How do you tell if someone is cheating in BF3?

S

spaceman

[H]F Junkie
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Jan 7, 2005
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Just curious. Most people are legit. Sometimes you just get killed weirdly b/c of the game. However, when it is consistently a strange way of being owned by someone with 20%+ accuracy and a kdr of 3+....

So case in point, getting shot well behind cover. Not just the latency thing where you think you have ducked but literally being behind cover for a good one two and then you get shot kind of thing. I have my game smoothing a little below half btw.

It just seems like out of every 10-20 bullets certain people shoot, they get a head shot, regardless of how well you are covered up.

I know the paid for hacks are good at keeping the stats looking like they are legit. I am starting to think that this is one way to do that.

Basically, I just want to know when you can tell if they are legit or bullshit?
 
Network Smoothing Factor, its basically a setting that is a compromise between everything being accurate or everything moving smoothly. By default its set all the way to smooth. I would set it to midway. A good compromise between the two. Causes you to die a lot around corners and such. There are a lot of cheaters and theres really no way to know the ones that are doing it 'correctly' since they can turn it on and off pretty fast and they don't stand at the spawn killing everyone.
 
A collegue of mine worked for EA on server side implementaitons of online games and according to him there’s no nice clear way to determine such a thing.

I'm making a number of assumptions about Battlefields architecture, but from your box, there is no reliable way to determine if somebody is hacking. My suggestion is, as a hardend and whiney TF2 player, if you dont like the server: leave :D. There's a tried and true work-around for this problem, its called the ragequit.

As a software developer working server side, my strategy would be to implement an "Anti-Corruption layer” (ACL --infact I'd probably use castle windsor's interceptors to do this, but I dont know if reflection conforms to game server's performance requirements, I digress), and run a heuristic against the session frames as they come in. But it would almost certainly have to be a heuristic, meaning false-positives would be a possibillity, and those are a support nightmare. Depending on what layer the hack operates at and depending on specific details of BF3's implementation, it could be nearly indestinguishable from a simply really good player.

--also many walls in BF:BC2 weren't bullet-proof, I presume the same is probably true for BF3?
 
If they're playing better than you, they must be cheating.
 
Impossible scenario shots are one way. Or being in cover and having you and your two teams shot through a wall in the head within 1 or 2 seconds of each other.

Things that even a hyperactive 14 year old Korean Starcraft/CS player couldn't do on their best day. Its harder to tell in vehicles though. Another way to tell is warping or hyper fast movement hacks , those are the easy to spot.

I would just observe the individual you are concerned might be cheating and see how he/she performs. Evidence always presents its-self with proper observation.
 
I already have the network smoothing at half. Just weird when I get headshot by a M4 when behind concrete for more than a 2 Mississippi and not taking any hits then boom hs by the guy dead ahead of me down the corridor in grand bazaar for instance. Things like that. Magic bullets beyond what the normal allowance for bugginess in the BF series allows for.
 
Just consider the fact that even if you are behind cover, especially behind small or odd shaped objects, there are parts of your character that may still be exposed. Your legs can be poking out or a sliver of your head may be visible. These exposed areas are still prone to damage and can get you killed...as I've done so plenty of times to unwary players.
 
fochkoph said:
Just consider the fact that even if you are behind cover, especially behind small or odd shaped objects, there are parts of your character that may still be exposed. Your legs can be poking out or a sliver of your head may be visible. These exposed areas are still prone to damage and can get you killed...as I've done so plenty of times to unwary players.
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Nope. Head to head. Vertical bodies. I totally understand your point but I am talking about being completely behind and down with no possible shot through a crack or what not. Pretty sure it is just the game most of the time.

I was just using it as an example though. What I am looking for is a way to look for tell signs.

What do you look for? Any examples of a known cheat?
 
In a server where my ping is around 12-20? His was about the same btw.

No. Both players were moving fine and smooth. This was not a lag issue.

Again, just an example. I am looking for more examples/instances.
 
You can tell by hacking yourself. /sarcasm
 
Shot with what, and behind what?

Some weapons have penatration on certain thinner surfaces like wooden planks or thinner stuff. So you can be shot behind cover.
 
DeathPrincess said:
Shot with what, and behind what?

