[vox] cheating at quake

[Michael J Wenk]

On Tue, Feb 10, 2004 at 07:09:25AM -0800, Peter Jay Salzman wrote:
> i read this on /. while drinking my morning coffee:
> 
> http://games.slashdot.org/games/04/02/09/1942244.shtml?tid=127&tid=186&tid=204
> 
> the guy says:
> 
>    I want to get into online gaming, FPS gaming in particular. My
>    problem is that Unreal Tournament, Counter-Strike, Quake and all the
>    other popular games seem to be dominated by people using cheats, and
>    by established clans of players who are a lot better than me.
> 
> i've heard of "aimbots" and "cheatbots".  i'd have to say that more
> quake3 discussion have focussed on "i hate cheaters who use aimbots"
> than any other discussion about the game.  it's funny to see everyone
> jump on the "i hate cheaters because they ruin the game" bandwagon.
> 
> i very rarely play online because i get my ass kicked more often than
> not.  but i get my ass kicked because there are some very good players
> out there.  but never have i seen anyone make every single shot.  i've
> never suspected that somebody was using a cheatbot.  nobody ever seemed
> THAT good.  run rings around me?  yes.  machine-perfect playing?  no.
> 
> every so often, i'll devote about an hour to looking for an aimbot.
> just out of curiosity.  not that i'd ever use it in an online game (i
> understand that servers are protected against most of them).  but just
> out of curiosity.  for instance, can i play the last level of quake3
> against xaero on "nightmare" setting if i use an aimbot (i've only beat
> that level once on "hardcore" and i was sweating afterwards)?  i'd like
> to try.
> 
> so far, i have no evidence that these aimbots exist.  i haven't seen
> them, and i haven't found one.  all i see is people saying they hate
> them.  it doesn't even seem possible to write one.  there's no source
> code.  how do you insert "hooks" into a proprietary executable?
> 
> i feel like the peasant in "the emporer's new clothes".
> 
> does anybody have proof that these things exist?!?
> 
> pete

I stopped playing quake seriously in version 1, but aimbots did exist.
They work basically like the shooting mechanism in GTA for PS2, Ie, you
hit tab, and your gun auto aims at the center of the target.  However,
they're not perfect, if a shot is fired, it does not track, so if your
target moves unpredictably, then you still will miss.  As I recall, it
was a quake C mod to the game.  Does Quake III support quake C?  I did
play ST elite forces which is based on quake III engine, but I did not
poke at it much.  I don't find FPS's very exciting, the single player
version is normally way too easy(I don't miss much, its rare that I
miss an AI enemy) and the multiplayer version while fun, is way too
fast... I normally start out doing well, then get tired, stop running
around like a madman, and get fragged :) 

As for proof, not sure... I did have a bunch of Q1 mods archived, I'll
try to find them, and post the src. 

Mike