File checks? WTF!!!?

[console]

GREETINGS AND FELICITOUS SALUTATIONS.

We decided to try out some anticheat file checks last night, and I guess things have been a little bumpy so far.

I'd like to attempt to clarify a few points:

1. Failed file checks do NOT mean someone is necessarily cheating.  It's just an indication that a player is using non-stock models or sounds.  (NOTE: We had some bugs initially, and even the stock a_grenades.md2 model was being incorrectly flagged as non-stock... We thought we had it fixed, but there may still be issues with the cyborg model... We apologize for the inconvenience.)

2. We support the community's efforts to customize quake2 for their own enjoyment.  This means that we will be happy to accommodate custom sounds and models... We are NOT trying to set up some draconian system of checks that limits people's ability to enjoy a customized quake2 experience.  If you have some customized player models or sounds (like railgun hum and footsteps) that are simply custom but not intended as cheats, feel free to upload them to us, and we can add them to the list of known files.

3. That's all I have so far... further discussion is welcome...


Regards,

[X'tyfe]

please sticky

We are NOT trying to set up some draconian system of checks that limits people's ability to enjoy a customized quake2 experience.

this was my initial thought, when anticheat became available and with this file checking
i figured it would turn into what ruined quake3 if used the wrong way. while i still have strong feelings towards it
i think people should submit there custom files if they fail checks so we can avoid something like that

[PANTONE 7717C]

...players/cyborg/a_grenades.md2   - Like you said this file sometimes failes the check and I've seen other anticheat-users return a failed check for this stock file as well. Long time ago I had replaced the cyborg tris.md2 with the male tris.md2 and after fixing that the a_grenades.md2 seems to pass the check, at least that's what it looks like. Weird.
Since anticheat is not forced I don't really see the point of this as it only checks the anticheat users(?). I mean I regularly check 'aclist' and I've never seen more than three or four players at the same time that actually use anticheat, but now the file checks only make the few anticheat users look suspicious, kind of. I use the rg_hum from Q3 and of course that failes the check, but it would be nice to see something printed like:
[anticheat] Pan has a modified sound/weapons/rg_hum.wav but at least he uses anticheat. (J/k)
[anticheat] Pan failed 1 file check.

O well it's no big deal but the first time I connected with the file check running it printed about five lines of failed checks for customized stuff which of course didn't look good. So I just went to change a few things back to stock... it's either that or ditching anticheat. I'm not saying I don't applaud file checks but it feels a bit half-assed when it only checks anticheat users.
Maybe I'll just upload some of the customized files, mostly sounds. (offtopic: speaking of uploading ever since the server migration my password isn't recognized and I can't acces my TS domain.)

[console]

Long time ago I had replaced the cyborg tris.md2 with the male tris.md2

Personally I think that should be fine.  We could wild card those hashes so that any stock models could be interchanged between male/female/cyborg...

speaking of uploading ever since the server migration my password isn't recognized and I can't acces my TS domain.

Strange... If you want to PM me a new password I'll reset it.


Regards,

quadz

[X'tyfe]

i also cant get on anymore, if you remember last night
could be related

[jägermonsta]

sweet I got some to upload 

[Whirlingdervish]

I had a related problem today with the crakhor model giving a false report via anticheat, and as far as I know, I don't even have it.

I checked my baseq2/models/players directory and all of my paks and mod directories, and theres no crakhor.
I also have model downloading set to off and have never used it because I prefer to see grunts over homers and cows and penguins and such.

any clue why it would tell me I have a screwy .md2 that doesn't even exist on my comp?

[RailWolf]

Because the way it's set-up, a client's file's SHA1 must match what is on the hash list. For example, the hash for crackhor model is bb81abb2934f0ffc68a1c9d467f78415d12e8f9d   but if the client doesn't have this file, it wouldn't be able to match that number so it would show as a failed check. We can set up 'file not found' hashes for the crakhor and cyborg which would just be blank, or 000000etc (no data) hash, and it would solve this problem.

[R1CH]

Because the way it's set-up, a client's file's SHA1 must match what is on the hash list. For example, the hash for crackhor model is bb81abb2934f0ffc68a1c9d467f78415d12e8f9d   but if the client doesn't have this file, it wouldn't be able to match that number so it would show as a failed check. We can set up 'file not found' hashes for the crakhor and cyborg which would just be blank, or 000000etc (no data) hash, and it would solve this problem.

Actually, the problem is Q2 reverts to male/grunt if a model is not found, so the crakhor tris.md2 would actually match the male tris.md2 if it weren't present. The filecheck syntax allows for wildcards for this purpose, so you can allow mixing and matching of any allowed player model.

[RailWolf]

hrmm..  I thought we had wildcarded the models for this purpose.  Anywho, thanx R1CH for clearing this up.