Posts from Poll with comments: skill tree.

In general, I think it's time to clarify things; you can't hide a needle in a haystack. The Oracle calculates the current skill trees for all heroes on the map, including those of opponents, and even after they gain new skills. It works in online mode. I'm not sure, but I think it's possible to calculate the skill progression of an opponent's heroes; you can definitely catch the desired skill, avoid unnecessary ones, time wisdom for Pandora, and so on.

The Oracle doesn't work in online mode. Although, maybe I just don't know everything. It doesn't work for me.

I actively use two calculators, but before that, I was quite good at calculating the results and everything else. I think that all these programs are wrong. Analogy: you're not allowed to use a calculator during a math exam; it's the same analogy here – battles are part of the game, damage is part of the game, so the player should calculate it, not a program. Just like in math, simple tasks are part of complex ones. Although, if battles and value aren't part of Heroes, then programs can be used.
I suggest we organize a flash mob and stop using programs (it will be very difficult for me now without them)?

Off-topic: The other day, I had a game where I killed 47 pegasuses for Pandora. I knew that 10k value (10k experience) is enough for up to 45 pegasuses. I understood that there were about 12,500 value points, and that it was likely the entire 4th level and all the skills or monsters, but not experience or gold. The game wasn't a tournament, and after getting Pandora without wisdom, I realized that it was the entire 4th level.

Offtopic: The other day, I had a game where I killed 47 pegasuses for a Pandora box. I knew that 10k value (10k experience) would get me to level 45 with pegasuses. I understood that there was about 12,500 value, and that it was most likely the entire level 4 and all the elements or monsters, but not experience or gold. The game wasn't a tournament, and after getting the Pandora box without using Wisdom, I realized that it contained the entire level 4.

How do you determine what's in a Pandora box? How did you know it contained level 4 or monsters, and why not 10k experience or gold?

well, the Pandor guard is considered a calculator. If the value in Pandor is 10k - 10k experience, then the guard there was 26-45 (36 average). In reality, there were 47 of them, which doesn't fit into the 10k value at all. This fits a 12500 value. And this value is either the entire 4th level or the entire element. Also, it's the Inferno zone. You could have looked at the value of the meat boxes and understood that there was a 99% chance of a control (TP). This happened on the 8th level, on 113-4, it was cleared. The losses were not big, but I was quite upset.

Added 3 minutes ago
Pandor accepts specific values: 5000, 7500, 10000, 12500, 15000... + Pandors with meat.

47 pegasuses are worth 24,346 value, and Pandora is worth 12,500 value; I don't see the logic.

Set the monster strength to 4 (strong + average monsters).

It works online. I'm not sure, but I think you can calculate the level of your opponent's heroes, and you can definitely catch the desired skill, avoid unnecessary ones, time wisdom for Pandora, etc.

In online play, the current version of the oracle doesn't work. Older versions, which were among the first, worked online (I have one :cool:). Of course, you shouldn't use it.

The current version of the oracle doesn't work online. Older versions used to work online, and they were among the first ones (I have one :cool:). Of course, you can't use that.

I didn't know about the new version. I have an old one :cool:.

I didn't know about the new version. I have the old one :cool:

Ideally, we need a version that will work independently of Heroes, then there will be no questions at all.

Ideally, we need a version that will work independently of Heroes, so there won't be any issues at all.

As I understand it, the main question of this topic is how to get rid of old, cheating versions.

The current version of the oracle doesn't work online. Older versions, which were among the first, used to work online (I have one :cool:). Of course, you can't use that.

Does this program (the old one) even work with password-protected save files?

It doesn't read from the save file; it reads from the RAM.

Does this program (the old version) work even with password-protected save files?

There are many prohibited programs that cannot be used. If a player is willing to use a prohibited program (essentially cheating) and view information about other players' heroes, understanding that this is obviously not allowed, then no prohibitions will stop them.

