Are there on-line cheats out there?

[Rashoman]

I am a middle skill player, winning maybe 45% of games. I have played over 200 games on-line, and I think I have the economy down pretty well.

Nevertheless, there are games in which I simply get run over by players with 3 or 4 squads of marines + hero (or ork, etc), while I am still building my second squad. Often I find that these players also have 1 or 2 scout squads busily taking all the strategic points (I find this out because my scout squads find most strategic points taken and LPs built).

There are 2 possibilities - some players are just insanely efficient and fast (a distinct possibility) or some players have a nice little hack that gives them SPs, etc.

I have not found any reference to DOW hacks on the net, but I don't have experience in them and I haven't looked very hard so I would not really know.

Are there any reported hacks? Is there any way for Relic to monitor cheating? I am very curious. And I would like to know if honest players are being protected at all.

PS - I am NOT asking for anyone to point me to a hack. I am not at all interested in cheating. The game is great as it is (for me).

[LordZon]

There, are no known hacks. That being said someone might just be a Clever Dan and have some.

[Thog]

there arn't any hacks that anyone has proven lots of accusations but never proof. the game checks the status of all players and constantly compares req,power squads stats etc (basically all game values) if one computer reports a wrong value everyone gets a sync error and everyone gets tossed into the lobby (I think everyone).

there is what gets called the "pause bug" where one player overloads their pc slowing down the game to a frame a minute or something like that (this is in the hope that the poopnent will get bored and quit) you would know for sure if that was happening

[Rafta]

Must be some fast bastards =)
Experienced similar situations, that's superior skill :smash:
(watched some replays too, some players are looting like hell :sniper:)

[MusedMark]

Its possible i guess, despite the 'sync error' you will no doubt hear about, im yet to see a system that cant be beaten.

However, the likliehood is that these players are just insanely skilled at the game.

[Overseer]

The best fail safe way to discover if cheating has occured is simply to save the replay of all suspect games.

When reviewing the replay simply toggle fog of war off and switch game view to that of the other player in Question.

This will allow you to see the other players economy/purchases/unit arrivals etc... and roughly gage what has or has not occured.

As you are of middle skill you should be able to tell if somethings seriously fishy simply by these observations...

In 2v2s or more its also important to remember to check the end screen for donations by team mates etc...

I myself have wondered on many occasions... however Im more than happy to say upon simply reviewing the replays ... I have either learnt something new :D or that the replay is within the realms of probability. (which is good enough for me)

If that status quo ever changed id be the first to post on the forums and would urge others to also.... albiet with replays to back it up. (no replay = dont even post it on forum)

So far there hasnt been a single replay posted of confirmed cheating in DOW.
(except enabled multi cheats which sound an ingame warning sound and text of the opponents use of them)

That in its self should be reassurance enough for anyone that thus far DOW is pretty much cheat free ! :bandit:

So serious respect goes out to the Relic Team on that account and Lets all try and keep it that way.

Overseer.

[Titler]

I am a middle skill player, winning maybe 45% of games. I have played over 200 games on-line, and I think I have the economy down pretty well.

Ranked around 1200-1300 I guess, yes?
At first I was as amazed as you were by the forces being deployed against me; I'd end up with a huge army right on my doorstep in minutes... but watching the replays, I noticed they'd ignored economy to get the rush. I've been able to outfight those players now, and edge up to hovering around the 1200s. But at this level I've started running into the true gaming monsters; the difference between the below 1300 ranks and above is striking (except for the obvious smurf accounts, of course)... and this is probably the problem you are having. No one is cheating, but there's a quantuum leap in ability in the rankings... Quite a daunting one in fact. But keep plugging away, and maybe you'll be one of these excellent players too :)

[Thog]

the difference between the below 1300 ranks and above is striking (except for the obvious smurf accounts, of course) I think we see this difference as so pronounced because automatch matches +-200. At 1300 you never EVER play a Noob everyone has some skill in the game

[General Blaze]

Fear not, for like the others said, this game is cheat free. It's not without exploits though, but then again, every game's got exploits which can be resolve in patches.

Kudos to Relic and hope that the game will REMAIN cheat free. ;)

[Titler]

Yes, the +- 200 is a large factor in this; I've fought person of 1440 rank yesterday, which was brutal, whilst the next game might be against someone on only their fourth game or so (1080 odd ranking I think he was)... quite the contrast, and a little terrifying!

