TIA Gangsta
August 26th, 2007, 11:55 AM
Yup, that's right. Bungie believe they've got the aspect that plagues almost every game (most noticeable for Bungie, Halo 2) officially capped - Cheaters.
Someone on Bungie wrote a guide including the most common cheating methods (mostly in Halo 2), and Bungie's solution to each. There's also a glossary of terms at the bottom for those of you who don't know what each cheating term means.
Enjoy:
Security/Modding
As many of us know by now, the security on the original Xbox, and in Halo 2 was not the greatest. The Xbox's security was rendered completely useless, and there was originally only minimal security on the Halo 2 maps .Whilst Bungie did manage to patch a system in eventually, it did have it's limitations (as did the banning process).
However, not only is the Xbox 360's security much more secure than the original Xbox, but Bungie themselves are implementing their own security systems from the word go. Thus even if the 360's security were to be compromised at some point, Bungie still have their own ways of thwarting cheats.
There are a handful of means of modifying an Xbox 360 console (of which no information will be given here). However, the hacks are extremely weak, and cannot be used to cheat whilst connected to Xbox Live, or on an unmodified console (in a 360 game). Unless Microsoft's security key were broken, which would take hundreds of years for supercomputers to break by brute force; in all reality, it won't happen.
Standby/Bridging
In Bungie's own words, there is nothing they can do to prevent people from unplugging their connection, or trying to force a player to be host. They can make it unprofitable however:
Firstly, it will be impossible to force a player to be host (as it is in the Halo 2 1.5 patch).
Secondly, the game now understands how good a host you really are, so if you are chosen as host and then your connection 'accidentally' drops constantly, or players are disconnected by you from the game, not only will you never host a game again against legitimate players, but you will be forced to play other cheaters.
The game can recognise players with poor hosts, from those actively using their host to cheat, so if you do have a weak connection, you do not have to worry about being identified as a cheater.
Glitching/Superbouncing/BXR
A lot of the glitches that plagued Halo 2, such as button glitches or superbouncing have been removed for Halo 3. There have also been new ways of preventing a player from escaping the map since the Halo 3 beta (you cannot escape Valhalla now). The few button combos that existed in the beta have been eliminated.
Deranking
Bungie have stated that the game can recognise derankers from legitimate lower ranked players. Derankers will be forced to play other derankers of their skill level, instead of beating up lower ranked players. There also may be some other nasty surprises.
Griefing
The "A-hole" button is well publicised by now, which allows everyone to painlessly mute other players. There are also a lot more options regarding voice, and players can choose who they want to hear in the first place. Derankers and team killers again, will be in for a few nasty shocks.
Bungie's Secret Weapons
Naturally Bungie are not going into intimate details about their various cheating systems, but some key things have been released. Not only are trial accounts restricted in matchmaking, but Bungie also has the ability this time to ban entire consoles from matchmaking, as well as the means to force cheaters to play against other cheaters.
Bungie also have the ability to modify how the banhammer works over time from the word go, and so can use it to watch out for new forms of cheating.
Additionally, the saved films feature also means that if new cheats do crop up, plenty of useful information on them can be sent to Bungie, to allow them to identify exploits much more quickly and effectively (via a similar process they use to fix bugs in their playtest center).
Glossary of Terms
Standby - The process of interrupting one's internet connection in an attempt to cheat. Originally comes from players using the "standby" button on their routers/modems but has come to mean any means of interrupting a connection
Bridging - The process of forcing a particular player to be the host, by selectively manipulating a connection
Button Glitches - Using a certain combination of button presses to exploit a glitch. Common examples in Halo 2 include "BXR" and the "Double shot".
Superbouncing - Aka superjumping. Triggering a bug in the physics engine to cause a player to bounce extremely high in the air and reach places that are otherwise impossible to get to.
Deranking - Deliberately lowering one's score or taking actions to cause one's team to lose the game.
Team Killing - Killing your own teammates deliberately.
Cheating - Using means outside of the game to gain an unfair advantage over other players. Some glitches can be used to cheat.
Griefing - Abusing, annoying, or otherwise causing grief for other players, either on purpose or accidentally
Glitching - Exploiting a glitch in the game. Can lead to cheating.
