Cheating in Second Life Racing Part 1

Hi readers and racers, this article is the first one of a series of articles that will talk about cheating in Second life racing. Just like real life racing is heavily tested and looked upon for cheating, keeping an eye opened for cheating in Second Life racing is a must. As such, the series of articles will talk about how it is possible to cheat in Second Life racing, what must be done to prevent cheating from occurring, and how to detect someone that is cheating.

Cheating in races

Cheating in a race can be done in multiple ways that will be presented here:

Using a speed script: A script can be used to “push” your avatar or vehicle faster than what the vehicle script would allow. These scripts can be found at various locations and may require some tuning to allow the car to still drive correctly. It is easier when races are made on feet, such as snail races, as multiple scripts already allow an avatar to walk/run faster without any tweaking required.

Using a modified vehicle script: This option is opened for races where cars have modifiable scripts, which is pretty rare nowadays. It means changing the script values to allow someone to have a faster car. While this option remains closed for most racers now, it is still opened for one type of racers: The vehicle creators who are racing. As they created the script and the car, it would be possible for them to modify the script so they can be advantaged.

For cars that allow you to add or remove scripts, it is also possible to delete the script within the car and create one that would replace it, renaming it to the same name of the previous script, to have it go unnoticed. The script will need to mimic the normal script for a better effect.

Using a modified car body: For races that allow someone to bring their own car body, or modify the existing one, it is possible to cheat by modifying the car body to make it larger, or give it weird shapes with the goal of sending other opponents flying and off-track. For better results, the modifications should be done with invisi-prims, so that unsuspecting racers receive the surprise.

Wearing a different avatar shape: Some vehicles will behave differently (and go faster) depending if the avatar is small or big. While not technically cheating as it is simply modifying the avatar you're wearing, it is still not really sportsmanship to abuse this possibility. In any case, when you drive a new car, testing different avatar shapes could show you whether it will have any effect on the car handling and speed.

Driving around the gate: A pretty simple trick: For races that don't use checkpoints, pass the starting gate, go around it and drive right through it. You'll be able to complete a lap in no time!

Using shortcuts: On poorly designed tracks, or multi-level tracks such as at 2Raw, it is possible to use shortcuts by avoiding turns and as such getting faster laps. On multi-level tracks, it is possible to fall down from a higher part of the track to a lower one, and shortcut the track in the process. Simply keep an eye opened for the shortcuts and use the opportunities. As for falling down on a multi-level track such as 2Raw, while one can hope to fall automatically after hitting a bump on the track , the most sure option remains to edit the car so it falls down at the desired location.

Cheating in Time trials

The same as above applies, but a special type of short-cutting can be done: As time trials are typically made with invisible checkpoints around the track, you can press control-T to make them appear (They will be appears as gates on the track). From there, you simply need go through all of them in any fashion. The fastest way to go to point A to point B is in a straight line, in which case using a hovering vehicle can make you reach the checkpoints in no time. Even better is a script allowing you to fly faster as handling while flying is usually better than a vehicle. This will allow you to easily top the leader boards for time trials!

Special ways of cheating

Second life being Second life, it is possible to use its limits to your advantage. To do so, you can put the sim or the racers under stress.

Putting the sim under stress: There are typically two ways of doing that: You can rez objects, which will create lag spikes. The more prim-heavy the object is, the larger the lag spike will be. The limitation of this technique is that you can't do this while you're driving, for obvious reasons. It however makes it perfect for qualifications, as small lag spikes will prevent the racers to do good times. On a creative basis, if you need to reach out someone in the standings, it may be preferred to lag out only that person so that person may end up starting further back, increasing your chances to finish in front of that person as that person will then need to deal with other racers first.

The other way to create lag spikes is to attach and detach objects with a very high rendering costs (like very high quality textures). The sim will struggle to bring everything up in a timely fashion and will have heavy lag spikes. The benefit of this method is that it can be used, even with build turned off.

