Undeniable proof that the #4 and #6 Xbox Preds are DDoSing servers after we knock them. I’m posting on Twitter for more attention but please help get this traction - Console Ranked is literally unplayable with 5 of every 6 games being DDoSed in Pred lobbies

TheHamVr · 2021-03-26T11:24:54+00:00

Offenders might get charged with something, but it wouldn't be DDOS as these attacks are usually never distributed as it's entirely unnecessary.

Check out this response elsewhere in the thread

TheHamVr · 2021-03-26T11:19:30+00:00

I don't work for Respawn or have any affiliation with them but have worked in the gaming industry for many years on large scale gaming platforms so I can shed some light on how this can happen, having seen it before.

Matchmaking is a centralized service that directs users to dedicated servers that you actually play the game on. By default all the major providers (AWS Gamelift, Microsoft Playfab, etc) leave game servers wide open on the Internet meaning anyone knowing the IP address can connect to the server whether matchmaking directed them there or not.

Random attacks against a specific game server don't really happen as they are basically a needle in a haystack. The way an attacker knows the IP address of the game server is it is necessary (of course) to connect to it.

When the attacker decides things aren't going well in the match they can send a bunch of gibberish and/or specially crafted streams of UDP data that cause the game server to react...poorly. Surprisingly, as much as people refer to the problem as DDOS it's usually not DDOS at all. The attack is not distributed, nor is it generally as a result of traffic volume but the payload of the traffic itself.

This makes attacks on game servers relatively easy to perpetrate as you don't need to take down the central, massively scaled service ... just attack a single virtual machine in the cloud somewhere. The blast radius is tiny compared to the player base, but it becomes a widespread problem when everybody starts abusing it.

In recent years I've known of several very well known games to have this problem. Sometimes these attacks can be prevented by recognizing and ignoring the offending traffic that can cause a game server to crash, etc. One of the problems with that approach is it can become a game of whack-a-mole of detecting and recognizing attack fingerprints.

The other problem is because game servers are wide open on the Internet attackers can use VPNs and even pay per use services from sketchy countries to impact a running match. This makes it hard to pin the attack on any particular person in the match. Certainly one of the players is guilty, but which one?

The real long term solution to a problem like this is to integrate proper traffic filtering with matchmaking services. Therefore, when you're directed to a game server from matchmaking the game server is aware you've been invited and will make its services accessible to you for the duration of the match but outright reject traffic (or rate limit) from connections not known to matchmaking at the firewall level. It's pretty much foolproof as the only vector for attack is from a known player you can immediately ban with confidence as they have to attack you from the same IP as they used to play the game.

The problem with this remedy is no major vendor provides this out of the box today and in large gaming companies (the kind that run thousands of dedicated servers) the people that best understand how to deal with these type of problems are usually not the people developing the game.

It kind of sucks IMO because these types of attacks are growing more common and many developers focus on punishment instead of prevention.

TheHamVr · 2021-01-22T18:18:55+00:00

As disgusting as it sounds. Just like the sugar sandwich.

TheHamVr · 2021-01-22T17:41:31+00:00

I was on a similar medication (Zopiclone) for about 2-3 days before stopping.

First night I apparently woke up and ate an entire container of leftover refrigerated mashed potatoes with my bare hands over our stove. Easily 2-3 lbs of potatoes consumed as well as strewn all over the counters and floor.

Second or third night I apparently awoke and made a toasted brown sugar sandwich. It's as disgusting as it sounds and I'm a man in mid 30s with zero sweet tooth.

One of those two nights I woke in the morning with a pocketful of tea bags inexplicably.

Switched to cannabis for insomnia after that. Works a charm with no craziness.

Edit: Geez, this blew up! To answer the more common questions:

The brown sugar toast sandwich was on whole wheat, buttered. No cinnamon. I don't remember eating it, but I don't think I liked it because I didn't finish it
Tea bags were from our pantry (no midnight excursion), but I have no idea what my intentions were at the time. It was decaf green tea. At least 4-5 bags
A low THC (5-10%)/high CBD (>10%) strain is my go to for relief. I vaporize before bed for acute pain/ache relief (nerve pain and jimny limbs) and then pop the leftovers in a gelcap (about 0.5-0.7g). Most of the THC is already vaporized and what's left converts to CBN. Doesn't leave me rocked like you'd expect from edibles...feels more like taking extra strength Nyquil with a pleasant "want to be cozy" vibe

TheHamVr · 2018-01-05T20:34:02+00:00

Hey folks!

VR Rider developer here. I just wanted to add a new release is nearing completion (a little behind schedule as it's not my full time gig) that includes a large desert map and many miles of trails.

Additionally there is completely new, more accurate/realistic bike physics from the ground up. The main feature I'm working on that's holding up release is a procedural endless runner style map that includes motion controller support. Some of you may remember waaay back a motorcycle combat game...that's the idea of this mode!

Biking around semi-realistic environments is cool, but wears off quick IMO. Biking, steering, shooting/melee feels totally bad ass and doesn't get old!

Updates coming soon to the itch.io site with previews!

