Curse

Antithesis · Aug 14, 2007, 02:22 PM // 14:22

Quote:

Originally Posted by lyra_song

Last i checked, finding and fixing exploits was a good thing?

But opening the gate and allowing the horse to bolt is another thing altogether. By the time an exploit has been found it's already in the wild and too late to react.

If this does prove to be a mod then Anet need to revisit their position - allowing third-party software to interact with the game is a grey area at odds with the black and white of an EULA.

By approving the development of mods Anet opened the gate for this to happen. They can tell us the game code is server-side and it's impossible to inject anything into the game until they're blue in the face, but how else can they explain post-items showing up in pre if not for some hack developed as a mod?

Tom Swift · Aug 14, 2007, 02:23 PM // 14:23

Quote:

Originally Posted by upier

This week just rocks!
Things keep getting better and better!

Seriously - hadn't had so much fun in ages and this is actually the first week (after months actually!) that I look forward to playing GW! Since you never know when the next thing will break out and it would be a shame to miss it!

Loving it!

Hadn't looked at it that way but this is quite entertaining - and kind of a break from the old grind.

arcanemacabre · Aug 14, 2007, 02:23 PM // 14:23

This should be easily fixed, I mean depending on how hard it is to code... Just add the GH button back, keep the functionality, and do a simple server-side check to see if any character wanting access to the GH is Pre. If so, decline and display a message "This character cannot access the Guild Hall" or something to that effect.

DarkNecrid · Aug 14, 2007, 02:24 PM // 14:24

Quote:

Originally Posted by Antithesis

I said it then, i'll say it now...allowing community modding is the biggest mistake Anet will ever make in the game. It was always on the cards that modding would go beyond simple retextures and exploits would be found.

GG Anet, reap what you sow.

Congratulations.

You're an idiot.

TexMod can't do this crap.

People who edit the .dat file are hacking not modding.

Learn your facts before you spout lies and make yourself look dumb.

kthnx.

arcanemacabre · Aug 14, 2007, 02:28 PM // 14:28

Quote:

Originally Posted by Antithesis

But opening the gate and allowing the horse to bolt is another thing altogether. By the time an exploit has been found it's already in the wild and too late to react.

If this does prove to be a mod then Anet need to revisit their position - allowing third-party software to interact with the game is a grey area at odds with the black and white of an EULA.

By approving the development of mods Anet opened the gate for this to happen. They can tell us the game code is server-side and it's impossible to inject anything into the game until they're blue in the face, but how else can they explain post-items showing up in pre if not for some hack developed as a mod?

What DarkNecrid said. This most likely (99.9% sure) has absolutely nothing to do with editing textures. Textures are purely a visual thing. They have no functionality besides what they can reveal for the player. Something allowing the character to travel to an area they otherwise could not access has nothing to do with textures. At all.

lyra_song · Aug 14, 2007, 02:31 PM // 14:31

Quote:

Originally Posted by Antithesis

But opening the gate and allowing the horse to bolt is another thing altogether. By the time an exploit has been found it's already in the wild and too late to react.

If this does prove to be a mod then Anet need to revisit their position - allowing third-party software to interact with the game is a grey area at odds with the black and white of an EULA.

By approving the development of mods Anet opened the gate for this to happen. They can tell us the game code is server-side and it's impossible to inject anything into the game until they're blue in the face, but how else can they explain post-items showing up in pre if not for some hack developed as a mod?

I explained it earlier in the thread. Texture modding does not change anything except textures.

It does not affect the client at all. It only affects DIRECTX and the display on YOUR SCREEN.

Theres no button change functionality change.

You cannot EDIT the client through the Anet "not approved/not disapproved" texture modding program.

Anet has not "given the ok" to any other modding.

They have explicitly replied in response to texture modding and that alone.

You cannot imply that Anet allowing texture modding is the same as allowing editing or reverse engineering their .exe or .dat

Antithesis · Aug 14, 2007, 02:31 PM // 14:31

Quote:

Originally Posted by DarkNecrid

Congratulations.

