Editorial


COUNTERSTRIKE THERAPY…er, FOLLIES (con't)

(WITH APOLOGIES TO GAMEPEN, but not to Chase "SCHARMERS" Dahl)

by Gordon Berg

 

The cheat itself isn’t something hacked out of the Half-Life/CS code, but something born out of the Windows OS itself. From what little I’ve read — as in just a few posts — it’s been postulated this cheat started out in Asia as a tool for speeding up other apps (like mpeg playback), then made its way into games like Quake 3 and Unreal Tournament. What this essentially means is that any game requiring client-side processing is potentially susceptible, assuming the cheat can be applied to it. That’s right, Biblical Proportions indeed. Real Wrath-of-God type-stuff.

Good Lord, I hope this is true, as verily delivered unto us by *HF|FX Belan:

Basically, it modifies the images of the kernel32.dll in memory and makes calls against a couple C libraries ... what it's doing is removing the wait states.

What does this mean? Well, in part, it means that your computer isn't waiting properly for certain bits of information to be processed before going on to execute the next set of instructions. It also means that because of this, your computer is unstable as hell. Happy crashing.

The effects of this, obviously, is anything that requires something as simple as timing (say, your system clock, or dialing clock) is totally screwed up.

I remember this exact problem, pretty much, from quite some time ago ... I had the original MechWarrior I game that I loved playing on my 286 12mHZ computer. When I got a 486 sx33, I slapped it in and noticed it ran *damn* fast. A few years later, I got a pent 200mmx and installed it again ... game over in 2 seconds. Why? No calls for wait states.

This hack has the potential of really screwing up your computer. I'd advise against it, personally.

Yes, I truly hope hope hope this is true. Yes, indeed. Fry your computer. Please. Our economy is slagging a bit, so a boost in computer sales might be just the upturn our great nation needs in the highly volatile tech sector. Better yet, I hope to God you actually are that 14 year old bored, cheating punk. With any luck, your parents can’t afford to replace your 8th grade graduation gift, forcing you to actually go outside and get the shit beaten out of you again — you know, the main reason why you were driven indoors to play CounterStrike in the first place? Bitter, Gordon? Don’t know the meaning of the word. Yep, that’s me, Mr. Mature and Adult GamerÔ.

Alas, even though this isn’t specifically a CounterStrike exploit per se, one can still hold out some hope. This bit of news appeared courtesy of zeroping

Yahn Bernier, the Software Development Engineer at Valve, has this to say about the speed hack:

The way it works is that your computer reports more ticks (GetTickCount,timeGetTime, and QueryPerformanceCounter are all affected) have passed than have actually passed. Programs don't run any faster, but time on your PC runs faster. This is a problem in most games, including HL, because we need to know your frame rate to determine how to sample your input/movement commands. Determining your frame rate requires us to read the clock using some method ( such as the above functions ). The server and client then run the simulation ( the server is authoritative but the client runs it for prediction purposes ). The solution is for the server to make sure the client isn't trying to simulate for more time than has actually passed on the server ( with a small margin of error ).

We're testing that fix and it seems to work; it should go live "real soon now".

Remember, Mature and Adult GamersÔ like me care about people like you, so please don’t cheat in any online games anymore, especially CounterStrike, okay? Good. But you know what? If this doesn’t pan out and CounterStrike remains unplayable, I’m going to hunt you down and appear at your doorstep with Satan on a leash (who’s just consumed a whole lot of diuretic beverages, btw), a hacksaw, and a can of Morton’s Iodized Salt. After all, I wouldn’t want you to get goiter.

 

Gordon's too kind. If you cheat in multiplayer games, we hope you do get goiter! And a rash! So tell us what you think. Will client-side cheats like these force online gaming into server-side, pay-to-play games like Verant's upcoming Planetside? Post your thoughts in our forum.

Previous page                                                       Back to News