rec.autos.simulators

by **Uwe Schuerkam** » Tue, 04 Dec 2001 16:10:59

Hi folks,

I've been working together with David Cook on integrating Rally
Trophy with GPLRank. You can take a look at our results at

http://www.racesimcentral.net/

while the site still looks quite gplrank-ish this is about to
change rather soon. Also I'll try to add all the functionality
that you have come to expect from GPLRank.

Let us know what you think and please tell us about any bugs you
encounter on the new site.

Thanks as always to Brian Wong for allowing us to abuse his
server in this manner.

Cheers,

uwe

--
Uwe Schuerkamp //////////////////////////// http://www.racesimcentral.net/
Herford, Germany \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ (52.0N/8.5E)
Ever wondered what's wrong with the world? http://www.racesimcentral.net/
PGP Fingerprint: 2E 13 20 22 9A 3F 63 7F 67 6F E9 B1 A8 36 A4 61

by **James Precot** » Tue, 04 Dec 2001 17:14:13

I read in a previous thread that someone managed to crack the bzf file
format in some ridiculously low time. They also said that physics values
were stored in those bzf files in plain text. This means that the physics
could be altered and he even went on to say that he could set his Mini to
have a power value greater than the Lancia/Alpine. Do you have anything to
protect from cheats? As far as I can see you are only uploading the
highscore file. Does the highscore file contain physics information or can
you detect cheating? I ask this because I am tired of putting efforts into
such ranks such as yours only to find out that there is a cheat floating
around and that pretty much renders such ranking sites tainted. I understand
the Honor System, but it seems that not too many others do. The guy who
posted earlier on this topic said that they were not going to allow cheats
with their editors or whatever but I'd like to have some peace of mind
regardless. Thanks for your great efforts.

Regards
James

by **Ashley McConnel** » Tue, 04 Dec 2001 18:59:15

> I read in a previous thread that someone managed to crack the bzf file
> format in some ridiculously low time. They also said that physics values
> were stored in those bzf files in plain text. This means that the physics
> could be altered and he even went on to say that he could set his Mini to
> have a power value greater than the Lancia/Alpine. Do you have anything to
> protect from cheats? As far as I can see you are only uploading the
> highscore file. Does the highscore file contain physics information or can
> you detect cheating? I ask this because I am tired of putting efforts into
> such ranks such as yours only to find out that there is a cheat floating
> around and that pretty much renders such ranking sites tainted. I understand
> the Honor System, but it seems that not too many others do. The guy who
> posted earlier on this topic said that they were not going to allow cheats
> with their editors or whatever but I'd like to have some peace of mind
> regardless. Thanks for your great efforts.

> Regards
> James

James,

GPL stores the fastest times in Plain text, if anyone is cheating they
are just fooling themselves, whats the point? As long as there is no
money involved I think most people will be honest.

Perhaps I am a little too trusting ;)

It would be nice to have completely uncrackable records, but I doubt if
that is possible :(

All the best,
Ash

by **Txl** » Tue, 04 Dec 2001 19:03:14

well you could always put a checksum in the original bzf file or wahetever
it is and refuse anything without this checksum..would take about 10 seconds
to do,n the problem is if the guy has "several" bzf files one for "playing"
and one for "submitting", then you're ***ed...

by **Uwe Schuerka** » Tue, 04 Dec 2001 19:09:04

> I read in a previous thread that someone managed to crack the bzf file
> format in some ridiculously low time. They also said that physics values

Hi James,

protection from cheats is one of the hardest topics to implement,
and I'd rather spend my time extending gplrank / RT rank than
fighting an uphill battle against those idiots.

I'll transfer the buddy list functionality to RT rank shortly so
you can create a list of people you trust and have fun racing
them instead of looking at the "public rankings" which of
course might contain some cheaters.

It's the same with gplrank for me: I hardly ever visit
the public rankings, most of the fun is climbing up my
buddy list.

Cheers,

uwe

by **Alan Bernard** » Tue, 04 Dec 2001 20:42:08

I think you should give yourself the power to just disqualify ridiculously
fast times, which I'm assuming that you already do. If a guy's time is very
fast, ask him or her to prove it to you in an online, one-on-one race. A
refusal would mean disqualification.

Alanb

> > I read in a previous thread that someone managed to crack the bzf file
> > format in some ridiculously low time. They also said that physics values

> Hi James,

> protection from cheats is one of the hardest topics to implement,
> and I'd rather spend my time extending gplrank / RT rank than
> fighting an uphill battle against those idiots.

> I'll transfer the buddy list functionality to RT rank shortly so
> you can create a list of people you trust and have fun racing
> them instead of looking at the "public rankings" which of
> course might contain some cheaters.

> It's the same with gplrank for me: I hardly ever visit
> the public rankings, most of the fun is climbing up my
> buddy list.

> Cheers,

> uwe

by **David Butte** » Tue, 04 Dec 2001 21:40:53

What happens with GPLRank, very roughly, is this: if a time comes in
which is considered absurdly fast, or if anyone is claiming a new World
Record time, that person is asked to provide a replay as proof. No
replay, no time. The most common thing is a clock smash leading to a
1:25 at Monza or whatever.

--
Sceptical scrutiny is the means, in both science and religion, by which
deep insights can be winnowed from deep nonsense -- Carl Sagan

The GPL Scrapyard returns (slowly): http://www.hillclimbfan.f2s.com

by **Uwe Schuerka** » Tue, 04 Dec 2001 20:45:02

> well you could always put a checksum in the original bzf file or wahetever
> it is and refuse anything without this checksum..would take about 10 seconds
> to do,n the problem is if the guy has "several" bzf files one for "playing"
> and one for "submitting", then you're ***ed...

The checksumming routines would be the first to go after
copy protection. It really isn't worth bothering, trust
your peers and get a decent buddy list ;-)

uwe

rec.autos.simulators

Rally Trophy Rank: Early beta available

Rally Trophy Rank: Early beta available

Rally Trophy Rank: Early beta available

Rally Trophy Rank: Early beta available

Rally Trophy Rank: Early beta available

Rally Trophy Rank: Early beta available

Rally Trophy Rank: Early beta available

Rally Trophy Rank: Early beta available

Rally Trophy Rank: Early beta available