Has policy decision been reached to allow VMWare use again while playing SOE games? I have been unable to use my main machine to play any games since the great unannounced VMWare user bans that occurred (presumably due to Planeside 2). Anything been done yet so we can use our VMWare machines again?
As long as certain packet sniffer programs are available and maintained, I doubt the virtual host restrictions will be lifted. Granted running virtuals isn't the only way to use those ban-worthy utilities but it certainly is one of the easiest ways to do it.
Meh, the cheaters can and will cheat easily no matter. I still want to know when I can use my main machine (which runs ESXi) to play EQ again Hoping someone from SOE will comment and let me know yay or nay, I'm not inclined to play Russian Roulette with my accounts to find out :>
Not being able to play EQ on your primary machine can't be too fun. I've personally had success playing on a macbook (non pro) using Boot camp, and I've also seen on the boards here that it's possible to run EQ on Linux. Just out of curiosity, what setup are you using that the only viable option is vmware rather than tossing windows on a hard drive or partition?
Don't know if its still forbidden. It makes me lol though. If somebody wants to use one of those packet-viewing programs, they can easily just get a a hub instead of a switch, or put your switch/router into promiscuous mode. Stupid to me that SOE would p**s off VMware/VMware users when there are easy alternatives.
I have a very large box, I7 with 64 gigs of ram for the purpose of running multiple OS versions at the same time. Why have 7 boxes when I can use 1 box to run 12 VMs? Alot of it has to do with what I do for a living and the fact I hate having idle cpu time ;P. I also like to run multiple games (asherons call, EQ, etc.). Some don't play together.. period. If I run Asherons Call EQ crashes constantly. So they have to be separated. I had this well before SOE decided to ban VMWare users. I found out that the policy decision had been made by having all 7 of my accounts insta banned without warning. I then had to justify why I would have been using a legitimate product. It really soured me (hard to believe I could feel worse) about SOE more. I was treated terribly by the "Lead CS". That's in the past though, I love EQ enough to put up with SOE, I just want to know (or have a place to find the information on the website) if/when I can use my machine again :>. I'm tired of playing EQ on this rinky dink laptop I bought for it.
So let's not do anything at all about it then? Let the cheaters run rampant? Party like it's 2005? For SOE it's a matter of how many players become unhappy if the cheaters ruin the game for them (and I'm not talking about just EQ; it was already mentioned that this particular issue originated from Planetside 2) vs how many people become unhappy if VMWare is banned. I hope you realize just how few people who play SOE games even know what VMWare is, let alone use it. The very decision to ban VMWare indicates that SOE already evaluated its player base and concluded that the decrease in cheating is worth losing a few players. Besides, they didn't even lose you. You still play, just not from VMWare. So it wasn't that much of an issue after all.
I've never heard of VMware. If I did in 2005 it was probably because I'd heard it was banned and looked it up to see what the heck it was. /shrug
Banning VMware when anyone who can setup VMware can setup ddwrt and mirror a port is pointless. (iptables port mirroring trick dd-wrt if you want to Google it ) Someone at soe needs to ask anyone in the networking team how simple this is and stop VMware bans. Bans that help are good, bans that do nothing but hurt legitimate players are bad. This is a bad reason to ban someone. Galidin
I still don't want to discuss the reasoning or my feelings on it. I just want to know if its acceptable once again or not? =D
When did they announce this? Can anyone link the thread? I've been away from EQ for awhile. Is it just VMware? or is it any virtual machine software. I run Parallels on my mac....
Any virtual machine software. They did not announce it, we were just banned. The "Lead CS" stated that you should not run parrellels, vmware, xen, hyperv, or any other virtualization software. I was told not to even have it installed on my system. I have found that running it on the system is fine, as long as you are not running the SOE game from within the virtualization software. I have yet to find anywhere they have stated this information other than a thread I started on the forums when it happened. If you need, I can post the emails from the CS (I don't think that would violate any forum rules since it is required information to obey the EULA).
https://forums.station.sony.com/eq/...nch-d3dx9_30-dll-missing.205217/#post-3014855 https://forums.station.sony.com/eq/...ng-a-no-go-for-now.203937/page-3#post-3000520 https://forums.station.sony.com/eq/index.php?threads/my-4-accounts-are-banned.3740/page-4#post-57089 https://forums.station.sony.com/eq/...re-account-ban-warning.3986/page-2#post-57088
Wow that is crazy!. I run EQ in parallels from time to time on my mac. I haven't been banned yet.... but the fact it is possible is nuts.
I work in IT and just had to deal with an issue today of communications being denied at a remote server when the communication came from a VM running inside ESX 5.5. Not for sure on the technique of what SOE is scanning for, but this is interesting. One possible scenario is the EQ client either signs or sends a record of packets it originates and are destined for the EQ servers. It's common a network device or an ESX host may inject TCP packets into the stream and set the source address to be the same as your VM/EQ computer, destined for the EQ servers (possibly as part of offloading processing to a NIC card or other features). If the packets received at the SOE-end include extra packets that were not signed or included in the packet inventory report generated by the EQ client, the SOE servers may flag that as an attempt by an "outside program" to exploit the game mechanics (think hacroquest.. hehe)
I disagree. Banning VMWare users is just ham-fisted. It does *NOT* fix the problem of cheating, there's too many ways to do it of which VMWare is only *indicative* of one. It doesn't deter, it doesn't change cheater's minds, it's just an inconvenience for a cheater. They will find another way. The only people the bans do affect are legitimate users that were using it or the false-positive cases that get wrapped up in the dragnet. It's really similar to DRM solutions. It doesn't stop the cheaters, just punishes the paying customer. If it truly solved the problem for SOE then there would be an argument for it but since it quite obviously doesn't fix the problem it's not worth doing at the expense of losing customers. We don't employ DRM on our software we develop for the same reason. Play your way!!* *not available in all areas, void where prohibited, participation may vary, some restrictions may apply
And that is why they'll keep it. Just like a padlock doesn't stop a thief. It keeps honest people honest and is a minor inconvenience. those who want to break the rules will find another way.
I wasn't going to belabor the point, just wanted an answer. But wyre.. When I padlock the bathroom door and you can't get in, it's just to keep you honest :>.
It should work like Microsoft DRM 'tilt bits' no one automatic thing should get you banned, only an accumulation of points should trigger an investigation. Using a VM is a point, being 'actively' playing for 16 hours with no breaks is a point, moving suspiciously (warping/robotically precise) is a point, being /reported is a point... and so on. a CS rep peeks in on whoever accumulates the most points in order.
