UAC: A New Anticheat for ET
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11 Sep 2013, 14:04
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News
For the past few weeks, I have been trying to find a new anticheat for ET. TZAC did a good job for a while, but I think most of us can agree that it is time to move on.
You may have heard about the new AC being developed by TrackBase. While it does seem somewhat promising and I wish them the best of luck with it, we simply cannot afford to wait for a brand new anticheat to be made from scratch. I was forced to search for an already existing AC instead, one that would be ready in time for the Fall 2013 season.
I am pleased to announce that ET is now officially supported by Universal Anticheat!
Universal Anticheat (UAC) has been in development since 2006 by a coder named
DExUS and currently supports Battlefield 3, Call of Duty 2, Call of Duty 4, and several other games. It has already proven itself on ClanBase in CoD2, so I am confident that it will do good things for ET in the upcoming EC/OC season.
Before I continue, however, I must admit that this is only a temporary solution. DExUS recently announced that he will be shutting down UAC on the 1st of January due to lack of time and motivation. This is obviously very unfortunate, but it's not something I didn't already know about, and it won't stop us from taking advantage of what UAC has to offer ET for the next 3-4 months.
So, how does UAC work?
Like our previous anticheat, UAC is primarily intended to be used in official clan matches. It runs on a system which requires a Match ID to be entered every time it is used.
In ClanBase cup/ladder matches, the Match ID will be the WID at the end of the CB matchlink. (For example, in http://clanbase.ggl.com/warinfo.php?wid=1337, the match ID is 1337.) If you are playing an IRC war or other non-official match, the Match ID can be anything unique and mutually agreed upon.
Simply select Enemy Territory, enter a Match ID, and check the box next to Start scanning. Then, open ET and play the match as usual. You can minimize at any time to check which players are currently actively scanning in the same Match ID. UAC will scan your memory/files and take screenshots at random times throughout the match. After the match is over, you must uncheck the box next to Start scanning. The scan logs and screenshots will then be uploaded, and you are free to review them in the same UAC window.
If UAC happens to take a few screenshots with your personal information in them, you can immediately delete them while reviewing the screenshots in your UAC window.
More information can be found in the User Manual.
WARNING: UAC scans your PC for cheats. This means that if you have any cheats at all on your PC, you risk getting banned, regardless of whether or not the cheats are ET-related and regardless of whether or not the cheats have been loaded. DExUS has expressed to me how serious he is about this, stating that he believes there is no reason for a clean player to have cheats on his PC. So, this is your one and only warning. Remove any and all cheats on your PC before using UAC.
Since the ClanBase website is currently down, I will wait to discuss in detail how UAC is going to work in ET on CB. We do plan to use it in the Fall 2013 season as well as in future ladder matches and will explain more when the time comes.
For now, simply create a UAC account if you haven't already, and try it out! You will be able to register your ID on ClanBase once the website is back online, then you'll be allowed to use UAC for official matches.Any questions or concerns? Feel free to PM me or leave a comment below, and I will try my best to make things as clear as possible. For general help regarding UAC, check out the FAQ. Also, feel free to join #uac.et on IRC!
I will leave you all with a few words from
MerlinatoR, regarding UAC and Crossfire:
It's not perfect, but it is better than nothing. It is the best option we have at the moment. Enjoy!
You may have heard about the new AC being developed by TrackBase. While it does seem somewhat promising and I wish them the best of luck with it, we simply cannot afford to wait for a brand new anticheat to be made from scratch. I was forced to search for an already existing AC instead, one that would be ready in time for the Fall 2013 season.
I am pleased to announce that ET is now officially supported by Universal Anticheat!
Universal Anticheat (UAC) has been in development since 2006 by a coder named
DExUS and currently supports Battlefield 3, Call of Duty 2, Call of Duty 4, and several other games. It has already proven itself on ClanBase in CoD2, so I am confident that it will do good things for ET in the upcoming EC/OC season.Before I continue, however, I must admit that this is only a temporary solution. DExUS recently announced that he will be shutting down UAC on the 1st of January due to lack of time and motivation. This is obviously very unfortunate, but it's not something I didn't already know about, and it won't stop us from taking advantage of what UAC has to offer ET for the next 3-4 months.