[Lonewolf64]

I will tell you this, either you got outplayed or your opponent went for an all-out rush that can make you feel outplayed but is actually a giant risk on his part since it can easily be beaten with a calm and effiecient manner. I remember I got so much expierience in beta that when these uber-rushers started catching on in the real game I already had plenty of prowess at how to stop such a thing. All it requires actually to beat this kind of all-out no tech or economy rush is dependent of course on your race and their race. Usually, this kind of rush will never work against any decent ork player because of the speed of early game orks. SM's you need to wisely tech to level 2 and give your vanilla marines plasma; if you are expecting to get rushed don't counter rush but tech to 2 and you will crush however many unupgraded squads they send if you just make full plasma squads. I have employed this method countless times with variations and even a couple of times came back from complete defeat.

You must create your own strat as you progress in this game because there is no #1 strat that will ALWAYS work. You must be ready to change your plans on a drop of a dime and do things the enemy must not expect and you will almost always win. If not, then you were outplayed and you should go back and the study the methods used by your superior oppenenent and add them to your repitoire.

I know this is a little of topic but all those mid/beginner range people; there are countless ways to improve, if you are slow, work on your speed/reflexes, if your strats are not working study other players and play some team games with advanced allies and opponents and learn.

This game can be mastered!

[Albi]

I am a middle skill player, winning maybe 45% of games. I have played over 200 games on-line, and I think I have the economy down pretty well.

at 45% I think that you still have a bit to learn.


I think I have the economy down pretty well.

Often I find that these players also have 1 or 2 scout squads busily taking all the strategic points (I find this out because my scout squads find most strategic points taken and LPs built).

Hmmmm well then you don't have your econ down pact.


Your getting out played, simple. People need to learn that they are not the best players and do get owned. I save all replays from games where I lose and watch again (when I have time) to see how I was outplayed (and that is what it is.) or what I did wrong.

keep trying and gaming only way to learn.

[Vertigo]

Concur. Previous experience has shown that, the instant a cheat comes out, EVERYONE in the community hears about it. The kind of people who write cheats are the kind of people that like to boast about it. Cheats just don't stay secret (nor do many other things for that matter).

So, until you see unbeatable proof, I wouldn't worry about it.

[n0z3k1ll3r]

The only cheat I can see working in DoW would be a map-hack, as it could concievably get around the Sync Error.

[TheDeadlyShoe]

The map-hack being unique to Starcraft's architecture, that doesn't seem likely at all. DoW handles that sort of thing entirely differently. Although I imagine that if someone were to figure out how to get corpses to stay without a sync-error, that would be a los hack of sorts.

[theBlind]

Since fog-of-war is also checked across all players, a maphack would result in another out of sync error.
Basically, idle animations and sounds are the only things out of sync, iirc.

[TBS]

there was also a map hack for C&C Generals - it wasnt unique to SC.

However, if theBlind is correct and the fog of war is checked across all players then I dont see how anyone could make a maphack for DoW.

To answer the original question there are no known cheats for DoW that work online (with the exception of the "official" cheats which need to be activated in the menu when creating the game...I believe that they also give an audio bleep and a visual "player x is using a cheat" warning when someone uses them ingame. As Vertigo said, cheats quickly become well known throughout a game's community when theyre released so the fact that we havent heard about any in the 7 months or so that the game has been out is a very good sign.

The best thing to do if you have a game where you think your opponent cheated is to save the replay and post it on the replay forums, chances are you were just outplayed and the guys there will give you some tips on how you could improve your game. You can ask your opponent as well, dont say "did you cheat?" because that will annoy them but say something like "wow gg, any tips?" - a lot of players will be glad to give you some advice (just dont worry about it if you happen to be playing one of the jerks who will go "haha n00b").

[Vertigo]

However, if theBlind is correct and the fog of war is checked across all players then I dont see how anyone could make a maphack for DoW.

Relic specifically stated during Beta that they do sync checks on fog of war. They weren't forthcoming with with any extra details, so I have no idea how extensive the protection is.

[TBS]

thats good to hear, maphacking got to be a huge problem in Generals (until it was eclipsed by the infamous scud bug). Given that, there is no straightforward way for a maphack to be released for DoW :)

[MusedMark]

I agree, i did a google search and found a trainer for DoW, infinite resources etc. It worked on the SP campaign, i managed to avoid any sync errors with it on-line, but id didnt work in the on-line game, however, my skill was enough to win anyhow :).

Im not after cheating, but i wanted to see if it did or not, and it doesnt, so Woopie.