The only downfall to Halo 2's multiplayer was cheaters/glitchers, and with that out of the picture for Halo 3, it's the final sweet cherry on the Halo-cake.
Someone on Bungie wrote a guide including the most common cheating methods (mostly in Halo 2), and Bungie's solution to each. There's also a glossary of terms at the bottom for those of you who don't know what each cheating term means.
Enjoy:
Security/Modding
As many of us know by now, the security on the original Xbox, and in Halo 2 was not the greatest. The Xbox's security was rendered completely useless, and there was originally only minimal security on the Halo 2 maps .Whilst Bungie did manage to patch a system in eventually, it did have it's limitations (as did the banning process).
However, not only is the Xbox 360's security much more secure than the original Xbox, but Bungie themselves are implementing their own security systems from the word go. Thus even if the 360's security were to be compromised at some point, Bungie still have their own ways of thwarting cheats.
There are a handful of means of modifying an Xbox 360 console (of which no information will be given here). However, the hacks are extremely weak, and cannot be used to cheat whilst connected to Xbox Live, or on an unmodified console (in a 360 game). Unless Microsoft's security key were broken, which would take hundreds of years for supercomputers to break by brute force; in all reality, it won't happen.
Standby/Bridging
In Bungie's own words, there is nothing they can do to prevent people from unplugging their connection, or trying to force a player to be host. They can make it unprofitable however:
Firstly, it will be impossible to force a player to be host (as it is in the Halo 2 1.5 patch).
Secondly, the game now understands how good a host you really are, so if you are chosen as host and then your connection 'accidentally' drops constantly, or players are disconnected by you from the game, not only will you never host a game again against legitimate players, but you will be forced to play other cheaters.
The game can recognise players with poor hosts, from those actively using their host to cheat, so if you do have a weak connection, you do not have to worry about being identified as a cheater.
Glitching/Superbouncing/BXR
A lot of the glitches that plagued Halo 2, such as button glitches or superbouncing have been removed for Halo 3. There have also been new ways of preventing a player from escaping the map since the Halo 3 beta (you cannot escape Valhalla now). The few button combos that existed in the beta have been eliminated.
Deranking
Bungie have stated that the game can recognise derankers from legitimate lower ranked players. Derankers will be forced to play other derankers of their skill level, instead of beating up lower ranked players. There also may be some other nasty surprises.
Griefing
The "A-hole" button is well publicised by now, which allows everyone to painlessly mute other players. There are also a lot more options regarding voice, and players can choose who they want to hear in the first place. Derankers and team killers again, will be in for a few nasty shocks.
Bungie's Secret Weapons
Naturally Bungie are not going into intimate details about their various cheating systems, but some key things have been released. Not only are trial accounts restricted in matchmaking, but Bungie also has the ability this time to ban entire consoles from matchmaking, as well as the means to force cheaters to play against other cheaters.
Bungie also have the ability to modify how the banhammer works over time from the word go, and so can use it to watch out for new forms of cheating.
Additionally, the saved films feature also means that if new cheats do crop up, plenty of useful information on them can be sent to Bungie, to allow them to identify exploits much more quickly and effectively (via a similar process they use to fix bugs in their playtest center).
Glossary of Terms
Standby - The process of interrupting one's internet connection in an attempt to cheat. Originally comes from players using the "standby" button on their routers/modems but has come to mean any means of interrupting a connection
Bridging - The process of forcing a particular player to be the host, by selectively manipulating a connection
Button Glitches - Using a certain combination of button presses to exploit a glitch. Common examples in Halo 2 include "BXR" and the "Double shot".
Superbouncing - Aka superjumping. Triggering a bug in the physics engine to cause a player to bounce extremely high in the air and reach places that are otherwise impossible to get to.
Deranking - Deliberately lowering one's score or taking actions to cause one's team to lose the game.
Team Killing - Killing your own teammates deliberately.
Cheating - Using means outside of the game to gain an unfair advantage over other players. Some glitches can be used to cheat.
Griefing - Abusing, annoying, or otherwise causing grief for other players, either on purpose or accidentally
Glitching - Exploiting a glitch in the game. Can lead to cheating.
The only downfall to Halo 2's multiplayer was cheaters/glitchers, and with that out of the picture for Halo 3, it's the final sweet cherry on the Halo-cake.