Cheat Engine

[Logic_Bomb]

Hey all,

I have been programming for a number of years now, but only recently have I started to attempt complex Reverse-Engineering/Memory-Editing.

I am running an *Scrubbed* Server, which as many of you may know, is often used to host the *scrubbed*. I have started work on a complex Anti-Cheat system; one of the features for this system is going to be an Anti-Teleport system, for this to work in real-time, I need to find the memory location(s) of the Player Matrix, so that I can dynamically pull X & Y positions (Stored as Float) for each connected player from the server via my Application. I know the theory behind doing this, and I am able to pull it off via cheat engine. With two clients connected to my server, I am able to pull both their X & Y positions. But, I have run into two problems:

1) I can't seem to work out the static address/pointers for these positions.
2) I can't work out how they are stored in memory, i.e. I need to be able to iterate through all connected players from my Application and I just cannot seem to work out where the actual player-matrix or player-class is and what the spacing between them is. So basically, I need to find out, in a dynamic way, where one player-matrix ends and a new one begins.

Could anyone shed any light on good tutorials or how I would go about achieving this?

(Just a side note: I'm guessing that 'Player-Matrix' is the wrong terminology, since this is a server, not a client, and thus, it is not a Graphics Engine storing the player information. If this is the wrong terminology, please feel free to correct me).

Thanks & Regards,

Logic_

[Gniarf]

I can help you if you edit your post so that it complies with this: http://forum.cheatengine.org/faq.php#0 . Otherwise I think this thread will be locked soon.

Aside that, player class/object/structure seem to be what you call the "player matrix".

[Logic_Bomb]

As far as I was aware, it does comply with the stated rules. I am not attempting to make a cheat for a game, nor am I asking for help making a cheat for a game; The program I'm creating merely reads the memory allocated to a game-server that I am hosting on my own machine in order to create an Anti-Cheat.

I thought I may have been wrong in referring to it as a Player Matrix, 'player class' or 'player object' seems more appropriate, IIRC 'Player Matrix' is quite specific to D3D/OpenGL and the likes.

Either way, I had read the FAQ & searched the forums before posting this thread, and since this isn't a 'cheat', I couldn't find any reason not to post it.

Regards,

Logic_

[++METHOS]

[Gniarf]

[++METHOS]

[Gniarf]

From what I understand it's an anti-teleport system, so basically you periodically log each player's position, and if the difference between the current position and the last known one is too big, you...You?... You??! Well I hope the OP knows a way to do something bad to a player when a cheating attempt is detected.


Now one thing that worries me a bit is how to handle near-simultaneous deconnections & connections, ie: Mr."Foo", who is the 23rd player in the player array/list, goes to city1 (coordinates 1000,1000) and disconnects (bedtime). At this instant Player "Bar" connects, taking his place as Player #23, and spawns at city2 (coordinates 2000,2000). Thus player #23 jumped from 1000,1000 to 2000,2000 in an instant...Player #23 is a cheater !!

Variant: when a player disconnects, his avatar stops existing, so perhaps his coordinates are set to 0,0 -> bigass jump again.

[++METHOS]

[Geri]

Besides, this would be useful against teleporting to huge distances. Players could still make small "teleport jumps" below the anti-cheat detection limit or modify their speed to run/fly fast. Seems complicated.

[Gniarf]

[Geri]

I am not a moderator in this topic. DB can still scrap this topic when he comes. Removing the game's name would be a good idea though.

As for running and flying fast, I didn't mean just changing moving speed but to do the "teleporting" in steps, like teleporting forward 100 times. If players have a guess how frequent is the check and what is the max distance below detection limit, which can be found out easily by experimenting, then they will just stay below the limit. This will probably not stop them to teleport to rooftops, take up sniping positions at strange places etc. I guess this game has snipers and stuff, I didn't play it at all.

[Logic_Bomb]

Thanks for all your replies, I have removed the name of the Game as requested.

@GNIREENIGNE; The game in question is a Dedicated server for a game Mod. Any player from any location is able to join the server.

@Gniarf, Geri & GNIREENIGNE; I have already implemented the protocol that interfaces with the servers admin console via UDP, so I already have real-time information regarding when players connect and disconnect, their GUID and their player ID/#. So I am able to automatically Kick/Ban if needed. The map in question is 225 Square Kilometers, so a hacker performing small jumps is unlikely. The game in question unfortunately doesn't use a traditional MMO architecture, by this I mean, the Client is not just treated as a 'Dumb Terminal', the client shares responsibility for a lot of things.

The up-side is, the Game utilizes a GUID system, this GUID can be banned, to get around the ban, the Client would have to purchase a new copy of the game.

But yes, my plan would be access the server memory in read-only mode, and then to periodically read the players positions, and then from this data, hopefully analyse possible/definite Teleports. Teleporting to roof-tops doesn't concern me as much as Teleporting hundreds of kilometers across the map in order to acquire gear/vehicles.

As I said, I have been able to locate numerous copies of the player positions in memory, but I am unable to find any static addresses that may lead to the positions. But as stated in my original post, I have had a fair amount of programming experience, but I am fairly new to this area - so I thank you for your patience.

Once again, thanks for the replies.

Regards,

Logic_

[Gniarf]