Users caught cheating on UT 2004 online servers to have their CD-keys banned indefinitely.

Online cheating has become a constant nuisance for gamers over the last few years, with many high profile titles suffering at the hands of less-than-honest players finding ways to exploit their favorite games. For the release of Atari and Epic Games' Unreal Tournament 2004, the game itself was supposed to come complete with all manner of different cheat blockers. Despite this fact, cheaters have been popping up on the servers. However, at the very least, it seems cheaters within UT 2004's servers won't be able to get away with it for very long.

News source: GameSpot

Bug fixes:

  • Fixed crash when closing history window with large history.
  • IE was always used as the default browser if IE was open.
  • Added option to set outgoing port range.
  • Fixed several memory leaks.
  • Improved proxy handling.
  • Rare crash on opening options.
  • AutoNA was not set correctly when Away was set.
  • Visibility list did not list all users.
  • Icons in URL and message contact menus didn't update when icons changed.
  • Reduce CPU usage in file transfer dialogs (fewer screen updates).
  • Many other bug fixes.
  • AIM: Unable to save "Only reply to users in your contact list" option.
  • ICQ: Failed to send or receive files from ICQ 2003b.
  • ICQ: Fixed a number of smaller memory leaks.
  • ICQ: Contact e-mail info was not displayed correctly.
  • ICQ: Failed to retrieve user details during certain circumstances.
  • ICQ: URL messages could disappear when sent through a Direct Connection.
  • ICQ: Nick name was not deleted from server list when local nick name was deleted.
  • ICQ: Server side contacts could reappear after being deleted if they were on the visible/invisible lists.
  • ICQ: Changing status while connecting had no effect.
  • ICQ: A bunch of other fixes the CVS change log if you want the big list.
  • Jabber: Should offline all chat rooms when go invisible (because they are actually offline).
  • Jabber: Miranda won't exit if more than one group chat windows are left open.
  • Jabber: Wrong filename encoding in file sending (signed/unsigned problem).
  • Jabber: Crash on connect/disconnect caused by stale contacts associated with an unknown protocol.
  • Jabber: Deleting group chat temporary contact unintentionally closes the chat room.
  • Jabber: Presence is broadcast to chat room that has denied our access.
  • Jabber: Graceful exit while Miranda shutdown in the middle of file transfer.
  • MSN: A port remained opened after the file transfer cancel.
  • MSN: if a contact list is very long, all contacts could be shown in the Offline mode
  • MSN: When you set your own nickname with spaces, it appears in the options dialog URL-encoded (with %20 instead of a space char).
  • MSN: Opened switchboard sessions weren't closed when you go offline without closing Miranda.
  • MSN: File sending does not require talking anymore.
  • MSN: Contacts with leading digits in the e-mail were not processed properly.
  • MSN: Many other bug fixes.

    Enhancements:

  • New user is typing API (supported by ICQ/MSN/Jabber).
  • Messaging module moved to a plugin with many UI changes (SRMM).
  • Auto Away can now set protocols away if the workstation becomes locked.
  • Improved button control (bitmap support, flat button support).
  • Added options to disable systray icon flashing and adjusting blink time.
  • Default icon packs are automatically loaded from disk if they exist.
  • Added report bug menu item.
  • Many other enhancements.
  • AIM: Added user search capability.
  • AIM: Send messages to group chat users by double clicking name.
  • AIM: Added file receive support.
  • ICQ: Added support for sending and receiving Typing Notifications.
  • ICQ: Now accepts messages formatted in Unicode (note: this won’t solve the problem with displaying messages with multiple char sets).
  • IRC: Contacts on the contact list.
  • IRC: Host masks.
  • IRC: Ignore system.
  • IRC: Channel manager.
  • Jabber: Manual registration to Jabber services.
  • Jabber: Can automatically remove contacts not in roster.
  • Jabber: Invite and accept invitation to a group chat.
  • Jabber: Support composing message event (message typing notification).
  • Jabber: Send full JID (with resource name) when appropriate.
  • MSN: 'User is typing' support added.
  • MSN: "Invite to chat" contact menu item is added.
  • MSN: 'block/unlock' feature is integrated with Options->Status->Visible.
  • MSN: New gateway support.




