The Rise of Cannons

[VO101_Tom]

Originally Posted by HamishUK

If these are making any fundamental changes to the weapons then it's a bannable offence to use them online.

Remember once banned there is no return as Luthier has clearly stated mods that make gameplay changes is an insta ban.

We know the threat, but this works really? Somebody was banned from already for something?

[von Pilsner]

Originally Posted by JG52Uther

Can a server admin turn VAC off to run a modded server?

I believe there is a VAC enable (or something like that) line in the server config file.

In the valve games I play that use VAC you start the game using the -insecure command line switch to play without VAC (but then you can only connect to non-VAC servers).

Originally Posted by VO101_Tom

We know the threat, but this works really? Somebody was banned from already for something?

I think he means a VAC ban is forever (and this has demonstrated numerous times in other VAC enabled games).

FROM: https://support.steampowered.com/kb_...7849-Radz-6869

All VAC bans are permanent - Valve has a zero-tolerance policy for cheating and will not lift VAC bans under any circumstances.

[ATAG_Bliss]

Well VAC is enabled on the server. Whether it does anything or not at the present, I have no idea. But if it's like other game's anticheat methods, it could very well be recording the offenders for permanent ban later on down the road.

But considering all versions of the game (beta etc.) could join a server on a different version, I'd say VAC isn't doing much at the moment. And when the 1st line of code that's written every time you open that DOS box for a dedicated server says "Failed to connect to Steam client server", sadly I really don't think there's much of a system in place at the moment.

Hopefully I'm wrong

[yellonet]

It will be interesting to see what mods will be interpreted as cheats by VAC.

"The VAC system reliably detects cheats using their cheat signatures. Any third-party modification to a game designed to give one player an advantage over another is classified as a cheat or hack and will trigger a VAC ban. This includes modifications to a game's core executable files and dynamic link libraries."

The SFS mod tool v1.1 for IL-2 Sturmovik Cliffs of Dover doesn't modify any dll but adds one; seems there's a fine line between modding and hacking.

[von Pilsner]

Originally Posted by yellonet

It will be interesting to see what mods will be interpreted as cheats by VAC.

"The VAC system reliably detects cheats using their cheat signatures. Any third-party modification to a game designed to give one player an advantage over another is classified as a cheat or hack and will trigger a VAC ban. This includes modifications to a game's core executable files and dynamic link libraries."

The SFS mod tool v1.1 for IL-2 Sturmovik Cliffs of Dover doesn't modify any dll but adds one; seems there's a fine line between modding and hacking.

Regarding new/unknown mods: I believe steam will send the details to MG and MG decides what is to be classified as a cheat.

From: https://support.steampowered.com/kb_...7849-Radz-6869

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
VAC is enabled on all multiplayer servers, public and private. Any modifications to the game other than editing config files can result in a VAC ban. Examples of such modifications include console enablers, VAC disablers, and server hosting mods.

A VAC ban in Modern Warfare 2 only affects Modern Warfare 2.

Valve games
The Valve Anti-Cheat system is enabled for servers displaying the Secured shield logo. Using custom skins, sounds or maps and playing multi-player mods which do not modify core .EXE and .DLL files will not result in a VAC ban.

Cheating in a Source Engine game that was released prior to Left 4 Dead will result in a VAC ban from Counter-Strike: Source, Half-Life 2: Deathmatch, Day of Defeat: Source, and Team Fortress 2.

Cheating in a Gold Source engine game will result in a VAC ban from Counter-Strike, Condition Zero, Ricochet, Day of Defeat, Team Fortress Classic, Half-Life: Deathmatch, and Deathmatch Classic

Notice the different titles have a different threshold for cheating and the consequences of a VAC ban (seem to) depend on who made the game.

It seems like Luthier will need to communicate well with the community regarding the anti-cheat system before VAC bans get instituted in-game. It could be argued that custom sounds (make your plane quiet and enemy planes loud so you can hear them at a great distance) and even skins (hunter safety orange paint for everyone on the other team) could be considered a cheat online.