minutes and every time it did this.  And if I return to an area it previously happened, and he wasnt there, I would not get that 'lag'..</p>

[Rotate]

<p>I get this all the time in The new zones. PVE OR PVP. I get it both on my laptop and desktop. Its all over the tech forums.  Its some graphic glich with the charater models.  You will go from ur normal fps down to 1 fps when certain model that  bugs you out comes in range.   If you turn soga models on and off it temporary fixes the problem but it will come back later.  </p>

[Sprin]

<p><cite>Rothgar wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Please PM me the exact details of when this occurred.  If you don't remember, wait for it to happen again and let me know.  Send me the player's name, zone name you were in and the exact time it occurred.  I'll check the logs and see what we can figure out.  We log everything and if we find out they are indeed doing something to gain an advantage, we'll fix it and take action against those players.</p></blockquote><p>Just go to [Removed for Content] and watch some PVP... there are plenty of people that do it 100% of the time they fight, if you watch them before and in between fights, they fly / run around smooth as silk, as soon as they go to engage... warping, disapearing "cant see target" the entire time, though their damage never takes a break....  they will warp back and forth and you can only see them every 2-3 seconds... I will PM you with names and rough estimate of time it happened to me tonight, though I already petitioned the junker hacker... but I have been petitioning for years, you guys never do anything to anyone... so I just gave up caring TBH...</p>

[Ilovecows]

<p>I am not quite sure if this would be counted as a hack, or just someone messing with lag, but I have had it happen too many times to count where someone is running from me, they warp backwards, so I go back to attack them, and then a couple seconds later they are way out of range of any of my attacks.</p><p>Is it just me?  It is rather annoying when I am killing someone and they just port out of range...</p>

[Sprin]

<p><cite>Ilovecows@Nagafen wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>I am not quite sure if this would be counted as a hack, or just someone messing with lag, but I have had it happen too many times to count where someone is running from me, they warp backwards, so I go back to attack them, and then a couple seconds later they are way out of range of any of my attacks.</p><p>Is it just me?  It is rather annoying when I am killing someone and they just port out of range...</p></blockquote><p>Nah, its not just you...  had like a 5 minute fight with someone and, and they were smooth as silk for the 5 minutes... they realized they werent gonna kill me so they started running off... well I started to kill them cuz they stopped healing as they ran... well I'll be an uncle's brother if they didnt just start magically warping all over the place... behind me, "too far away", way ahead of me... back and forth back and forth....   its out of control right now... SOE needs to get a grip on this game TBH..</p>

[IcterusGalbula]

<p>As suggested, I went to Youtube and watched some 'EQ2 hack' videos.  I could not tell what I was watching.  The quality of those videos is so bad I cannot see any detail.</p><p>Nor do most of the people who create those videos seem to have any real interest in documenting anything.  Instead, they seem more concerned with combining loud music to a film of their toon.</p><p>I cannot blame Sony if they take no action after watching most of those videos.  If you want people to take action you have to document things clearly.</p>

[Peak]

<p>Nothing new with those "hack" videos.</p>

[Sprin]

<p><cite>IcterusGalbula wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>As suggested, I went to Youtube and watched some 'EQ2 hack' videos.  I could not tell what I was watching.  The quality of those videos is so bad I cannot see any detail.</p><p>Nor do most of the people who create those videos seem to have any real interest in documenting anything.  Instead, they seem more concerned with combining loud music to a film of their toon.</p><p>I cannot blame Sony if they take no action after watching most of those videos.  If you want people to take action you have to document things clearly.</p></blockquote><p>Nah, SOE doesnt look at those or any pictures / videos you send them, they clearly state they need to see it in action, as any photo or video can clearly be edited to do anything the person wants...   dont bother sending in videos or pictures... just report it repeatedly and eventually maybe they will watch that person... though nothing will ever come of it, so really, dont bother at all TBH.</p>

[AziBam]

<p><cite>-Arctura- wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>also, not sure what causes it (keep your eyes out for this one), but when someone is lagging you out, chances are one of your arms will dissapear off your character. (or other body geometry)</p><p>cannot explain this, but it has happened to several people now, and is pretty strange.</p><p>(see attached pic)</p><p><img src="http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g69/Arctura000/WarWounds.jpg" /></p><p>this is nothing wrong with my computer. Had several people report this exact phenomena, immediately following someone screwing with their connection</p></blockquote><p>I had this happen last night in a WF in Ant.  Odd thing was, I wasn't in combat with anyone, my group was just attacking a tower along with many other freeps.  But, suddenly I was hit with immense lag that lasted for quite a while (minute? more?) and when it came back to normal I was missing an arm.  (Merely a flesh-wound!) </p><p>My arm stayed that way until I zoned.</p>