But seriously, the only game i can think of where every other player seems to cheat is Counter Strike Source (i love the game, but its so outta hand i think ill quit), gotta love those speed and head shot hacks, and how much the players who use them complain when they get killed by a non cheater.......


Anyway, i think everyone has summed it up quite well, if you suspect cheating, post the replay for the community to look at.

And, i sincerely hope exploits are never found for this game.

[hiteche5]

I have never run into a hack yet. I have seen some incredible rushes. Everytime I have I loaded up the replay and just stayed awed at how damn efficient they were.

Some of these people have those initial squad rushes down pat....they are building something at the exact moment their req hits that number. Especially on some maps you can get some serious squad numbers quickly.

You will learn from the replays and it is actually enjoyable to see what they did. I would not worry about cheaters yet.

[kyle_da_man]

there r sum hacks but thay are more considered cheat, in the game pressing CTRL, SHIFT, and the key next to the number 1 key and this opens the console window. in hear you can type in variouse lines of code to increase your stock piles

(its explained more in the DOW read me file)

[Killalot]

Those arn't hacks, they are cheats that are in-game and need to be activated as 1 of the game settings.

[theBlind]

there r sum hacks but thay are more considered cheat, in the game pressing CTRL, SHIFT, and the key next to the number 1 key and this opens the console window. in hear you can type in variouse lines of code to increase your stock piles

(its explained more in the DOW read me file)

Not exactly. Those are official cheat codes. For them to work, you have to have the "cheats" option enabled in game-setup. And every time someone uses them, an audio signal plays as well as a message is displayed. So those are not hacks and definately not hidden.

[kyle_da_man]

even if the game is setup to not enable cheats their is a line of code floating around on the net you can type in, to still "cheat" but that cheat warning dosen't show!!!

I've done it a couple of time at home but ive never tryed it out on a net skirmish

[TBS]

kyle: if true then Im fairly certain it will cause a sync error...arrange a test game with someone to be sure though (if it does work contact THQ/Relic with the info...keep quiet about it here).

[Garick]

But seriously, the only game i can think of where every other player seems to cheat is Counter Strike Source (i love the game, but its so outta hand i think ill quit), gotta love those speed and head shot hacks, and how much the players who use them complain when they get killed by a non cheater.......

It has to be linked

http://www.pwned.nl

I think thats right.

[Hello_Moto]

there was a time a while back when i played an assassinate game on burial grounds 4 v 4 (with QS resources). we had just killed 3 of the 4 commanders with infiltrated scouts and mass deep striked dreads (they are all bunched together in a corner of the map).

only a chaos lord was left. the wierd thing was once we all started to attack his base.....his buildings and infantry would reach red health and not decrease any further.

so for 5 or 6 minutes....he pwned all 4 forces with whatever he had in his base despite the fact we kept on coming at him with mass deep striked dreads, mass PSM, couple of teleported termies & numerous fire prisms and reapers.

it was only by some miracle that when we launched out next wave of attack, we poured so much firepower on the CL that eventually he died but not after 3/4 of our 2nd strike force was decimated as well.

cheats were not enabled in the on-line game nor am i aware of any "god" cheats for DoW...so perhaps this is a hack.

i wish i had saved the replay. the body count at the end of the game was hilarious. the chaos guy killed over 500 ppl! the next closest was something like 102 or something.

[TBS]

you really should save the replay whenever anything strange like that happens.

[n0z3k1ll3r]

Dastardly Chaos Bonesong!

[cyc]

DOW runs on a peer to peer system, which prevents players from using hacks/trainers because hacks modify the game files, and if that player wantsa to use a hack, then the other person who's playing against him must also have the hack.

So far, DOW's practically cheat free.
And for that I love DoW :cool:

[Rayden]

I'm not sure if this is true .. 2 people can have a different w40k.exe but maybe it is not possible to cheat with this exe :)

[Nephilim.]

Without doubt there would be a way somehow, I'm just happy that there appears to be none yet.

[Akranadas]

Only really bored angry nerds who cant win games without cheating make hacks

[Rafta]

Sometimes the challenge of beating the programmers is a greater stimulation for cheat coders. I rember tactical ops with its "wars" cheat coders [Helios] vs Anticheat Coders [TOST]. It was some kind of symbiosis =D

What I wanted to say is, that not little nerds are programming those hacks but are using them. The guys programming these hacks mostly just want to be better than the devs of a game.

[General Blaze]

Nah, I think it's to see how much they can change in the game online. In myg0t's case, how many people can they piss off. :p