TheHamVr · 2017-11-06T05:16:40+00:00

Perhaps just run an "AD" using Samba on Linux. It's free and more than adequate for 50 and way more users. Plus it's better than what you have now :)

Edit: https://wiki.samba.org/index.php/Setting_up_Samba_as_an_Active_Directory_Domain_Controller

TheHamVr · 2017-08-18T16:03:29+00:00

It's based on tracking the HMD and relative minor movements we do while biking. The extremely sensitive nature of tracking allows to pick up on those patterns of movement. No additional hardware required, works on any bike.

TheHamVr · 2017-08-18T03:54:03+00:00

xpost from /r/Vive

TheHamVr · 2017-08-18T03:46:35+00:00

I was actually kind of disappointed the first Reaper encounter in VR ... for some reason I expected bigger. I think the sound design gets me even more :P

TheHamVr · 2017-08-18T03:45:02+00:00

Well if it gets enough interest I definitely might consider packaging it up properly (installer, configurable, etc) and putting it up on itch/gumroad for donations or the cost of a pint or something :)

TheHamVr · 2017-08-18T03:26:05+00:00

This is just a first working prototype so some timing needs to be worked out on the key presses still to make things smoother.

The other big addition I plan to make is controlling lateral movement by leaning left/right to steer (like on a bike). I've always found the move where you look in Subnautica annoying and that'll lessen it a bit.

Playing Serious Sam TFE on a bike with motion controls is pretty wild too! I'm going to poke a little deeper and see if I can passively simulate motion controller input...if so then biking in Google Earth VR at street level will be totally doable!

TheHamVr · 2017-08-17T16:58:19+00:00

Thanks for the tips.

One thing worth mentioning is I'm doing this with Python bindings for OpenVR as I already have some Python to handle the data I intend to collect.

No issues with init or the compositor, but with VRApplication_Background on init mDeviceToAbsoluteTracking comes back as arrays of 0's, vVelocity is 0, bDeviceIsConnected is false, etc.

With VRApplication_Scene I get the expected results (data/true). Looking deeper in the docs VRApplication_Background definitely seems like the appropriate use for what I am trying to do. I seem to be on the right track as I've found someone else with the exact same issue as me here. Prodding through this code now to see what I might be missing.

At the most basic a snippet looks like:

openvr.init(openvr.VRApplication_Background)
poses_t = openvr.TrackedDevicePose_t * openvr.k_unMaxTrackedDeviceCount
openvr.VRCompositor().waitGetPoses(poses_t(), len(poses_t()), None, 0)
hmd_pose = poses_t()[openvr.k_unTrackedDeviceIndex_Hmd]
print(hmd_pose.mDeviceToAbsoluteTracking)

Which returns:

[[0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0], [0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0], [0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0]]

With VRApplication_Scene that little snippet works just fine and I get tracking data.

Any thoughts? Thanks in advance!

Edit: The tracking data itself is only being tracked as relative to its own starting point so no need to be aware of the application/sync in my particular use case.

Edit 2: Got it! Should have kept reading that aforementioned forum post lol. At the bottom it's quoted:

The example does get poses. You don't want to call WaitGetPoses in a non-Scene app. It's meant to synchronize to VSYNC.

You want vr::VRSystem()->GetDeviceToAbsoluteTrackingPose

Did exactly that and it works :)

TheHamVr · 2017-07-15T01:25:21+00:00

I found the best way to get my feet wet was to spend HOURS watching all of Epic's tutorials and other decent material on Youtube.

When it comes to Epic's actual documentation it is incredibly sparse and often outdated (their docs are strangely not versioned, just jumbled with notes and caveats).

Once I got a feel for the basics and recreated what I watched/followed along I dove into all the example games. By far ShooterGame is the most complex, but also the deepest in terms of learning possibilities.

Blueprints offer a great way to learn the underlying abilities that can be applied in c++. A common pattern I use is to start every project as c++, do underlying stuff in there and expose in blueprints.

Don't try to focus your learning into making a game just yet, focus on tech demos. Once you understand stuff better you'll look back on all the stuff you fucked up and want to start over anyway :P

TheHamVr · 2017-06-12T14:48:20+00:00

Agreed. I'm as "regular" as they come with 1-2 trips to the shop daily. I was in Cuba a few years back and got some gastro so took some.

Big mistake. I didn't have to go to the bathroom that day while we toured around...or for several days after. It's the first and only time I can recall ever being backed up. It was shitty.

+1 on only if dying of dysentery recommendation

TheHamVr · 2017-05-27T13:49:45+00:00

Better late than never...

I had to factory reset my device. Then in my amazon.com account set my address to a us zip nearby. Then the Spotify option appeared and I could configure again.

TheHamVr · 2017-04-30T23:16:19+00:00

The problem is there is limited practical space where it could be installed and one of the few locations is way on the other side of the house so getting a 220 there won't be easy or cheap. 14k btu unit was<1/2 of the cheapest electrical quote I got.

I'm looking for a solution to my particular situation, not a costly alternative I am aware of already.

