Please help: Cheat detection problem
 

I just fired up a new game with my son and two friends. The first turn, I get an error message for 3 of the races:

"[race] has cheated
[race] has a God that is too powerful considering current Dominions 3 rules. This might be caused by cheating or by using the wrong mod when designing the God. The offending God has been reduced in power. "

My (non-dormant/non-imprisoned) pretender is absent.

What could cause this? I know that no one is cheating. I believe everyone is using the 3.21 patched version. (I know I am, and my race was one of the "cheaters").

We are using the Arduria map, modified for Dom 3. Could that be a problem?

http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/showthread.php?t=32801
Any advice would be appreciated. I'm leaving for a week on Friday, and would dearly like to get the auto host set up before I depart.

Thanks!
DB

Re: Please help: Cheat detection problem
 

Using a mod that alters pretenders, like CBM, on a non-CBM game or vice versa.

Re: Please help: Cheat detection problem
 

Thanks for the quick reply. I do not think any of us has installed a mod but I will ask my players to confirm. Any other possibilities? The .map file does indicate dom 2, but it was altered to work with Dom 3 (and I was able to play SP for a bit without triggering the problem). I do note that one of the 4 players does not show up as having "cheated". Could he be the cause, and if so, what could he have done wrong? (I'm sure we're all using different CD Keys).

Thanks again!
DB

Re: Please help: Cheat detection problem
 

It has to do with mods, or real cheating. The game specifically mentions pretenders being too powerful, that's a check that was added in one of the last patches. The map does not have to do with it. You could check the pretenders with the catgod tool, if it is obvious that they are designed to be too powerful (magic 9 in all paths or something).

Re: Please help: Cheat detection problem
 

Thanks for your reply. But, I am really puzzled. I was one of the ones caught "cheating", and I know I didn't cheat. Also, this occurred on turn 0. I created my god on the same computer, using the same dom3.exe. (The other players -- all good friends and trustworthy) are running from other computers, but they all say they see 3.21 in the lower left corner when they begin.)

Re: Please help: Cheat detection problem
 

Not all mods have graphics to indicate they have been enabled. Mods stay on after the last game you played. It will still say "Dom 3.21" in the corner. If you have a mod on in the game by accident, and the gods were not designed with that mod on, then the gods can have too many points used. Or if you had a mod on by accident when you did your god design, and don't have that mod enabled in the game, the same thing can happen.

Pretty much what lch said, I suppose.

Re: Please help: Cheat detection problem
 

To expand on what vfb already said, for games the mods that were activated when it was created are being saved into the game files and required to be present for auto-loading when opening the game files. For pretenders, this is not the case, you could have used a pretender that was designed with CBM on, and try to use it in a game without CBM.

Try to redo the game creation. If the pretenders still fail the check, you might want to make them available for inspection.

Re: Please help: Cheat detection problem
 

Also, while most maps don't do it, it's possible that the map file changes the pretender. I think that spesifically bypasses cheat detection (to allow for special scenarios with ultra-buff pretenders), so in this case it shouldn't be this.

If the host computer is different from the one you are playing with, make sure the host doesn't have any mods enabled either.

Re: Please help: Cheat detection problem
 

It doesn't bypass cheat detection. I saw my first ever "cheat detection" message recently when out of curiosity I started a SemiRandomized map with a human player where one of the AI nations ought to go. I was curious whether the pretender I designed manually would override the choice built in to the map. It didn't--I got the "cheat detection" error message, although it didn't say anything about downgrading the pretender, and my dominion and bless effects were different than I would have gotten with my choice. (For some reason my pretender was apparently still set to Imprisoned or Sleeping because I couldn't see him.)

-Max

Re: Please help: Cheat detection problem
 

Thanks for the clarification.

Map commands can't affect the awake/dormant/imprisoned status of the pretender AFAIK, so that won't change from what your original design set it to.

I'll have to see if the map-command created pretenders will be downgraded or if they are just reported. I hope they aren't downgraded, because that'd make it harder to play special scenarios like the Black Coven from the first Dominions.

P.S. I almost wrote "EA Dominions" in there. :D