I was sent this WARNING.....

[n01487477]

This seems to go beyond a bug in the editor or loophole in the code. This seems to be a manipulation of the savefile through (actually - I shouldn't say)...

As someone who has worked in IT & helped code Tracker & Tracker AE - I can only reiterate JWilkerson. AE is much more protected than witp, but no system is impregnable.

So, it isn't impossible, but I would imagine very very rare for players here to be doing this. I trust my fellow players here and will continue to do so. Don't look for "cheats under the bed" in every bad result and good play by him/her.

[sdhundt]

I learned a HUGE lesson by playing ROY....If the results seem WAY OFF then I know in the future to dig into it a little more....Sad to say I wasted 15 months by playing him....On the positive side, even while getting my ass kicked I stayed and played. Now off to restart a new game, UGH, but to restart after this long, UGH...Oh well maybe I'll take a break....TO ALL OF you players, all over the world, thanks to all of you for taking time to help me out with this very ugly topic...I didn't expect this much support, again, Thanks.

Steven

[Mac Linehan]

ORIGINAL: nate25

Kinda disconcerting for a newb trying to work up for PBEM.

I know a lot of you out there are IT types or very knowledgeable about computers. I'm what I'd call "illiterate".

Is there anything besides trusting your opp that can be done? Sort of a "trust but verify" thing?

Nate

Nate -

It has been my privilege to associate with the AE and WitP forums since 2004. While there has been, on occasion, (sometimes heated!) disagreements by forum members on what is or is not "gamey", this alleged instance is the first time I have heard of anyone opening and editing a save game file.

My three (very short lengthed - time constraints) pbem games involved Men who were honorable, trustworthy and (above all!) patient with this newbie. In each case I sent my password to my opponent. Either a man measures up, or, as in golf, you never play him again.

And - as we can see first hand, it doesn't take long for the word to get around.

You are surrounded by very experienced gamers, who will usually give (polite) warning if you intend to start a pbem with a individual of questionable integrity. This is a very rare occurrence.

Please choose to be unaffected by this current controversy. We are glad that you have have chosen to join an exceptional group of Men (and Lady).

Mac

[Judith57]

I must say this player seem to have achieved a training level far beyond anything else I have ever seen. Strange

[Cap Mandrake]

Does anyone know how much he charges for this?

[FDRLincoln]

I have to wonder what kind of person gets emotional or intellectual satisfaction by rigging the game, which is pretty much what this amounts to.
 
 

[sanch]

Actually, it isn't all that hard to reverse-engineer a data file format, having done so several times. As long as the data isn't encrypted, it is almost guaranteed that there will be patterns to the data. Once you begin to crack the patterns, it's downhill from there.

On the surface, it sounds to me like that is what this guy did. And once he figured the file format, then poking bytes to bump experience or whatever becomes almost trivial.

The caveat being, of course, what kind of protections the AE team put onto the files, such as checksums, byte encoding, or whatever. But, OTOH, that, too, is part of reverse-engineering.

[Dan Nichols]

Save files are encrypted.

[USSAmerica]

ORIGINAL: Cap Mandrake

Does anyone know how much he charges for this?

[:D]

[USSAmerica]

Sorry to hear that a few of you have lost games over this sad person. Perhaps you could start up a game against each other? [:)]

This is a class group of players that love this game, with very, very, very few sad exceptions. Keep the faith in your fellow players, and thank you for pointing out an exception to the rule for all of us. [:)]

[witpqs]

ORIGINAL: sdhundt

I learned a HUGE lesson by playing ROY....If the results seem WAY OFF then I know in the future to dig into it a little more....Sad to say I wasted 15 months by playing him....On the positive side, even while getting my ass kicked I stayed and played. Now off to restart a new game, UGH, but to restart after this long, UGH...Oh well maybe I'll take a break....TO ALL OF you players, all over the world, thanks to all of you for taking time to help me out with this very ugly topic...I didn't expect this much support, again, Thanks.

Steven

There's a silver lining to every dark cloud...

Now you can start a PBM using DaBabes, extended map, optional stacking limits. I recommend Scenario 28-C, the one with the reduced cargo capacities as that pushes the constraints a little more toward reality. And no matter which version you choose DaBabes has a phenomenol number of fixes, refinements, and improvements.

Get even by living well! [:D]

[Torplexed]

He's cheating while playing as the Allies? What? All the material and technological advantages that accumulate over time aren't already enough?

[LoBaron]

ORIGINAL: nate25

I agree, "trust is a must".

I supervise for a living and you can become just a tad shaded towards people if you let yourself. Then when I read this I thought, "Here, too?"

But, it's one individual (alledgedly). I've got nothing but help in reply to my questions on this forum so my overall impression won't change.

Nate

It is a single individual, to estimate the ammount of trust people put into each other you only need to go to the AAR section.
While this is off as a single event I very much doubt comparable things happen on a regular basis. No worries. [;)]

[JeffroK]

I thought that if a database was changed you got a warning and had to agree?

Of course he could have timed his fix to come in with a Patch or similar to camoflague this.

From memory, someone brought up this possibility in early AE days and was jumped upon.

[Smeulders]

ORIGINAL: USS America

ORIGINAL: Cap Mandrake

Does anyone know how much he charges for this?

[:D]

I've heard it whispered he always wanted a golf course resort, you don't happen to have one of those lying around ?

[Smeulders]

ORIGINAL: JeffK

I thought that if a database was changed you got a warning and had to agree?

Of course he could have timed his fix to come in with a Patch or similar to camoflague this.

From memory, someone brought up this possibility in early AE days and was jumped upon.

It doesn't look like a database change, but rather changes to morale, experience and number of devices in a unit, the sort of thing that changes every turn in the game.

[CaptBeefheart]

Cap Mandrake: [:D]

Actually, this is quite disturbing behavior. 99XP Chinese units? 90XP pilots with 1-3 missions under their belts? Not in this lifetime.

Cheers,
CC

[Empire101]

ORIGINAL: ilovestrategy

ORIGINAL: Commander Stormwolf


only an idiot would cheat at a game where there is no money involved [:)]

.. and even then.. don't recommend it

Words of wisdom right here.

Indeed they are, but we must all remember there are people out there who will go to ANY lengths to get one over their opponent ( or should I say victim ).

ORIGINAL:jwilkerson

General advice is ... if you don't trust your opponent ... don't play the game with them

More words of wisdom

[DavidTheGreat]

Could his member name be made public, so people do not waste time starting up a game with this person.

Thx

David

[michaelm75au]

..but made use of the game engine.

If there is indeed an exploit within the game that can manipulate the mentioned data, and it can be identified, I can try to fix it. But I can't if I don't know there is one.