Possible Hack of PC Forza Games Used to Unlock Designs?
Apr 22, 2017 19:15:39 GMT
PTG Stuzib85 and PTG Sean like this
Post by PTG Wildcat on Apr 22, 2017 19:15:39 GMT
POSTED TODAY BY ME AT FM.NET:
Okay ... bear with me here ... this may take a bit.
I am now fairly well convinced that someone has hacked the pc version of at least one if not several Forza games and as a result has the ability to modify and share locked vinyls and designs as their own work ... as well as possibly other hacks. What follows are a couple of examples of why I now feel this way and my supporting evidence. First, a bit about me so you know where I am coming from. I am a Forza painter and you may recognize me from the games or the forums. My gamertag is PTG Wildcat ... but I was WildcatKNH until fairly recently. I am somewhat accomplished as a painter and have been a consistent, active member of the Forza community across several games for a while now. I am a team member of the PTG club and regularly discuss issues and goings on in the Forza world with multiple people across multiple forums and platforms. So I have a good understanding of the games, the people who create and maintain those games, and the Forza community and the issues and things that go on here.
A couple of other notes ... I have worked in the IT industry for 20+ years ... I am a computer geek outside of work and am very well-versed in multiple types of software, hardware, coding and scripting languages, networks, apps and systems ... I play video game extensively on both console and pc and have modded games on pc. Through years of experience I know that no matter how well coded, protected and secured some things in the world of computers may seem ... there are always people out there good enough and willing enough to crack about anything.
Example One
I was in a discussion yesterday with some PTG team members about the current issue of Legend tuners/painters being able to sell cars in the AH for such high prices. One member mentioned that he'd run across a tuner who was a Legend tuner ... but only had 4 shared tunes. In discussions with multiple experienced tuners ... and just by reason of logic itself ... this does not track with how tuner/painter levels work and does not make sense. Legend painter level (and I assume also Legend tuner level) requires a combined total of 50,000 downloads, likes and uses. It just does not follow that a tuner with only 4 shared tunes would be able to reach that level. More than one person in our discussion brought up the possibility of using a hack to achieve that result ... and we think that may just be what happened. The tuner in question (see below) had multiple Porsche 918s up for auction all at a $9M-$10M buyout.
ah_seller_edited by Kerry Hayes, on Flickr
sf_seller_edited by Kerry Hayes, on Flickr
Example Two
Now here's where things get interesting and move from just possible speculation to something that seems much more deliberate and intentional.
I was browsing 918s in the AH today and ran across a car being sold with a paint that I am convinced is one of my original creations. I have seen my work up for auction before ... but not with the AH showing someone else as the painter. Naturally I investigated a little more closely. After thinking that the name of the seller sounded familiar ... I double-checked ... and it was unbelievably the exact same seller that my buddy had pointed out before as a Legend tuner with only 4 tunes who is selling multiple 918s all at the same time for tens of millions of credits.
I know that others have claimed that their locked vinyls/designs have been downloaded and shared/used/sold by someone else before ... but I have always been skeptical about those claims before ... placing some bit of faith that the system does what it claims to do. Now I am not so sure any more. I am not going to spend a lot of effort to try and convince you to see what I see ... I have multiple screen captures of my evidence below in 1080x1920 resolution and will let you judge for yourself. Those of you who have painted as much as I have know that you can quickly spot your own work (particularly when it took you days and days to complete) be it in the AH or in the world on drivatars. This to me is obviously my work. Now ... you will see some differences ... it is not an exactly perfect copy. But ... if someone has access to a hack that allows a locked design to be unlocked and editable ... then obviously they would likely have the ability to modify individual vinyls and reposition them or add a couple of new ones to try and make the design look like a different design. That is what I believe has happened here.
So ... here are some screen captures for you to judge for yourself. The first few shots are of the seller's 918 that I ran across in the AH. The next few shots are of the original 918 design that I created almost two years ago in FH2 and recently imported into FH3. Following that, I will include multiple examples of the individual vinyl groups that I created and used in FH2 to build the design. As you will see ... I created almost every single individual vinyl group that was used to build the design. What's even more convincing is that several of these I totally made up. They are not replicas of real-world logos or anything that can be found anywhere on the internet. They were made up on the fly ... by me.
Now ... as I said ... I will let you judge for yourself. But to me ... seeing multiple examples of the same person being able to seemingly do things that no other gamers can do and skirt the limitations put into the system to work it for tens of millions of credits ... it just seems too orchestrated and intentional to just be random coincidence. I am convinced that this person has found a way to hack the system on pc or is using a hack someone else has figured out.
