Forks Full AC - Revision history

FileEX at 10:59, 13 July 2024

2024-07-13T10:59:54Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 10:59, 13 July 2024
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	Closing words: it will always be better to not be a fork in the first place. To use the official MTA client and simply create a server, eventually with a custom launcher that connects straight to your array of servers. To just contribute all customisations that you'll need (reason for becoming a fork instead) "upstream", which means in a PR, Pull request, to the official MTA repository at https://github.com/multitheftauto/mtasa-blue so everyone benefits and you honour the license & not deal with the roadblocks, AC and new player influx included, of being a fork. MTA usually has 30,000 players online at the same time, which is also a huge pool of new player influx to discover your community. Better just don't be a fork, but if you really need to, this page is our active outreach towards forks to get a better degree of Anti-Cheat (AC) protection.<br><br>		Closing words: it will always be better to not be a fork in the first place. To use the official MTA client and simply create a server, eventually with a custom launcher that connects straight to your array of servers. To just contribute all customisations that you'll need (reason for becoming a fork instead) "upstream", which means in a PR, Pull request, to the official MTA repository at https://github.com/multitheftauto/mtasa-blue so everyone benefits and you honour the license & not deal with the roadblocks, AC and new player influx included, of being a fork. MTA usually has 30,000 players online at the same time, which is also a huge pool of new player influx to discover your community. Better just don't be a fork, but if you really need to, this page is our active outreach towards forks to get a better degree of Anti-Cheat (AC) protection.<br><br>
	We created this "full AC for forks" flavour of netc.dll in November/December 2022, and trialed the practical results and some specific patches to it for better support, with 2 of the biggest Russian MTA forks, both of which are preparing to release an update incorporating this in the coming few months. We also did an outreach to smaller fork developers that however chose to abuse it (and with that our trust) by immediately becoming toxic and trying to sell the "full AC" netc module we gave them, prompting this wiki article to be written and published in a hurry. Not nice, and please don't fall for any offers from said circle of toxic fork developers trying to sell you such an "full AC" netc, when you can get a newer version from the official source, from us in this article. The work on this article has in the context of said incident, been discussed in MTA development discord (invite: https://discord.gg/GNN6PRtTnu) at this post: https://discord.com/channels/801330706252038164/801330706252038170/1044757943071023155 and its equivalent in the main, official MTA discord (invite: https://discord.gg/mtasa) at this post: https://discord.com/channels/278474088903606273/278521065435824128/1044758439357849661		We created this "full AC for forks" flavour of netc.dll in November/December 2022, and trialed the practical results and some specific patches to it for better support, with 2 of the biggest Russian MTA forks, both of which are preparing to release an update incorporating this in the coming few months. We also did an outreach to smaller fork developers that however chose to abuse it (and with that our trust) by immediately becoming toxic and trying to sell the "full AC" netc module we gave them, prompting this wiki article to be written and published in a hurry. Not nice, and please don't fall for any offers from said circle of toxic fork developers trying to sell you such an "full AC" netc, when you can get a newer version from the official source, from us in this article. The work on this article has in the context of said incident, been discussed in MTA development discord (invite: https://discord.gg/GNN6PRtTnu) at this post: https://discord.com/channels/801330706252038164/801330706252038170/1044757943071023155 and its equivalent in the main, official MTA discord (invite: https://discord.gg/mtasa) at this post: https://discord.com/channels/278474088903606273/278521065435824128/1044758439357849661

			[[Category:Development]]

Dutchman101: t

2023-06-25T01:44:10Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 01:44, 25 June 2023
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	* Important: It's your own responsibility to add a file integrity/authencity checker, as obviously since the game DLLs are built by you (and not us) there is no way to embed such unique DLLs into our netc internal checklists, nor have anything within other modules to check netc itself. If you don't work this out, a cheater can just replace any module or add in a cheat payload with PE editing, this is the biggest risk factor when using "forks full AC". How far you'd like to go with file checks, like deciding to harden it on usermode (with heartbeats or so) or use your own secondary kernelmode AC driver, is up to you and the level of dedication to security your project has. If all you care about is a raised border towards cheating, you may go for basic file checker (MD5/SHA256) for all game modules		* Important: It's your own responsibility to add a file integrity/authencity checker, as obviously since the game DLLs are built by you (and not us) there is no way to embed such unique DLLs into our netc internal checklists, nor have anything within other modules to check netc itself. If you don't work this out, a cheater can just replace any module or add in a cheat payload with PE editing, this is the biggest risk factor when using "forks full AC". How far you'd like to go with file checks, like deciding to harden it on usermode (with heartbeats or so) or use your own secondary kernelmode AC driver, is up to you and the level of dedication to security your project has. If all you care about is a raised border towards cheating, you may go for basic file checker (MD5/SHA256) for all game modules

