Overlays and Multiplayer

[Artist]

Hello everybody!

Does anyone can answer the following questions from own experience (please no surmises and speculations however well founded and brilliantly argued ):

• Do overlays (i.e. Teamspeak, Mumble, or other) work in CloD at all?
• Are there any problems with overlays in online multiplayer (suspicion of cheating)?

Reason: We plan to make a small data and calculation tool available within IL-2 using overlay-technique, but if it's considered a cheat[1] online...

Artist

PS: Made a similiar post in the IL-2-Forum, too.
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[1] The suspicion of cheating could be real, because overlays in fact work on two ways: One, replacing the DLL(DynamicLinkLibrary) used for OpenGL/DirectX with a customized one, the other is to hook into the DLL-code in memory. In both cases an overlay does nothing less than placing itself between game and monitor, thus manipulating the game output before it is displayed on the screen - and you can imagine what would be possible.

[Artist]

Cheesehawk,

Originally Posted by cheesehawk

Steam overlay definitely works in game. Haven't tried the rest.

Thanks.

No idea about the VAC (anti-cheat software), I have had suspicions, but until we have confirmation that someone was cheating, and caught, they are just (perhaps unfounded) suspicions.

That is what I feared the most: "we don't know".

Artist

[Artist]

Originally Posted by cheesehawk

[...] not sure about the current state of the VAC.

Nobody is, nobody knows.

But if VAC is active or not (yet) isn't the real problem. The real question is "Will VAC kick you/me for using an overlay once it is activated?"

Wouldn't make sense to develop something nobody is going to use anyway, would it? Or even worse: Being the cause for someone's ban for life.

Artist

[Artist]

Originally Posted by cheesehawk

Hmmm, you have my curiosity, what do you plan to have on the overlay? I am pretty sure that the comm overlays won't be considered cheats, but rather they are independent of the game like the Steam overlay.

Something in-game however, would by necessity have to alter the code (even if just for capture of data) and probably would...even if its not something any of the players would consider a "cheat".

Nothing of the sort. Rather just like the comm overlays: displaying data independent of the game.

The big "but" is, that the overlay technique necessarily relies (as described earlier) on rather dirty methods (hooking into DirectX/OpenGL). VAC could be configured to allow steam-overlay (as it's official) but alert on any other... Hence my question mentioning Teamspeak and Mumble.

But as we obviously do not know if VAC is active, we cannot test and find out... The only definitive clue would be somone who has been banned for using Mumble or Teamspeak - and that's the clue I would not like to have.

Artist

[Artist]

Great! Thanks!

Artist

[Artist]

*bump*

Anybody else with experiences? Nobody? At all?


Artist

[ATAG_Bliss]

I have the vent overlay turned on. Basically every time you start vent it's on. In IL2COD the overlay works for every single screen in game EXCEPT when you are in game in the cockpit. But I think that's more of a buggy full screen mode than anything, because the overlay works for all other games I have.

[CaptainDoggles]

Overlays work fine. VAC checks game file integrity, and overlays do not alter game files, they hook system draw calls.

VAC will not kick you for using an overlay. The guys at valve were smart enough to know that thousands of players on VAC servers for other games use vent/teamspeak overlays.

[CaptainDoggles]

Originally Posted by SYN_Bliss

I have the vent overlay turned on. Basically every time you start vent it's on. In IL2COD the overlay works for every single screen in game EXCEPT when you are in game in the cockpit. But I think that's more of a buggy full screen mode than anything, because the overlay works for all other games I have.

Are you running fullscreen or pseudo- ?

[Artist]

Hello CaptainDoggles,

Originally Posted by CaptainDoggles

Overlays work fine. VAC checks game file integrity, and overlays do not alter game files, they hook system draw calls.

VAC will not kick you for using an overlay. The guys at valve were smart enough to know that thousands of players on VAC servers for other games use vent/teamspeak overlays.

Thank you for that info.

Artist