Another special but effective way of cheating is to create horrible video lag to the other racers. The computer needs to keep in memory what the user is seeing in Second life to ensure a smooth experience. A way to make the others struggle is to make your memory cost (Avatar rendering cost) huge. A typical avatar will be below 100 000 ARC. By wearing attachments with high quality textures, and keeping them on, it is possible to rez that value to the millions. This will cause a very large drop of FPS (easily 33%) to anyone looking at the direction of your avatar. Anyone with a medium computer or slower will have a very hard time to drive, thus causing them to miss their turns and do very slow times.

This concludes the part on how to cheat in Second Life racing. This post is not one to incite people to cheat, but to raise awareness on how it can be done. The next posts in the series will show you what can be done to prevent cheating, and how to detect cheating. Until next time, readers and racers!

10/27/12 Racers Island - Stock Car Series - Round 9

Racers Island Pro Stock series went into round 9 on October 28th, the day after Racers Island hosted a big Halloween party. Ten racers showed up for the race at the Sunset Oval, a large track that makes it hard to pass other racers. Jahbith Laville managed to grab the pole position in a very close qualifying session, 0.003 second in front of Mystic Upshaw.

Here are the qualifying results:

P 1. Jahbith Laville  8.088
P 2. Mystic Audion,  8.091, -0.002
P 3. Eddie Mathieson,  8.133, -0.045
P 4. Doll Kabuki,  8.134, -0.046
P 5. David Wetherby,  8.159, -0.071
P 6. Nella Boccara,  8.199, -0.111
P 7. miller Tomcat,  8.200, -0.112
P 8. wildrose Bijoux,  8.202, -0.113
P 9. Upshaw34 (Kert) Resident,  8.222, -0.134
P 10. Miss Cedarbridge,  9.200, -1.112




As there were ten racers today, the racers were grouped in 2 races, with the racers from 6th to 10th place racing in the 75 laps B race with the top 2 moving to the main event. After the start of the B race, Tomcat and Kert managed to do well, moving up to second and third places, while Wetherby kept his first place. Kert would unfortunately get into an accident on lap 5 which moved down to P5. Meanwhile, Boccara took Kert's job in chasing Miller for the last transfer spot. However, like him, she faced a similar fate on lap 10 and fell down far behind to fifth place, relinquishing third place to Bijoux, who was now tasked to chase Tomcat. The chase was on and, while she couldn't quite get to pass Tomcat early on, Bijoux had to keep an eye on Kert that stayed close to her. Bijoux managed to be the first person to pass Tomcat in second place, managing to do so on lap 22. The battle was far from over, and, on lap 25, Tomcat hit the side of Bijoux's car, making her spin and crash into the wall, bringing Tomcat down with her. This allowed Kert to move pass them far in front and secure the crucial second place.

At this point of the race, Wetherby was far in front of everyone and leading the race. Kert, in second place, had a significant lead over Bijoux who was still fighting with Tomcat for the third place. Boccara was in fifth and far behind, mostly explained by her being a good sport and yielding to the leaders to prevent accidents with them. Lastly, Cedarbridge, a new racer, was far behind, obviously still learning the car and trying to make consistent laps. The battle between Bijoux and Tomcat became the main interest of the race and lasted between lap 16 to lap 50. Each driver passed each other and was closely battling, however Miller managed to shake her off on lap 50 and then never looked back. Thus ended the race, allowing Wetherby, who is still chasing Kabuki for the season standings, and Kert to move up to the main event.

Results:

1st. David Wetherby, 75 laps. Total Time : 622.325
2nd. Upshaw34 Resident, -8.489 seconds.
3rd. miller Tomcat, -1 laps.
4th. wildrose Bijoux, -2 laps.
5th. Nella Boccara, -3 laps.
6th. Miss Cedarbridge, -12 laps.