So, how does UAC work?
Like our previous anticheat, UAC is primarily intended to be used in official clan matches. It runs on a system which requires a Match ID to be entered every time it is used.
In ClanBase cup/ladder matches, the Match ID will be the WID at the end of the CB matchlink. (For example, in http://clanbase.ggl.com/warinfo.php?wid=1337, the match ID is 1337.) If you are playing an IRC war or other non-official match, the Match ID can be anything unique and mutually agreed upon.
Simply select Enemy Territory, enter a Match ID, and check the box next to Start scanning. Then, open ET and play the match as usual. You can minimize at any time to check which players are currently actively scanning in the same Match ID. UAC will scan your memory/files and take screenshots at random times throughout the match. After the match is over, you must uncheck the box next to Start scanning. The scan logs and screenshots will then be uploaded, and you are free to review them in the same UAC window.
If UAC happens to take a few screenshots with your personal information in them, you can immediately delete them while reviewing the screenshots in your UAC window.
More information can be found in the User Manual.
WARNING: UAC scans your PC for cheats. This means that if you have any cheats at all on your PC, you risk getting banned, regardless of whether or not the cheats are ET-related and regardless of whether or not the cheats have been loaded. DExUS has expressed to me how serious he is about this, stating that he believes there is no reason for a clean player to have cheats on his PC. So, this is your one and only warning. Remove any and all cheats on your PC before using UAC.
Since the ClanBase website is currently down, I will wait to discuss in detail how UAC is going to work in ET on CB. We do plan to use it in the Fall 2013 season as well as in future ladder matches and will explain more when the time comes.
For now, simply create a UAC account if you haven't already, and try it out! You will be able to register your ID on ClanBase once the website is back online, then you'll be allowed to use UAC for official matches.Any questions or concerns? Feel free to PM me or leave a comment below, and I will try my best to make things as clear as possible. For general help regarding UAC, check out the FAQ. Also, feel free to join #uac.et on IRC!
I will leave you all with a few words from
MerlinatoR, regarding UAC and Crossfire:It's not perfect, but it is better than nothing. It is the best option we have at the moment. Enjoy!
great :/ many people got cheats to make movies afaik. so I also have to delete my cheats which I use in other games?
i can also think of people using an old nexus or something to watch demos on wolfcam with
This is UAC's policy, not mine. I'm simply making sure everyone knows about it.
gonna enjoy my ban!:D
But as long as an idiot like you is involved. I have serious doubts about usability of such a program.
t'was when i switched from rtcw to et and this weapon was new to everyone
its actually the fastest and least effort way to learn to rifle lol, takes you less than a minute to learn a shot and you dont actually need anyone else to tell you if it landed or not :)
corrected that for u :D
fucking jackass
Its able to force UAC on serverclient?
Its true that lagging like shit? (its scanning, so prolly its gonna lag)
Its possible to use UAC for IRC matches, I mean playing without matchID?
I dont get any of that from manual.
No. You have to check your UAC window (as explained in the news).
No, UAC is client-side only.
It does not lag. I have used UAC several times already and haven't encountered any lag with it.
It can be used for IRC matches, but you still need to enter a Match ID (as explained in the news).
But in UAC window you are able to check who actually use that software on the server?
Only possible way is type same match guid as other players, right? Im just sorting out some informations because this manual thingy is just crap.
And prolly wont lag since it has so many users. if it would lag hard, ppl wouldnt use it.
delete this line gg. Now all noobs who cheated without anticheat will get caught.
So, my questions:
Whats the future after january? Good job CB / ohurcool! Cheers
This is not some random program that has never ever been used before. It is safe and secure.
It works similar to PB by scanning your memory/files for cheats. The screenshot system is not the only method of cheat detection. I realize that this is not the most reliable way of anticheating, but it's the only option we have atm.
See above. It does not scan your entire PC, but it also does not scan only your ET folders. This anticheat is used in MULTIPLE games by MULTIPLE leagues and does not have any "security issues".
I won't go into too much detail, but I can tell you that UAC does work. Basic cheats will be detected for sure, which is something that our previous anticheat was unable to do during the last few months of its life.
I have no idea.
