PetFish Posted October 8, 2015 Share Posted October 8, 2015 Well, now I'm sad to report that the bot is back. It's almost 5pm PST on Harbinger. Oh well, I really don't understand why they won't do something about this, I've given them so much evidence. It actually makes me angry that nothing has been done and makes me wonder why I even bother trying to get rid of these by reporting and then why I even care so much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeeyyMagzz Posted October 9, 2015 Share Posted October 9, 2015 (edited) The problem is that there are macro programs that essentially only send mouse clicks and keyboard strokes. They don't attach to the game .dll, they don't do anything that typical bot programs do that would help IT personnel investigating discern that they are doing something against the rules. What you do is install the program, record your keystrokes and mouse clicks on your path for the boxes, then press play and watch it run through once or twice to make sure it's working properly. Then they leave that running all day long. There's even more in depth programs that use pixel search to make sure you're click on boxes and not just randomly clicking the air. Like I said, these program's are difficult to detect because they are only sending keystrokes and mouse clicks without attaching to game files. There is no real way to detect they're running short of spying on players computers to see what applications they have running. Back in the day when space gave tons of XP and credits, three of my old guildies were using one such program. Luckily, the CS people believed me and banned them each for 1-2 weeks and took 75-100% of their credits away, based on the time they spent each day botting. One of them was smart and he'd run space quests for 2-3 hours, close game for 3 hours, re-open game and run space quests for 5-6 hours... rinsed and repeat. He was also the first player to reach level 50 on all four republic classes without choosing an advanced class. Guess it's easy when your bot is doing the work for you 14-15 hours per day every day. It's tough to track cheaters, but just keep reporting them... CS is slow, but once they get the name they will watch their habits and ban them accordingly. Speed hacking is almost always attaching to the game .dll files, so CS should be able to track those relatively easily. Edited October 9, 2015 by JoeeyyMagzz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Themanthatisi Posted October 9, 2015 Share Posted October 9, 2015 Another thought I have... Lets say, we see a large influx of returning and new players back to the game. Servers will get more populated. All those bots are accounts taking up server population, which, I would think would be a problem that BW would like to avoid, outside of adding new servers, if necessary. I agree 100% with the OP as well... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeeyyMagzz Posted October 9, 2015 Share Posted October 9, 2015 This was addressed by BW several months ago as something which is an ongoing concern. They also explained why bans were not immediate and players may continue to see bots they've reported for days or weeks after reporting them. The following official BW replies sum it up: http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?p=8180622#edit8180622 http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?p=8209446#edit8209446 http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?p=8229028#edit8229028 Those dev posts are all about credit spammers, not speed hackers and macro-botters running around planets farming lockboxes for literally days on end. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PetFish Posted October 9, 2015 Share Posted October 9, 2015 If these bots can "hide" from log files and such, great, all they have to do is login personally with one of their admin accounts (or even a personal one) and check the area for the bot that's being reported. Five minutes later, boom, banned. Hey, admins/devs/whoever, so what if there's no info in some log? Take five minutes and go see it for yourself and get rid of the bot. Unless I'm stupid it seems like it'd be less than easy to get rid of bots promptly, especially with multiple reports over multiple days and even from multiple sources. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
morningstation Posted October 9, 2015 Author Share Posted October 9, 2015 :wea_09:Ours on Ebonhawk are still there and nothing has been done. If it were a matter of using a program to record keystrokes other games have detected its use why not a huge collaboration like Bio-ware and EA. Now I do not profess to know about these programs but it seems to me that even if you recorded just keystrokes you couldn't just port around the game and not be noticed. If even someone from Bio-ware would just chime in anything about knowledge of this problem it would be one thing. Even a we are aware of it and will address it would be ok in my book. Not a pre-made email saying they can't discuss it and nothing is done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mephistosaurus Posted October 9, 2015 Share Posted October 9, 2015 There's a bot on Black Hole (Harbinger) in the Hypermatter Engineering Facility. I'm there trying to complete the <Black Hole Extermination> and noticed this bot last week. I've reported it every day since, andevery day the ticket is closed, and every day the bot is here farming 24/7. I was hoping with the server reset this morning it would be gone but no, it's still here. I've done everything I can by reporting with dates/times/screens/videos and nothing has been done so what else can I do? On Illum in the heroic area I just agro all the mobs and stealth out. let the bots kill em all for me, and I collect the loot and scavenge the mats from the droids. So much faster... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
morningstation Posted October 9, 2015 Author Share Posted October 9, 2015 (edited) Back to my earlier question... I know we can't name players or guilds but can we link a site that list the offenders on each server since Bio-ware doesnt care or to make things really fun a link to the same type of program so that all players can benefit:rak_03: The more you know...right? Edited October 9, 2015 by morningstation Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PetFish Posted October 10, 2015 Share Posted October 10, 2015 BOT REPORT Server: Harbinger Date: October 9, 2015 Location: Black Hole (Hypermatter Engineering Facility) Time: 10pm Server Status: BOT OFFLINE Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
morningstation Posted October 10, 2015 Author Share Posted October 10, 2015 BOT REPORT Server: Harbinger Date: October 9, 2015 Location: Black Hole (Hypermatter Engineering Facility) Time: 10pm Server Status: BOT OFFLINE Serious...you mean they actually did something. No way... Pic or it didn't happen ROFL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Draconuuse Posted October 10, 2015 Share Posted October 10, 2015 Hm. I actually remember doing the whole macro thing back in the day in wow for fishing. Of course at the time I didn't know any better and both my step dad and older brother were doing it. Then my stepdad got banned for a couple weeks and I found out that that sort of stuff is frowned upon in MMO's. Ah to be young and naive again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PetFish Posted October 11, 2015 Share Posted October 11, 2015 BOT REPORT Server: Harbinger Date: October 10, 2015 Location: Black Hole (Hypermatter Engineering Facility) Time: 10:15pm Server Status: BOT ONLINE Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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