	There are more and similar bottlenecks that are too complicated to easily explain but are based on the "nothing is ever 100% secure" principle, of which many apply to bridging between official MTA and forks using 'full AC'. It is also good to reflect on the overall thing like this: MTA team spent years to build AC technology, and its providing (now unlocking) a lot to forks if they so wish, for free. Consider it as a main layer of anticheat that already protects a lot in GTA, we help you not to have to build such a huge amount of technology all by yourself. Now the point, what else you do, like you see this as main layer and then also build your own secondary layer of anticheat, maybe even on a novice level of what's technically understandable to your developers that have no serious AC development background - that's entirely up to you and your creativity. If you want to complement the main layer provided by us, you are able to.		There are more and similar bottlenecks that are too complicated to easily explain but are based on the "nothing is ever 100% secure" principle, of which many apply to bridging between official MTA and forks using 'full AC'. It is also good to reflect on the overall thing like this: MTA team spent years to build AC technology, and its providing (now unlocking) a lot to forks if they so wish, for free. Consider it as a main layer of anticheat that already protects a lot in GTA, we help you not to have to build such a huge amount of technology all by yourself. Now the point, what else you do, like you see this as main layer and then also build your own secondary layer of anticheat, maybe even on a novice level of what's technically understandable to your developers that have no serious AC development background - that's entirely up to you and your creativity, and how serious you take your project. If you want to complement the main layer provided by us, you are able to.
	}}		}}

Dutchman101: clarify

2023-06-25T01:43:00Z

clarify

← Older revision		Revision as of 01:43, 25 June 2023
Line 39:		Line 39:
	}}		}}
	{{Note\|		{{Note\|
	* Important: It's your own responsibility to add a file integrity/authencity checker, as obviously since the game DLLs are built by you (and not us) there is no way to embed such unique DLLs into our netc internal checklists, nor have anything within other modules to check netc itself. If you don't work this out, a cheater can just replace any module or add in a cheat payload with PE editing, this is the biggest risk factor when using "forks full AC". How far you'd like to go with file checks, like deciding to harden it on usermode (with heartbeats or so) or use kernelmode, is up to you and the level of dedication to security your project has. If all you care about is a raised border towards cheating, you may go for basic file checker (MD5/SHA256) for all game modules		* Important: It's your own responsibility to add a file integrity/authencity checker, as obviously since the game DLLs are built by you (and not us) there is no way to embed such unique DLLs into our netc internal checklists, nor have anything within other modules to check netc itself. If you don't work this out, a cheater can just replace any module or add in a cheat payload with PE editing, this is the biggest risk factor when using "forks full AC". How far you'd like to go with file checks, like deciding to harden it on usermode (with heartbeats or so) or use your own secondary kernelmode AC driver, is up to you and the level of dedication to security your project has. If all you care about is a raised border towards cheating, you may go for basic file checker (MD5/SHA256) for all game modules

			There are more and similar bottlenecks that are too complicated to easily explain but are based on the "nothing is ever 100% secure" principle, of which many apply to bridging between official MTA and forks using 'full AC'. It is also good to reflect on the overall thing like this: MTA team spent years to build AC technology, and its providing (now unlocking) a lot to forks if they so wish, for free. Consider it as a main layer of anticheat that already protects a lot in GTA, we help you not to have to build such a huge amount of technology all by yourself. Now the point, what else you do, like you see this as main layer and then also build your own secondary layer of anticheat, maybe even on a novice level of what's technically understandable to your developers that have no serious AC development background - that's entirely up to you and your creativity. If you want to complement the main layer provided by us, you are able to.
	}}		}}

Dutchman101: t

2023-06-25T01:11:23Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 01:11, 25 June 2023
Line 52:		Line 52:
	Never use x86 server for your fork, that's bad for many reasons. Not being encouraged, it will have no steps.		Never use x86 server for your fork, that's bad for many reasons. Not being encouraged, it will have no steps.

	Let's continue with setting up the client.<br>		Let's continue with setting up the client and 'full AC'.<br>

	- Face some AC kicks in your forked client, the trial and error stage begins here. Now use the earlier parts of this guide to either disable AC detection types by disableac in mtaserver.conf, or better yet, spend more development manpower on properly fixing them & cleaning up your custom implementations, as advised earlier as well, to keep as much AC protection % as possible. We advise not going below 85% (as in the example of 'disableac' codes: 5, 6, 21 was mentioned to be relatively 85% and what most russian, mod-heavy forks would require to immediately run and let you connect)		- Face some AC kicks in your forked client, the trial and error stage begins here. Now use the earlier parts of this guide to either disable AC detection types by disableac in mtaserver.conf, or better yet, spend more development manpower on properly fixing them & cleaning up your custom implementations, as advised earlier as well, to keep as much AC protection % as possible. We advise not going below 85% (as in the example of 'disableac' codes: 5, 6, 21 was mentioned to be relatively 85% and what most russian, mod-heavy forks would require to immediately run and let you connect)

