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Westford

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Posts posted by Westford

  1. Posted · Edited by Westford

    5 hours ago, explosiveUA said:

    He spent 2.5 hours talking about anti-cheat and punishment for cheaters?
    lol.

    Oh gosh no, he talked about a lot of other things.

    lol

     

    The GamersFirst Technology Platform and their internal AntiCheat caught my interest the most.

    lol

     

    That's why I mentioned it here.

     

    He also discussed their;

     - continued prototyping of UE5

    - adding EMP grenades

    - Car Racing

    - new PVE games

    - discussing nighttime displays
    - possibility to bring back the "Refer a Friend" program
    - possibility to bring back the old Armas Event page

    - Internal Voice chat

    - Player run Tournaments

    - Potential to bring back Console Play

    - etc ..

     

    A whole bunch of stuff.

     

    I just didn't mention everything, sorry.

    I figured if there was enough interest, people would watch the recorded AMA.

     

    Can you forgive me @explosiveUA ?

    Haha

     

    EDIT:

    Oh, I forgot to mention that one of the questions was if Tails could be added to the Clothing store.
    Matt was unable to commit to this.

     

    For those interested in this discussion, you can skip to the time slot of the AMA 1:37:15

     

    yySIuz9.jpeg

     

     

    • Like 1
    • Thanks 1

  2. Posted · Edited by Westford

    8 hours ago, Yapopal said:

    Please tell us briefly what Matt was talking about.

    I also watched the AMA, and thought that it was really informative.
    Sorry, I have no TLDR;

    Matt briefly discussed the outage that occurred during the month of February,
    their plans on spinning up the East Coast servers in New York, upcoming Patch tentatively in May,
    amongst other things.

    May Patch Release:
    New contacts and the release of a new application framework called GamersFirst Technology Platform.
    This platform will be used to create and manage Leader Boards, rewards and such.

    This platform will be comprised of standards and application protocols that will be used by other games
    under the LO umbrella, with the possibility to license said platform to other companies.


    The GamersFirst Technology Platform will also include their own internal AntiCheat.

     

    The discontinued use of SARD AntiCheat.


    Matt Scott had realized that 3rd party AntiCheat software, was ultimately incompatible with
    APB due to a number of factors.

    When a player is banned, any ban appeal has to go through the 3rd party vendor,
    it is no longer in the hands of LO.

    As players are banned from APB, “cheat makers” provide timely updates to their “cheats”,
    as 3rd party AntiCheat companies lag behind in providing subsequent updates to their software,
    resulting in a constant circular effort of keeping up.

    LO realized that 3rd part AntiCheat software was extremely difficult to fully integrate with
    APB’s backend. This lack of full integration resulted in many holes in obtaining a “comprehensive”
    AntiCheat approach.

    LO had announced that as part of their in-house developed GamersFirst Technology Platform,
    a component of this framework would include their own an internal AntiCheat framework.

    This internal AntiCheat framework would be comprised of a client side kernel level AntiCheat,
    and two Server level AntiCheat components.

     

    Matt realize that there are cheats designed to bypass the client side methods in order to
    inject their cheats into the APB application.
    Hence the server side components.

    Matt communicated that he is reluctant to outright permanently ban players for cheating,
    as once a player is banned, they are gone, and there is absolutely no way that you can be
    1000% sure that it was not a mistake.

    He has expressed his frustration of trying to unravel the mix of legitimate bans from the false positive bans from the past.

    His approach besides segregation in the District Mission Pools, based on the number of Cheat Points accrued, 

    is to  impose sanctions on those players that use 3rd party tools to evade fair gameplay.

    What does Sanctions even mean ?
    He referenced the disabling/locked out or removing “features” from a player that has been detected
    as using unfair game practices.

    This had me thinking what Features are available that a cheater may lose, either temporarily,
    or permanently.
     

