Hackers: I hope you had fun.

[shadowtabby]

A few days ago I was invaded by someone named Big Hacker in Shadowkeep (DLC). Me and my co-op got teleported under the map, an error message appeared, he got disconnected from my world and eventually I died. After every respawn, I would fall through the map and die. I was shocked, but luckily restarting fixed this. I kept playing and got to Messmer, died to him a few times, and logged off. The next morning, I decided there are things I still need to do before beating Messmer, like Count Ymirs quest. I went to start it, and learned that any key items I now pick up don't go into my inventory. I discovered Bonny Gaol, and the boss was killed. Not sure how many other bosses are killed now. I never got the haligtree medallion half yet on this ng, yet when I went to roundtable hold royal remains invaded. I still have two elevators left as I've only got as far north as rennala on the base game map.

So, basically what this all means is that my save file is completely broken. Thank you Big Hacker.
I've been in contact with bandai namco support, showed them a clip of the invasion, and everything wrong with my save so far in detail. They've given me a somewhat vague but sure response that my issue has been documented, will be "escalated to the appropriate contacts", and that "sanctions will be placed accordingly".

I've asked for clarification, as this is vague at best. So, I'm really making this post, after years of on and off play, after a pre-order of both the base game and dlc, 145 hours on my one character, every base game side quest complete, and nearly a decade of being a devout FromSoft fan.

What is wrong with you people. Those of you who choose to do this. I didn't even get to finish the DLC once. I did nothing to you. I've seen the odd godmode, whatever. But those of you who choose to brick peoples saves, you are truly disgusting. It's clear that you don't care about the game at all, if bandai cannot offer me a solution and my only one is to make a new character, I will quit. I'm glad you get off doing that to people. I've honestly cried over this, you terrible terrible sad vile people.

Nothing I can do but move on if it doesn't get fixed, as much as I don't want to. Just wanted to put this out there, maybe warn people, I'm not taking it very well and it should be known. I had a lot of trouble researching this, but I did eventually come across similar situations on reddit from within the last month or so. Don't engage with the multiplayer right now, back-up your saves everyone, please.

[dark-breed]

Originally posted by Sabaithal:

Originally posted by csand:

EAC actually does work just not on Linux/Proton.

Doesn't matter, because linux/windows/mac (god forbid) is irrelevant whenever people are getting their saves compromised regardless of system as a result. Therefore it doesn't work.

I give it a year, maybe two, before most of the problems plaguing the Ds3 multiplayer end up coming back in ER, just like the "infinite death bonfire/teleport" glitch has.

you do not understand how this hacks are done and you also do not know why it is a linux/proton related issue that it is possible to perform the hacks at all.

we do not speak about the target system of the hacks, the system where the hack got performed from is the relevant thing.

there is a security issue in linux/proton that allows to workaround EAC in online mode very easy. the final problem of corrupted variables is possible because invader and host share variables from this point on there is no server/netcode side check of variable alterings from the manipulated linux systems side. EAC is not able to determine if a variable contains legit values or not (this is not how a anticheat works btw).

there is not a single cheat or hack known that can get performed in online/EAC active at windows.

[Sabaithal]

Originally posted by dark-breed:

-wall of text-

You didn't refute my point. Someone had their save compromised, in spite of EAC supposed to be stopping such an occurance (and this is far from the first report of something like this happening). Therefore it doesn't work.

Use whatever excuse you want, whatever moral high ground you want, whatever "I've helped 2 million people bro" BS you want, it doesn't matter. And claiming that the other part doesn't know what they are talking about when I actively acknowledge the proton/linux vulnerabilities makes you look really, really stupid btw.

[dark-breed]

Originally posted by Sabaithal:

Originally posted by dark-breed:

-wall of text-

You didn't refute my point. Someone had their save compromised, in spite of EAC supposed to be stopping such an occurance (and this is far from the first report of something like this happening). Therefore it doesn't work.

