Recent posts

#1

Stunts Related Programs / Re: Stunts Online

Last post by dukenukem - Today at 03:42:00 PM

So if modified replays are not cheating, why did you delete them?

"Cheating scenarios imagined not existed in reality" vs "received a few modified replays".

#2

Stunts Related Programs / Re: Stunts Online

Last post by Max Perstappen - Today at 03:10:02 PM

"which is a huge leap compared to racing with the original executable"

Not in my eyes, especially nowadays when everyone can decomp and modify code by just talking to their phones.

This is how a middle aged man sounds when he's been aim-botted by 13 yo kids a few too many times. (On a second thought, maybe they didn't even cheat. Maybe they were just better than you and you can't accept that.)

[so far, Stunts Online has had no significant trouble with cheaters]

#3

Stunts Related Programs / Re: Stunts Online

Last post by Byproduct - Today at 03:09:42 PM

Oh, I forgot to answer to your main question: what is my solution to the problem? I play single player games

If you're not interested in Stunts Online in the first place, then perhaps your contribution isn't needed in this thread, since you seem mainly intent on derailing the discussion and on pointless negativity.

If possible, I'd rather have this Stunts Online thread be about Stunts Online (and not e.g. about your personal struggles with online cheating in other games).

With all this talk about cheating, it's again worth stressing that so far, Stunts Online has had no significant trouble with cheaters. We've only received a few  modified replays (I'm guessing by mr. nukem here), and these were automatically flagged and easily deleted within the same day. Besides that, hundreds of people have been playing fair and having fun, and admins have no doubts about the authenticity of Marco or the other top drivers.

I'm not saying the site is bulletproof, but I am saying that the cheating scenarios imagined in this thread have not actually existed in reality, so far.

#4

Stunts Related Programs / Re: Stunts Online

Last post by dukenukem - Today at 03:03:34 PM

"which is a huge leap compared to racing with the original executable"

Not in my eyes, especially nowadays when everyone can decomp and modify code by just talking to their phones.

#5

Stunts Related Programs / Re: Stunts Online

Last post by dukenukem - Today at 03:00:31 PM

Not necesseraly by the devs. A corrupted replay, hacking the database, etc.
The replay file submitted will be validated server-side (re-played) to see the penalty times, etc. If the validator has buffer overflow issues or any other vulnerability, then the scoreboard can show a fake time.

The devs have to manually validate all the best times, therefore they will know the secret way to go how to achieve the best score.

#6

Stunts Related Programs / Re: Stunts Online

Last post by Max Perstappen - Today at 02:52:52 PM

You cannot validate NoRH. But if you can download the best time's replay, then at least you can see that it's not just a fake row in a data table. If no-one can beat that score, you will never be sure it's even a valid replay.

I believe they make it public in case half of the community has been grinding the same track for months and not got even close, and even crowd source investigating the input sequences and stuff. It's not like it was classified for 70 years.

As was said, it's a fun game for middle aged people with no prize money. I wouldn't get too paranoid about someone just typing in times. It would be extremely stupid from the devs to ruin the game by doing that.

I just wanted to inform the technically less capable, that replay handling is still possible, even if they play from a browser. I've seen some people were in this misunderstanding.

As if no one knew that cheating is always possible. People hack satellites and banks. I don't think the devs ever said it's impossible, but that the option to do so has been removed from this version of the game, which is a huge leap compared to racing with the original executable and simply agreeing that we're not using this feature everyone has in their game.

#7

Stunts Related Programs / Re: Stunts Online

Last post by dukenukem - Today at 02:43:10 PM

I play single player games or co-op with friends. Or competitve online games only where cheating is technically impossible.

Cool. The only remaining question is then, why do you reply to threads about games you have no intention play?

Reminds me of the AI decomp threads on Reddit where people come to tell they don't play AI decomps. It's like walking up to a strawberry vendor to tell you are not going to buy any because you don't eat strawberries.

I just wanted to inform the technically less capable, that replay handling is still possible, even if they play from a browser. I've seen some people were in this misunderstanding.

#8

Stunts Related Programs / Re: Stunts Online

Last post by dukenukem - Today at 02:40:23 PM

So is it possible to send modified replays then? Then obviously replay handling is possible too. Many people are in delusion then when saying things like "high level of verification" and "fairest version to play no-RH races". It's not any better than just upload the replay to ZakStunts and believe it's legit. In ZakStunts at least you can download yours and the replays of others to validate them yourself.

Sorry for a double reply, but I didn't see you had posted.

So how would you validate these replays for NoRH if you were able to download them? It sounds like before you were telling that it's impossible to tell whether it was used or not. How would this download-upload feature contribute negatively to cheating?

To me it feels that downloading and uploading replays is just one more way to manipulate them. You can watch the best times from each player online and see them yourself, and watch them against your drive on the track. The winner's replay is not shown (I believe to force people to figure out the newly discovered tactics themselves, which seems fair), but keep in mind that almost all the the second place times were former winners. So the 2nd place driver used to be the first before.

You cannot validate NoRH. But if you can download the best time's replay, then at least you can see that it's not just a fake row in a data table. If no-one can beat that score, you will never be sure it's even a valid replay.

#9

Stunts Related Programs / Re: Stunts Online

Last post by Max Perstappen - Today at 02:37:19 PM

I play single player games or co-op with friends. Or competitve online games only where cheating is technically impossible.

Cool. The only remaining question is then, why do you reply to threads about games you have no intention play?

Reminds me of the AI decomp threads on Reddit where people come to tell they don't play AI decomps. It's like walking up to a strawberry vendor to tell you are not going to buy any because you don't eat strawberries.

#10

Stunts Related Programs / Re: Stunts Online

Last post by Max Perstappen - Today at 02:31:51 PM

So is it possible to send modified replays then? Then obviously replay handling is possible too. Many people are in delusion then when saying things like "high level of verification" and "fairest version to play no-RH races". It's not any better than just upload the replay to ZakStunts and believe it's legit. In ZakStunts at least you can download yours and the replays of others to validate them yourself.

Sorry for a double reply, but I didn't see you had posted.

So how would you validate these replays for NoRH if you were able to download them? It sounds like before you were telling that it's impossible to tell whether it was used or not. How would this download-upload feature contribute negatively to cheating?

To me it feels that downloading and uploading replays is just one more way to manipulate them. You can watch the best times from each player online and see them yourself, and watch them against your drive on the track. The winner's replay is not shown (I believe to force people to figure out the newly discovered tactics themselves, which seems fair), but keep in mind that almost all the the second place times were former winners.