    FightClub
    Lockout Access
    Can only join districts

     

    Weapon Loadout.
    Disable/Lockout weapons in the players weapon locker
    Both Primary, Secondary and Grenades
    Disable/Lockout weapon mods


    Character Loadout
    There are four character slots that can be populated
    with anything from Car Surfer, Fragility, Ammo Box,  etc ….
    Disable/Lockout individual Character slots


    Car Loadout
    Disable/Lockout cars in a players inventory
    Disable/Lockout Car mods

     

    I think the most extreme scenario for a player that has reached a high enough threshold of cheat points,

    would have just the Starter Weapons and Car availble to them.
    STAR 556
    FBW
    Frag Grenade
    and the starter car


    Joker Store
    Lockout the ability to Rent/Buy using Joker Tickets accrued

    Email
    Lockout the ability to Send/Receive/Retrieve Attachments

    MarketPlace
    Lockout the ability to Buy/Sell

     

    Designer
    Lockout Vehicle. Symbol, Music designer
     

    I’m sure there are other features that LO has on their list, but I think this would be a great
    start for those players who do not support fair gameplay.

     

    Matt also mentioned that he is considering providing “some” AntiCheat stats on a regular basis
    Keeping it high level, potentially just Number of Detections Identified & Number of Sanctions Administered.

    I hope he decides to implement this.

    Matt’s initial thought is that a player would hopefully realize that the AntiCheat is working
    when completing a mission, that fairness was intuitive.

    Problem is, that so many times in the past, it has not always been  intuitive, hence the constant
    hackusations that occur. Even when their opponent is not cheating, they were just a good player.

    By actively communicating on a consistent basis, it does send a clear message to the player base;
    “We are actively and consistently vetting all players to ensure fair gameplay is maintained”

    This level of communication is, in my opinion much more effective than a blog post
    that is provided every few months.

    It communicates regularly and consistently , that the AntiCheat is active, and issuing remedial actions.
    This, in my opinion, is a reassuring, consistent and positive message.

     

    • Thanks 3

  3. Posted · Edited by Westford

    2 hours ago, vsb said:

     

    if you don’t trust that the devs are banning cheaters, why would you trust that the devs would post legitimate ban statistics? 

     

    I had not realized that there would be much objection to monthly SARD ban stats.


    I was wrong, but am curious as to why this type of transparency is a bad thing.

     

    And I never said that I do not trust that cheaters are being banned or not,
    I did not realize how uncomfortable this level of transparency would be
    received by some players.

    I understand that for some legit players, as @BlatMan had mentioned,
    this information would be useless, and those players would not even bother
    to take a look at the stats.
    So no problems there, as they would never see the stats.
    That information to them provides no value.
     

    why would you trust that the devs would post legitimate ban statistics?
    Good question.

    Let me see if I can make an analogy.

    LO releases patch notes fairly regularly.
    One might assume that these patch notes are released for the sake of transparency,
    which is a good thing.

     

    But now you have me thinking, what if… those patch notes are not legitimate.
    How can we trust them ?

    Seriously ?

     

    Yeah, I trust them, patch notes and all.
    Would be kind of ridiculous to post made up ban stats, but now you’ve got people thinking.
    lol

     

    Hey, if people are so dead set against ban stats, fine.

    Again, not sure why this information is so uncomfortable to some.

     

    ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

    EDIT:
    I have explained my reasons and value added to the player base as to
    the benefits of SARD monthly ban stats.
    - Transparency
    - Reassurance that bad actors are being removed on a consistent basis

    I have not read any negatives to providing this level of transparency.

    The argument that "cheaters will be able to use those stats to determine what is getting them banned."
    I do not believe is valid, as there is not enough data being posted that could provide ANY 
    indication as to why any cheater was banned.

     

    Cheater X is banned on the 13th of the month.
    Cheater X knows they have been banned since they get the infamous error code when trying to log in.
    They do not know what was identified that caused the ban.

    At the end of the month Cheater X's ban is tallied up/or not tallied up with the others for a cumulative count.
    Cheater X still does not know anything, or even if the ban stat listed included themselves.

     

    So, can anyone provide some information/details as to WHY ban stats are a bad thing.

    Please.

     

    Thank you
     

  4. Posted

    1 hour ago, BlatMan said:

    Providing those ban stats will be useless for legit players, but cheaters will be able to use those stats to determine what is getting them banned.

