"Fixed an exploit"

[Avisrex]

What exploits exactly?

Why be detailed on other things but not those?

If we are getting public Patch notes then shouldn't we get all the details of those notes?

Perhaps some people don't see the things as exploits? Perhaps they legit are, who knows?

Making it sound vague and not detailed makes it look like you're hiding something we don't know or may not want. A little more transparency would be appreciated.

[zero064]

Usually developers don't want to reveal details of exploits. There are many people who don't know about the exploit (whatever it was), but if they did they could potentially use it on private servers that run older versions.

[Joebl0w13]

I hope the OP doesn't work in the IT security field.

[Avisrex]

4 hours ago, Joebl0w13 said:

I hope the OP doesn't work in the IT security field.

I don't.

 

5 hours ago, zero064 said:

Usually developers don't want to reveal details of exploits. There are many people who don't know about the exploit (whatever it was), but if they did they could potentially use it on private servers that run older versions.

I understand wanting to avoid exploits but at the same time it looks really sketchy to be vague like that. Hell whole updates are dedicated to one exploit fix sometimes so why force everyone to update their servers and all this other stuff for just "Fixed an exploit probably only two people knew about."

two is a unrealistic number here but hopefully my point is still made. If we're getting updates would like to hear about the whole update.

[PhotekPlays]

6 hours ago, Avisrex said:

I don't.

 

I understand wanting to avoid exploits but at the same time it looks really sketchy to be vague like that. Hell whole updates are dedicated to one exploit fix sometimes so why force everyone to update their servers and all this other stuff for just "Fixed an exploit probably only two people knew about."

two is a unrealistic number here but hopefully my point is still made. If we're getting updates would like to hear about the whole update.

 

ofc you do not work in IT security or any other field

he was sarcastic

 

can you imagine that it is still an exploit on other systems???

 

your point is just you are bored and curious in a bad way, it's annoying.

and noone owes you any clarification to anything.

 

people could say you look for exploits to exploit the game

 

do you?

you think this forum is a place to talk about exploits in public?

so why should they post an exploit at all in the patchnotes

 

...omg....

[Piffguru]

It seems often times they fix things that later on get broken again from future patches so if they explain the exploit now thinking its "fixed" and later on it pops up again then you can imagine the devs face palming and thinking why did we tell everyone how to do this before. As much as I would like to know what was broken before it doesnt make sense from the developers pov to tell the community the details.

[Pipinghot]

8 hours ago, Avisrex said:

I don't.

Right, you don't, which is exactly the point that Joe was making.

If you understood more about exploits, and more importantly about exploiters, then you'd know that giving out too much information when fixing exploits is a great way to give the bad guys clues that help them figure out what to try to exploit next. Or it helps them understand what to avoid because they don't want to get caught, sometimes when you fix an exploit you also include a trap that catches people trying to use that exploit and you want the exploiters to fall into the trap.

No, it doesn't look "really sketchy to be vague", it looks like they're trying to stay one step ahead of the exploiters and they don't want to give away too much information.

 

As for your comment regarding "Fixed an exploit probably only two people knew about." that's a completely silly argument for two reasons:

1) You have no idea how many people knew about it, you're just making up a ridiculous number because it feels to you like it gives you a better reason to complain. There are plenty of people out there who are constantly looking for new ways to exploit and who trade information about new ways they've found to exploit the game, not millions of them, but a lot. The very idea that "only two people", or even only a few people, know about an exploit is a pretty foolish notion.

2) Even so, let's play your silly game, let's pretend that there's an exploit only two people know about. If the exploit is bad enough, or dangerous enough, then it might the a good enough reason to patch it immediately. Sometimes an exploit can be dangerous enough that you don't want to let it continue for even one more hour. For example, if two people know an exploit that could cause all of the official servers to start crashing like dominos, that's already too many people who know how to do something extremely dangerous. The moment you find out that an exploit like this exists you would want to patch it immediately, because it would be stupid to wait until more people know how to do it.

You need to remember that if an exploit can be used on one server then it can also be used on every server, and that means every exploit has to be evaluated for how it might affect the overall game, not just one player or one tribe or one server. Every exploit in ARK is global, potentially affecting every player in the game, which means every exploit has to be taken seriously and some of them have to be patched as quickly as possible.

 

This isn't even about ARK - this is how all major game developers manage their games. None of them give out all of the details about exploits. Sometimes they give more info, sometimes they give less info, but they always limit the info based on how safe it is to reveal the details. Holding back details isn't "sketchy", it's done to protect you and everyone else, by trying make it harder for the exploiters figure out what to do next.

[Avisrex]

OK OK no need to get hostile.

I was wondering why we didn't get more transparency and if the reason is so it can't be repeated if its broken again then that's that.