Dutchman101 at 01:11, 25 June 2023

2023-06-25T01:11:02Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 01:11, 25 June 2023
Line 51:		Line 51:
	Windows x64: https://mirror-cdn.multitheftauto.com/bdata/net_64.dll (rename to "net.dll")<br>		Windows x64: https://mirror-cdn.multitheftauto.com/bdata/net_64.dll (rename to "net.dll")<br>
	Never use x86 server for your fork, that's bad for many reasons. Not being encouraged, it will have no steps.		Never use x86 server for your fork, that's bad for many reasons. Not being encouraged, it will have no steps.

			Let's continue with setting up the client.<br>

	- Face some AC kicks in your forked client, the trial and error stage begins here. Now use the earlier parts of this guide to either disable AC detection types by disableac in mtaserver.conf, or better yet, spend more development manpower on properly fixing them & cleaning up your custom implementations, as advised earlier as well, to keep as much AC protection % as possible. We advise not going below 85% (as in the example of 'disableac' codes: 5, 6, 21 was mentioned to be relatively 85% and what most russian, mod-heavy forks would require to immediately run and let you connect)		- Face some AC kicks in your forked client, the trial and error stage begins here. Now use the earlier parts of this guide to either disable AC detection types by disableac in mtaserver.conf, or better yet, spend more development manpower on properly fixing them & cleaning up your custom implementations, as advised earlier as well, to keep as much AC protection % as possible. We advise not going below 85% (as in the example of 'disableac' codes: 5, 6, 21 was mentioned to be relatively 85% and what most russian, mod-heavy forks would require to immediately run and let you connect)

Dutchman101: add server net module instructions

2023-06-25T01:10:32Z

add server net module instructions

← Older revision		Revision as of 01:10, 25 June 2023
Line 46:		Line 46:

	- Make sure that you upgraded the codebase of your fork to the active major version's (for which netc.dll) '''master''' commit of mtasa-blue, at least the "Default" version listed at [https://nightly.mtasa.com/ver/] as "Auto-update default" for the latest major version, then matching said revision to commit SHA1 hash with this tool: https://buildinfo.mtasa.com/index.php - this means not to use the github release tag of a major version, because MTA is using "MTA-as-a-service" model, where players receive regular updates that contain all master changes for optimal quality and experience of new features. Latest netc.dll releases are based on this and may require master changes to be present.		- Make sure that you upgraded the codebase of your fork to the active major version's (for which netc.dll) '''master''' commit of mtasa-blue, at least the "Default" version listed at [https://nightly.mtasa.com/ver/] as "Auto-update default" for the latest major version, then matching said revision to commit SHA1 hash with this tool: https://buildinfo.mtasa.com/index.php - this means not to use the github release tag of a major version, because MTA is using "MTA-as-a-service" model, where players receive regular updates that contain all master changes for optimal quality and experience of new features. Latest netc.dll releases are based on this and may require master changes to be present.

			- For your dedicated servers / nodes to which players will connect, use the server net modules from:<br>
			Linux x64: https://mirror-cdn.multitheftauto.com/bdata/net_64.so (rename to "net.so")<br>
			Windows x64: https://mirror-cdn.multitheftauto.com/bdata/net_64.dll (rename to "net.dll")<br>
			Never use x86 server for your fork, that's bad for many reasons. Not being encouraged, it will have no steps.

	- Face some AC kicks in your forked client, the trial and error stage begins here. Now use the earlier parts of this guide to either disable AC detection types by disableac in mtaserver.conf, or better yet, spend more development manpower on properly fixing them & cleaning up your custom implementations, as advised earlier as well, to keep as much AC protection % as possible. We advise not going below 85% (as in the example of 'disableac' codes: 5, 6, 21 was mentioned to be relatively 85% and what most russian, mod-heavy forks would require to immediately run and let you connect)		- Face some AC kicks in your forked client, the trial and error stage begins here. Now use the earlier parts of this guide to either disable AC detection types by disableac in mtaserver.conf, or better yet, spend more development manpower on properly fixing them & cleaning up your custom implementations, as advised earlier as well, to keep as much AC protection % as possible. We advise not going below 85% (as in the example of 'disableac' codes: 5, 6, 21 was mentioned to be relatively 85% and what most russian, mod-heavy forks would require to immediately run and let you connect)

Dutchman101: update repository point

2023-06-21T21:31:40Z

update repository point

← Older revision		Revision as of 21:31, 21 June 2023
Line 36:		Line 36:

	{{Note\|		{{Note\|
	* Important: As of ~~January~~ 2023, you must pull all mtasa-blue commits and sync your fork's codebase in order to use the latest netc version provided at the link above. There are incompatible changes that required updates on both sides. ~~// '''UPDATE''': This happened again in March 2023, you will now need to pull at least r21618 (on mtasa-blue git: commit eedbdc5fbfdd5d5bed8454728d8e224a4b94838e) in order to use the~~ netc~~.dll~~ module ~~version~~ being offered ~~as of now~~.		* Important: As of June 2023, you must pull all mtasa-blue commits (update to 1.6) and sync your fork's codebase in order to use the latest netc version provided at the link above. There are incompatible changes that required updates on both sides. The netc module being offered fits for a fork based on MTA 1.6
	}}		}}
	{{Note\|		{{Note\|

Dutchman101: Renew a notice, and remove an outdated one

2023-03-14T17:55:34Z

Renew a notice, and remove an outdated one

← Older revision		Revision as of 17:55, 14 March 2023
Line 1:		Line 1:
	__NOTOC__ {{Note\|Information on this page does not apply to the official builds of MTA.}}		__NOTOC__ {{Note\|Information on this page does not apply to the official builds of MTA.}}
	~~__NOTOC__ {{Note\|This is an early version of this page, to be further improved/rewritten}}~~

	'''Русская версия (может быть устаревшая, так как переведена вручную):''' [[RU/Полный античит MTA для форк-проектов]]		'''Русская версия (может быть устаревшая, так как переведена вручную):''' [[RU/Полный античит MTA для форк-проектов]]
Line 37:		Line 36:

	{{Note\|		{{Note\|
	* Important: As of January 2023, you must pull all mtasa-blue commits and sync your fork's codebase in order to use the latest netc version provided at the link above. There are incompatible changes that required updates on both sides		* Important: As of January 2023, you must pull all mtasa-blue commits and sync your fork's codebase in order to use the latest netc version provided at the link above. There are incompatible changes that required updates on both sides. // '''UPDATE''': This happened again in March 2023, you will now need to pull at least r21618 (on mtasa-blue git: commit eedbdc5fbfdd5d5bed8454728d8e224a4b94838e) in order to use the netc.dll module version being offered as of now.
	}}		}}
	{{Note\|		{{Note\|

Dutchman101 at 22:43, 1 February 2023

2023-02-01T22:43:31Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 22:43, 1 February 2023
Line 1:		Line 1:
	__NOTOC__ {{Note\|Information on this page does not apply to the official builds of MTA.}}		__NOTOC__ {{Note\|Information on this page does not apply to the official builds of MTA.}}
	__NOTOC__ {{Note\|This is an early version of this page, to be further improved/rewritten}}		__NOTOC__ {{Note\|This is an early version of this page, to be further improved/rewritten}}

			'''Русская версия (может быть устаревшая, так как переведена вручную):''' [[RU/Полный античит MTA для форк-проектов]]

	MTA forks that don't suffice to use "forks regular netc" (from bdata/netc.dll) as described in the [[Forks]] wiki page, due to it only offering a very limited AC (Anti-Cheat) protection, can explore the possibilities for using a new flavour of netc: "forks full AC". This however, comes with its own limitations pertaining to the nature of your forked project and implementations, matters that aren't easy to explain, but this page strives to do it as accurately as possible.		MTA forks that don't suffice to use "forks regular netc" (from bdata/netc.dll) as described in the [[Forks]] wiki page, due to it only offering a very limited AC (Anti-Cheat) protection, can explore the possibilities for using a new flavour of netc: "forks full AC". This however, comes with its own limitations pertaining to the nature of your forked project and implementations, matters that aren't easy to explain, but this page strives to do it as accurately as possible.

Dutchman101: Add file checker recommendations

2023-02-01T22:40:47Z

Add file checker recommendations

← Older revision		Revision as of 22:40, 1 February 2023
Line 36:		Line 36:
	{{Note\|		{{Note\|
	* Important: As of January 2023, you must pull all mtasa-blue commits and sync your fork's codebase in order to use the latest netc version provided at the link above. There are incompatible changes that required updates on both sides		* Important: As of January 2023, you must pull all mtasa-blue commits and sync your fork's codebase in order to use the latest netc version provided at the link above. There are incompatible changes that required updates on both sides
			}}
			{{Note\|
			* Important: It's your own responsibility to add a file integrity/authencity checker, as obviously since the game DLLs are built by you (and not us) there is no way to embed such unique DLLs into our netc internal checklists, nor have anything within other modules to check netc itself. If you don't work this out, a cheater can just replace any module or add in a cheat payload with PE editing, this is the biggest risk factor when using "forks full AC". How far you'd like to go with file checks, like deciding to harden it on usermode (with heartbeats or so) or use kernelmode, is up to you and the level of dedication to security your project has. If all you care about is a raised border towards cheating, you may go for basic file checker (MD5/SHA256) for all game modules
	}}		}}