     

    Are more bans a good thing? Does it mean the anti-cheat is working as intended? Does it mean there's more cheaters? What percentage of cheaters are caught?

     

    Besides, a bronze player won't know the difference between an aimbot and the character turning when shooting.

     

    I am not sure I agree with all of your opinions, and I usually stay away from making
    any assumptions unless there is more information  available.
     

    Providing those ban stats will be useless for legit players
    I do not agree with this opinion.
    I am a legit player, and having the knowledge that “cheaters” are actively being banned,
    does provide myself, and other legit players that SARD is flushing out the bad actors
    on a consistent basis.
    I am sure I am not the only legit player that feels this way.
    I agree that there will be some legit players that would find this information useless.


    but cheaters will be able to use those stats to determine what is getting them banned
    Interesting…. I am curious how Server/Faction/Rank will provide enough meaningful data
    to the cheat community as to what cheat they used that caused a ban.
    Also, there would be some lag time between an individual’s ban, and when they would be tallied into the stats.
    Can you elaborate more ?
     

    Are more bans a good thing?
    More cheaters banned or just bans in general ?
    If you are referring to cheaters, than of course.
    Yes, that would be a good thing.

    Do you disagree, and if so, why ?

    Does it mean the anti-cheat is working as intended?
    Only LO will know if it is working as intended.
    Posting ban stats would provide transparency to the playerbase that SARD is actually doing something.
    Would it improve the confidence level of the playerbase ?
    I believe it would, but that would only be my opinion.
    As you said, for some legit players, it would be useless information.

     

    Does it mean there's more cheaters?
    More than what.
    Than initially assumed ?
    Sorry not following the question.

     

    What percentage of cheaters are caught?
    Not sure that can be determined.
    If a cheater is not caught, then there is really no way of knowing
    what percentage are caught vs not caught.
    Or maybe I am misunderstanding your question.

     

    Besides, a bronze player won't know the difference between an aimbot and the character turning when shooting.
    Not sure how this is even relevant to the discussion of SARD ban stats.
    what difference does it make if a Bronze. Silver or Gold player can or cannot tell the difference ?


    I didn’t  want to hijack this post on discussing whether or not LO should or should not provide ban stats or not.


    I’ll leave it to LO to decide.

     

     

  5. Posted · Edited by Westford

    Question:

     

    Could LO provide monthly SARD stats by Server/Faction/Rank ?


    Just add it to https://www.gamersfirst.com/apb/news/

     

    Non interactive, with no names to avoid the trash talk drama fest
    that so many of us enjoyed during the Fairfight days.

     

    I think that most players would agree that some/any type of regular
    communication would go a long way in reassuring the community that
    “things are getting done” with regards to those players who are not
    supporters of fair gameplay, and their continued use of'
    - Cheats (Aimbot, Wallhack.. etc)
    - Macros (Consistent maximum fire rate (.45 pistol comes to mind))
       No Recoil

       Triggerbot (color identifier)
       etc

     

    Do you support this level of transparency ?


    Would this effort be labor intensive, or just a matter of running a query
    and formatting the results ?

     

    Thank you

    • Like 2

  6. Posted

    I had logged onto the NA server yesterday Thursday 3/6,

    and noticed that all Districts were West Coast.

     

    Any plans on spinning up East Coast Districts,

    or will those be offline for now, and any timeline as to when those East Coast Districts will be available ?

     

    Thanks

  9. Posted

    48 minutes ago, vsb said:

    you can’t actually stop stretched res players, because you can’t stop players from changing their monitors resolution

     

    its the custom crosshair “debate” all over again

    Oh, I really don't care if players use a widescreen display resolution, I think it looks like crap,

    but no reason for them not to play like this.

     

    Myself personally, I set the in games resolution to the whatever the highest available that my GPU and monitor can support.

    That's just because I like the aesthetics.

     

    But now you have me curious.

    Why play in a resolution the elongates the display like that ?

    Does it improve the FPS, or .. ?