Sorry for asking, if any further curiosities come up I will simply ask a few friends rather than go here again.

[Pipinghot]

3 hours ago, Avisrex said:

OK OK no need to get hostile.

I was wondering why we didn't get more transparency and if the reason is so it can't be repeated if its broken again then that's that.

Sorry for asking, if any further curiosities come up I will simply ask a few friends rather than go here again.

Well no, you weren't merely wondering, you included both implicit and explicit accusations in your posts:

"hiding something"
"looks really sketchy"
"Fixed an exploit probably only two people knew about."

That's not wondering, that's accusing, or at the very least taking an attitude. The tone you got back from people was appropriate for the tone you used in the thread.

[Reiv]

The more you know about exploits, the easier it is to find new ones.  If they posted that info, you would have far more people discovering far more exploits.

Occasionally they do post info on that stuff when the particular bug/exploit is extremely widespread in the community (like when they fixed the snow owl infinite freeze for example)

[Avisrex]

On 8/8/2021 at 10:56 PM, Pipinghot said:

Well no, you weren't merely wondering, you included both implicit and explicit accusations in your posts:

"hiding something"
"looks really sketchy"
"Fixed an exploit probably only two people knew about."

That's not wondering, that's accusing, or at the very least taking an attitude. The tone you got back from people was appropriate for the tone you used in the thread.

Then allow me to apologize for the attitude.

I have been jaded over the years with wildcard so I am sorry that my first reactions is accusatory and negative.

I enjoy Ark, I even want to make my own server. But when enough things go wrong you start questioning things.

[Ganelon]

25 minutes ago, Avisrex said:

Then allow me to apologize for the attitude.

I have been jaded over the years with wildcard so I am sorry that my first reactions is accusatory and negative.

I enjoy Ark, I even want to make my own server. But when enough things go wrong you start questioning things.

The only valid question is "do I enjoy playing this GAME".  If 'yes', quit trying to stir up sh*t. 

[Pipinghot]

45 minutes ago, Avisrex said:

Then allow me to apologize for the attitude.

I have been jaded over the years with wildcard so I am sorry that my first reactions is accusatory and negative.

I enjoy Ark, I even want to make my own server. But when enough things go wrong you start questioning things.

For what it's worth I don't trust them either, just not for the reason we've been discussing (which is a story for another time). The point I was trying to make earlier is that the information they publish related to fixing exploits is not a reason to distrust them, in this regard they follow industry standards for gaming pretty closely. If you spend any time looking around at the gaming industry the information that WC gives out when they talk about fixing exploits is pretty typical stuff.

Heck, some game companies don't give any information about exploits they fix, and there's a long history in the gaming industry of not even talking about exploits at all. Some companies try to brush the entire conversation under the carpet and avoid talking about exploits as much as they can.

On a side note, if you enjoy the game enough then you should make your own server. I did it a few years ago and having a private server is the only reason I'm still playing the game. Official servers are awful, IMO, and I wouldn't enjoy playing this game in single-player mode, but having a private server where I play with some of my RL friends has allowed us to enjoy the game on our own terms and the ability to customize our own game experience is what has kept it fun.

 

[mr_xrayman]

Nice to see they are fixing exploits, but I would like to read... Fixed exploit and banned 24 people

[Avisrex]

6 hours ago, mr_xrayman said:

Nice to see they are fixing exploits, but I would like to read... Fixed exploit and banned 24 people

Though I don't like the idea of taking someone's money and then banning them from the game...

I can see the issue here too, don't ban and they just keep finding ways to do it.

Kinda like the raptor's testing the fences in Jurassic park, "that's fixed and won't work so let's see what will."

But what of those who came across it by accident? If you ban then would that mean everyone to come across it or just those who purposefully use it?

Because imagine you just bought the game and accidentally mesh through a rock... suddenly you can't play anymore.

Or am I misinterpreting banning?

[DerGrinch]

Ihr installiert mir auf meinem Rechner ein Update von 600 MB bis 1,3 GB und als Patch Notes kommt

 

v336.12 - 08/24/2021

• Fixed some exploits

Ist ein bissle dürftig!

Genauer währe schön!

[Austria]

Wildcard erfährt selber erst durch die Bug-reports was sie im patch hatten 😆😆😆

[Thekuervito]

v336.12 - 08/24/2021 - Minor server version update

- Fixed some exploits
- Fixed some level design related bugs such as holes, floating foliage, and incorrect volumes.
- Fixed a bug where Wild Shadowmanes would no longer use their teleport attack
- Fixed a bug where some structures would be invisible on platform saddles/rafts
- Fixed a bug where players weren't able to reload their weapons when sitting on a creature

@PC (Steam/Epic)