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How Cheaters Cheat at Halo 2
An anonymous reader writes "Built on a network that automatically bans gamers that have modified their Xbox, Xbox Live should be nearly cheat-proof. However, it's not, as anyone playing Halo 2 online already knows. How do cheaters on Xbox Live manage to artificially boost their rankings? What is Bridging? What is Standby? This article takes a look at what exactly is done when a cheater cheats, and what exactly Bungie is doing about it. It includes videos and some very funny letters from 13-year-olds that have been baned from matchmaking on Live and are desperately trying to worm their way back onto the system."
Here's the thing. They don't even need to modify packets. They just download an auto-aim mod to instantly lock on to your head all the way across the map with a sniper rifle that shoots 1000 rounds a second. As much as the cheaters suck, half the blame goes to Bungie for not validating DLC, like 98% of other Xbox games do. Heck, even KotOR validates it's content, and you can't even play that with other people on Live! Standbying is near unavoidable given halo 2's setup (ie, not dedicated servers at all). This makes me hope they are considering dedicated servers for ranked games for Halo 3.
"We need to get over this notion, that, for Apple to win... Microsoft must lose." - Steve Jobs, 1997
Motorola Surfboard cable modems, for one. There are several others. It is a "security" measure so your super-vulnerable Windows PC isn't open to evil hackers late at night. You punch the button when you leave for any length of time and it suspends the connection.
Halo 2 is a peer-2-peer game, where one of the people playing is the "host". It varies as to who gets to be the host, but the point is there is no dedicated server other than the one doing authentication and charging your credit card.
Learning HOW to think is more important than learning WHAT to think.
The linked article only talks about bridging+standby, which is one of the oldest and easiest to execute forms of cheating. It's also rather lacking on the technical side. Here's a quick rundown of what I know:
=== Network manipulation ===
Bridging One player on a team sets up their router/firewall so that their xbox can only communicate with bungie, XboxLive, and a specific other player on the team. This results in that other player being selected as the game server for every match.
Standby The bridged host can interrupt network traffic to some or all players in the game. Because they're the server, their game keeps running for several seconds while everyone else gets the "standby, reconnecting to game" screen.
Lagging Out The bridged host selectively manipulates network traffic to players in the game and observes the on-screen network quality indicator. After isolating the IP address of a player on the other team, they block network traffic to that player, causing them to "lag out" of the game. After reducing the other team to one or two players they're pretty much guaranteed a win.
Team Lagging Same as lagging out, but instead of blocking traffic, just increase network latency to players on the opposing team. Not as effective as other mechanisms but VERY hard for Bungie to spot.
=== Game manipulation ===
Mods The bridged host has map files are modified to give them an advantage. Examples:
spawnmods: player start points are modified to make the spawning player defenseless or unable to move.
weapon mods: auto-aim, rapid fire, increased damage, changed projectile type
other: vehicles where there shouldn't be, running faster than normal, jumping higher than normal
Superbouncing Makes it possible to reach extremely high areas in certain maps. Caused by a bug in the physics engine. === Ranking manipulation ===
Boosting a group of dishonest player teams with an otherwise-honest and/or unskilled player. The dishonest players carry the match, but the other player still gets the ranking benefit.
De-ranking A group of skilled players intentionally throws matches to decrease their rank. This results in matching against lesser skilled players, and is often used for boosting.
You don't pay for dedicated servers. You pay for the ability to play online.