     

    I had to take a look at the video again, and I did notice the red "center" dot instead of the default.

    I can see how this could be really helpful.

    I don't think I can change that in the graphics setting, but I will double check.

     

    I don't know, it might be because I am either lazy, or just don't care as much to go above and beyond

    what the in game graphics settings allow for config changes.

     

    I never bothered with the APB Launcher that was approved by LO,

    like I said, I just can't be bothered.

     

    I realize that this is important to some players, particularly if they have a very old computer.

     

    My CPU was released in 2017 and my GPU in 2019, so some might argue that I have an old computer,

    but I get decent performance with APB even on high graphics settings.

     

    Maybe I am missing out, and my gameplay would be a vast improvement

    if I made these types of changes.

     

     

  10. Posted · Edited by Westford

    2 hours ago, Nagletz said:

    Double edged sword on this one. Some ppl still has trash PCs (like me, but i like the graphics and have 60 fps with some stutters on High so anyways) and configs is the only solution. Yet we have "pro"s making the game look like Roblox with additional "stuff" like extra wide-screen etc. So it's not really that simple. Cheaters can have Ultra settings and still be cheaters, not much difference from aforementioned low-cfg players. Works the other way, too. But IMO wide-screen min recoil glitch should be addressed anyways, one way or another.

    I would hate to hear that there are some players using computers that are as old as this game,
    what is it 15 years ?

    That would be enough to make a grown man/woman/them cry.

     

    I know that a lot of players change the game files to achieve graphics setting that makes the game look extremely wonky.

    I have seen some vids where the graphics configs results in a horrible looking elongated display.

     

    This player may have a 15 year old computer.

     

    https://youtu.be/DK59h4tKCw8?si=X0scgMGeRJW3pcCe

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

  11. Posted

    It would be great to see monthly SARD stats by Server/Faction/Rank.
    Just add it to https://www.gamersfirst.com/apb/news/

    Non interactive, with no names to avoid the trash talk drama fest
    that so many of us enjoyed during the Fairfight days.

    I think that most players would agree that some/any type of regular
    communication would go a long way in reassuring the community that
    “things are getting done” with regards to those players who are not
    supporters of fair gameplay.

    If this type of SARD transparency is frowned upon by Little Orbit,
    I’m confident or just hopeful, that this will be explained by an official post or
    perhaps on the next AMA later this year.

     

  12. Posted · Edited by Westford

    If we take a quick look at the last 6+ months, Aug 2024 when New Horizon was announced.

     

    I thought this was a great update by Little Orbit, new contacts and what not.

    Everyone saw the population increase.

    YEAH !!!!

     

    My thoughts are that if they had implemented SARD months prior to the New Horizon release,

    it might have retained that population boost.

    c’est la vie

    It is what it is

     

    And then the SARD anti-cheat forthcoming, with the announcement that "Noone" will be banned,

    instead Cheat Points will be assigned and subsequent high profile cheaters will be segregated.

     

    Ooof

     

    A "gut punch" to the legitimate players wanting fair competitive gameplay,

    and much "rejoicing" amongst those player who might rely on 3rd party tools.

     

    The message was clear...

    No Cheater will be banned.

     

    And the Cheater population blossomed.

    I imagine there were Legit players that just "threw in the towel" and started to use 3rd party tools,

    cause....

    They want to play on a level playing field.

    "When in Rome"

     

    I thought I saw a forum post here, where Matt Scott had posted on Discord,

    that after reviewing the SARD analytics, he was shocked, or maybe even horrified at the number of cheaters

    actually present on either Server.

     

     

    Ok, so I had to rummage through my closet to find my Tin Foil Hat before posting my thoughts.

     

    What if....

    The number of cheaters is so bad, that by banning them out right would significantly lower the

    population to a dismal amount ?

     

    EU might survive much more so than NA.

     

    I would hate to think that this is the dilemma that Little Orbit faces.

    I mean, you have to remove the bad actors that compromise fair gamplay,

    but at what cost ?

     

    25%+ or more of the population ?

     

    If this is the challenge that they are facing, I do not envy them.