My main question is: what would happen if i rename some file to knowbot.exe, would it simple detect based on name?
Because the thing is, you can't magically find out the cheat if it is not working. File name match or even md5/hash match isn't effective, at all. A simple re-compile would make a cheat, undetected again, or even rename the .exe.
I'm not gonna pretend to be an expert on UAC, because I'm not, but I assume that little "glitches" like that have been encountered in other games already and therefore should not be an issue in ET.
thank you
This a typo and supposed to be CB Fall or is there something coming up?
Yeah, ciao.
PS: When CB's site is back? Would like to sign up in OC!
Anyone who thinks that Jon must be justified for the weaknesses of UAC, can not really be taken seriously.
Where would we be without jon and clanbase? Some here are ungrateful and can only compete for attention.
Good job buddy, you keep the game alive!!
yes im obviously gona use this anticheat LOL
i could get banned for having cracks for example on my pc or do they review what was the cause after each ban?
While I don't have a clear answer for whether Program A or Program B is considered a cheat, I'm fairly certain that issues like this ("cracked" or other "cheat-like" programs) have already been encountered and won't be a problem for us.
What exactly counts as "cheats"? I have plenty of software that would cause similar or otherwise suspicious behavior all over my harddrives.
Aaaaaaaand I'm out. This pretty much narrows it down to just about.. anything, including notepad. :) I use plenty of software in a work related manner on daily basis that would flag me as potential cheater. Additionally to that, what I've heard and seen thus far from Robaciek's exploitation using the inbuilt screenshot feature.. I won't be bothering to install it, if that means no clanbase games... oh gosh whatever will I do, my life has no meaning nao!
Trust me, it would not bother me one bit if you chose not to install UAC.
You'd think these kind of things would bother you, even a tiny bit, as league admin..
<randomselfdeclaredinternethero> on the bright side
<randomselfdeclaredinternethero> thanks to UAC I made it into private queens channel
<randomselfdeclaredinternethero> it takes screens right?
<randomselfdeclaredinternethero> looked up razz
<randomselfdeclaredinternethero> perfect screen of his irc
<randomselfdeclaredinternethero> I already had my screens deleted
<randomselfdeclaredinternethero> cuz of random firefox/irc stuff
<randomselfdeclaredinternethero> this is madness tbh
<randomselfdeclaredinternethero> those screenshots
<randomselfdeclaredinternethero> barely saw any ingame screens
<randomselfdeclaredinternethero> mostly ts/irc/facebook
<randomselfdeclaredinternethero> it's silly though
<randomselfdeclaredinternethero> you can check any match going on at time
<randomselfdeclaredinternethero> so you get match id
<randomselfdeclaredinternethero> then you can just check it knowing who plays there
<randomselfdeclaredinternethero> boom
<randomselfdeclaredinternethero> SCREENSHOTS
I am completely open to discussing alternative anticheats if you happen to know a better one that is ready to be implemented right now.
Also, all deleted screenshots are reviewed by DExUS before they get permanently deleted, just to make sure that cheaters aren't simply deleting screenshots which display their cheats.
Also, im a programmer so i could have some things that will be flagged. Is there any trial for this or is it instand ban? If so, can you appeal it afterwards?
Screenshots are only taken while UAC is scanning, so if you only allow UAC to scan while you are actually playing ET and simply resist the urge to minimize frequently during matches, then there is no way UAC can take any "personal" screenshots.
And yes, DExUS regularly checks every single deleted screenshot. It does not "fail in reality"; it has been this way for almost 8 years.
False bans are not common and shouldn't be that much of an issue. Being a programmer does not automatically add you to the UAC cheater list...
Because its a lazy way of making sure any private data is included.
Maybe it does not automatically add me to it, but i have thing like decompilers etc. Also do cheats for single player games count?
:)
How is UAC not better than nothing? Would you prefer to play without an anticheat with no way of identifying players in-game?
Also there are few laws about keeping data and how long its allowed to keep data like IP and so on. I know project like tzac didn't have any kind of tos written (I haven't see a single word about that) but next who will make AC make sure you write terms of services to which users have to agree so you can also keep that data for longer time besides of user agreement to give data with installing AC and what kind of data is provided from user to AC. You can't just take all those "tracers" without users knowledge or agreements.
