Global Login System (Implementation Discussion)

[toM|vendettA]

6 Different hardware id's per account?

[TinMan]

6 Different hardware id's per account?

some of us have a lot of networking interfaces on out boxes, we like the WiFi, the 3g, the broadband, and the copper wire that goes right into the back of the computer.

[jitspoe]

It's more than just networking devices.  I plan on taking the punkbuster approach and generate hashed values of various hardware serial numbers and whatnot, so if you get banned, you basically have to get a whole new machine (or wait for the ban to expire).  The main reason I'm storing them in the login system is because I need to make sure a particular ID is unique.  Sometimes manufacturers put the same serial number on multiple pieces of hardware, and I don't want to end up banning some random legit player because he has the same hardware as a cheater.

Note that I'll be storing an irreversible hashed value of serial numbers, not the numbers themselves.  I'm just annoyed with the players who keep cheating then change their IP to avoid bans, so I'm going to have to kick the global ban system up a notch.  Plus I don't want people creating duplicate accounts, so this should help keep track of that as well.

[JOE]

great idea,  taking the hardware serials and all.  What about name changed though..can you still be logged into an accound lets say J0E and change the name in-game? or wil you be forced to use the accnt name as your player name.  I know with stats you need to use the same name every time in order to get them recorded....umm will there be a prefix/suffix ioption if name changing cant happen? umm what else do i wanna know...oh yeah, will this login system cost money? will we get like awards and stuff like marksman and different levels based on time playing while on an accnt sorta like bf2 (referance http://ubar.bf2s.com/ for ideas about medals and requirments).  uhh.. yeah :-)

[jitspoe]

I don't know how I'm going to handle name changing in-game yet.  The name would have to be verified against the login every time it changes, so somebody couldn't log in with their own name, then spoof somebody else's.  This could cause lag on the game server, and it would only be a matter of time before somebody threw together some kind of lame name changing script to bombard the servers with making the game unplayable.

The simplest solution would be to simply disable name changing once you've logged in, but that may be frustrating for a lot of people.  I guess what I could do is have a periodic check -- say, once a minute -- to see if any names have changed, and if they have, contact the login server and verify them.  I really need to make name validation a separate thread so it won't cause hiccups in the gameplay.  Gonna be fun working out all the kinks in that.

No, it won't cost money.  First it's just going to be a login system.  Nothing more.  If that pans out, we'll go from there.

[Eiii]

Personally, I don't think anyone would really need to change their name in-game...

[JOE]

well i know a lot of the kids who play (skater and smokey for instance) dont use their names in pub because they're newbs and afraid to show their real scores :x

[Eiii]

They can set one of their alternate names as one of their fake one and just use it when joining. What I meant is that I don't get why someone would need to change their name while playing.

[loial21]

What I meant is that I don't get why someone would need to change their name while playing

Amen!!! I can't belive we agree on something, someone better check hell for ice. There is no valid reason for doing this, ever

[jitspoe]

Ugh, I went to try combining the RSA stuff I had done with libgcrypt with some PHP RSA code and it didn't pan out at all.  Moreover, it seems libgcrypt does no padding and as such is insecure.  I'm not sure how difficult it would be to add this in, but I'm almost tempted to ditch the RSA idea all together.  All that work for nothing.

[P!nk]

Post removed

[jitspoe]

Only alphanumeric characters will be stored, but you can surround them with whatever you want.  Your name would be stored as "pnk".  You could play as p|nk, p!ink, p*nk, or quite a few other things.

[Smokey]

so yours will be jit

you can be
jits
jitspoe
jitler
jitspina
jitty
jit
jitter

[jitspoe]

no, "s", "spoe", "ler", etc. contain alphanumeric characters.  I'd have to register those names specifically, otherwise I'd be stuck with **jit** =]|jit|[= *J*i*T* or some variant containing non-alphanumeric characters.

[JOE]

does this mean i wont be allowed to use the 0 in my name?

[Eiii]

0 = alphanumeric, so yes.

[jitspoe]

I think eiii meant yes, you will be able to, not yes, you won't be allowed to.

alphanumeric means alpha characters (a-z) and numeric characters (0-9).  You can still use non-alphanumeric characters in your name, they will just be ignored (except in clan tags).

Say, for a realistic example, I'm in crossbones (which has the .xb. tag), and I have "jitspoe" registered.  I could log in as .xb.[jitspoe].  The clan tag, .xb., would be stripped off, leaving [jitspoe], and the []'s would be ignored, since they're not alphanumeric, leaving just "jitspoe", which is registered on the login server.

If somebody else came along and tried to use -jitspoe- or **jitspoe** or some variant like that, he would not be able to (unless he had my password).

[Eiii]

Okay, I'm mildly confused now as to how the clan tag thing will work. Will it be put in a separate field manually, or do you just type in your name and the login system magically detects a clan tag? I assume it's the former, but the way you wrote your last post makes it sound like it auto-detects the tag.

[jitspoe]

It auto-detects the clan tag, strips it from the name, and verifies that the name belongs to the clan with the tag.  Otherwise people could just spoof clan tags by putting them in their name.

[Smokey]

jitspoe is my hero.