You're an idiot.

TexMod can't do this crap.

People who edit the .dat file are hacking not modding.

Learn your facts before you spout lies and make yourself look dumb.

kthnx.

A waterfall starts with a drop. TexMod may not be to blame, but it's a means to an end. It's the allowance of third-party software interacting with GW i have an issue with and it's that grey area which will bite Anet on the arse.

And i think you meant "People who edit the .dat file are modding not hacking". Take your own advice.

kthxbai.

arcanemacabre · Aug 14, 2007, 02:35 PM // 14:35

Quote:

Originally Posted by Antithesis

A waterfall starts with a drop.

Slippery slope argument. Not worth the time.

Pkest · Aug 14, 2007, 02:38 PM // 14:38

Quote:

Originally Posted by Emunator

Because i hope in this way when there is more attention a-net will resolve this issue a bit quicker.
I did report it to a-net also using the proper way.
And since i like Pre-Searing i cant stand that it's being poluted like this.

Ok. Glad you reported it to Anet, but I still think posting it on a forum at 4:30 am pdt (several hours before Anet will have a chance to see it) will make the problem worse not better.

dread pirate fargus · Aug 14, 2007, 02:55 PM // 14:55

in the presearing community it has been accepted pretty much widespread that some characters were left 'parked' in the guild hall for a full year.

we all knew people were camping in the guild hall until they could fill the characters with stuff, we just werent sure how long they were willing to wait.

i dont beleive for a second its a hack.

Pkest · Aug 14, 2007, 02:57 PM // 14:57

Quote:

Originally Posted by Etta

Dont we all have the right to know, what's going on? And act accordingly and in exceptable fashion?

If by 'act accordingly' you mean run off to find the hack and use it before it gets squashed (which I'm sure some people who see this thread will do) then no not really. It is actually against the Eula to spread info about exploits to the public.

Karlos · Aug 14, 2007, 02:57 PM // 14:57

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pkest

Ok. Glad you reported it to Anet, but I still think posting it on a forum at 4:30 am pdt (several hours before Anet will have a chance to see it) will make the problem worse not better.

Consider that he lives in Europe... By posting when he found out about it, it gave people time to talk about it and learn that it's caused by this mod/hack/extention. That can only be a good thing, right?

Now, if we can get some ANet attention to this thread, Eric would have done us all a great service.

tenorplayer · Aug 14, 2007, 02:57 PM // 14:57

What about the Hero Battles button?

All it says is "you cannot visit that outpost" when you click it.

All that's between a Pre char and that area is an if/then statement such as:

if playerLocation=1 {alert("You cannot visit that outpost.");}
else {map(heroBattle);}

I know it's javascript but it's still not all that complicated in whatever language. That's just speculation though. So going on how simple an if/then is, the playerLocation prerequisite could be changed (like, to 2 or something) or the alert could be swapped with the map() function, removing the alert and executing a function instead.

Or there could be some other little thing in Pre that lets the button function.

Again, I'm just speculating, don't crucify me.

Antithesis · Aug 14, 2007, 02:58 PM // 14:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by lyra_song

You cannot imply that Anet allowing texture modding is the same as allowing editing or reverse engineering their .exe or .dat

TexMod is a third-party tool to allow the opening and exploration of files within the GW.dat archive. Files can be extracted and manipulated, in this case textures, and effectively injected back into the game, albeit locally by launching gw.exe through TexMod.

Ummm...that looks like reverse-engineering and modified game execution to me. It may only be for visual purposes on a local machine, but again, my point is they're allowing GW to be launched via a third-party tool whose sole purpose is to modify game content. And the company position of allowing this to happen is the starting point of the slippery slope. TexMod may not be malware, but it's a starting point for those with malicious intent to learn about how the client interacts with the server, or how calls from the client back to the server *may* be intercepted to alter behaviour within the game.

Long bow to draw granted, but i flat out disagree with any modding of the game because it does open the gate for malware development.