[Phineus]

<p> I have seen it a few times in ant. Had to reboot at least once. Ive noticed my own characters warping now tho and Im definitely not employing any third party speed hax. Like the zone bogs for a second then catches up then bogs and so forth.</p><p>  Someone hopped on vent the other day and spammed a packet editor and knocked the vent out. Said he used it in game. Reminded me of the old dom hax. 1fps4lyfe</p><p> I seen that one the other day with the back and forward quick warp like dual cores did when they first came out. I absolutely love killing those people and I have a pretty good kill ratio on that hack. Cows if someone warps back like that dont stop to fight. Just keep chasing in the same direction and they will appear in front of you. Could also be modem trickery tho and those are harder to predict where they will end up. Most like youll get an out of range or no target but you can usually down em with ranged pvp items. Those things hit pretty hard.</p><p> With just the little skip warps that happens it can just be a crap computer or connection, i.e. not intentional.</p>

[aunix]

<p>this is happening on both sides and is so annoying it makes me want to quit somedays.</p><p>Today I found it interesting that I was invited to a group during a wf and started attacking an opposite faction when they started warping so far away there was no posibility to catch up. I made a comment to my group how much I hated cheaters and during the entire wf my group never said another thing in group chat. During the wf I saw one of my group members using this same hack. Needless to say I called him on it with no response. Sony really needs to do something. This hack is ruining this game for pvp. I wont group during wfs anymore unless its my own guild.</p><p>Also I have fraps installed and record every pvp situation Im in now, and as someone mentioned above, reps from sony dont want to see vids. But they do want to see exact times that the offense occured so if you can record this, your timestamp on your vid will give them the info they need to investigate.</p>

[WillCrusher]

<p>Yep.  All the time.  Seems during half of the fights there are constant "you cant see your target", "out of range" messages with the target warping and jumping around, stopping then disappearing entirely and showing up 100 feet away if they run.  So obvious.  </p><p>I don't know why the onus is on the players to provide "details" anyway!  Just send a freaking tester into a few WF's and study some dumps.  It's so common it isn't hard to find anymore.  </p>

[Blambil]

<p><cite>IcterusGalbula wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>As suggested, I went to Youtube and watched some 'EQ2 hack' videos.  I could not tell what I was watching.  The quality of those videos is so bad I cannot see any detail.</p><p>Nor do most of the people who create those videos seem to have any real interest in documenting anything.  Instead, they seem more concerned with combining loud music to a film of their toon.</p><p>I cannot blame Sony if they take no action after watching most of those videos.  If you want people to take action you have to document things clearly.</p></blockquote><p>lol -- made me snort my drink..... same way I feel about most of those..</p>

[Blambil]

<p><cite>Phineus@Nagafen wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p> seen that one the other day with the back and forward quick warp like dual cores did when they first came out...</p></blockquote><p>I have a machine that will still do that periodically.. XP SP3 + Athlon 4400 x2....Randomly a couple times a month it would wig out.. a reboot would always solve it.. I finally just replaced the hardware, so it's sitting unused except when I multi-box.</p>

[Marcula]

<p>Has happened twice to me. First time I was attacked and my gameplay went from high speed to ten seconds to get one spell off then I was dead. Revived and everything was working again.</p><p>Second time I was PVPing a freepwhen another joined in and immediate lag. I managed to kill the second freep in and then lag stopped and I was able to continue against the other one. I will pay more attention to the player doing it next time.</p>

[Phineus]

<p> Someone on a flying mount approached me in the wf today and I locked up completely for about 2 mins. I was surprised as hell I didnt ld out. Every wf I participated in had weird intermittent lag. I was two boxxing my mystic and the mystic was perfectly fine. Not a drop in frame rate so it wasnt on my intrawebs. Reminded me so much of the old hax on venekor said to come from that one exiled guild but those would affect entire groups and raids. When your group lags out completely on a dead server with no one in zone it is a bit conspicuous.</p>

[ekylok]

<p>Recently, I was questing in [Removed for Content] around the Ring War PQ area and there was a Monk/Bruiser of opposite faction in the area looking to be questing too, He saw me and tried to attack, but I got away. I was hovering in the air watching him and he disappeared quickly.</p><p>I DID have a butterfly and owl totem on, so I would have still been able to see him if he went stealth/invis, but I could not see him at all. At first I thought maybe he called or evaced, so I went back to doing a quest in the area, and out of nowhere he pops up and attacks again. Again I got away and hovered watching him and he dissapeared again and I could not see him.</p><p>I knew something was going on so I logged onto my lowbie ranger and came out there and found him again. He was right by me and I had him targeted, but he was not on my track screen at all. I followed him for about 4-5 mins and he never appeared on track. Had to be a hack of some sort.</p><p>It's real-life losers like that who make playing on a pvp server pretty lame.</p>