Some weapons have penatration on certain thinner surfaces like wooden planks or thinner stuff. So you can be shot behind cover.
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Kinda related, I got my first double kill with a sniper today, I remember my brother got a triple once in BC2 with the .50 Cal :cool:

But yes its really sad when on your screen you are behind a rock and on the enemies screen you are in front of him. Reminds me of the Black Ops fail where you and the server were not even close to being the same.
 
spaceman said:
I already have the network smoothing at half. Just weird when I get headshot by a M4 when behind concrete for more than a 2 Mississippi and not taking any hits then boom hs by the guy dead ahead of me down the corridor in grand bazaar for instance. Things like that. Magic bullets beyond what the normal allowance for bugginess in the BF series allows for.
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It's just the lag compensation, what you see isn't necessarily what they see. They very well may have fired at you before you went around the corner, but in compensating for the latency, the hits register late (but still register instead of just happening late and missing). The network smoothing is likely just the amount of interpolation they use to try and keep things smooth, which in effect adds a "lag" of its own, and is probably subsequently compensated for.

Basically modern game networking is black magic and you can just assume that even if something weird happened on your end, it may have been normal to someone else. The same phenomenon can be found in other games like Source engine games.

edit: also you can shoot through thin sheets of metal / wood in BC2 / BF3.
 
This was through a thick, new concrete barrier with an M4A1 at the beginning of the map. The dude in question usually kills me before I can even shoot. To put it into perspective, he is in the server, I go 1-7 against him and have a terrible 4-10 round. He leaves, mostly the same people, the situation never happens again and I go for a good round and continue to do so for the duration of the night. Most of my rounds I am #1 or 2 in the server and avrg around 30-14 or so. It isn't just him. There are 2 other guys with the same tags and they all have a weird "black magic" about their game play that doesn't add up to me. What do they know that the rest of the server doesn't?

I am not a noob. Not the best but I have won Cal and Twl championships in the past and have played since the 42 demo. Just think there is something to it here. I have seen people, played with them, in the past and almost all of them that were just twice as good as anyone else always ended up getting busted eventually. People who I just wonder, how the fuck did they get that many targets much less kills? That kind of thing.
 
I go with the rage-quit method also. I just know. If my team is good enough we'll still win, but if they're dominating with it then I'll switch servers.
Most people will not admit they'll cheating, so asking is a waste of time.
 
kill cam helps here. I had a guy kill me from the beach while i was capping the crane flag on Oman. Kill cam showed him aiming from the beach point flag and firing towards the crane with a support gun.I began to taunt him about his hack and he quit immediately after denying.

What irritates me about these scumbags is that they spoil the fun in a good round.I don't play to win[i enjoy it better though], but i play to have fun.
 
WorldExclusive said:
I go with the rage-quit method also. I just know. If my team is good enough we'll still win, but if they're dominating with it then I'll switch servers.
Most people will not admit they'll cheating, so asking is a waste of time.
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most people can't admit they are cheating because talking in chat breaks the overlay program they are using to cheat with. 9 times out of 10, if they respond to you calling them a cheater, they probably aren't a cheater. i mean hell i've gotten some retarded kills just screwing around. i repeatedly got called a cheater in BFBC2 but thats only because i memorized the maps and knew exactly where glitches were on maps to get kills or where to hide so i could snipe the person but they couldn't snipe me.

the most annoying cheats in BFBC2 were the toggle cheats where you could turn them on and off but those didn't show up until about the end of year 2 of the game. i don't think they exist for BF3 yet as far as i know.
 
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Simple fact is there is no reliable way to detect hacks, if there was then anti-cheat would actually work.

The best way has always been diligent admin work by players who are invested in keeping their server cheat free and have the experience in FPS games to understand what hackers look and behave like.

If you're serious about gaming and want to play in cheat free environments you need to find some servers that meet this criteria, usually community servers for clan-like communities which have their own forums and communication outside of the game such as IRC or Teamspeak/Vent. Being able to call for an admin when you suspect cheating and get one in the server 30 seconds later to monitor/ban players is literally the single best way of protecting the quality of the game.

It requires some playing around on different servers and meeting/talking to regular players in order to find good gaming spots though, but it's worth the effort for long term play.
 