We can keep whatever information we wish to keep; that is what you allowed us to do by using TZAC. It's the same on CB, CF, and GTV. If you don't want us to keep your IPs, e-mail addresses, etc. in our databases, then don't use what we have to offer.
ESL had right to keep IP's for 3 months max for example (german law). you cannot just say that without any terms of agreements sites are able to keep for long time or even store data like hardware signatures without users knowledge. Don't say TZAC had that because it was kept secret and only tzac admins knew what kind of data was stored, untill someone big mouth started to share into public and people started to buy new pcs and even new routers. I'm not sure that even international law allows that if there is no explicit contract between users and service. Like when you register its written that you have to agree to use that account and that site has your information like lets say ip logged. Clanbase has toa like esl does... otherwise there would be suits already because of that.
You cannot just say that you are able to keep everything that you like if you own site, without users agreements or knowledge that data like that will be given away and I don't recall that tzac had that. We could call tzac spyware... thats why on first place you had to disable antivirus and firewall or add exception, because it was taking data that normal programs wouldn't. I have to say it was good data, but again users didn't know what kind of data it was untill someone started to help cheaters and told them everything that its logged. And i'm saying now this because i can, since tzac is not in use anymore...
You make it sound so easy to get away with returning on ClanBase. :) I don't know how ESL worked, but our system at CB is a bit more sophisticated than you think. UAC stores IP and hardware information too, just like TZAC. And all data from UAC will also be saved, even after it's shut down.
ESL is German, so yes of course they are bound by strict policies. At ClanBase, however, we are not restricted in how long we can keep information. And yes, TZAC had a EULA that every player "signed" before using the software. There is nothing wrong with us retaining outdated information from our users.
Anyway, what does this have to do with UAC? And why does it bother you so much? What are you going to do - report us? To whom? Why?
I was refering to CB page and not UAC 4 months edition (I know the difference of software being on users pc or just connecting to site and what kind of data site can see), you can't know what kind of informations will have new anticheat if there will be any. Thats why i'm saying that uac data might not be worth of anything, when we start to use another ac.
I don't have anything towards UAC, I'm just saying that tzac EULA did not have written that hdd, sft, g1, g2, g3 (g-shit was never explained to ESL admins but it was clearly unusefull) and so fuckin on will be taken. I don't care for UAC i'm sure they have that written down what will be taken, more professionaly than tzac had and not just some stupid eula example.
I was clearly pointing this out for next AC, to write some better agreements and more informations to users what kind of informations they will be giving out.
I wasn't talking about the specific data gained via scans; I simply meant the IPs and hardware information on the UAC website. This information will be kept even after UAC is shut down.
Honestly, I don't really get what you're trying to say in these comments. It seems like you're just rambling on about nothing for no apparent reason. If you want to discuss UAC, fine, but I'm not going to waste my time responding to this nonsense of yours over and over.
1. User has CB acc and UAC and cheats
2. User gets banned on CB and UAC for cheating
3. UAC is shutted down
4. New AC comes for ET
5. User creates new CB account, UAC old data does not even matter since he won't even use UAC anymore and by that you cant get his same informations and can't be sure that he is same user. Its like arnold party with new pc, same goes with new AC.
6. Happy playing forward.
Now if you will say that UAC will give out source which will be used on new ET AC so users will be giving out same informations, only by that you will be on same track. If so then its ok if not it means that 4 months of collecting large ammount of data is for nothing, like i have said few times about that.
Besides that we won't talk nonsense forward, lots of hardware data can be changed by software, also router mac and all those hardware serials and so on. I have tried and I saw it worked when I have checked infos it was changed and when I checked TZAC site that was confirmed, why it wouldn't be same with UAC or any other AC. Giving out false data is also possible, same goes for UAC, TZAC and PB screen blocking without any kind of cheats involved. And I wouldn't say that even that is worth of UAC ban if it would happen, just thats how I would activate my privacy.
What? An anticheat is an anticheat, regardless of how long it lasts or whether its data is "transferrable" or not. It is not "for nothing".