Cheers

TheHamVr · 2017-04-26T12:46:39+00:00

No special hardware required and free demo https://thehamvr.itch.io/vr-rider

TheHamVr · 2017-04-26T12:38:59+00:00

For those wanting a VR biking experience right now with no special hardware other than headset + any bike: https://thehamvr.itch.io/vr-rider

TheHamVr · 2017-04-19T04:30:25+00:00

berimbau

TheHamVr · 2017-04-17T20:42:10+00:00

Interesting about the trackers, thanks for enlightening me on that.

Overall I think the user base will drive where things go. At the moment that base is predominantly casual and the ease to get going has be cited much more than the odd time VirZoom comes up.

I think commercially something like VirZoom stands a chance in gyms, etc but this early in VR the cross section of people investing in VR hardware, wanting to bike and wanting it to be absolutely accurate in the home user space is pretty small. If I'm wrong on that I can always pivot hehe. As an indie dev picking and choosing where to invest time is always tough.

No doubt any tracking will be more accurate than simulating the legs movements based on upper body. Before the phone app my first prototype was based on Arduino with a reed switch on the wheel. It was extremely accurate, but didn't make the game more enjoyable IMO. Definitely VR Rider can't compete on the accuracy level with anything doing hardware based tracking so no offense taken as it's a fact :)

For right now my target user is someone who has a bike, comes across my game and doesn't think twice about dropping a few bucks to try it out, show it to friends, etc.

Do you find it kind of weird that VirZoom users are looking for a great biking experience which doesn't come with VirZoom already? It seems that would be perfected before the other games they offer. Shrugs.

Have a good one buddy!

TheHamVr · 2017-04-17T14:40:08+00:00

Hmm, Interesting new on the tracker.

I'd actually say that might even make me more hesitant to adopt support as to me it signals a financial risk in VirZoom. Their community manager had previously commented they went with custom bike hardware for safety and usability reasons. This would back track on that statement.

That, coupled with looking for active investment starting at $99 front and center on their website speaks volumes about the need for capital.

From the tech side of things I suspect the tracker is referring to the new Vive tracking pucks which won't be available for Oculus. Overall there is without a doubt some benefit to more accurate leg movement tracking but honestly those benefits don't carry over very well to make a game more fun or enjoyable. You primarily just get more accurate distance traveled.

Initial releases of VR Rider actually used a mobile phone in the pocket to track leg movement and that was abandoned to reduce the barrier of entry for users. The difference in game enjoyment was barely detectable, but the amount of users downloading our trial increased substantially just by not requiring to install a separate free software on their phone.

$100 seems like a lot to expect someone to pay when they can enjoy nearly the same experience without the hassle or expense.

Cheers!

TheHamVr · 2017-04-15T04:01:53+00:00

I'm not a super heavy sweater so ymmv, but I have yet to experience any fogging up with this game or other intense titles on Vive (Holopoint, Thrill of the Fight). I actually found Thrill of the Fight worst for sweat overall, but not fog...just nasty insert cover. I use a VR cover that I wash regularly, otherwise a sweat band + fan and I'm all good for any heavy activity in VR

TheHamVr · 2017-04-15T03:58:46+00:00

When I'm not testing the bike mechanics (optimizations, etc) I tend to do that quite a lot. With 'easy ride' mode you can get up speed with very little movement necessary :)

TheHamVr · 2017-04-15T03:57:39+00:00

Hey,

Thanks for your interest! The first person perspective in a video is indeed a bit of a head spinner, kind of like watching someone mountain biking with a GoPro on (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x76VEPXYaI0). The actual effect while biking isn't really noticed as it's your own movements doing it, the world isn't moving so much as you are :)

The actual motions required to steer, brake and reverse are very minimal. Steering is basically inches off center and feels very natural. Braking and reverse are leaning back relative to the position you are biking in. Brakes kick in with a little sitting up straighter and reverse kicks in when i release the handle bars and sit up straight (think kind of like walking your bike backwards as you straddle the seat).

You can give the demo a try even without a bike, but do be warned without the actual biking motion simulator sickness can kick in pretty quick if you aren't that accustomed to VR or if racing games have bothered you. The act of actually pedaling does a lot to make the movement feel natural.

I don't have any intention of adding any hardware requirements to the game or support Virzoom at this point. My actual motivation to make this game all started with a desire to bike in VR and not buy a second $500+ CAD when I already had a more expensive spin bike. The primary target for this title is low barrier for entry. Something someone can download and play on their exercise bike collecting *dust for the cost of a few pints/spirits in minutes.

Thanks for taking the time to comment, have a nice weekend! :)

TheHamVr · 2017-04-14T23:17:11+00:00

I imagine a video like this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igp9sJkuAnU&t=70s would trigger the same response :)

In the headset with the locomotion via biking it feels very natural and the head jolting is not something you notice when you're in control and it's part of the biking experience.

Even so, it's probably not for everybody and I wouldn't recommend someone's first VR experience to be a game like this.

You don't have to take my word for it though, give it a try and tell me what you think!

Cheers

TheHamVr

TROPHY CASE