Karlos · Aug 14, 2007, 03:06 PM // 15:06

Quote:

Originally Posted by Antithesis

TexMod is a third-party tool to allow the opening and exploration of files within a .dat archive. Files can be extracted and manipulated, in this case textures, and effectively injected back into the game, albeit locally by launching gw.exe through TexMod.

Ummm...that looks like reverse-engineering and modified game execution to me. It may only be for visual purposes on a local machine, but again, my point is they're allowing GW to be launched via a third-party tool whose sole purpose is to modify game content. And the company position of allowing this to happen is the starting point of the slippery slope.

I have not studied the tool extensively, but I believe the TexMod tool latches on to DirectDraw and uses it to replace certain textures loaded in memory with others that the user supplies. It does not delv into the APIs being called and operations being performed, nor does it edit the interface, it simply accesses the images in memory that GW uses to render its graphics and replaces those images with other images, allowing people to change the appearance of things. I do not think it goes beyond that.

Gaile Gray · Aug 14, 2007, 03:07 PM // 15:07

I'm confused. Why shouldn't a player have a Miniature Mallyx in Pre-Searing? I have certain codes on my account now. If I make a character and enable that code while in Pre-Searing, that's where the miniature will appear on my account.

There is no "No miniatures in Pre-Searing" protocol in Guild Wars. I have a Kuunavang in Pre-Searing myself.

Could you explain why this is a "glitch?"

upier · Aug 14, 2007, 03:10 PM // 15:10

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pkest

Ok. Glad you reported it to Anet, but I still think posting it on a forum at 4:30 am pdt (several hours before Anet will have a chance to see it) will make the problem worse not better.

Yeah! Let's all gather for a prayer!
Dear lord!
Help A.Net cover up as many mistakes as they make - and smash down the bad, bad, bad people that bring the bug-filled disaster to the attention of the USERS of the program!
Amen, brother!
AMEN!

Hallelujah!

Now let's chant!
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA - NET!
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA - NET!
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA - NET!
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA - NET!
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA - NET!

Edit:
Ohhhh! This thread is really starting to deliver!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gaile Gray

I'm confused. Why shouldn't a player have a Miniature Mallyx in Pre-Searing? I have certain codes on my account now. If I make a character and enable that code while in Pre-Searing, that's where the miniature will appear on my account.

There is no "No miniatures in Pre-Searing" protocol in Guild Wars. I have a Kuunavang in Pre-Searing myself.

Could you explain why this is a "glitch?"

To quote wiki:
http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Miniature_Mallyx
The Miniature Mallyx is a green Miniature.
Acquisition
* Nightfall
o using a Coffer of Whispers - one of several randomly awarded items.

arcanemacabre · Aug 14, 2007, 03:12 PM // 15:12

Quote:

Originally Posted by Antithesis

TexMod is a third-party tool to allow the opening and exploration of files within the GW.dat archive. Files can be extracted and manipulated, in this case textures, and effectively injected back into the game, albeit locally by launching gw.exe through TexMod.

You are misinformed. That's not what TexMod does at all. It runs alongside the game and "captures" (for lack of a better term) the textures that are displayed and brought into temporary memory. You can then do what you want with them, then run TexMod again to "capture" those specific textures, and overwrite them in the same temporary memory. It never touches any Guild Wars game files at all. Guild Wars is not altered in any way, even on the client side. Only that which is displayed is altered.

spellsword · Aug 14, 2007, 03:12 PM // 15:12

You get Mallyx from the Coffer of Whispers, which you can't get in Presear.

Pkest · Aug 14, 2007, 03:12 PM // 15:12

Quote:

Originally Posted by Karlos

Consider that he lives in Europe... By posting when he found out about it, it gave people time to talk about it and learn that it's caused by this mod/hack/extention. That can only be a good thing, right?

Now, if we can get some ANet attention to this thread, Eric would have done us all a great service.

That is Anet's job not ours. For every one of us discussing this topic there will be several others out there using the hack they learned about here. I'm not just talking about this thread as this hack was mentioned a week ago here. If it had been brought to Anet's attention then perhaps they would have fixed it by now.