Edging in Left4Dead. It's just too much.

[Edmon]

What is Edging.
Edging is where you configure your game or add scripts and macro's which are perfectly legal. These give you an "edge" over people who don't have them. Lots of Edging can add up to real serious imbalance compared to a "stock" player. (A stock player only configures his/her keys).

It is such a serious problem in Left 4 Dead because the Edge's are all decent advantages and they all stack.

To give you some examples of the perfectly legal edges in Left 4 Dead, here is a list along with details as to why they need to go.

Pistol Dump Script
Allows you to empty your pistol(s) at incredible speeds, makes the UZI worthless as pistols + this script is more DPS and more accurate over range.

Automatically detects when you have pistols equipped and requires no user input other than to hold left click.

Shotgun Dump Script
Allows you to empty your automatic shotgun at incredible speeds, great against the tank.

Automatically detects when you have your autoshotgun equipped and requires no user input other than to hold left click. Triples the rate of fire of the automatic shotgun. Can still singally left click for a normal shot.

M4 Recoil Script / Triple Shot
Automatically detects your M4, fires 3 round bursts with the left click instead of single rounds. Much, much better than using the M4 normally as you can "hunting rifle like" click on a zombie and -know- it'll die from the strike, massively improving your killing ability and ammo conservation. Works with the UZI but is made pointless by pistol dump script making the UZI worthless.

Automatic Reload
Works with the shotguns, it detects the gun and automatically keeps it reloading at all times so you are never caught with your pants down. Very powerful script when combined with shotgun dump against tanks.

As with other auto detect scripts, it'll stop the effect when you switch away from the shogun.

Silent distraction / Extended Ear.
All the sounds in the game can be replaced with empty sounds, removing that sound from the game. All the games sounds that are "distractions" can therefore be removed. Conversely, important sounds like the slight noise a hunter makes when it moves can be replaced with the sound of a jackhammer drilling concrete, so you will never be caught by surprise ever again.

The wonderful glow
A console command that apparently makes all items glow all the time, so they are easy to see. I've not actually seen this in use but I have seen it done with models, making things like hunters, smokers, etc glow in ♥♥♥-pride colours so they can be seen 400ft away in total darkness.


Bottom Line
All of these Edges are legal, they are allowed and the play to win nubs will argue this point to death. For the sake of the game they need to go. Any one of these is bad enough, but imagine if someone has ALL OF THESE installed? They certainly don't interfere with each other and it's more than possible.

Do something please.

[dieckmann215]

Are you talking about scripts? Because they cannot detect which weapon is equipped.

[Edmon]

Originally Posted by dieckmann215

Are you talking about scripts? Because they cannot detect which weapon is equipped.

Yes they can. Oh yes they can...

Seriously. They can.

[harro]

Define "legal". As a former league admin, I had banned these types of scripts in the games I've managed for competitive play. They've also been disallowed in other leagues I've played in.

Except for auto-reload. That's actually a feature in a lot of FPS games, and honestly, not a huge issue.

[iGaming | Chaos]

Is up to server admins to police this, not Valve, bad scripts have always been an issue with Source games, and I can't see that changing anytime soon.

Contact the server admins of the servers you play on and find out what you have to do to get people banned. Most major server providers have a process that you go through to achieve this, and considering how blatant most of these are, it shouldn't be a problem getting enough evidence.

And I must say, great attempt to create a buzzword.

[Maxwek]

I totally agree with you.

But I doubt anything will ever be done about that, that's a part of what makes Valve's games so popular.

[Edmon]

Originally Posted by iGaming | Chaos

Is up to server admins to police this, not Valve, bad scripts have always been an issue with Source games, and I can't see that changing anytime soon.

Contact the server admins of the servers you play on and find out what you have to do to get people banned. Most major server providers have a process that you go through to achieve this, and considering how blatant most of these are, it shouldn't be a problem getting enough evidence.

And I must say, great attempt to create a buzzword.

Edging has been around since CS, eons ago. It's just most people would rather use the more sensational (and less accurate) word "cheating".