Use whatever excuse you want, whatever moral high ground you want, whatever "I've helped 2 million people bro" BS you want, it doesn't matter. And claiming that the other part doesn't know what they are talking about when I actively acknowledge the proton/linux vulnerabilities makes you look really, really stupid btw.

this is not how EAC works.

EAC is a local client anticheat software it is impossible to use it to prevent hacks from outside.

btw with this text you prooved you are not even near someone with knowledge about anything around computer technology terminology or a bit of knowledge.

this post exposes you as a super troll that failed to be able to know what a anticheat is. hahahahahaha

[Sabaithal]

Originally posted by dark-breed:

this is not how EAC works.

EAC is a local client anticheat software it is impossible to use it to prevent hacks from outside.

... I know I'm not the best at explaining things because I prefer to NOT do walls of text, but you know you just agreed with me, right??

[dark-breed]

Originally posted by Sabaithal:

Originally posted by dark-breed:

this is not how EAC works.

EAC is a local client anticheat software it is impossible to use it to prevent hacks from outside.

... I know I'm not the best at explaining things because I prefer to NOT do walls of text, but you know you just agreed with me, right??

i do not agree with you in any point, what you want what a "anticheat" should be able to do is mathematical and physical impossible.

the fact is you do not know what a anticheat is or how it works and what the purpose of a anticheat is.

you can troll as much you want but knowledge is something you never gain.

It's funny to see how ridiculous you are and you don't even notice it.

You should use your Google skills to find out what an anti-cheat is and how it must work to prevent cheating. Maybe you realize what is wrong with your thoughts, but I doubt it.

just a small hint

An anticheat is and will never be able to check a variable for correct value at any time in this universe. This software was never developed for this purpose and the necessary computing power and storage space to accomplish this does not exist on the entire planet (even if you combine all existing hardware together).

[Dr0W]

To OP: I had a hacked do that to me a LONG time ago, and I'm here to tell you that there is a fix for your save file.

As soon as you respawn, you can quickly press specific buttons to quickly select another Grace spot and you respawn there. I don't have my own ER installed atm, but it's something like pressing a specific button that brings the menu where you have specific grace spots listed and you click the first one and simply accept that. In other words, you just press like a 3 or 4 buttons sequence and then you're able to respawn somewhere else thus saving your original save file.

[dark-breed]

Originally posted by Dr0W:

To OP: I had a hacked do that to me a LONG time ago, and I'm here to tell you that there is a fix for your save file.

As soon as you respawn, you can quickly press specific buttons to quickly select another Grace spot and you respawn there. I don't have my own ER installed atm, but it's something like pressing a specific button that brings the menu where you have specific grace spots listed and you click the first one and simply accept that. In other words, you just press like a 3 or 4 buttons sequence and then you're able to respawn somewhere else thus saving your original save file.

sadly not this hack does not only let you fall through the void it manipulate specific things in your savefile causing that it is no longer working correctly from this point on.

you can save you from the endless falling but the other alterings done to the savefile stay.

at the moment we investigate if the previous workaround to go to new game fix the other issues but so far i got some reports that the reward issues get not fixed with new game.

[Ken-Oh]

Originally posted by dark-breed:

Originally posted by Sabaithal:

Doesn't matter, because linux/windows/mac (god forbid) is irrelevant whenever people are getting their saves compromised regardless of system as a result. Therefore it doesn't work.

I give it a year, maybe two, before most of the problems plaguing the Ds3 multiplayer end up coming back in ER, just like the "infinite death bonfire/teleport" glitch has.

you do not understand how this hacks are done and you also do not know why it is a linux/proton related issue that it is possible to perform the hacks at all.

we do not speak about the target system of the hacks, the system where the hack got performed from is the relevant thing.

there is a security issue in linux/proton that allows to workaround EAC in online mode very easy. the final problem of corrupted variables is possible because invader and host share variables from this point on there is no server/netcode side check of variable alterings from the manipulated linux systems side. EAC is not able to determine if a variable contains legit values or not (this is not how a anticheat works btw).

there is not a single cheat or hack known that can get performed in online/EAC active at windows.

