Teleportation cheater

[scuiter]

This is my first post, so give me some slack if I do something wrong.  In fact, I joined the forums to write this post.  Well I was playing a 4 player match in the Deathmatch course in my quadro, and I was matched up with a guy named aigarskkk, who was using the buzzer.  So obviously, I decided to just load up on ammo and just keep shooting until I brought him down.  But whenever I fired a shot, he would disappear before reappearing behind me.  I wouldn't be able to turn around in time.  I can tell it wasn't lag because of two things.  One, my screen wasn't at all choppy, and my screen becomes extremely choppy whenever Air Wings does lag (which is rare.).  Two, he would teleport literally every time I shot at him.  It got extremely annoying, because he would simply appear behind me after I shot and fire a load of pencils at me.  I eventually just crashed into the ground and killed myself because I didn't want to give him the satisfaction of beating me.

[El Magnifico]

Hi Scuiter,

If this is a cheat it's a damn creative one and the first time anyone's reported it being possible on demand.  There's been a few threads about lag causing players to disappear and reappear in other areas of the map but you seem pretty certain it's not lag.  The best I can offer at the moment is that Brian (the game developer) is working on a 3.1 release that will make non-hacked players invincible against confirmed cheaters.  I don't know an ETA but given Brian's track record I wouldn't be surprised if it's soon. 

Anyway, sorry for your encounter and welcome to the forum.  Hang in there and wait for the upcoming release.  Oh, if you ever play me you can reward my words of encouragement and warm welcome with slow and level flying so that I can shoot you down. 

Rob (El Magn1f1co)   

[CapedAvenger13]

Happens to me too. I thought it was lag at first, but then it would only happen when I shot at him. The player would then be behind me and I rarely was able to escape. I thought it was only happening to me but I have found I'm not the only one. Also you started this topic fine in my opinion.

[Brian Greenstone, CEO Pangea]

As I've said many times before, this it not cheating - it's just a bad network connection.  Each player is sending coordinate updates at about 20 times per second - many of those updates get lost, and many get delayed, especially on 3G or Edge connections.  The game continues to fly the planes along the last known trajectory in between each update, so if there are no updates received for several seconds you see that plane continue to fly along the last known course.  However, the player may have turned or slowed down or whatever in that time, so when the new coordinate data is received it may be very different from the trajectory that the game calculated, and that's what causes the players to pop around all over the place.

-Brian

[scuiter]

I guess I trust your judgement Brian, but would there be any reason why he would only disappear whenever I shot at him?  I mean, if it was just bad connection, wouldn't he randomly relocate at other times as well?  I'm just curious.  Also, if I fall into a situation like this in the future, how might I be able anticipate where he will reappear?

[Brian Greenstone, CEO Pangea]

Probably just coincidence.  I see this all the time and it's not cheating.

-Brian

[CapedAvenger13]

Ok, I use WiFi and it happens. I guess you are right being the fact you are the main guy for air wings. Keep up the good work. Thanks Brian.

[Brian Greenstone, CEO Pangea]

It doesn't matter what network *you* are on.  What matters is what network the *other guy* is on.

-Brian

[CapedAvenger13]

Oh that makes sense, thx Brian

[(~Luke_12~)]

Yup,this has happened to me a lot. It's especially annoying when it has happened three times in a big level like "The Maze". But as Brain said,it's just someone's bad wi-fi,3G,or 4G network. I kinda wish that the game had a feature that you can only play if you have a good network connection with other players.

[Shawn-e-c]

I know what you mean. I use an itouch and only play on wi-fi...
In my last game I took 2 of this guy's lives and then on his 3rd life he stated zipping around and nothing I shot could lock on him. Although he had no trouble locking on me apparently... I lost due to his bad connection.
It happens often and is fustrating.

[macewan]

This explains alot of what I experience. The opponent is fly away from me as I chase and then as if by magic they disappear only to reappear immediately right behind me shooting. It just seems too well planned at times. Want pound their ip.

game continues to fly the planes along the last known trajectory in between each update, so if there are no updates received for several seconds you see that plane continue to fly along the last known course.

[stelrz12]

i have faced the same issue when playing 4 players. I will have someone in my sights and they will fly into a wall and all of sudden they are alive and next to me. I love this game but this seems like a common problem.

[Brian Greenstone, CEO Pangea]

I may be able to put in some code to detect for this and eliminate players who have really awful connections, but it's pretty difficult to regulate properly.  It won't work in a 1 on 1 game because there's no way to know which of the 2 players has the bad connection.  In a 3 or 4 player match it would be necessary for all players to agree that a particular player has a bad connection in order to confirm who the culprit is.

-Brian

[<FPC>]

I know there is a time set for how long you will stay in the game if your system isn't sending info into the game, how long is that time? Is it possible for someone to set something up to block there upstream for a few seconds but allow downstream to keep going? I think that might let them "disappear/reappear" but I'm throwing out a wag.