    • There are 28 additional comments
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    (1 reply) Quote this comment Reply to this comment #1 Posted by iczman on 21 Mar 2004 - 01:07
    rich boy can just get another copy
    Quote this comment #1.1 Posted by Juguard on 22 Mar 2004 - 07:46
    thats good for EPIC.
    Quote this comment Reply to this comment #2 Posted by O'Connor's a Nub on 21 Mar 2004 - 01:41
    Oh well. Cheaters are annoying. Still....
    pshaw, doesn't really matter. They'll still find a way to cheat.
    (3 replies) Quote this comment Reply to this comment #3 Posted by xlokix on 21 Mar 2004 - 02:17
    Valve could easily stop cheaters in counter-strike with cheating-death, I dont see why they don't use it. Go to any cheat website and you will find that more cheats are available for valves anti cheat than there are for cheating-death. So why not use it, or create their own client anti-cheat?!
    Quote this comment #3.1 Posted by qoa on 21 Mar 2004 - 11:12
    Some Half Life fanboy always posts about that outdated piece of crap.
    Quote this comment #3.2 Posted by sp0rk on 21 Mar 2004 - 17:51
    There are definitely ways to get around cheating death...
    Quote this comment #3.3 Posted by Solarix on 21 Mar 2004 - 17:54
    CD is the worst anti cheat prog ever
    (3 replies) Quote this comment Reply to this comment #4 Posted by stilist on 21 Mar 2004 - 03:05
    ... or you could just make a keygen...
    Quote this comment #4.1 Posted by iczman on 21 Mar 2004 - 04:38
    that won't work online..... what's the point?
    Quote this comment #4.2 Posted by Chouzan on 21 Mar 2004 - 05:12
    Epic Games has also been punishing those with invalid product keys, so that isn't an option for such scum.
    Quote this comment #4.3 Posted by Juguard on 22 Mar 2004 - 07:48
    eh?... how do they punish those with invalid product keys?... you have a bad product key, you cant play online, simple... at least on legit servers.

    Last edited by 16511 on 22 Mar 2004 - 14:58
    Quote this comment Reply to this comment #5 Posted by norseman on 21 Mar 2004 - 05:15
    How has epic been punishing them?
    Quote this comment Reply to this comment #6 Posted by demorgoron on 21 Mar 2004 - 05:21
    that should make a great drop in cheaters playing
    (2 replies) Quote this comment Reply to this comment #7 Posted by MaxPayne1357 on 21 Mar 2004 - 05:48
    epic rocks. it is nice seeing a game company focusing attention on the needs/wants of the community and not just sales.

    cheaters can rot in hell, or even better yet, removed from the servers so they cant piss legit players off anymore.
    Quote this comment #7.1 Posted by Rishdeep on 21 Mar 2004 - 13:21
    Yeah... because banning CD-Keys and forcing cheaters (if they want to play again online) to buy a new copy of the game won't help sales at ALL...
    Quote this comment #7.2 Posted by sp0rk on 21 Mar 2004 - 17:50
    Are you kidding? They won't buy a new copy, they'll just steal someone elses' cdkeys.
    Quote this comment Reply to this comment #8 Posted by divertom15 on 21 Mar 2004 - 07:40
    I say ban their connection for a month from playing said game if they cheat
    (2 replies) Quote this comment Reply to this comment #9 Posted by rpgamer on 21 Mar 2004 - 08:25
    and maybe while theyre waiting for a cd-key to ban they can make some cheat protection that works..
    Quote this comment #9.1 Posted by elliot on 21 Mar 2004 - 11:50
    i guess it's kinda hard to stop cheating 100% on a game that was built to be modifed
    Quote this comment #9.2 Posted by rpgamer on 21 Mar 2004 - 23:30
    yea i know that. but even it it would only last 6 months those 6 cheat free months would be alot better then 6 months with cheaters waiting for them to get banned
    (1 reply) Quote this comment Reply to this comment #10 Posted by HellBender on 21 Mar 2004 - 19:06
    Wha? WTF? At least give me credit for something I posted a day before... http://www.neowin.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=150150
    Quote this comment #10.1 Posted by ABC½ on 21 Mar 2004 - 19:32
    No one care 'bout who posted it first.
    Quote this comment Reply to this comment #11 Posted by Ficman on 21 Mar 2004 - 22:40
    Cheaters Suck...
    Quote this comment Reply to this comment #12 Posted by spader on 21 Mar 2004 - 23:59
    Why they dont make an online GUI ID that is made up of the serial numbers of the hardware in a PC is beyond me.
    IMO if you cheat you dont deserve to play the game, and simply making them go out and buy another copy is stupid. Have the software register a code using the hardware serial numbers in the machine and then block it. That way if the person gets blocked they can sell the game and it is usable by someone else and isnt useless.
    There have been people selling blocked Half life games to people on the net.
    Quote this comment Reply to this comment #13 Posted by usemytoes on 22 Mar 2004 - 04:25
    there is no way to stop cheating ;d
    Quote this comment Reply to this comment #14 Posted by DirtyLarry on 22 Mar 2004 - 05:03
    i think this is FANTASIC... i play games to enjoy them, and nothing drives me crazier when i am online and some jackass, or even worse multiple jackass', are cheating... i have already witnessed cheating in unreal 2004 already, and thought to myself i hope this does not start to really catch on.

    i am ecstatic about this, and think it is much needed indeed...(Y)
    Quote this comment Reply to this comment #15 Posted by PlainLazy on 22 Mar 2004 - 15:16
    Its a little extreme IMO. I dont cheat in games or plan to, but blocking cd keys isn't the most popular solution, and Im sure the cheats will find a way around it anyway...
    Quote this comment Reply to this comment #16 Posted by donachello on 23 Mar 2004 - 10:18
    Anybody who cheats should be banned for life from playing online... These guys are a constant pain in the @$$

    Ban them for life I say...

    If you cannot play the game without cheating then what is the point in playing (it takes the fun out of the game by cheating)...

    Do you think that was a little OTT...
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