You only talked about the variables the cheater could have changed on the host's side. Could he also change variables on the phantoms' side, or: Can the cheater also modify phantoms' savefiles?

[Dr0W]

But also, after I got the same thing happening to me I also came up with a quick save backup .BAT file. If you know how they work, just make use of it, but if you don't, just copy the following lines and paste it into a .txt file using notepad, and then rename it from .txt to .bat.

What it does is every time you execute the .bat file it will copy your current save file to a folder where its name is the day and time of your backup, so I simply put the bat file into my desktop and run it before my gaming sessions, so if anything ruins my save file I lose a gaming session not the whole file.

My original idea was to make this .bat file as the launcher of the game, so anytime I opened the game it would also automatically backup my save files, but then I got lazy. Here's the file. Also make sure to rename "YOURUSERNAME" and the "YOURUSERSTEAMNUMBERTHINGY" with whatever values you have on your computer so it will work.

@echo off

for /f "delims=" %%a in ('wmic OS Get localdatetime ^| find "."') do set DateTime=%%a

set Yr=%DateTime:~0,4%
set Mon=%DateTime:~4,2%
set Day=%DateTime:~6,2%
set Hr=%DateTime:~8,2%
set Min=%DateTime:~10,2%
set Sec=%DateTime:~12,2%

set BackupName=ER0000__%Yr%-%Mon%-%Day%_(%Hr%-%Min%-%Sec%)

copy "C:\Users\YOURUSERNAME\AppData\Roaming\EldenRing\YOURUSERSTEAMNUMBERTHINGY\ER0000.sl2" "C:\Users\YOURUSERNAME\AppData\Roaming\EldenRing\YOURUSERSTEAMNUMBERTHINGY\Backups\%BackupName%.sl2"
copy "C:\Users\YOURUSERNAME\AppData\Roaming\EldenRing\YOURUSERSTEAMNUMBERTHINGY\ER0000.sl2.bak" "C:\Users\YOURUSERNAME\AppData\Roaming\EldenRing\YOURUSERSTEAMNUMBERTHINGY\Backups\%BackupName%.sl2.bak"

[Dr0W]

Originally posted by dark-breed:

Originally posted by Dr0W:

To OP: I had a hacked do that to me a LONG time ago, and I'm here to tell you that there is a fix for your save file.

As soon as you respawn, you can quickly press specific buttons to quickly select another Grace spot and you respawn there. I don't have my own ER installed atm, but it's something like pressing a specific button that brings the menu where you have specific grace spots listed and you click the first one and simply accept that. In other words, you just press like a 3 or 4 buttons sequence and then you're able to respawn somewhere else thus saving your original save file.

sadly not this hack does not only let you fall through the void it manipulate specific things in your savefile causing that it is no longer working correctly from this point on.

you can save you from the endless falling but the other alterings done to the savefile stay.

at the moment we investigate if the previous workaround to go to new game fix the other issues but so far i got some reports that the reward issues get not fixed with new game.

Oh man, then that really sucks.

[shadowtabby]

Hey guys, update for you. Support has informed me today they won't be doing anything about my save file. The "sanctions" they mentioned were regarding punishing the cheater.

I did not make a back-up of my save, as I've never had such a thing happen and wasn't aware it was a current issue. If I want to continue playing on official servers I will have to make a new character, which I will probably not be able to force myself to do. I may continue playing on my current character and see what other damages have been done and I hope that I'll be able to get to ng+ but I strongly doubt it. I'm sure there are some speedrunning methods or something I can find online to get me through parts I can't get through, not sure what is and isn't patched.

If I can't, this is goodbye, for a long time at least. I've been playing Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen for my fantasy fix, as I was scared to continue playing ER in fear of messing more things up, but I suppose it doesn't really matter now.

I was so excited to beat Messmer and get through the rest of the DLC. I was also going to buy my girlfriend the game to play with me. I corresponded with 4 GMs and I'm shocked they all supposedly aren't at minimum able to give me the items I proved I lost so I can at least go to NG+ and fix my save. To me, this translates to they don't care.

