Americas Army back to basic without STEAM again?

Pr0b3

*When will "Americas Army" go back to basic and not run trough Steam?

*Will it be possible again to do hardware bans?(it was before I tought, before Steam)

*Will anything be done to prevent cheaters to make new accounts 100 times a day?

*What is the future plans to prevent cheaters? (all games have this problem, what happens next?)

*Is any update to PB scheduled? (when was the last update?)

-Pr0b3

Pr0b3

I want Hardware ban for players that never learns, I don't want them back. these players ruin the game for everyone and the game gets less players totally over time due to hackers and cheats. If you only cut off the top, the weed grows back. Remove the roots and prevent it from coming back.

Keep the statistics on player mac addresses that get caught 1 or more times, and block them off from the community

Flatlander

You can change mac addresses in under 5min.

Pr0b3

Flatlander wrote: »

You can change mac addresses in under 5min.

There must be something else that could be done to prevent them though, other than the 3rd party communities doing what they can already.

Any ideas?

Flatlander

Nope, you just can relax and ban them again and again. It will not stop.

TheTots

• Steam is the number 1 PC gaming platform, we have no plans on leaving it.
  
• We can do hardware bans, Steam does not prevent that. That said, anything you ban on a hardware level can be easily spoofed these days in a matter of minutes.
  
• While detecting and banning is a priority you can never fully stop cheaters. Look at PUBG. They banned over 1 million accounts last month. They just get a new account and play again. It's just an unfortunate fact.
  
• Our plan is to keep updating our detection and use reports and active admins to fight it as best we can.
  
• PB is updated very regularly, just not the EXE/version you see. The definitions and detections it uses are always updating. That's separate and done elsewhere. We have a dedicated team at evenbalance that is always updating the detections.

Pr0b3

TheTots wrote: »

• Steam is the number 1 PC gaming platform, we have no plans on leaving it.
  
• We can do hardware bans, Steam does not prevent that. That said, anything you ban on a hardware level can be easily spoofed these days in a matter of minutes.
  
• While detecting and banning is a priority you can never fully stop cheaters. Look at PUBG. They banned over 1 million accounts last month. They just get a new account and play again. It's just an unfortunate fact.
  
• Our plan is to keep updating our detection and use reports and active admins to fight it as best we can.
  
• PB is updated very regularly, just not the EXE/version you see. The definitions and detections it uses are always updating. That's separate and done elsewhere. We have a dedicated team at evenbalance that is always updating the detections.

Well said!

I allways tought the HW Ban was so permanent
For me that only means I will continue catching the ones I can and reporting foul play when I have the proof needed.

I hope many other do the same, atleast to make it harder for the ones not wanting to play fair!


Thanks!

frankof

Theres only one way to stop cheaters permanently, and im not sure i want to be a part of that, no mater how annoying it is.
HW bans back in the days was based on various "serial" numbers on a couple of components, it generated a checksum that was used for that, it was only a mater of breaking that checksum and you were free to play again.

MAC was never any good for this as:
A. i could be spoofed,
B. some equipment didnt have any MAC address, (USB modems IIRC)
C. some manufacturer was lazy and used the same address for entire series of chipset.
(back in AA2 i saw +4000 players with the exact same MAC address)

-PPaaxx-

Cheaters in AA:PG is a minor problem, I think. I have seen a few, but compared to other games it's nothing.

Pr0b3

Every second day or so I catch some. but considering the amount of servers and total players, no its nothing compared with the big title games out there.

Just now when I started this discussion I was thinking back 10-14 years on how it was before. And then the HW ban seemed so serious and permanent.
(after the feedback now, I suppose all that could have been a false safety feeling I had)

Again tho, AA is still free to play, and its still kicking pretty good. Funny some few people actually want to cheat here, probably even pay for their files only to get kicked and banned over and over again

[-Honda-]

I haven't seen a legit cheater in a long time. Then again, I haven't played as much until recently. I see people complaining about cheaters and calling people cheaters more than anything. It is very annoying to be on the receiving end of it.

Seems like some people think the only way they can die is from getting shot by a cheater. Boggles my mind.

