Once the zombies are gone – which are a buggy mess according to our Rust review – Rust will be a vehicle for tales of human exploitation and deceit, impure and simple. It’s a fine line between that and the technical exploits that threaten to upend the game – but Facepunch have found that if they squint a bit, they can just about pluck out the problems. Yesterday, a Post Dev Days Security patch saw an end to a common fall damage and suicide exploit.
Rust makes use of the Valve Anti-Cheat system first released with Counter-Strike in 2002 and iterated on ever since. A week ago, “well over” 1,000 players had been banned as a result – and Facepunch had done plenty of additional work in making both client and server relatively impervious to cheats.
“That’s not to say that cheating is eradicated,” said Garry Newman at the time. “That’ll never happen. Even if we somehow manage to totally stop software based cheats, people will still be wrapping dental floss around their monitor to form a crude crosshair.
“But it should now be pretty clear and obvious to people that VAC is active and if you cheat you stand a good chance of being banned. So don’t.”
VAC isn’t a perfect solution – it’s often criticised for its delays, which see cheats banned in waves weeks or even months after first detection. Facepunch have looked to alternatives – but have steered clear of forced-install clients like Punkbuster, and are wary of the “effectiveness [and] accuracy” of serverside solutions.
“The last thing we want to do is ban legitimate hard working players,” said Newman. “It’s an area we will continue to test and review.”
Elsewhere in yesterday’s patch, Facepunch fixed a desync issue which found players appearing on their own machines some distance from where they were actually located on the servers – leading to sudden and surprising deaths. Players will also find that lag is reduced when entering areas with large player structures in them, and that the flashlight on the bolt action rifle and revolver now points forward. Which helps.
Did you know thatRust made in a month about 40% of what Garry’s Mod made in nine years? Just absurd. Have you encountered any alpha teething problems at all, though, beyond the socially acceptable levels of cannibalism?