Legallity of hacks

[Lee_Stricklin]

After seeing a few custom settings (such as the wheel zoom) and seeing a thread posted (see below for link) I would like to know from everybody's point of view (server admins and devs especially) what should be considered legal or illegal to use in-game. In my opinion there are only a few things that should be considered illegal and they are: wall-hacks, aimbots, movement/strafe bots, trigger bots, and radar hacks. I noticed however that a few people have been griping about so-called performance hacks (stripping textures and such down to improve visibility) and similar tweaks. I myself stick with cranking most of the graphics up and the only hack I've toyed around with was the wheel zoom.

link
http://forums.alientrap.local/viewtopic.php?t=5450

[divVerent]

Config settings (other than the hacks described in that topic) are legal, even if they're quite elaborate binds.

Content changes are ALWAYS considered hacks.

[C.Brutail]

And what's with DSN then?
Also, I use a custom crosshair and chat bubble. I suppose that doesn't fall into the bad bucket.

[Lee_Stricklin]

Config settings (other than the hacks described in that topic) are legal, even if they're quite elaborate binds.

Content changes are ALWAYS considered hacks.

So unless it's wall-hack, not using any outside content is almost automatically fair-play.

And what's with DSN then?
Also, I use a custom crosshair and chat bubble. I suppose that doesn't fall into the bad bucket.

HAXX0R!!!

lol

Looks like it's mostly boiling down to what I mentioned then: bots/trainers, wall hacks, and hooks/illegal radars.

[merlijn]

DSN is not really a hack, people on really lowend hardware need this to be able to play at all. Obviously DSN (and the settings it uses) can be used on higher end hardware to make other players more visible, but this is a feature - not a hack.

People who are so obsessed with being a better player that they are giving up most of the good looks of the game should probably go back to playing Super Mario Bros on the 8-bit Nintendo, nothing beats the entertainment quality of that.

The hacks you described are all nasty, but generally hard to detect. Also wallhacks MAY not even be intentional, some crappy video drivers could be the cause of an unwanted wallhack.

[divVerent]

DSN is considered a hack (the DSN authors even say so in their own topic), but "excused" on public servers if the user REALLY has low end hardware.

Custom crosshair is "technically" a hack, but I say it's none, as it cannot give any real unfair advantage. I think everyone would agree with me in this respect.

And chat bubble... same thing. Team bubble may be a different case, but still, I'd say that's okay.

Regarding content replacements it depends on the intention of the replacement.

Anyway, on ladder/tourney servers NONE of these are allowed, although the custom crosshair may be worth an exception to the rules as it's really entirely harmless.

[Ed]

DSN is considered a hack (the DSN authors even say so in their own topic), but "excused" on public servers if the user REALLY has low end hardware.

In a similar way I would say that r_showsurfaces 3 does have it's place on very slow systems but that anyone using it on fast hardware seriously needs to stop taking things so seriously! Lighten up and use higher settings.

There was someone recently who wanted to use wireframe mode because they liked how it looked and didn't seem to understand that it was cheating. It defeinitely is.

Also using very high gamma settings so that you can see in the dark is basically cheating but how do you stop that? Someone might just have a very dim monitor in a very bright room. Or they could use external software to boost gamma to unfare levels.

[The mysterious Mr. 4m]

Every game suffers from cheaters or trolls as it gains popularity. Nuff said. [Case closed]

[Lee_Stricklin]

Interesting discussion. After reading this thread I've found that (according to most of the people that replied on here) quite a few hacks and binds are perfectly legal in Nexuiz. The only ones that are illegal are: full wall-hacks (hacks that make objects such as walls transparent), trigger bots (bots that shoot for you), aim bots (bots that automatically aim for you), and movement bots (bots that help with movement such as strafing or bunnyhopping). In addition to the previously mentioned, modified game content (such as skin replacements) may be illegal in some cases. Stripped-down details that enable neon skins are legal, stripped-down details that remove textures WITHOUT making objects (such as walls) transparent are legal, zoom stepping (having multiple zoom distances, such as on a wheel zoom) is legal. Even pseudo-wireframe hacks can be legal provided that you can't see character, item, or weapon models through solid objects. So it boils down to this list:

ILLEGAL HACKS
---------------
Wall Hacks (see through solid objects)
Movement bots and/or hacks (such as strafe bots)
Aim bots
Trigger bots (bots that fire for you)
Handicaps/god mode
Replaced game content that gives unfair advantages (such as item spawn timers)
hooks (these pinpoint player locations) and radar

[TwEaK]

movement hacks? lol?