Pr0b3

I agree with you. I get called a cheater to from time to time. But as a server admin, and a player who knows how to access screenshots on the servers. I see cheaters, wall hackers, aimbotters on a regular basis. I spectate and record players that use no recoil. Autoaim/fire etc etc just need to know what to look for

bubak

I never use any cheats. It must be boring to play unfair. But I learned... once you play very well, than you are automatically pointed as cheater or camper. It does not matter if you are or not. Unfortunatelly there are only few skilled admins who can recognize real cheater.

Pr0b3

bubak wrote: »

I never use any cheats. It must be boring to play unfair. But I learned... once you play very well, than you are automatically pointed as cheater or camper. It does not matter if you are or not. Unfortunatelly there are only few skilled admins who can recognize real cheater.

exactly my point, thank you! But, as it would not matter being on steam or not as Tots explained and that Steam actually has many good reasons to stay, I guess we just need to enjoy what is and not think to much about what was,
Nobody likes a big change when they are settled and used to the same thing for a few years

^MAROFEL.ANDR!C0-TTV^

The only option, FairFight. If setup correctly like DICE did it's really hard to use cheats, even mouse macro's get detected and oh man, we have a lot of those in AAPG

eddiethink

I don't think cheaters are that prevelant in this game. There is just a big imbalance between new players and the guys that have been playing since the beginning, that causes a lot of these guys to think everybody cheats. Yesterday got some pfc to rage at me again for shooting him out in the open, and for some reason these guys think everybody is wallhacking. There are no safe places Inner Hospital and anybody up from decent players that have a couple of 100 hours in know every hiding place and every sound on the map. Luckily i am a regular on the server and the admins told the guy to keep his accusations to himself. He rage quit.

There's just always somebody better then you, might be best to just accept that. Saves a lot of frustration on both sides. Cheater, camper, bunny hopper, it's all excuses from people who are losing. Once their FR is on the up 'n up, they don't care in the least. (This doesn't mean that form time to time I am not trying to murder my mouse with a blunt knife)

I don't mind Steam at all. It also gives you the oppurtunity to find your "friends" to play with.

Pr0b3

There are to many macros, and sure it helps a player, but its an unfair advantage on normal casual players

Yes steam made it to a better community in total I think

eddiethink

I really don't notice macro's that often.

Pr0b3

Its very hard to notice and sometimes even harder to prove, since you can bind so many different actions for different purposes and or also bind them differently.

There is not much to be done against it other than running 3rd party programs that pick up on that sort, often used in leagues and contests

For casual play without these programs, well, its hard, and a part of the game that we have to accept, some kick for it if they are suspicious. But it could also not have been macros if an admin kicks just by suspision

L.Lovett

-=[TOS Violation]=-Pr0b3 wrote: »

L.Lovett wrote: »

-=[TOS Violation]=-Pr0b3 and eddiethink i have see alot of pvt player who hacks in the game and allso I have two questions to you guys whats color do the ohter player have in game when you join the game? and how can your weapon not go up and down as you shoot players?

from Legit player.)

Firstly Be carefull not to accuse other legit players there bro. If you accuse ingame, fine, we have a laugh.
Calling out bs on an open and public forum: Not nice, just very disrespectfull.

Also keep in mind what topic you are writing on and or if your post here is usefull.

did i say someting about at you are BS in here??no i just asking and we can asking in here

Pr0b3

L.Lovett wrote: »

whats color do the ohter player have in game when you join the game? and how can your weapon not go up and down as you shoot players?

Keep stuff like this ingame instead of public forums unless you have some proof you want to share.
Your post is accusing players directly with quedtions.
If you believe we hack or cheat, send a complaint on americasarmy.com/contact/abuse

Or even try thirdparty anti cheating communities to have them check a player.

I can teach you how to play the game.
Just join us and play with us when we are online, this only has one catch; Dont disrespect players like you did yesterday, and stop accusing ppl of cheating everytime your player dies.

Im gonna join game in 10 minutes, If you want to learn something, then come find me

And understand when some people have played this game for 15 years, then they will be better than you on a map that has been there since the very beginning.