I didn't hesitate and spent yesterday evening searching for and testing the program; I'm honestly shocked. Now, many "strange" choices of main heroes from old parties make sense – people simply knew all the possible upgrade options for their heroes and chose the one who levels up better and more consistently. The program is a huge cheat – it shows all the heroes on the map at the moment the memory is scanned, including those in the taverns of each player and in prisons (you can't hide the fact that Picardril came to you second during restarts, etc.). This gives a real in-game advantage in the form of information that cannot be obtained by normal means. For each hero, it displays the complete upgrade tree, meaning that while one player tries to find useful skills for their main hero, searching the map for the missing skill and wasting time, the other knows exactly when and what to take to get the desired set of skills... I think no further comments are needed.
In the latest versions, the program's functionality in Multiplayer has been removed, but this is such a weak protection against cheaters that it's ridiculous. First, there are older versions that work perfectly in Multiplayer (the only good thing is that they have been removed from public access, but no one who has them will admit it). Second, you can load a Multiplayer save into Singleplayer, and the program will show everything as if it were on a plate (password-protected saves help here, but as practice shows, this is not a panacea). Third, there are plenty of skilled programmers now, and removing even the exception from the new version of the program that prevents it from working in Multiplayer, I think, is not a problem at all... What can I say... the world will never be the same. If before I was just surprised how opponents leveled up such well-rounded Valeks, and thought they were just lucky, now I strongly suspect that it's not about luck.
Now, some thoughts on what to do about it. Vic suggested an interesting idea about changing the type of variable for the tree number; I don't know how much it will help, because as I understand it, the program extracts the tree number from the memory for each hero, and it may not care what type it is. Throughout the history of hunting cheaters, I have tried to come up with a solution that would allow players to be 100% protected from unfair play from the other side. As I see it, such a solution exists, and I will try to describe it. Heroes of Might and Magic is not a demanding game; it doesn't consume many resources, so you can rent a virtual machine on the network, upload the server to it, and create N accounts on it (the number depends on the power of the virtual machine, which directly depends on money). Each user can log in to the server through a terminal under their account; they have zero rights there – just a shortcut to Heroes of Might and Magic on the desktop, and no access to saves or game files (this immediately eliminates the possibility of opening saves and editing text files). As a result, the connection in the game will always be local (both players are on the same server), and all sorts of disconnections due to Hamachi and similar problems will be eliminated. Also, all programs that extract information from memory will become useless – the game is not running on the player's computer; they only have terminal access to the computer on which it is actually running. The only question is the cost of such an event (initial for organization and subscription for paying for the virtual machine), the availability of a skilled person who can bring the idea to life (I'm not a programmer or administrator; I'm more into fixing hardware), and, in fact, the need for this for the community (in my opinion, it is absolutely necessary, but people are different). That's it in a nutshell.

I've said many times that it's necessary to protect data in physical memory from heroes, even in the context of using ArtMoney. Implementing memory protection is practically impossible or quite costly. But, we can take a different approach – intercept Open Processes and either list them or block (kill) them. The latter option is similar to a rootkit, which all antivirus programs will detect. Therefore, a viable option is to list processes by the MD5 hash of their executables and DLLs, followed by a mechanism for either alerting or blocking. As for the Oracle. Fast access to the database of creatures doesn't pose a significant problem – displaying stats in digital form using a mod, a grid, damage calculators, and defense viewers, viewing the opponent's timer, etc., all fall into the same category – it's like saving time on calculations (by the way, the total damage display at the bottom of the battle window is the same – and how would we play without it?!), but at the same time, it provides additional information. The difference is that with the Oracle, we already know one specific creature for a given situation, rather than quickly searching for the right one from the entire database. It can be considered a minor cheat, comparable to others that are already used legally, but even then, it should be allowed for everyone (since bans always create more problems). But there's another point. Scary secrets :cool: The old version of the Oracle, in addition to viewing a creature's stats up to levels 10-20, also reads the stats of all heroes on the map and displays all guards in numerical form, including the possibility of joining them, indicating the total amount. And that's already an intervention. Therefore, the fastest solution is to use MD5.