Hacking
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Hacking is a means by which players give themselves an unfair advantage over players by running programs which alter the game's code. Hacking is forbidden by Valve and if you are caught hacking your account may be suspended indefinitely. To avoid hackers, play with people you know and trust and/ or on VAC secure servers.
To prevent hacking on your server ensure that:
- Your server has VAC enabled.
- Your server is set to either sv_pure = 2, or sv_pure = 1 (with a non-default white list, see here).
Note: The above will only prevent most hacks. If the hacker is willing to risk having their Steam I.D. being banned by VAC, they may still be able to hack on even the most secure servers.
Due to Team Fortress 2 being a relatively new release, hacks are still somewhat rare, but they are starting to occur with more frequency.
On the Xbox 360 version of Team Fortress 2, hacks are much more present, possibly due to the lack of VAC.
Types of Hacks
Aim hacks (Aimbot)-
Function: Automatically locks onto hit boxes in the most viable position. (IE: The head, for Snipers.)
Indication: The player's view will appear to shake wildly, but their shots will still be completely accurate.
Texture hacks-
Function: The player will be able to see the silhouette of players even behind walls and other surfaces, usually through modifying the transparency of map textures and the visibility of player textures.
Indication: The player is aware of of your presence, even when you have given no indication of your being there or if you are partially cloaked (either in the process of cloaking, or someone just bumped into you). Also, a phenomena known as 'pre-loading' can occur, in which an enemy player fires at a location before he would otherwise do so. An example of this is shooting grenades at doorways prior to the player walking through them, thus implying that either the person is spamming, or could see the player coming.
Wall hacks
Function: The player is able to move through walls and other impenetrable objects, or flying about.
Indication: Player moving through walls or flying.
Speed hacks -
Function: Dramatically increases the player's movement speed.
Indication: The player will move far more quickly than usual, almost as if running.
Invulnerability hacks
Function: Player will not die, ever.
Indication: If they are taking insane amounts of damage without an ÜberCharge or form of revitalization in sight.
Critical hacks
Function: Player critical percentage higher than the base 5% chance. (Maximum of 100%)
Indication: Players firing an alarming number of critical ordinance.
Weapons Hacks
Function: Allows the use of weapons not made for the class being used.
Indication: Players using weapons not made for their class, such as a Scout using a Minigun.
Oneshot hacks
Function: Any hit onto any player is instant death.
Indication: Shots from a player causes instant death to anyone it hits, no matter what the weapon.
Unlimited ammo
Function: Not needing to obtain ammo or reload, even.
Indication: Player firing more than the set amount of ammunition without any indication of obtaining more ammo. Player may not reload at all during this process.
Spawn Hacks
Function: Spawning random items from the game in places they do not belong, often to block a shortcut or to create a diversion.
Indication: Usually hard to indicate the spawner, but items from TF2 and Half-Life 2 (ragdolls, party mode presents, Gman, etc.) will randomly appear in-game.
Things that aren't hacking
- Admins using or abusing console commands.
- Players inflicting more damage on you or killing you with less shots than usual. Hacks cannot change damage values, due to the way information is relayed online and so these kills are more likely due to lag or critical hits.
- Players experiencing high latency, as they may lag in their movements. Hitting them and avoiding their shots may become more difficult in this process. (However some players use/emit lag to their advantage.)
