Spectator Viewing

[-MH-CaptainVogez]

Hey hey hey

While spectating a tourney match today (well a scrim), I had an epiphony as to what would be a totally mad, awesome way for spectators to view the match...


while playing around, I noticed that holding down shift lets you zoom over the screen pretty darn fast.
This made me think, I reckon there should be a spectator option that you can press like "SHIFT + A" or something, and then be able to view the entire map at once.

I don't know what kind of effect this would have on peoples rendering abilities, but as it would be a condensed view I'm assuming the only effect it would have is on ping only...


This is an idea for spectators only, not players...





anyone else hear me?


and a high 5 to whoever can help me get rid of the -MH- tag on my name haha.

[Beagle]

This seems like a really awesome idea.
I'd love to be able to toggle on full-map spectator, sit back and watch things play out.

[STACK]

I would love to have such a feature, perhaps click wheel view scaling. I am afraid however that implementing such a feature client side might allow haxxors to mess with the zoom while playing, offering a very large and obvious advantage over everyone else.

[-MH-CaptainVogez]

Originally Posted by STACK

I would love to have such a feature, perhaps click wheel view scaling. I am afraid however that implementing such a feature client side might allow haxxors to mess with the zoom while playing, offering a very large and obvious advantage over everyone else.

That's a very valid point Stack
But I guess that in the long run, what major advantage will they have if they're trying to concentrate on where they're flying...?

[Beagle]

Originally Posted by -MH-CaptainVogez

That's a very valid point Stack
But I guess that in the long run, what major advantage will they have if they're trying to concentrate on where they're flying...?

I still support the idea but you have to admit it would be a massive advantage.

[STACK]

Originally Posted by -MH-CaptainVogez

That's a very valid point Stack
But I guess that in the long run, what major advantage will they have if they're trying to concentrate on where they're flying...?

Whales would become better base campers than loopys.

[-MH-CaptainVogez]

MY DORITOS ARE MISSING!!!


oh
yeah

also, i see what you mean...
what do you think we can do to solve this possible problem then...because noone will be able to tell really.

maybe a moderation bot that checks through the servers and scans for abnormalities in the codes, such as that? i dunno whether something like that is possible, but...

[-MH-CaptainVogez]

BUMP
i was here

[nesnl]

Originally Posted by -MH-CaptainVogez

BUMP
i was here

http://altitudegame.com/forums/showt...+a+good+reason

[-MH-CaptainVogez]

I'm sorry Maimer - my bad.
but

I love how you seem to always track down posts of mine you think are inappropriate, however never seem to do anything else but find reasons to show something I've done wrong.

Never any productive responses.
Ever.

Anyway my mere point was to try to get this quickly sorted out because I wanted to see it in the update - the main problem as we said was haxxors using the code so they have permanent full visibility of the map. I think this will balance on big maps as everything's gonna be really hard to distinguish, but when it comes to maps like hills, i see how it would definately benefit.

The easiest way I guess, is that when its made, maybe monitor the feature so that if people are caught using it to an in-game advantage, merely remove it for the next update, since they're compulsary.

Just kicking around thoughts at 3:30am

[Beagle]

Originally Posted by -MH-CaptainVogez

Implying Maimer is an unproductive member of the community

[-MH-CaptainVogez]

not at all beagle
nice change of words there - If you can find the original text you can have a medal.

I said he hasn't responded to my messages productively, but is quick to moderate. Considering he's a head of the community I'd like to get as much help from him as i would anyone else. Just trying to get an idea off the ground

[Beagle]

Originally Posted by -MH-CaptainVogez

I love how you seem to always track down posts of mine you think are inappropriate, however never seem to do anything else but find reasons to show something I've done wrong.

Never any productive responses.
Ever.

??????????

[-MH-CaptainVogez]

Originally Posted by Beagle

??????????

have you got anything productive to say?
read my above post - I said to my posts - not the community.
Asking for some team spirit, not for you to attack me Beagle.

[Beagle]

Originally Posted by -MH-CaptainVogez

have you got anything productive to say?
read my above post - I said to my posts - not the community.
Asking for some team spirit, not for you to attack me Beagle.