[Peak]

<p>This issue has been occuring outside DoV zones now.</p><p>Why? Perhaps because flying mounts are everywhere now due to the Take Flight promotion.</p><p>There is no 'lag hack', it's just some issue with flying mounts. I'm absolutely sure of it.Every time I lag out, someone is around me with a flying mount.</p><p>It's happened when I'm nearly alone (just friendlies around) and happened when I'm about to engage PVP.Before it was just at the PQs, and I assume they were the issue - but then again, I don't do much with other players so I don't see them very often.</p><p>Now I'm hitting up T7 PVP, and running into people (and with them, grouping), and I'm starting to see it ever since the flying mounts were added in for everyone.</p><p>Soga on and off fixes it briefly, but it often comes back.</p>

[Azol]

<p>This is a known bug that was reproduced by a dev on non-PVP server - seems like it's the problem with character models.</p><p>Anyway, here is the link to corresponding Support Forum thread:</p><p><a href="http://forums.station.sony.com/eq2/posts/list.m?topic_id=498441">http://forums.station.sony.com/eq2/...topic_id=498441</a></p><p>Sadly, this issue hits you most when in heat of PVP battle and you can't do jack even with decent network connection and a good rig spec. Meh.</p>

[Piccolo]

<p>From what i hear, it's not called hacking anymore. There are numerous websites dedicated to Hacking.</p><p>The most popular of them is the new name for hacking. TBH, i would have thought that SOE employees would be active members on sites that have these hacks, just so they can combat them better.</p><p>Am i allowed to name the hack site on these forums? Prob not. if a dev wants it or needs it, pm me. or Google it..</p>

[Peak]

<p>Stop calling it hacking when it's not hacking, and it's a frequent bug that occurs.</p>

[Shuai]

<p>Happens to me about 3/4 public quests. If the main horde of people are in my screen, at some point I'll drop from 40 fps to one until I run away and don't view the battle. . Zooming in and staring at the ground works or simply looking away. Wish you could find out what moddle has the bugs inside it and bring out some raid.</p>

[Daalilama]

<p>Agree with peak that it has something to do with the damm flying mounts...I've been in pq's wherein most dropped their mounts the standard lag wasnt that bad...go to another with every1 on their mount and kapow welcome to lag hell....but I've notice it everywhere the mounts are now....believe the players on aion ran into this alot from what I was told by friends that played it..  not sure if allowing players to put their flying mounts to render on or off like other mounts would be a quick fix...doubt anything will be done</p>

[Blambil]

<p><cite>Peak@Nagafen wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Soga on and off fixes it briefly, but it often comes back.</p></blockquote><p>+1000</p>

[Ayaka]

<p>/soga_models 0</p><p>Put that in a macro and hit it once or twice when you're lagging out. It turns your alternate models off (usually immediately resolving the lag problem), and you can turn them back on later once the lag stops. It's a quick fix that I use very often in PvP. Sometimes I hit it when I lag to 1 FPS even when I already have turned off alternate models for PvP, and it resolves my issues. But this issue is not a hack, just a problem with modeling. </p>

[pokemonirl]

<p><cite>Shuai wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Happens to me about 3/4 public quests. If the main horde of people are in my screen, at some point I'll drop from 40 fps to one until I run away and don't view the battle. . Zooming in and staring at the ground works or simply looking away. Wish you could find out what moddle has the bugs inside it and bring out some raid.</p></blockquote><p>exact same problem</p>

[Blambil]

<p><cite>Ayaka wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>/soga_models 0</p><p>Put that in a macro and hit it once or twice when you're lagging out. It turns your alternate models off (usually immediately resolving the lag problem), and you can turn them back on later once the lag stops. It's a quick fix that I use very often in PvP. Sometimes I hit it when I lag to 1 FPS even when I already have turned off alternate models for PvP, and it resolves my issues. But this issue is not a hack, just a problem with modeling. </p></blockquote><p>You may have to mash the button multiple times during a PQ, since the problem does come back.. It's something else soga_models 0 is DOING that is clearing up the problem, not turning off  the models themselves..</p>

[Ayaka]

<p>Yes, I did notice that. Even when that macro has been used, the problem will happen again.. and once you hit the macro it fixes itself (may have to hit it 2-3 times)..</p><p>Not quite sure what that means..</p>