custom textures are great, but staff shouldn't allow it.

[supermonk]

first off, this isn't a knock at all to those community members who created the high res texture files because well, they're great. and the reason it was great is because it benefited the whole community in a positive way.

on the flip side, anyone can use that same creative freedom to make custom textures for personal use since these textures are on the client side, not the server side; essentially only you can see them, not anyone else. making custom textures probably sounds like it's difficult, but in reality it's actually pretty simple and all you have to use is MS paint once you figure out where the embedded files are.

this idea of mine was conceived accidentally - a guild mate of mine mentioned his apprehension towards getting a custom velious helm on his iksar because he saw a post from a player who showed his iksar wearing a black version of that helm. I quickly told him that what he saw on a thread was based off a custom texture file, when in reality everyone else on the server sees the white helm as intended, without a black tint.

i don't think people have thought twice about it since it's only a client side change. it sure as hell ain't classic, and I was told that back on live it was policed. now i'm not pointing fingers at this user, but when I thought more about it I realized the potential this can have to give certain users an unfair competitive advantage if used for the wrong reasons.

here's a good example at how a simple change can be used to cheat:

1. Picture 1 - did you know that on p99, the magician epic pet is basically an enlarged air pet in terms of the texture? what you probably didn't know is that the correct texture for the classic epic pet has scars and a "mustache". here's the youtube link
2. Picture 2 - here's my attempt to recreate it once nilbog confirmed it can't be fixed since it's a client side issue. pretty good job i'd say
3. Picture 3 - in less than a few minutes, I did a messy pink shade and voila...you now have a hot pink air elemental.

[You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

so how can a hot pink air elemental be considered cheating? well if you use that texture in Western Wastes, you would have a hell of an easier time spotting a bright pink air elemental against the white snow when racing to find Guardian Kozzalym. this is just the simplest example I easily thought of. who knows if something like this is already going on?

I just want to bring awareness that perhaps users have too much freedom to customize their UI, textures, sounds, etc. it's self explanatory how dangerous this can be if in the wrong hands. I really hope devs can detect this type of 'customization' and flag accounts that use it to gain a competitive advantage.

[indiscriminate_hater]

plz ban this guy for cheating

[d3r14k]

This is just a question (because honestly I have no idea), but how would staff detect anything that is happening client side? They'd have to do some sort of P99 file scan, right? Do they even have the capability to do that on a massive (or even targeted) scale?

Edit: One of my first threads here was asking about P99 Add-Ons in the form of UI and texture packs. I've since installed a lot of things that make the world look fresher, but in no way give me any kind of competitive advantage. My initial feelings are that I wouldn't think it's fair to discredit people's work on these sorts of things with a broad "this should be illegal" brush.

[Valrok]

welp, you know that velious graphic helm that never seems to match the rest of the set? Not anymore!!

[loramin]

Originally Posted by supermonk [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

I just want to bring awareness that perhaps users have too much freedom to customize their UI, textures, sounds, etc. it's self explanatory how dangerous this can be if in the wrong hands. I really hope devs can detect this type of 'customization' and flag accounts that use it to gain a competitive advantage.

[You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Already today, even without any texture mapping, a cheater can use ShowEQ or a similar program to see exactly where Guardian Kozzalym is on a map. Clearly that is way more effective than just changing his pet's color. And yet, between the staff's efforts and the basic fact that most players aren't cheaters (and in fact most will report cheating if they see it), cheating is not a significant problem on Project 1999.

I really don't see how texture mods would change that, so I don't see the point in banning something which is 99% harmless and makes the game better for most players. IF such cheating ever becomes a problem I'm sure the staff could "white list" certain texture sets while preventing "custom purple mage pet" ones ... but it seems very possible the problem will never even get big enough for them to bother.

[Brocode]

so your saying if i level my brightness(also work on eq for humans) on Left for Dead i ll have night vision and not enjoy the game as it supposed to be? yeah your right, but thats the way you wanna see your client to use the biggest immersion as possible.

[skarlorn]

I agree wholeheartedly this should result in bans

[Darkyle]

Didn't they disable luclin models somehow a long time ago?