So you have never heard of drive-by infections. Websites can be hacked and infected with programs like these. You would only have to click on an innocent looking link and without any protection it could install without you knowing. And it's not only dodgy sites that get hacked, some quite high profile sites have also been compromised in this way.
I also do not download anything I consider "Fishy" or open email attahments, but I still would not run without any security software.

Ok if you feel safe doing that it's your call. But autoruns will not inform you of rootkit infections and not everyone has Vista or Windows 7 with UAC.

To the guy (Xcuse) who said he doesn't have anti virus and doesn't get any problems.
The obvious question would be how would you know you don't have any malware on your machine ?
Do you think malware is going to show any obvious symptoms?

Most of the current infections give you very few clues to their existence.
Many are trojans that install hidden applications to allow people to use your machine as part of a DOS attack botnet or as a relay for Spam email. Unless you are keeping a close eye on you network traffic, how would you know if your machine had one of these types of infection?
There are many other things such hidden keyloggers that will steal your personal details and passwords, and having done some testing with various free tools such as SPybot etc.. I can tell you they don't find some of the keyloggers once they are installed.

I would never suggest you run an internet connected PC without decent protection.
I would liken it to living in a crime ridden tough part of a city with a Neon sign above your unlocked door saying please enter and do what you like.

My recommendation would be to pay for a decent security suite. My personal preference is for Eset Smart Security or Avira.

If I was going for a free one I would choose AVG or Avira, and if you set them up correctly none of them should interrupt your gaming sessions.

For free tools to help get rid of infections I would recommend MalwareBytes anti malware http://www.malwarebytes.org/
and SuperAntispyware http://www.superantispyware.com/ but bear in mind the free versions do not proactively protect you, they just enable you to find and sometimes remove infections you already have.

I gave up un the Logitech profiler. Everything I need to adjust is available in the Windows game controller (assuming you use Windows).
I found the profiler to be unreliable, sometimes it was ok then for no apparent reason it would just fail to set the wheel as I had asked or after a restart it would have the wheel locked hard to the left.
And I did try uninstalling and reinstalling newer versions but still the same.
Life's too short to muck about with that sort of thing, especially as the Windows game controller seems to do the trick.

I would suggest checking the dog isn't under the brake pedal before braking, they don't bark as much then. Though you must have a strange dog as mine Yelps rather than barks when I brake hard, especially if it's tail is under the pedal.

Can I recommend you try out Redline Racing servers 1 and 2. Although you will still see crashers at certain times there are usually admins/track marshals around to remove the bad drivers. Server 1 is a straight 5 lap race with no mid race join. Server 2 is a 10 lap race with a mandatory pit stop required and no mid race join.

Hi, Is it a demo server? Is the player just coming back with another account but using the same nickname? If you look at the connection list in game while he is on your server (press n until you see list) then press ctrl + shift keys you will see the players licence name not his nickname. If he has a different licence name each time then he is just creating a new demo account.

No, IP banning is not much use. Most people are on ADSL connections with dynamic IP addresses. All you would do by banning by IP address is possibly stop an innocent player from playing, and all the sad kids who cause the problems would have to do is change their IP to get around the ban. We see these pathetic little kids impersonating the B2R team on the Redline Demo server. Fortunately there is usually an admin about most times so they don't stay too long. All you can do is pity these poor kids, they obviously have some mental health issues.

If you are looking for a server where you can just login and have a quick fair race, try the Redline Demo server. Like all demo servers it attracts it's fair share of crash kiddies but most of the time there is an admin around to sort them out. I am often there and have track marshall status so I am able to kick ban or send to spectate any of the trouble makers. If there isn't any admin online you can leave a message on the redline forums http://www.team-redline.co.uk/forum/index.php and an admin will usually check in and sort it out.

You could also try using Netmeter. http://www.metal-machine.de/re ... mp;action=tpmod;dl=item14 Install it on each machine and set it to warn you when you have used a certain amount. Or just use it to see what is the bandwidth hog.

Can I also suggest you try using the 4 key to put the racing line on the track. I know you may think this is for beginners and I know the suggested line and braking zones aren't perfect but it helped me when I went to wheel. If you haven't used this before just remember Red area = Braking zone Orange/Lt. Green = No throttle or partial throttle Solid Green = Full Throttle.

Quote :

You may as well post about the sky falling in, or armageddon, or some other such internet claim or urban myth. Wrecking or cheating on LFS S2-licenced servers is, and always will be, a waste of £24.

As I said I hope your confidence in the LFS anti cheat system is well founded.
But the other games I have mentioned e.g. Counter Strke, Half Life 2 multiplayer etc... all have similar client and server side components and you would have hoped that the hackers were paying £30 for another copy of the game to get a new code, but they don't.
Valve have spent a lot of time and effort in producing VAC2 to stop the cheating and to ban steam id's that are caught. But it hasn't stopped this particular bunch from continually getting back in to ruin games.

I ran a HL2DM server for a a few months and had 3 of them on my VAC protected server. They were caught eventually by updated VAC2 protection but they returned the next day with different accounts and continued to do so every day for about 2 weeks. They also posted a set of instructions on their forums on how to bypass the steam id validation. This was again fixed in a VAC update but it meant they could hack for about 3 weeks before valve managed find a fix.
This cycle continues to this day.
I'm sure if you guys have some way of stopping them from bypassing the server side S2 licence (steam id) validation then you could make some money by letting Valve and punbuster know how to do it.