The main race had high stakes: Indeed, Kabuki, Wetherby and Upshaw all are looking to grab the end season title, and all were involved in this race. Any position gain in a single race is crucial, but don't think others will yield to them so easily! At the start of the race, Mathieson moved up to first place for a single lap, before yielding it back to Laville. Kert was the winner at the start, moving up to fourth place, while Kabuki missed her start and found herself fighting for fifth place with Wetherby. Upshaw managed to grab second place from Mathieson, and the early standings looked like this: Laville, Upshaw, Mathieson, Kert, Kabuki and Wetherby. This order remained a few laps, when, on the 13th lap, Laville crashed, bringing Upshaw with him, allowing Mathieson to grab back the lead. The same happened on lap 15th, this time Upshaw bringing Laville with her, allowing Kert to move up to second place, while she and Laville found themselves in third and fourth places. Meanwhile, Wetherby had distanced himself from Kabuki in fifth place. This wasn't the end of the problems for Upshaw, as, on the 23rd lap, a mistake allowed Laville to move up to third place. Again, on the next lap, another mistake allowed this time Wetherby and Kabuki to move up in front. At this point, the three leaders in the championship were now in fourth, fifth and sixth place!

As seen from the previous race, accidents between racers were very damaging, and Wetherby and Kabuki had a reminder of it when they crashed together, allowing Upshaw to move back up to fourth place on lap 28. Positions in the front were stable for several laps, with Mathieson leading the race, closely followed by Kert, who himself had a cushion on Laville. Upshaw, Kabuki and Wetherby were staying close together, but at a distance from the leaders. Unfortunately for Kert, an accident on lap 41 allowed Laville to go through. Upshaw, meanwhile, was slowly closing in to these two racers. Just like what happened earlier with his lover, Upshaw, Kert made another mistake shortly after, on lap 47, which allowed another person to pass him, who ironically was Upshaw. Mathieson, meanwhile, was far in front of Laville for the lead of the race, and Kabuki slowly built up a lead in front of Wetherby for fifth place.

Racers once again distanced themselves, that is until lap 58, where it was Upshaw's turn, who allowed Kert to move back in front of her. This mistake had another undesired effect for her, however, as it allowed Kabuki to close in on her. A very entertaining battle ensued, and, on lap 67, Kabuki managed to make it in front of Upshaw, for fourth place. Kabuki slowly catched up to Kert afterwards, but wasn't able to make up the gap on her own. It took a mistake by Kert, on the 88th lap, to allow Kabuki to make it through him and off to the final podium step. The positions remained until the end of the race.

Results:

[19:16] Racers Island  Sunset Oval Gate shouts: 1st. Eddie Mathieson, 100 laps. Total Time : 829.770
[19:16] Racers Island  Sunset Oval Gate shouts: 2nd. Jahbith Laville, -1.633 seconds.
[19:16] Racers Island  Sunset Oval Gate shouts: 3rd. Doll Kabuki, -2.662 seconds.
[19:16] Racers Island  Sunset Oval Gate shouts: 4th. Upshaw34 Resident, -4.638 seconds.
[19:16] Racers Island  Sunset Oval Gate shouts: 5th. Mystic Audion, -5.594 seconds.
[19:16] Racers Island  Sunset Oval Gate shouts: 6th. David Wetherby, -7.485 seconds.565

This race has allowed us to see a very important racing notion. While it is very tempting to try to force one's way past another racer, doing so can have unfortunate results. In this race, Tomcat attempted a pass that couldn't have worked on Bijoux, making both of them crash, which let another opponent take the opportunity to move pass them without a battle. As long there are plenty of remaining laps, a sometimes good strategy is just to put pressure on the opponent you want to pass, so that person makes a mistake on his own, giving you the opportunity to pass. No one is perfect, and pressure will eventually get to your opponent. If, as unlikely as it is, your opponent resists without making any mistake to the very end, then there is no option but to congratulate that person and try to qualify in front of him so a pass may not be required next time! On this, readers and racers, enjoy the tracks and be careful!