Didn't you get the memo?

There are no cheats in BF3. They are all pros. Anyone who says otherwise is a whining noob.


The best part? Cheaters don't even have to defend themselves, there are hoards of fucking imbecile pricks who defend cheaters for no logical reason. Just go on the Battlelog (*shudder*) forums and you'll see.

:rolleyes:
 
Raudulfr said:
Didn't you get the memo?

There are no cheats in BF3. They are all pros. Anyone who says otherwise is a whining noob.


The best part? Cheaters don't even have to defend themselves, there are hoards of fucking imbecile pricks who defend cheaters for no logical reason. Just go on the Battlelog (*shudder*) forums and you'll see.

:rolleyes:
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Yeah except I have buttraped plenty of "pro" teams and know when something is up. How about the guy who could just pop up, kill my entire team with one clip and call us noobs for asking for a video of it? Suuuuuure you are legit.

I hate idiots who flatly deny the possibility.

Swifty played for YEARS and just recently got popped for an aimbot. That doesn't mean he always cheated but.....I just don't trust anyone until I can watch them play I guess.

That is the main reason I don't play comp BF3. No battlerecorder? lol Come the fuck on EA.
 
spaceman said:
Just curious. Most people are legit. Sometimes you just get killed weirdly b/c of the game. However, when it is consistently a strange way of being owned by someone with 20%+ accuracy and a kdr of 3+....

So case in point, getting shot well behind cover. Not just the latency thing where you think you have ducked but literally being behind cover for a good one two and then you get shot kind of thing. I have my game smoothing a little below half btw.

It just seems like out of every 10-20 bullets certain people shoot, they get a head shot, regardless of how well you are covered up.

I know the paid for hacks are good at keeping the stats looking like they are legit. I am starting to think that this is one way to do that.

Basically, I just want to know when you can tell if they are legit or bullshit?
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If they are better than you they are cheating. If you are better then them you are god like. Its what tell myself.:D
 
sirmonkey1985 said:
most people can't admit they are cheating because talking in chat breaks the overlay program they are using to cheat with. 9 times out of 10, if they respond to you calling them a cheater, they probably aren't a cheater.
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Interesting. I've had teammates accuse others and they never respond, and others have. Good to know.
The way I know is one on one kills. I'm very good at CQC, and when a person mows me down with no chance of winning time after time, I know something is up.
They take on 3-4 people at a time with no fear and win. Game after game they're posting 80/10 KDR in Conquest Metro, and breaking through to cap the spawn flag.

At times, I have to wait for teammates to distract them so I can kill them, because if they even look in my direction I'm dead.
It's an aim bot or aim assist. Every bullet lands, no matter that distance between you and them.
 
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If someone kills you, they are hacking. You are a Battlefield 3 demi-God and anyone capable of killing you is breaking the rules of the game.
 
WorldExclusive said:
Interesting. I've had teammates accuse others and they never respond, and others have. Good to know.
The way I know is one on one kills. I'm very good at CQC, and when a person mows me down with no chance of winning time after time, I know something is up.
They take on 3-4 people at a time with no fear and win. Game after game they're posting 80/10 KDR in Conquest Metro, and breaking through to cap the spawn flag.

At times, I have to wait for teammates to distract them so I can kill them, because if they even look in my direction I'm dead.
It's an aim bot or aim assist. Every bullet lands, no matter that distance between you and them.
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I am pretty much that too. I can take two-3 folks but the 4th usually gets me. Same scenario. I know I am at least decent and when I get wiped every time I go head to head, that is not even possible in this game. The hit reg just isn't that good normally.
 
I've always assumed cheating was involved if the player had a better KD ratio then me.
 
Pretty sad if that's true, but DICE made this the easiest game ever to use hacks in.
 
