... could be caused by cheating
 

Hi together,

in my game i've got a Message from Host :
[...] had an unexplainable increase of wealth this turn. This could be caused by cheating.

Is this certain evidence for cheating ?
I'm the host of this game, what should be my reaction ?

Thx for answers

mighty_scoop

Re: ... could be caused by cheating
 

I you still have all the files required to produce this message (i.e. all files saved from the previous turn) then I would be glad to take a look. Because if it isn't a cheater then it's a bug in Dominions. You use the latest version of Dominions I hope.

Re: ... could be caused by cheating
 

If he's in llamaserver and he deleted the previous turn's mail, llamabeast should have it anyway I think...

Re: ... could be caused by cheating
 

It can be caused by a mismatch of Dominions versions.
If one machine is using the latest patch, and the other is a few patches behind, then a machine can do things that the other machine would consider to be cheating. Or possibly if one machine is using a mod and the other isnt. Altho I think Dominions checks for both of those now.

Those would be rare though. Usually its cheating, or a bug being found.

Re: ... could be caused by cheating
 

I think that game would crash if not all turn files are from same patch. Mods can be responsible though.

Re: ... could be caused by cheating
 

Misinformation... The client can't usually play a turn with a lower version number than the turn file that he got from the server. What kind of mods are loaded depends solely on the game being played. Outdated mod files with the same name as the newer ones can be a problem, though, yes. Most usually this is an unexpected thing like removing units from building queues of forts that have been taken over or stuff like that, at least that was often the case in earlier games. It might be something similar to that now.

Re: ... could be caused by cheating
 

Yes ... it's a llamaserver game and as far as i know you can't send in your turn if you don't have the newest version ( happend to me once ... i was forced to update ) ... how do i get all the necessary files ( guess i have to ask llama ) ...
the mod in use is CBM 1.3 ... but we are already in turn 67 (or so) and haven't got any similar problems so far.

Re: ... could be caused by cheating
 

Hmm has anyone ever tested whether the game recognizes and enforces previous mod versions? I know that it doesnt check the guts of the mod itself. Ive played with the things possible by having a different mod than the one the server is running. But I havent tried it with a "version" number in the mod.

Re: ... could be caused by cheating
 

mighty_scoop:

There were no rollbacks? They can mess things up too.

But you should PM llamabeast, you have .2h and .trn files in your email only, but he has fatherland that may be necessary.

Re: ... could be caused by cheating
 

Incidentally, has anybody else tried to explore the limits of what the servers can spot as cheating? I've found at least three things that are definitely cheating, two of which are totally game-destroying, that the server fails to spot. However, they all require injected code or editing data in memory, so are probably limited to the host.

In fact, I may ask Gandalf if I can use one of his server's games to test the theory...