Okay ... bear with me here ... this may take a bit.
I am now fairly well convinced that someone has hacked the pc version of at least one if not several Forza games and as a result has the ability to modify and share locked vinyls and designs as their own work ... as well as possibly other hacks. What follows are a couple of examples of why I now feel this way and my supporting evidence. First, a bit about me so you know where I am coming from. I am a Forza painter and you may recognize me from the games or the forums. My gamertag is PTG Wildcat ... but I was WildcatKNH until fairly recently. I am somewhat accomplished as a painter and have been a consistent, active member of the Forza community across several games for a while now. I am a team member of the PTG club and regularly discuss issues and goings on in the Forza world with multiple people across multiple forums and platforms. So I have a good understanding of the games, the people who create and maintain those games, and the Forza community and the issues and things that go on here.
A couple of other notes ... I have worked in the IT industry for 20+ years ... I am a computer geek outside of work and am very well-versed in multiple types of software, hardware, coding and scripting languages, networks, apps and systems ... I play video game extensively on both console and pc and have modded games on pc. Through years of experience I know that no matter how well coded, protected and secured some things in the world of computers may seem ... there are always people out there good enough and willing enough to crack about anything.
Example One
I was in a discussion yesterday with some PTG team members about the current issue of Legend tuners/painters being able to sell cars in the AH for such high prices. One member mentioned that he'd run across a tuner who was a Legend tuner ... but only had 4 shared tunes. In discussions with multiple experienced tuners ... and just by reason of logic itself ... this does not track with how tuner/painter levels work and does not make sense. Legend painter level (and I assume also Legend tuner level) requires a combined total of 50,000 downloads, likes and uses. It just does not follow that a tuner with only 4 shared tunes would be able to reach that level. More than one person in our discussion brought up the possibility of using a hack to achieve that result ... and we think that may just be what happened. The tuner in question (see below) had multiple Porsche 918s up for auction all at a $9M-$10M buyout.
ah_seller_edited by Kerry Hayes, on Flickr
sf_seller_edited by Kerry Hayes, on Flickr
Example Two
Now here's where things get interesting and move from just possible speculation to something that seems much more deliberate and intentional.
I was browsing 918s in the AH today and ran across a car being sold with a paint that I am convinced is one of my original creations. I have seen my work up for auction before ... but not with the AH showing someone else as the painter. Naturally I investigated a little more closely. After thinking that the name of the seller sounded familiar ... I double-checked ... and it was unbelievably the exact same seller that my buddy had pointed out before as a Legend tuner with only 4 tunes who is selling multiple 918s all at the same time for tens of millions of credits.
I know that others have claimed that their locked vinyls/designs have been downloaded and shared/used/sold by someone else before ... but I have always been skeptical about those claims before ... placing some bit of faith that the system does what it claims to do. Now I am not so sure any more. I am not going to spend a lot of effort to try and convince you to see what I see ... I have multiple screen captures of my evidence below in 1080x1920 resolution and will let you judge for yourself. Those of you who have painted as much as I have know that you can quickly spot your own work (particularly when it took you days and days to complete) be it in the AH or in the world on drivatars. This to me is obviously my work. Now ... you will see some differences ... it is not an exactly perfect copy. But ... if someone has access to a hack that allows a locked design to be unlocked and editable ... then obviously they would likely have the ability to modify individual vinyls and reposition them or add a couple of new ones to try and make the design look like a different design. That is what I believe has happened here.
So ... here are some screen captures for you to judge for yourself. The first few shots are of the seller's 918 that I ran across in the AH. The next few shots are of the original 918 design that I created almost two years ago in FH2 and recently imported into FH3. Following that, I will include multiple examples of the individual vinyl groups that I created and used in FH2 to build the design. As you will see ... I created almost every single individual vinyl group that was used to build the design. What's even more convincing is that several of these I totally made up. They are not replicas of real-world logos or anything that can be found anywhere on the internet. They were made up on the fly ... by me.
Now ... as I said ... I will let you judge for yourself. But to me ... seeing multiple examples of the same person being able to seemingly do things that no other gamers can do and skirt the limitations put into the system to work it for tens of millions of credits ... it just seems too orchestrated and intentional to just be random coincidence. I am convinced that this person has found a way to hack the system on pc or is using a hack someone else has figured out.
