Eosian Wrote:There is no built in reason for a game server to ever crash based on the actions of a player, ever. That sort of thing can always be fixed.
Likewise preventing item duplication is fairly easy as well for any halfway competent DBA (which they unfortunately lack, but point still stands).
That's exactly it. Their server and database were apparently built quite incompetently. Hence, the bugs are currently built-in. It can be fixed, or more accurately rewritten/restructured, but it's not something they can do in hours while MTS is "temporarily" down.
Eosian Wrote:They could easily add a purge-all-items-with-duplicate-ids query to their weekly maintenance checks even. A lot less incentive to dupe if both the original and the dupe are going to be wiped regardless of who has either.
Are you sure they have individual item ids? If that's so and they are not using that info to take care of duplication, what is it even there for?
Also, what about valuable non-equips that can be duped? Surely a stack of 100 whitescrolls doesn't have an id attached to each scroll?
SaptaZapta Wrote:Are you sure they have individual item ids? If that's so and they are not using that info to take care of duplication, what is it even there for?
Also, what about valuable non-equips that can be duped? Surely a stack of 100 whitescrolls doesn't have an id attached to each scroll?
Equips have the potential to have unique stats (in the actual meaning of the word), so they need individual item IDs to know what each player has in their inventory. I don't really know what happens when you dupe items, though... maybe the MTS has its own unique IDs, and it spawns new item IDs every time you remove an item from the MTS. Would not surprise me.
Valuable non-equips are still a problem, but not as big. Techniques like duping 5 slot gloves, 30%ing them all, duping the success, etc. turn multiplicative probabilities for scroll success into additive ones - you can make a +5 30% glove for only 1 item + 17 scrolls, instead of 411 scrolls and ~350 equips.
SaptaZapta Wrote:That's exactly it. Their server and database were apparently built quite incompetently. Hence, the bugs are currently built-in. It can be fixed, or more accurately rewritten/restructured, but it's not something they can do in hours while MTS is "temporarily" down.
Are you sure they have individual item ids? If that's so and they are not using that info to take care of duplication, what is it even there for?
Also, what about valuable non-equips that can be duped? Surely a stack of 100 whitescrolls doesn't have an id attached to each scroll?
Honey I'm a professional DBA, we can fix their database structure in virtually no time, even while the game is online and running, by adding in columns that to the game don't exist/matter but to the DB do. A few constraints, a trigger here and there, or even a job that runs nightly or gets run during maintenance and most of what they experience would be addressed.
As for IDs, each unique instance in memory can have an ID at the time it's created. It's very simple to do this. Stacked items are merged - One ID survives, the others don't and the quantities increase. Here's a very basic two minute dupe-check I wrote & released for SMAUG for in-memory testing back in '99-'01. Today's modern programming and this being a database-saved game makes it even easier because you can just add an identity column to do all the work without even touching the actual source code.
Spoiler
Code:
/*
Object duplication prevention system.
*/
prototypes to put in mud.h:
long make_obj_guid(void);
OBJ_DATA *dupecheck( long id );
char dupelist[MSL];
after
CREATE( obj, OBJ_DATA, 1 );
obj->count = 1;
add
obj->guid = 0;
Then add
case 'G':
if ( !strcmp( word, "GUID" ) )
{
OBJ_DATA *dupe=NULL;
fMatch = TRUE;
long guid;
guid = fread_number(fp); // change GUID
if (guid)
obj->guid = guid;
else
break; // New.
if ( (dupe = dupecheck( obj->guid )) != NULL) // Critical!
{
sprintf( dupelist, "%s%d ", dupelist, vnum );
fVnum = FALSE; // treat as an Illegal vnum, remove from character when done.
}
break;
}
break;
in clans.c
in load_clan_file
between:
found = TRUE;
for ( ; ; )
add:
*dupelist = 0;
between:
}
fclose( fp );
Add:
bug( "Duping detected: %s, had the following in their hall: %s, stripping", clan->name, dupelist );
If you're using Erwins board system you can replace the bug messages with:
if (*dupelist != 0)
{
logs( "Duping detected: %s, duped: %s, stripping", ch ? ch->name : "Unknown", dupelist );
}
with:
if (*dupelist != 0)
{
char buf[MAX_INPUT_LENGTH];
sprintf( buf, "Duping detected: %s, duped: %s, stripping", ch ? ch->name : "Unknown", dupelist );
make_note ( "Immortals", "The MUD", "imm", "Duping Report", 60, wordwrap( buf, 78 ) );
if (ch && !IS_STAFF(ch) && !IS_NPC(ch))
{
char to[MAX_INPUT_LENGTH];
sprintf( buf, "You have been caught duplicating items by the MUD. These duplicate items have been removed from your possession and will not be refunded. Signs of this having been deliberate may incur further punishment. You are encouraged to report how this happened if you know what you did to cause it.");
sprintf( to, "%s imm", ch->name );
make_note ( "Personal", "The MUD", to, "Your Warning", 60, wordwrap( buf, 78 ) );
}
}
or similar
You'll need to add to mud.h :
char *wordwrap( char *txt, sh_int wrap );
void make_note (const char* board_name, char *sender, char *to, char *subject, const int expire_days, char *text);
If you're using lockers or a similar system you'll want to put similar dupecheck initializations and reportings immediately before/after the loads.
It's not having what you want - It's wanting what you've got.
Eosian Wrote:I know people who'd do it pro bono under an NDA just for the satisfaction of knowing they made it better. Including myself.
Then shut the pineapple up and volunteer@@@@.
Seriously though. I hate how maplestory is a great game with poor management. I grew up with it, I want to go back to it, but the farther I step back the more I see that the game is just about surviving the next exploit.
DustBunny Wrote:What was their response, I'm honestly curious.
Quote:Hello Eosian,
Thank you for your email. We are in a process of starting a fansite project which includes an application process of applying for an official fansite status. It is one of our many considerations for bringing our communities closer. As the details of the fansite project is still be sorted, we cannot disclose additional information about it at this time.
While we are trying to improve our community interactions through many projects, all Customer Support inquiries must be filed through the ticketing system. We have a team designated to assist players with their questions. We understand that it may appear to be troublesome, it is the official way to look into certain matters.
Again, thank you for your email.
Regards,
Hime
Nexon America Representative
It's not having what you want - It's wanting what you've got.
Thats when you do the Live free or die hard* approach and burst into their main office, take a laptop, cause the server to crash, pull up two more laptops with links to all the hacking websites where you got the information on how to crash their server.
Sarah Wrote:Hahaha, she didn't even read your inquiry.
You should've responded with "Read what was said, not what you think was said"
What makes you think they'd read that?
Automated mail response, same as their ticket responses. They block themselves so tight from those pesky players, they can't even hear when someone wants to help them.
SaptaZapta Wrote:What makes you think they'd read that?
Automated mail response, same as their ticket responses. They block themselves so tight from those pesky players, they can't even hear when someone wants to help them.
It was a joke, as Hime is famous for saying exactly that instead of responding to serious questions / criticism about anything she says.
Well, I don't know if she still does, but she used to.
