Am I being hacked in game?

crunn · 02-02-2008, 11:52 AM

Ok here is my concern, I'll start at the begining.

I'm a guild leader, a large friendly open guild, anyone can join totaly relaxed and no stress...

Unfortionately we do get the occasional platfarmer and bot getting in, they think if they are guilded SOE wont notice them and they wont get their account banned.

Over the years ive gotten good and fast at spotting them, i kick and report them usualy with in a day of them joining.

Now here's the worrying part. The past 3 months or so Ive found maybe 5 or 6 and kicked/reported them. But 4 of these occasions within 30 seconds of me kicking them from the guild i have crashed to desktop. A quick reboot and load game everything is fine again.

My system is very stable, i have the latest virus scanner and adware removal, firewall, regular system checks, defrag yada-yada-yada, i realy look after my PC very well and for anything to crash is HIGHLY unusual.

EQ2 has crashed on me maybe once since launch over 3 years ago. And now 4 times all within 30secs of kicking a platfarmer?!?

This is not a coincidence, they are doing something to me.

What can i do about this?

(ps.) i did wonder if maybe it was the act of pressing the "remove from guild button", just a glitch in the game, but i regularly clear out inactive members, removed a whole lot 2 days back. no crash then or anyother time. Only with platfarmers.

Nuluvius · 02-02-2008, 01:06 PM

Its quite unlikely. It would have taken considerable time to find / develop a method of causing such an event, usualy there would also be little point in doing that out of spite. If it were me I wouldnt stop with that I would render your system unusable, and proberbly take your valubal data while I was at it. In short it wouldnt be worth it just to "make you crash" ending there, you just simply wouldnt be worth the investment.You should proberbly look at the more likely and realisticly grounded things first. Such as hardware, recent software chainges, drivers... you know the list.

crunn · 02-02-2008, 01:40 PM

Of course you are right, the time and trouble to do this out of spite makes it so unlikely would they bother...?

But like i said i look after my PC so very well (it did cost me a considerable fortune lol)

once or twice weekly i make sure everything is up-to-date, software, drivers, etc. Do a full system scan for viruses and adware and defrag, also i do the prog integrity scans and HDD integrity.

And so my PC or any prog on it, simply doesn't crash. The very rare few times it has i freek out and try to figure why.

My old PC would crash 7-8 times daily. This PC, I cant think it has crashed more than 7-8 times total in the last 5 years. (including these 4 times)

The one time before that eq2 crashed on me was not long after launch, it turned out to be a bug in FG. (*sigh of relieve) soe patched it and it didnt happen again.

Hopefully this turns out to be a bug relating to me removing members from the guild.

I just find it odd that it only happens when i remove platfarmers.

Im paronoid lol

Telloh · 02-03-2008, 09:01 PM

Could also be a bug with they guild sytem. If certain conditions are met when you kick someone from the guild you crash. Maybe, maybe not though. It is not impossible...

Wingrider01 · 02-04-2008, 09:52 AM

Default or Custom UI?

EQ2Magroo · 02-04-2008, 12:53 PM

Perhaps they are sending you a /tell with some sequence of characters in it that causes your game to crash with an overflow or something ?Or it could be simpler, perhaps if somebody sends you a tell with "/quit" in it you game will exit! Actually I know that's not true as I tried it once myself SMILEY

Maybe a bit of both ? I use the default UI and not had any issues, but there may be something in a custom UI or add-on that is open to abuse ?I'd check my chat logs to see if there is anything in there that might point to cause...

TSR-DanT · 02-04-2008, 02:27 PM

As far as I am aware there is no way for you to crash another client. Not on our end, not your end, not on their end.I suppose it's possible to figure out away, create a program, scan the code til you find a kink, etc. However I do not believe it has been done.I would wager a bet that this is some sort of either UI issue, or strange (very strange) connection issue.Try loading the default UI before you kick another one.

crunn · 02-06-2008, 04:12 PM

Thanks guys, you have aleviated my paranoia some, hehe

I think im running almost the defauld UI, changed a few chat colours and moved the windows to different locations. Though i did that 2 years back.

I will restore default before the next time and report back.

Thanks again

(ps. I dont use any of those addons like that EQ2 Maps thing. I hear it is very good... but im too paranoid to use it lol)

Nuluvius · 02-06-2008, 08:26 PM

I bet your the type who spends weeks iorning out your event logs for errors, registry warnings and ectr.

mellowknees72 · 02-06-2008, 08:37 PM

crunn wrote:

(ps. I dont use any of those addons like that EQ2 Maps thing. I hear it is very good... but im too paranoid to use it lol)

totally off-topic, but I have to respond to your PS by saying that EQ2Map is AWESOME...I've been using it since it came out and I don't know how I ever got anything done in game before I had it. It won't cause you any problems and it's absolutely life-changing! (Okay, maybe I'm exaggerating...but it is GAME-life changing!)

TSR-DanT · 02-07-2008, 02:17 PM

I too have grown quite fond of my Maps in game, and they shouldn't cause any issues like this, but be sure you're getting the maps from a valid source.

