Hac

"Cheat Detected" after randomly placed in hacked IWNet server

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I found this on the IW forum.What is next for us? Are we going to get banned for being placed in a hacked server?
No responce from IW i see

I almost dont want to fire up the game untill i know WTF is going on here.
As anyone seen anything else on any forums about this?

This is on PC





"Cheat Detected" after randomly placed in hacked IWNet serve

Fri Jan 15, 2010 10:14 pm

So, I load MW2 tonight and attempt to join a game of Ground Wars. IWNet places me into a server that is currently on the map Rust. Of course it is a hacked server that has made its way into IWNet for everyone and anyone to randomly join, Rust would never be in the normal Ground Wars map rotation. The score was like 50000 to 200. I stepped forward and knifed someone in front of me and it awarded me millions of XP and I was instantly promoted to level 70 (I was already in 3rd prestige). About 5 seconds later I am kicked from the game with the message "Cheat Detected."

Now, I think most people here are aware of the fact that hacked servers with no-score limits have been around for months. But I never got into one and was promoted to level 70 just like that, nor have I been booted with said message.

So I queue up for a game of HQ Pro and the game goes fine. After that, I back out and attempt to join another Ground Wars - this time I get in a game and it's on Derail. The match starts and I'm running across the map. Before one kill goes out, I'm kicked from the game with the message "Cheat Detected."

So I've done a few more games since then and played OK, but now I'm always wondering if I will be kicked (or banned). It only started tonight after the one occurrence in the hacked lobby, under the current game version 175.

Has anyone else experienced this? Am I really at risk for being VAC banned because IWNet placed me into a hacked server?

Olaf Vikingsson

Are you running programs that run on the D3D layer such as Procaster or any other capture program?

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Hac

It has not happened to me yet.I got this off another forum.It is happening to a lot of people i see from reading the forums.The fact that people are hacking servers and other people that do not cheat are thrown into them is what is real upsetting to me.

Olaf Vikingsson

Ugh. This is bs, then. That's not how VAC works and MW2 has no built-in cheat detection.

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shanesalty

About 2 weeks ago I was playing and about halfway through the game a error message popped up said a cheat was detected and it closed the game lobby down. At the time I had no idea what it was but after reading this I have an idea.

d3ath101

this just happened to me, but i left right away. went to join a 3rd person cage match. it loaded to rust, zero gravity, and 12 people on, unlimited ammo and nukes going off. IWNet fails.

P3RMAFRROST

This has happened to me this evening after presumably joining a hacked Server duing the weekend. I do remember being logged into a game that was playing Rust and I thought it was strange at the time as I didn't think it was part of the map rotation for Ground War. I dismissed it thinking they must of changed things since I haven't played MW2 since April, ironically, because I was sick and tired of all the hackers at the time. I've tried to play tonight and the game crashed and now my VAC status is banned. Particularly frustrating since I only just purchased the Stimulus DLC but two days ago! I've just logged a support ticket with Steam but I'm not really confident I'll get much assistance from them.

I've since come across this thread and thought I'd post my experience for other people in the same boat.

I don't understand how they, IWNet or whomever, think that VAC is a good anti-cheat system. If it was, then logically it wouldn't allow hacked or otherwise dodgy hosts to be online for any period of time. Due to blatant incompetencies of the system inocent gamers like myself get banned from playing a game they've brought and own. I've just realised I maybe ranting so shall cease. Obviously and realistically not a lot I can do except I doubt very much I'll be purchasing another game utilising IWNet or VAC in the future.

Cheers, Mike.

beasTer

VAC works fine as an efficient helper for games that have dedicated servers. The problem happens in a network setup like MW2 has where the players are too connected for their own good. If VAC detected something as a cheat, then believe it or not there was a cheat. Where that cheat originated from is up for question, as perhaps some hackers have found methods of altering other people's game files (even so slightly) simply by hosting their match.


That is the fault of IW and IWnet. Not VAC.


Also, if someone got kicked for cheating by VAC they would no longer be able to play that game at all on that account. So I have no idea how someone got a Cheat Detected message and then went on playing in different servers, as like Vis said, MW2 has no innate cheat detection system.

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Imbecillin

I play on PS3... every now and then I get into a lobby where it would skip every now and then and funny things happen. I thought it was just lag or some connection problems but it was only a matter of time before hackers got into the consoles. My advice is leave immediately! If you don't, sooner or later the server will boot everyone off, and when you try to get into another lobby the PS network will close your connection as well. You can't sign back in no matter what, you have to turn off and restart the console all over. What a pain...

oneinchwunda

That is lag, not a hacker/modded lobby.

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Imbecillin

Funny things happen... like when I respawned, my arms were spread out wide open, my left hand up in the air, and my gun is point down to the right... and I walk around like this. I can't aim but the gun still fires. That's not lag is it?

Serval

I seem to recall reading somewhere that VAC will actually randomly wait a period of time (a week or so iirc) before banning people to make it hard for them to judge if a hack is detected.

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beasTer

It is true that VAC's bans are not immediate. There is a delay period.