Quote :

Isn't it so that if you have a superfast car, you go out of sync (Mechanic etc.)?

That may well be, but I think you misunderstand they purpose of this sad bunch. They won't hack to win by getting faster cars etc.. they will hack to annoy and make the game unplayble. They do it to get an angry response and the perverted pleasure from ruining someone elses fun.
If you take a look at their forum you will see that they have Rage sections where they post the angry responses they get from the other players. They even have a league table for the top rages with videos etc...

I see your comments about not being able to bypass the S2 licence and that they would need to hack the master server but that hasn't stopped them from bypassing the Steam accounts on Valve software or punkbuster protected games. As far as I know they also has a master server used to verify the steam id and have a database of banned id's.

They wouldn't buy multiple licenses as they don't need to, they bypass the checking system.

I hope what you say is true and that the LFS system is capabale of stopping them but in my experience Valve and punkbuster anti cheat hasn't managed to stop them completely despite years of effort.

No they are not my friends. Like any normal person I despise cheats and will do everything I can to stop them.

Yes I'm concerned that the hackers may target LFS and No, I haven't seen any evidence of them ingame yet.

I'm mentioning it because I've seen LFS listed as a target game to be "Raged" as they put it. I monitor their forums so that I get an idea of what to look out for.
I thought it would be useful to give you all a heads up on their intentions and not to be complacent in thinking that an S2 licence is necessarily any protection. If they do manage to hack remember not to respond to any of their goading or send any abusive coments back to them, this is what they want.

Last edited by JackSun, Tue 26 Sep 2006, 10:29.

I've yet to see a game that is cheat proof.

The team of hackers I tried to mention (the name was auto censored, so I guess they know who they are) pride themselves on being able to bypass most anti cheat software. If you are familair with any of the Valve games, Counter Strike, Half Life 2 deathmatch etc.. you would know about them.

Valve have VAC (Valve Anti Cheat) which is regularly updated to stop the hacks and hopefully ban the account of anyone caught using them.
But you get periods when the sad hackers have bypassed the anti cheat and can cheat at will. Then the anti cheat software gets updated to catch the new hacks and it goes quiet for a while until the hackers bypass the system again.
This also happens on games that use Punkbuster anti cheat. You get periods where it cathces them and periods where it doesn't.

I can't see LFS being any different. I'm not aware that it has any anti cheat protection at all?

Android, what makes you think they couldn't play on S2 servers? They will bypass the license requirement as part of their hack. They do that with the valve games I mentioned for which you need a valid steam ID to play (akin to a licence). They create multiple fake but useable id's. When they get banned on that they create another. How will you be able to ban them if they continually return with a different Identity? This is what they do in other games and they have evaded all attempts by valve to stop them.

Last edited by JackSun, Tue 26 Sep 2006, 10:08. Reason : Update to previous question

I'm not sure if you are aware of a sad bunch of hackers called *****.

They are a group of immature people who's sole intention seems to be to try and ruin the online gaming experience in various multiplayer games.

Live For Speed is one game listed on their site for which they are intending to create cheats.

If you see any of these pathetic people doing impossible things with their cars don't get mad at them. They don't cheat to win or gain an advantage, they cheat to get a reaction from the other players. This they call "Raging" and it seems to be where they get their kicks. They record any messages they receive and post them on their forums. The more angry the responses the more these pathetic kids seem to like it and the more repect they get from their fellow members.

The problem is if we do get any of these pathetic people hacking LFS then it will make most open public servers unplayable unless someone develops some anti cheat software.

Lose 5cm? damn only 1cm left

Last edited by JackSun, Tue 21 Mar 2006, 20:40.

I understand some people are using the High nose exploit to get faster top speeds/laps on the winged cars. Will the world record times be reset when/if the physics are changed to stop this exploit?

I realise I can get a better time. I have watched some of the WR replays and used some addon tools to compare my lines but I can't see where I'm losing 7 seconds on FE Green for example.
In some of the replays I see them go into corners nearly 10mph faster than I can (if I try that I slide off) it's as if they have slick tyres on a road tyre only car.

Are there any known cheats in this game?
I ask because I see some of the WR times seem ridiculously low.
On a number of circuits, the WR times for the UF1 Car are around 6 - 7 seconds faster than my pb. I've been in races on these circuits and other drivers who are faster than me are still only about 1 second or so faster.
If there are known cheats, is anything being done to detect them?

Thanks for reply, I got it to work eventaully.
Is there any way to make it look into the skins folder of the LFS diectory by default so I dont have to copy the same file to both locations?

How thw hell do I view my car skins in the CMX viewer?

I've tried copying my .jpg file into the skins folder inside the cmx viewer folder and i've tried copying it to the cmx folder. The only option I have on the cmx main screen is to load cmx, this just lists the default cars.
I suppose I need to convert my .jpg file to a .cmx file but how do I do this? and if that's the reason why do we need to convert to .cmx when the LFS game itself uses .jpg files?

Any help appreciated

I had this and it wasn't just a matter of unticking the simple wheels box. I reinstalled the game after I changed my graphics card, and now it's ok.