You are acting like an idiot and being completely unreasonable. Yes, UAC is not perfect. I have never said that it is. But it's not like we aren't going to use it just because it has some flaws.
You're just trying as hard as you can to point out every little thing that could go wrong. Do you have any better ideas? You're the one with all the answers, right? What should we be using instead of UAC? What would you do in my position? Not use an anticheat at all, because UAC isn't 100% flawless?
It's easy to find problems but not so easy to come up with solutions.
That is not true, at all, and the fact that you believe it makes you look very silly.
But one example off the top of my head:
What do you think about this is it possible to be true or you will call me a liar, if so go read other cases worldwide.
Slovenian player called zmaj was playing on slovenian server when I have joined that server he was alone, so I have left, so it was about 30 secs I was on
After 2 years and checking yae.be or it was some other tracing site... I have seen there is a match with me and him. So I have got the same ip he had and we are both et players... so much small chances but IP he had was assigned to me by provider. So yes you can get same ip after some time, its even funnier when you see the player which are playing same game. Thats why IP's were not valid or strong proofs on ESL, it had to be same provider and also ammount of time the lowest. Even wrong and innocent players can get banned on IP proofs.
If "half of the community" would rather play without an anticheat than use UAC, then it is a sad day for ET.
Yes I have read that you can delete the screenshost but what is the point of having the screenshots at all?
If I can delete my desktop screenshots, cheaters can delete their screenshots
Not to even mention the drama with moviemaker mods, cheats on other games etc.
As I said, you can immediately delete any and all screenshots with personal information on them. Where does privacy become an issue?
Yeah, it's a slight inconvenience to have to remove cheats and possibly other cheat-like programs from your PC. But I believe that the benefits (i.e. having an actual anticheat) outweigh the costs here.
If it worries you that much, then simply try to resist the urge to open Facebook while UAC is scanning. :)
It doesn't matter. I think its wrong to force such an anticheat on people who just want to play ET competitively.
Edit: It captures both and any additional monitors in its screenshots. Thus, even whilst playing and not minimized the entirety of my second screen is exposed... Yeah... No.
UAC just takes screenshots while UAC is open and running not while its closed and you are on facebook, in case you got that wrong.
Dunno, just an idea, maybe it's feasible, maybe not.
I'm not trying to force anything _bad_ here, just doing what I can to help keep the game alive. We simply have no choice but to use UAC in competition, as running ET cups without an anticheat is not an option.
That's not true, and you know it.
What's the problem there? A player is banned on UAC -> he gets banned on CB -> he can't play CB cup/ladder matches any more. Even if the UAC account was "blocked", he could simply create a new account and continue to play... TZAC was the same way. Players could create x number of accounts, but once they were banned on TZAC once, they were banned on CB. It is a competition anticheat designed to prevent cheaters from playing in competition.
:XDDDDDDDDDDD
how lowlife his life must be to spend shitloads of hours per day on keeping a dead game alive for 30 active players.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emotional_security
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emotional_security
People like yourself flaming others that genuinely try and help the community is what will really kill the game in the end.
Funny how retarded is this community, first they want new AC now when there is temporary alternative some are already saying they won't play fall cup on UAC 3. Same was in meanwhile with tzac and esl wire. People i got news for you tzac is gone motherfuckers! Make up your mind or stop playing CB offis :P
UAC is the only option we have right now. It only seems complicated and retarded to those who are too lazy to actually read and learn how it works.
And yes im too lazy to read UAC manual or stuff, because I already see one bugfix topic -> it will most likely be useless for cheat detecting and its buggy as fuck when i read the comments.
So you completely ignored the actual UAC user manual / FAQ / forums and decided instead to regard the anticheat as useless and buggy based on one journal and a few misinformed comments? Okay.
ohurcool: 1
Webe: 0
Anyway, I cracked my neighbors' wifi months ago, will test this with a different IP and different account and see if Imagie-et and other movie making programs actually get detected.
E: http://uac.ac/#forum_posts/id=3913
NVIDIA Geforce GT 630M
CPU Type
Intel Core i7-3520M 2.9GHz
no wonder
It obviously is simple but considering people are fucking lazy I don't see it working well.