Their process is set up to be as careful as possible. They would rather let hackers go free than ban an innocent.

In the spirit of that creed, the fault lies with IW.

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dad

hey guys, i found this thread through a google search..

here is the deal.

my son was playing mw2 and was dropped into a random server which was hacked.. he said there was something wrong after he couldn't get a kill. then leftfew days later his game now says that it has "cheat detected" and freezes with the console behind the main game window and you have to right click -> close to get out.

from what i've read.. there has to be some form of added software in order for this console to pop up if there has been a cheat detected.

so for giggles.. i logged into his account on my computer to see what would happen and the error is exactly the same(console behind a black window top corner left of the screen).. using my install.. which was/is clean. i can still log back into mine and start my game fine.. but when i try his it doesn't work..

so.. where do we go from here?? we like to play this game together.

TransparentOpacity

Did you program mw2 ????

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beasTer

In the past, Punkbuster was used for CoD's anti cheat. Punkbuster was not hired to do the job this time around. They left it up to VAC and VAC alone.

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TransparentOpacity

I don't really know what punkbuster and VAC are, but couldn't infinity ward still have made some kind of cheat detection thing on their own?

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P3RMAFRROST

Hey, I got a fairly useless response from Steam basically confirming that I've been banned and I can buy the game again (yeah right, just for it to happen again??!!) or play single player lol. I responded asking how or to whom I can escalate the issue.

It is madness really. I know there are a serious number of hackers/cheaters about but there are, including myself, people that have been illegitimately banned and they should be checking/testing these claims instead of ‘phobbing’ off customers so readily. I gave them as much information as I could but it’s obvious they’re not interested which really gets on my wick! If they had a decent system they would log an incident with whichever team is responsible for VAC and investigate the claim – they might actually discover a problem!

beasTer

It is kind of a different ballgame. They know how to code video games, but anti cheats are far different. Normally a developer will hire a third party group to work with them on installing an anticheat for their game.


Heck, VAC didn't even exist when Half Life came out. You had to download and install something called HLGuard on your server to protect it. The stock game had no anticheat.

Most PC games these days tend to use Punkbuster as their anticheat (every CoD game up until MW2, the BF series, etc) as it has such a solid reputation.

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dad

there are a lot of people on the valve forums that swear by this "vac" and that its perfect (i think far from it), its still software, and being that it is far from perfect due to it being created by a human..

this is bs.. they don't tell you what, who, where, why it happened... just that YOU'VE BEEN BANNED.. I've spent alot of money in games on steam.. buying a copy each for both my machine and my sons. we also have a few of these games on the ps3. but since i prefer playing with k/b and mouse.. i started a collection on the pc as well so we could play together.

this drives me up the wall.. if there is no recourse that can be done. I'M NOT BUYING ANOTHER COPY!!!!.. they can fix the one i paid 60 bucks for.

pantstofry

that's definitely lag

beasTer

As far as accuracy goes, VAC will not ban you ever unless something was altered in your game files.

VAC scans your game files for any alterations of significant value. It doesn't care about you editing simple things like your config.cfg or what have you, but once .dlls and the like start getting tweaked... you get banned.

VAC doesn't catch everything... however if it catches someone it is because there was something somewhere altered. That is why they have a zero reversal policy.



Now the problem here is the fact that thanks to some loophole with MW2's network coding, the host of a game is able to alter the game files of the other people in the game. THAT is the problem. It has nothing to do with VAC. It is Infinity Ward's fault. Not Valve's. It isn't Valve's job to monitor and correct coding mistakes that IW themselves made.


It is unfortunate that this situation happened, but you are blaming the wrong people.

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P3RMAFRROST

I'm not too sure who's to blame exactly and how many parties are involved to be honest but I don't think the problem lies with Infinity Award alone. For instance, I don't understand why they (VAC I presume) thought it was good practice to ban hackers (players with modified files) 1, 2, 3 or however many weeks after first identifying them? Because of this current issue (a host is able to alter player game files) the hacked host is able to be online for how long?

Soon it will be all hackers when the legit players have all been banned lol.

beasTer

The reasons for the delayed ban are twofold:


1. For human eyes to review what a computer detected. This process takes time.

2. To make it more difficult for hackers to know which hack it was that got them banned, meaning that that particular hack won't be scrapped/updated quite so quickly.

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P3RMAFRROST

Oh My God!

Finally, someone must have taken notice, praise the lord and all that!

VAC Status: In Good Standing.

Copy of email from Steam:
"
Hello,

Recently, your Steam account was erroneously banned from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.

This was our mistake, and I apologize for any frustration or angst it may have caused you.

The problem was that Steam would fail a signature check between the disk version of a DLL and a latent memory version. This was caused by a combination of conditions occurring while Steam was updating the disk image of a game. This wasn't a game-specific mistake. Steam allows us to manage and reverse these erroneous bans (about 12,000 erroneous bans over two weeks).

We have reversed the ban, restoring your access to the game. In addition, we have given you a free copy of Left 4 Dead 2 to give as a gift on Steam, plus a free copy for yourself if you didn't already own the game.

...
"