    They definitely got themselves stuck between the proverbial "rock and a hard place"

     

    Anyways, I hope they figure this stuff out,

    and it would be nice to see some monthly SARD stats by Server/Faction/Rank

     

    Thanks

     

     

     

    • Like 2

  13. Posted · Edited by Westford

    @Reprimand

     

    This is a great informational guide.

    Appreciate the effort you put into this.

     

    Of course I have been perusing this list for my preferred weapons,

    will have to experiment with some of your suggested mods.

     

    Thanks

     

     

    EDIT:

     

    I looked through your list of suggested mods for the "High Mag Scope",
    which I own, and did not see it referenced, which made me sad.

     

     

     

  14. Posted · Edited by Westford

    2 hours ago, Yapopal said:

    I think that such an opinion about the game is formed due to the large number of negative aspects present in the game. Cheaters play a secondary role here.

    If I understand your statement, your position is that "Cheaters", players using 3rd party tools to gain an unfair advantage in game,

    is a secondary issue to other issues in this game.

    ie, Matchmaking, Weapon balance .. etc

     

    Or maybe I misunderstood your statement.

     

    I think that the number one priority would be that everyone should be able to play on a "level" playing field.

    An untarnished baseline needs to be established before any changes can be made that will prove to be effective.

    If the scales are tipped, in favor of players using 3rd party tools, then there is no competitive gameplay.

    and LO would be operating on a skewed baseline.

     

    Altering/Tweaking the Matchmaking system will not mitigate or accommodate for those players Cheating.

    I doubt that any amount of changes to the Matchmaking system to insure fair gameplay in an attempt at creating evenly matched opponents

    is possible if there are cheaters on either team.

     

    Again, the baseline is skewed, and not yet established.

     

    Weapon balance changes might be difficult, as data is harvested/anaylized as to the effectiveness of any weapon,

    when using macros, triggerbots or aimbots.

     

    I would think that that data gathered from weapon use from both legit players and Cheaters might

    not be an accurate representation of any weapons capabilities or performance.

     

    Just my thoughts.

     

     

  16. Posted · Edited by Westford

    8 hours ago, MACKxBOLAN said:

    I have been wondering both if sard was active in NA, which matt wont confirm, and or that somehow 

    I have cheat points, because I am constantly being matched with cheats.

     

    So yeah ,.. this is not a great message..

    I personally do not know if SARD is up and running on the NA Servers.

    Above my pay grade...

    but a lack of messaging only invites "Tin Foil"  hats

     

    EDIT:
    I am not a conspiratorial type of a person .....
    I have a dog.

  19. Posted · Edited by Westford

    7 hours ago, Reprimand said:

    I'm sorry, but these things are a shining nuisance in the game. The cash security trucks are fine. I don't mind the Balkan trucks in fight club or whatever but players in Waterfront and Financial are using them to mission block, grief players, blow up and knock over cars.

     

    Remove them from the game and the mission blocking problem practically fixes itself.

    It is unfortunate that some people use them for disrupting missions, 

    but in another scenario, when I am not in a mission,

    and I see the unauthorized use of these municipal vehicles,  as an Enforcer, I turn on my siren's and chase them down.

     

    I have been able to make a few crash as I chase them across the district.

    There have been many times where other Enforcers join the pursuit, which often results in a fireball of vehicles

    ending the havoc that these joy riders have inflicted on the District.

     

    It's a fun distraction.

     

    EDIT:

    I noticed last night in Financials the Cement Trucks had a Santa hat on the cab.

    ’Tis the season

     

     

  23. Posted · Edited by Westford

    15 minutes ago, RoxieBragg said:

    and... crashed again. is EU having crashes too?

    Have not Checked ...

     

     

    Will try now - 12/18/2024 EST 19:12

    Will update this post

     

     

    News FLASH Update:

     

    Was able to connect to EU.

    I had new mail.

    A lot of mail.

     

    I received a Snowball RPG.... but it's in Europe..

    12/18/2024 EST 19:18

     

     

    I don't live in Europe.

     

     

    giphy.gif

     

    • Like 1
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