Thank you for your kind words, I hope this can reach as many people as possible, as this issue really needs more awareness, and Bandai don't seem to be able to help you at all.

[shadowtabby]

Ah, also dark-breed thank you, seems the reddit people were wrong about NG+ being a fix. Good to know. And also Dr0W the .BAT strat is very smart! Wish I did it lol.

[dark-breed]

Originally posted by Ken-Oh:

Originally posted by dark-breed:

you do not understand how this hacks are done and you also do not know why it is a linux/proton related issue that it is possible to perform the hacks at all.

we do not speak about the target system of the hacks, the system where the hack got performed from is the relevant thing.

there is a security issue in linux/proton that allows to workaround EAC in online mode very easy. the final problem of corrupted variables is possible because invader and host share variables from this point on there is no server/netcode side check of variable alterings from the manipulated linux systems side. EAC is not able to determine if a variable contains legit values or not (this is not how a anticheat works btw).

there is not a single cheat or hack known that can get performed in online/EAC active at windows.

You only talked about the variables the cheater could have changed on the host's side. Could he also change variables on the phantoms' side, or: Can the cheater also modify phantoms' savefiles?

this hacks work only between invader and host so far we know, since the variables that get manipulated are only on the hosts savefile. side effects to coop partners are related to the base manipulation at the hosts savefile but so far we do not have seen a case where a coop partner had after a invader performed a hack also a damaged savefile.

basically the variables are world variables in the savefile and since coop partner and invader play in the hosts world and not in the own the chance is small to turn the table.

[Artek [General]]

Originally posted by shadowtabby:

Hey guys, update for you. Support has informed me today they won't be doing anything about my save file. The "sanctions" they mentioned were regarding punishing the cheater.

I did not make a back-up of my save, as I've never had such a thing happen and wasn't aware it was a current issue. If I want to continue playing on official servers I will have to make a new character, which I will probably not be able to force myself to do. I may continue playing on my current character and see what other damages have been done and I hope that I'll be able to get to ng+ but I strongly doubt it. I'm sure there are some speedrunning methods or something I can find online to get me through parts I can't get through, not sure what is and isn't patched.

If I can't, this is goodbye, for a long time at least. I've been playing Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen for my fantasy fix, as I was scared to continue playing ER in fear of messing more things up, but I suppose it doesn't really matter now.

I was so excited to beat Messmer and get through the rest of the DLC. I was also going to buy my girlfriend the game to play with me. I corresponded with 4 GMs and I'm shocked they all supposedly aren't at minimum able to give me the items I proved I lost so I can at least go to NG+ and fix my save. To me, this translates to they don't care.

Thank you for your kind words, I hope this can reach as many people as possible, as this issue really needs more awareness, and Bandai don't seem to be able to help you at all.

I mean... This is, for all intents and purposes, a single player game and not some MMO. The save file is stored on your PC locally, which is why they don't provide any assistance regarding fixing it. Its like asking devs of DOOM to unlock a specific gun for you in your save, even if it bugged out. So I can see why they can't provide any assistance.

But yeah, it sucks. This is why making back up saves is not optional in this franchise, and hasn't been optional for a long time.
Well... It could be options if you play pure offline, but where's the fun in that? I need my fix of funny death shades.

[dark-breed]

Originally posted by shadowtabby:

Ah, also dark-breed thank you, seems the reddit people were wrong about NG+ being a fix. Good to know. And also Dr0W the .BAT strat is very smart! Wish I did it lol.

in the past it was a fix but it seams this new hacks manipulate something that breaks a variableset that get not reseted with new game.

at least we seen 3 different types of this hack.

one where you only fall
one where you fall and bosses get killed later because the environment spawn variable got altered
one where something with the stash and rewards happens

basically it would be possible to find out what exactly they manipulate but it would take a lot of time and the use of a hexeditor.