ıf ıt ıs, nıce crap antı cheat dont even want to ınstall thıs to play 2 games per months
1) Play ET without an anticheat and with no reliable way of identifying players in-game. No need to enter any Match IDs.
2) Play ET with an anticheat and a reliable way of identifying players in-game. You are mildly inconvenienced by having to enter a Match ID before each match.
Pick one.
when i was playing actively some teams were already taking aaaaggggeeessss to connect as 6, i cant think about them enterıng a fuckıng numbers of 6 characters :s
ofc ı lıke to play ET but for the lıttle amount of tıme ı played ıt on 2013, ı surely wont lıke waıtıng 20mıns each games to play one offı
ps: uac aınt bypassed by etbot anymore or ım wrong?
ps2: ım pretty sure ım able to know most of the tımes ıf enemys cheatıng
Esl wire had the same thing, u had to enter match id, ppls already complained about that, i dont think its the main reason ppls dont like it tho
All I can think of personally is if I was logging into online banking - but even that doesnt display passwords on screen etc. I guess if you were googling remedies for random afflictions that could be embarrassing. Facebook, I guess no one ever gets that personal on FB anyway.
also that 90% wasn't referring to anyone in particular, was quite a generalisation.
if it was 24/7, then I would agree.
Also atleast I'm using more than one monitor and from what I've been reading UAC takes screenshots constantly from every monitor, so anyone would for example be able to follow all my IRC conversations.
I personally am just going to check my screenshots after each game and delete any where I need to. I guess it is fortunate that I don't ever feel the need to alt tab and login to some sites or generally distract myself from the game, and it does surprise me that some people do :(
so not so bad I guess, still probably worth looking into why your scans take so long.
So if you play for an hour youll have 5-6 screenshots to look at as soon as you have stopped scanning and delete where needed.
I have not experienced any lag on UAC whatsoever, just like most other players. Try taking a look at http://www.crossfire.nu/journals/150586/possible-uac-sslag-fixes or visiting the UAC website.
Since I have projects and some kind of personal data on pc (well don't have we all?) and I wouldn't like that would be on screenshot which would some unknown person to me, which might not even be the one who would see that (well how the hell can I know how many persons does see that), check if it is a cheat and then erase, only because I would like to play an offi in meanwhile... well fuck it then :P
so sorry to all fans
shoutout to base, viko, lordi, m1tja, forsaken, wut, azpiliqueta, upload, webe, prodigy, ben and other less important people y u mad timbolina
but saw the shoutout, thanks
but also wont play with the only currently available AC for ET (even if only for a few months)? ... well sorry but that is just plain childish.
The only other alternative I see is /exec GoodGuyGary AC (for 3/4 months until a better, longer term option is available) aka "demo review committee" but that got flamed by the same negative people as well.
What else is UAC taking screen shots of?? Passwords?? Account numbers?? Private information? This is the stupidest idea ever.
It is not the "stupidest idea ever"; you just lack comprehension skills.
Are you kidding me?? The people that allow a remote program to scan their computer are the ones lacking comprehension
Try again
Why do you always have to be so hostile?? Why don't you act like an administrator?
You clearly haven't read enough if you think UAC is capable of taking screenshots of your private information without your permission.
I don't think I was being hostile, but you did call UAC "the stupidest idea ever"... how did you expect me to react? And how exactly does an "administrator" act?
I've spent way too much time and effort on this to sit back and allow players to flame UAC without even bothering to learn how it works.
If you have a better idea of which AC to use, I'm willing to listen.
1) player id + nick + guid + ip
only these in that app, doesnt even has to be AC and then just have DEMO CREW or whatever you want to call it, or just simply let those players make demos/videos with someone who is suspicious..
?
Keep it up.
You also expect people to format their HD in order to play with it, just to be sure they are not using any other program this anticheat might suspect of cheats... just brilliant.
The only argument so far i have read from you is ''if you have a better solution go for it''.
I rather not use this crap than have a program scan thru all my files and start looking into private things...
But ye what do i care, i don't play officials.
I think my argument is valid; the AC is not perfect, but it is the best option available at the moment. If someone else does happen to have a better solution, then I would of course be willing to listen, but from what I've seen so far nobody has anything else to offer. So, we'll use UAC.