02-04-2008, 09:52 AM	#5
Wingrider01 Loremaster Join Date: Nov 2004 Posts: 5,999	Default or Custom UI? __________________ Fixing computer issues, one SOC7 at a time. Yes Jim, the user has experienced the dreaded PICNIC error

02-04-2008, 12:53 PM	#6
EQ2Magroo Loremaster Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 756	Perhaps they are sending you a /tell with some sequence of characters in it that causes your game to crash with an overflow or something ?Or it could be simpler, perhaps if somebody sends you a tell with "/quit" in it you game will exit! Actually I know that's not true as I tried it once myself Maybe a bit of both ? I use the default UI and not had any issues, but there may be something in a custom UI or add-on that is open to abuse ?I'd check my chat logs to see if there is anything in there that might point to cause...

02-06-2008, 08:37 PM	#10
mellowknees72 Loremaster Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Your Dad's House Posts: 779	crunn wrote: (ps. I dont use any of those addons like that EQ2 Maps thing. I hear it is very good... but im too paranoid to use it lol) totally off-topic, but I have to respond to your PS by saying that EQ2Map is AWESOME...I've been using it since it came out and I don't know how I ever got anything done in game before I had it. It won't cause you any problems and it's absolutely life-changing! (Okay, maybe I'm exaggerating...but it is GAME-life changing!) __________________

02-02-2008, 11:52 AM	#1
crunn Loremaster Join Date: Nov 2004 Posts: 135	Ok here is my concern, I'll start at the begining. I'm a guild leader, a large friendly open guild, anyone can join totaly relaxed and no stress... Unfortionately we do get the occasional platfarmer and bot getting in, they think if they are guilded SOE wont notice them and they wont get their account banned. Over the years ive gotten good and fast at spotting them, i kick and report them usualy with in a day of them joining. Now here's the worrying part. The past 3 months or so Ive found maybe 5 or 6 and kicked/reported them. But 4 of these occasions within 30 seconds of me kicking them from the guild i have crashed to desktop. A quick reboot and load game everything is fine again. My system is very stable, i have the latest virus scanner and adware removal, firewall, regular system checks, defrag yada-yada-yada, i realy look after my PC very well and for anything to crash is HIGHLY unusual. EQ2 has crashed on me maybe once since launch over 3 years ago. And now 4 times all within 30secs of kicking a platfarmer?!? This is not a coincidence, they are doing something to me. What can i do about this? (ps.) i did wonder if maybe it was the act of pressing the "remove from guild button", just a glitch in the game, but i regularly clear out inactive members, removed a whole lot 2 days back. no crash then or anyother time. Only with platfarmers.

02-02-2008, 01:06 PM	#2
Nuluvius Master Join Date: Jan 2008 Posts: 39	Its quite unlikely. It would have taken considerable time to find / develop a method of causing such an event, usualy there would also be little point in doing that out of spite. If it were me I wouldnt stop with that I would render your system unusable, and proberbly take your valubal data while I was at it. In short it wouldnt be worth it just to "make you crash" ending there, you just simply wouldnt be worth the investment.You should proberbly look at the more likely and realisticly grounded things first. Such as hardware, recent software chainges, drivers... you know the list.

02-02-2008, 01:40 PM	#3
crunn Loremaster Join Date: Nov 2004 Posts: 135	Of course you are right, the time and trouble to do this out of spite makes it so unlikely would they bother...? But like i said i look after my PC so very well (it did cost me a considerable fortune lol) once or twice weekly i make sure everything is up-to-date, software, drivers, etc. Do a full system scan for viruses and adware and defrag, also i do the prog integrity scans and HDD integrity. And so my PC or any prog on it, simply doesn't crash. The very rare few times it has i freek out and try to figure why. My old PC would crash 7-8 times daily. This PC, I cant think it has crashed more than 7-8 times total in the last 5 years. (including these 4 times) The one time before that eq2 crashed on me was not long after launch, it turned out to be a bug in FG. (*sigh of relieve) soe patched it and it didnt happen again. Hopefully this turns out to be a bug relating to me removing members from the guild. I just find it odd that it only happens when i remove platfarmers. Im paronoid lol

02-03-2008, 09:01 PM	#4
Telloh Loremaster Join Date: Nov 2004 Posts: 22	Could also be a bug with they guild sytem. If certain conditions are met when you kick someone from the guild you crash. Maybe, maybe not though. It is not impossible...

02-04-2008, 02:27 PM	#7
TSR-DanT Customer Service Join Date: Jul 2006 Posts: 520	As far as I am aware there is no way for you to crash another client. Not on our end, not your end, not on their end.I suppose it's possible to figure out away, create a program, scan the code til you find a kink, etc. However I do not believe it has been done.I would wager a bet that this is some sort of either UI issue, or strange (very strange) connection issue.Try loading the default UI before you kick another one.

02-06-2008, 04:12 PM	#8
crunn Loremaster Join Date: Nov 2004 Posts: 135	Thanks guys, you have aleviated my paranoia some, hehe I think im running almost the defauld UI, changed a few chat colours and moved the windows to different locations. Though i did that 2 years back. I will restore default before the next time and report back. Thanks again (ps. I dont use any of those addons like that EQ2 Maps thing. I hear it is very good... but im too paranoid to use it lol)

02-06-2008, 08:26 PM	#9
Nuluvius Master Join Date: Jan 2008 Posts: 39	I bet your the type who spends weeks iorning out your event logs for errors, registry warnings and ectr.

02-07-2008, 02:17 PM	#11
TSR-DanT Customer Service Join Date: Jul 2006 Posts: 520	I too have grown quite fond of my Maps in game, and they shouldn't cause any issues like this, but be sure you're getting the maps from a valid source.