Well, when you first posted, all it said was 'if you find the original text you get a medal' so that's all I replied to. By the time I posted, you'd edited in more stuff.

Don't get so defensive, I just want my medal.

EDIT: Seeing as I was the first person to actually provide any 'productive response' to this thread, I don't know why you're jumping on me.

[-MH-CaptainVogez]

Originally Posted by Beagle

Well, when you first posted, all it said was 'if you find the original text you get a medal' so that's all I replied to. By the time I posted, you'd edited in more stuff.

Don't get so defensive, I just want my medal.

EDIT: Seeing as I was the first person to actually provide any 'productive response' to this thread, I don't know why you're jumping on me.

I accidentally posted it early in my tired state and didn't expect you to reply so quickly.
Anyway before I receive any more infractions by accidentally breaking another rule can we please get back on topic - I have no need to argue here - I just want to get this idea around.

[Beagle]

Well, to put something productive in to this thread, I'd say you shouldn't get your hopes up about this being in the very next update. Probably not until lam or Karl post in this thread and give their thoughts on it as well.

[-MH-CaptainVogez]

Originally Posted by Beagle

Well, to put something productive in to this thread, I'd say you shouldn't get your hopes up about this being in the very next update. Probably not until lam or Karl post in this thread and give their thoughts on it as well.

Okay thankyou beagle - that's more what I was looking for.
I'm sure you would know who to look for as you are more active in this community than me.

Do you think its feasible/a good feature personally?

[Beagle]

Absoloutely, support it 100%. It'd be a great way to spectate, and you could do some really interesting filming with it too for matches.

[AtomikPi]

Originally Posted by STACK

I would love to have such a feature, perhaps click wheel view scaling. I am afraid however that implementing such a feature client side might allow haxxors to mess with the zoom while playing, offering a very large and obvious advantage over everyone else.

Possibly this would be infeasible or resource intensive, but couldn't it be server side, or at least something like: client sends viewscale request, server grants (assuming the player's spectating), server checks client viewscale every X seconds?

[-MH-CaptainVogez]

Originally Posted by AtomikPi

Possibly this would be infeasible or resource intensive, but couldn't it be server side, or at least something like: client sends viewscale request, server grants (assuming the player's spectating), server checks client viewscale every X seconds?

although i know NOTHING about coding that makes a lot more sense rather than having it as a feature that comes with the program. If the server is able to monitor who is using the feature and ensure that its not being used while the player is active, it sounds like it would make it much more fair.

Seriously
who would bother hacking to get a full screen view anyway

[evilarsenal]

*talk smack*

*reasons why i'm bettr*

*watch out guys mikesol is coming*

[Beagle]

awesome gravedig bro

[wolf'j'max]

Ok this is an answer to cpt vogez about codes.

I think players will be just happy with this new feature. Like the patch with facebook. They just like the update and really are not going to hack you with this. I'm 13 and don't give a **** about coding and other idiot signs unless i can help someone. Hope this clears things up now lets get that shortkey here.

[tec27]

Originally Posted by wolf'j'max

Ok this is an answer to cpt vogez about codes.

I think players will be just happy with this new feature. Like the patch with facebook. They just like the update and really are not going to hack you with this. I'm 13 and don't give a **** about coding and other idiot signs unless i can help someone. Hope this clears things up now lets get that shortkey here.

I really wish I knew what the heck this post was trying to say... :P

To people concerned about people hacking to enable this feature while not specced: that's not very likely given that the game is entirely in Java. They would pretty much have to intercept the packet that requests it and simulate a server response to it that grants it, which is a fairly involved process.

[wolf'j'max]

tec here's your answer. i know people on my school know hwo to hack (17-18 years old)
but what i also heard of them is that they don't use it to ruin things they like.

thats all.
wolf

[Evan20000]

I think hacking is not a serious issue at the moment. Have there even been any reports of cheating in present day altitude?

[tec27]

Its just not really a serious possibility, so no. Any hacking would pretty much have to involve packet modification/generation, and when I looked at some packets for altitude briefly, I couldn't make anything out (then again, thats not my forte), so they're probably encrypted or obfuscated somewhat.

[mikesol]

Maybe this will help calm your nerves Wolf. I am a Computer Science major focusing in Security and Protection. I plan on going to graduate school to do extensive research into this field. I even am creating my own class next semester where I work one on one with a professor to do research in computer security.