[00T00]

Originally Posted by Edmon

Yes they can. Oh yes they can...

Seriously. They can.

Explain how. They might be able to see if you swapped weapons using the number keys or the mousewheel, but do they still work when you pick up a new weapon without doing anything else?

[iGaming | Chaos]

Originally Posted by Edmon

Edging has been around since CS, eons ago. It's just most people would rather use the more sensational (and less accurate) word "cheating".

Ok, ignore the main point of my post then lol.

[Edmon]

Originally Posted by 00T00

Explain how. They might be able to see if you swapped weapons using the key or the mousewheel, but do they still work when you pick up a new weapon without doing anything else?

I'm sorry, I fail to see how explaining the work around for weapon detection is going to help get these problems resolved? Valve will know what it is, those that already know won't care to share most likely.

Why do you want to know? So you can go and write these?

And I don't see how made-up rules in leagues is going to help, things like Silent Distraction / Extended Ear and The Wonderful Glow are client side and can't be detected. Shotgun dump looks very much like someone just left clicking like crazy.

Pistol one is probably easiest to detect because it's so inhuman, speed wise.

[dieckmann215]

Originally Posted by Edmon

Yes they can. Oh yes they can...

Seriously. They can.

No, not scripts. You could make a script that know what number weapon you swap to, but it cannot tell the difference between a hunting rifle, shotgun, uzi, autoshottie, or m16.

Originally Posted by 00T00

Explain how. They might be able to see if you swapped weapons using the key or the mousewheel, but do they still work when you pick up a new weapon without doing anything else?

Exactly right.

[dieckmann215]

Originally Posted by Edmon

I'm sorry, I fail to see how explaining the work around for weapon detection is going to help get these problems resolved? Valve will know what it is, those that already know won't care to share most likely.

Why do you want to know? So you can go and write these?

And I don't see how made-up rules in leagues is going to help, things like Silent Distraction / Extended Ear and The Wonderful Glow are client side and can't be detected. Shotgun dump looks very much like someone just left clicking like crazy.

Pistol one is probably easiest to detect because it's so inhuman, speed wise.

The reason is:
Either they are scripts, and are completely legal and will never be removed, or:
They are 3-rd party hacks.

so tell me, are they scripts? Are they executed through the console or a .cfg file?

[Edmon]

Originally Posted by dieckmann215

The reason is:
Either they are scripts, and are completely legal and will never be removed, or:
They are 3-rd party hacks.

so tell me, are they scripts? Are they executed through the console or a .cfg file?

They are scripts. Hence perfectly legal.

Detection is pretty clever, but obvious when you think about it.

Legal = You won't be VAC banned for "cheating" by using them.

[dieckmann215]

Originally Posted by Edmon

They are scripts. Hence perfectly legal.

Detection is pretty clever, but obvious when you think about it.

Hmm... all scripts can do is alias and bind. There is no kind of "if" that could be easily used to detect the difference between slot-1 weapons. Hmm...

And the three-shot burst is interesting because it would need a wait command, which varies with framerate. Oh wait, I see how to do this...

Originally Posted by Edmon

Legal = You won't be VAC banned for "cheating" by using them.

Yep. nevertheless, they are a feature in every source game, and VALVe does not plan on removing them.

[Yngve]

Originally Posted by Edmon

And I don't see how made-up rules in leagues is going to help, things like Silent Distraction / Extended Ear and The Wonderful Glow are client side and can't be detected. Shotgun dump looks very much like someone just left clicking like crazy.

Pistol one is probably easiest to detect because it's so inhuman, speed wise.

Yes its quite pathetic really. I'm quite sure some people have already started replacing background noises with empty files, i remember someone saying they replaced the Boomer Vomit music which really is lame, removing part of the immersion just so you don't have to listen as hard. I'm sure someone said they'd modded common infected to highlight heads so they're easier to hit at long range (though i dunno if that was true).

If someone actually needs a script to fire the Autoshotgun fast wtf do they even play the game for. Its not even that fast. But Rapidfire pistols is so lame. You can always tell people who have it because of the inhuman, constant firing speed.