There was a time when hackers were the exception, but today they're the rule. I quit bothering back during BF2, and not BFBC2, plain old BF2. And it wasn't like I was a hardcore BF2 player either, I had merely played enough online FPS previously to know how bad hacking ruins the experience and also how easy it is to do. I've played BFBC2 for 6-9~ hours total (2010). Ran into hackers in 4 out of the 5 servers I entered. I played NFS:HP online for 2 hours (also 2010). Hackers in literally every single game I was in, my cousin was with me and he couldn't believe how bad it was because he typically plays single player games. It's simply disgusting. Tried to go back to revisit some old favourites... DOD, CS, etc. Useless. There's even people hacking in tiny communities dedicated to dead games. Freelancer notoriously bad, even Interstate 76... Interstate Fucking 76. There can't be more than 100 people worldwide that still play Interstate 76, but there's still hackers. Or Battlezone. That game is like 800 million years old and there's people hacking that game, I know because I managed to scrape together a game with some random people last year and one of them was lunar landering everyone with a warp speed homing rave gun within a few seconds of starting the game. It was actually pretty funny, I couldn't even be mad. Or that guy in the very first online game I ever joined of GTA IV, who used mapwide scripts to spawn fire hydrant water jets under my character preventing me from moving or attacking... right before he dropped a pile of tanks on me. Also funny, but GTA IV would have been really great online without hackers ruining 3 out of every 4 games.

Before I go on for too long about my disgust for cheaters ruining online gaming, let me just close by saying I no longer play multiplayer games with anyone I don't personally know. Ever. If it's multi with random people, I am not involved. I take enough abuse from game companies treating the customer like shit with DRM and microgreed. I don't need it from random assholes in online games.

Aside from that, I found out how little I missed online multi when I finally did quit, and how much more I enjoyed single player games. Gaming went back to being relaxing, rather than irritating. If this post strikes a chord with you, you might give single player another go. The grass is much greener and will never go out of its way to randomly grief you for absolutely no reason.
 
I have hacked before not even going to lie about it. I actually have two accounts. If I get banned from a server because some douche admin cant handle being shot out of the air while he lives out his Top Gun dreams I go in and grief the shit out of them until the server dies. Good times to be had. I am pretty certain anyone who plays these games for a great deal of time has the same set up. Oh I am to good for your server and you banned me? Oh looky now I am killing from accross the map :)
 
sirmonkey1985 said:
most people can't admit they are cheating because talking in chat breaks the overlay program they are using to cheat with. 9 times out of 10, if they respond to you calling them a cheater, they probably aren't a cheater..
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This is dumb.

Do cheats exist, yes.
Do people that come along and stomp you into the ground even though you're otherwise pretty good exist and not cheat to do it, yes.

Maybe you found one, maybe you didn't, but unless someone is making it blatant, I'll give them the benefit of the doubt.

I had one game where I was like 150/3 or something stupid, I'd be weary if I came into a server and saw that, and people were. Better yet is that it was basically impossible to tell what I was actually doing to just shit kills so it just seemed like utter horse shit. I saw someone else doing it (first against me) which is how I figured it out in the first place, but on the receiving end you're just dropping dead for no reason to a shotgun. I literally had no explanation for it.

So I got angry, switched teams, and actually saw what the guy was doing. It was on Metro. He was just hiding back away, completely out of line of sight of enemies, but angled so he could shoot the ceiling with frag rounds above the stairs where everyone gathers. Literally all you had to do was shoot the ceiling and the splash damage would kill people without them ever being able to see you. It looked completely impossible on the receiving end but it all makes sense when you actually see it. Another is a stupid spot where your model is basically invisible but you have perfect line of sight into the room. You can just deploy a bipod and shit kill after kill with your infinite ammo, stupidly high damage, laser accurate LMG. It's just a tiny little pile of trash on the ground or some shit but when you lay in it, 60% of your body just goes through the floor and basically all anyone can see of you is the tip of your head / arms.

In COD4 if you used the UAV it basically was a dead fucking giveaway as to where the entire enemy team was. HUH RED TRIANGLE IN THE CORNER OF THIS BUILDING. 2 seconds later someone is dead through a wall and whining because there was no fucking way you could have known.

WorldExclusive said:
I'm very good at CQC, and when a person mows me down with no chance of winning time after time, I know something is up..
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Ahah, this is literally the epitome of "some can't be better than me"

I've seen people from Rival in random pubs before and the result was what you'd expect from someone who sits at like 950+ SPM. I'm sure you shit on a group of people who spend a large chunk of their day playing a game and make money doing it.
 
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