Like tec, I have a packet sniffer program and have tried to experiment with random security things in altitude. While I haven't performed extensive work into this, I have noticed that the data is encrypted or severely obfuscated. Any 17 or 18 year old is probably not going to be able to do anything with this unless they've taken numerous advanced college level CS courses and are freaking smart.

Back when I was in high school I liked to mess with people by performing random tricks or utilizing admin access that I guessed (the admin name for my district was the district name with the district name as the password). There are also other wacky things you can do. I even managed to convince a bunch of 14 year olds that I hacked into WoW and was getting it for free. One of my friends managed to convince everyone he hacked into a teacher's computer and stole the final (he actually did steal the final but it was because the teacher left her computer on without any password and left for the day).

All in all, I don't think you have anything to worry about. Try to remember that people like to pretend they are things they aren't. Whether that be a multi-million dollar retail manager or an experienced hacker - especially in their teenage years.

Edit: Note that there is a clear difference between hacking in and giving yourself infinite life or infinite energy or stealing someone else's information and making a bot that can play for yourself. There could probably be a way to create an "aim bot" of some kind for a plane but that's different from making your plane flat out invincible. Also, I'm sure it would be rather obvious if someone was using such a feature.

[Triped]

Edit: self-redacted.

[tec27]

Originally Posted by mikesol

Edit: Note that there is a clear difference between hacking in and giving yourself infinite life or infinite energy or stealing someone else's information and making a bot that can play for yourself. There could probably be a way to create an "aim bot" of some kind for a plane but that's different from making your plane flat out invincible. Also, I'm sure it would be rather obvious if someone was using such a feature.

If someone could create an aimbot, I'd be very impressed Barring figuring out the packet structure/encryption, such a bot would have to visually interpret the game as it played, which would be really tough considering maps can be any number of colors, including colors that overlap with the planes/bases. Would be a very interesting challenge, I think. On that note, it would also be somewhat interesting to develop a bot that could fly around a pure black&white map without crashing into walls, hmm... Wtf am I getting myself into, lol

[mikesol]

Originally Posted by tec27

If someone could create an aimbot, I'd be very impressed Barring figuring out the packet structure/encryption, such a bot would have to visually interpret the game as it played, which would be really tough considering maps can be any number of colors, including colors that overlap with the planes/bases. Would be a very interesting challenge, I think. On that note, it would also be somewhat interesting to develop a bot that could fly around a pure black&white map without crashing into walls, hmm... Wtf am I getting myself into, lol

I'm not sure it would be as bad as you make it out to be. However, I do not wish to type up how one would go about creating a bot for this game as I don't want to see it done. If you're interested I wouldn't mind sharing my thoughts via a pm, though (as I trust you to not create a bot as you run the servers).

Of course this past summer I created an image analysis program for some medical schools to help train doctors in osteopathic manipulation so I have a bit of experience with visually interpreting things.

Note that I never said this would be easy but I feel it would be a lot easier than trying to understand the incoming and outgoing packets of the game.

[tec27]

Originally Posted by mikesol

I'm not sure it would be as bad as you make it out to be. However, I do not wish to type up how one would go about creating a bot for this game as I don't want to see it done. If you're interested I wouldn't mind sharing my thoughts via a pm, though (as I trust you to not create a bot as you run the servers).

Of course this past summer I created an image analysis program for some medical schools to help train doctors in osteopathic manipulation so I have a bit of experience with visually interpreting things.

Note that I never said this would be easy but I feel it would be a lot easier than trying to understand the incoming and outgoing packets of the game.

I'd definitely be interested in that, I'll shoot you a PM

[Delli King]

I love this idea. The problem is that it could be spying, and you could find out were all the players are.

-delli king-

[Equilibrix]

Originally Posted by Delli King

I love this idea. The problem is that it could be spying, and you could find out were all the players are.

What about if the person who is spectating in the fullscreen mode could speak only on the spectators channel?

[Jayfourke]

Telling your team where an enemy is is nothing new, it happens regularly in 1DM. It's of limited use anyway, because by the time a spectator has told their teammate where the enemy is, they've moved.