[BUG] OFFICAL VP and GS "Unabke to find Rank" Thread - Please Read OP Firsr!
StTyrael
Registered Users 73 Posts
EVERYONE POSTING, PLEASE READ THIS POST. THERE IS A TEMPLATE AT THE SND FOR REPORTING THIS BUG
INTRO
Class A Priority's Bug (Meaning it needs top attention!
This thread is the official home where all players who receive the dreaded "Unable to find Rank" message when trying to look up their VP or GS during Tournaments or even in the Leaderboards. When we talk about this in game, we often get scoffed at and told that "It's a restriction placed by GLU so that rooted players cannot modify game save files to earn themselves a spot in the leaderboards". Well, good for them to tell us that, but we are the unrooted users here (I'm only still unrooted ONLY as I can rank in this game". This bug means that those affected are getting kicked from their guide or are unable to join a ranked guild as well as receive any personal rewards from ranking.
By trade, I am a developer. I have been a Senior Programmer, Systems Administrator, Database Administrator, Database Developer, and Information Tech II. I hope that my past qualifications will mean something to GLU about the imortance of this bug and to take it seriously. In the future all bug reports should follow a similar protocol so that GLU can find bug reports more easily but just searching for "BUG" in the thread title and by having everyone experiencing the bug following suit and posting in that thread AND that thread only
StTyrael (others may know this IgN from Runescape, Rage of Bahamut (also was admin on forums) or a host of other mobile RPGs)I am guilty myself of posting this in another thread, but it didn't achieve the desired results of consolidating all bug reports pertaining to this same issue. I also realized if I were a Project Manager for GLU, I'd much rather see bug reports formatted like this. It so shows a level of maturity
GOAL
The goal of this thread is to provide GLU enough information to aid them in fixing the issue, as well as to try to move this bug up to "critical" status so that it is too priority. This information is to follow the same format (evident by the template to be used) and all posts are to be of a mature nature. This is for informational use for GLU to use to help aid them, not a place for you to rant your hatred or dislike of GLU. They DO read these forums, but so much of the forums here are junk posts that give give GLU nothing to go on other than the original poster's maturity level.
We do NOT wants posts like "yah GLU biitcches y aren't u fixng this" or aanyof post ccussing them out. If you are posting anything besides reporting the bug on your device, don't even bother if you cannot use proper grammar or if you need to post in all caps. We DO NOT need unrelated posts or posts pertaining to other bugs. If English is not your first language, then just do your best. That was directed to immature players who cannot spell or players who think they are typing quick text messages. I'm sure there are a few typos in this post that I've missed but it is a coherent message.
If you have anything other to add besides reporting that you also have the bug, please keep it professional and clean and add it into the "other" section in the template. If you don't have anything else to say that contributes to this topic, please just post your report and move on. We don't need or want anybody complaining over losing real money there will be a spot in the template for that.
Thanks a ton!
StTyrael (may know me from Runescape, RoB, Blood Brothers, or many more game)
James Halsey, MSCD (My G+ account. If looking, leave out my titl
In the future I hole to see more bug reports filed this way so that this forum becomes less cluttered and that the developers can prioritize each bug.
REPORT TEMPLATE (Completed, feel free begin reporting - Please do not edit the "Description" field unless you have something to add that I am missing, such as if you are one of the players who's GS is also unranked)
Delete the "*"s within the "[...]" tags in the template
[B*]Description: [\B*]Something in the code changed which stopped letting a lot of unrooted players find their VP rank in tourneys. I have heard from players that their GS was also showing as "unranked" but I have not experienced this, though I do believe it from whom I heard this from. In tourneys, whenever a player goes to look up their rank, a message appears that says "Unable to Find Rank...". This does not affect all players, and again these players are NOT rooted.
This is a major problem because players cannot receive individual tournament rewards. Another example would be in case. My character is over 10700 GS and no top guilds will take me until this is solved. A fix should be implemented that allows players to continue usingtheir current ccharacters as well as have their VP and GS counted in the ranks.
[B*]IgN: [/B*]StTyrael
[B*]Device: [/B*]VS980 4G LTE
[B*]Operating System Version: [/B*]4.2.2
[B*]Game Version: [/B*]1.1.1
[B*]Approximate When You Noticed the Bug: [\B*]These issues appeared to begin during the Jade Forest update or the one following that, although I may he wrong.
[B*](If Relevant) Please Describe the Steps to Replicate the Bug: [\B*]Bug is ever present.
[B*]Other Information You Feel May Be Relevant: [/B*]Before the update which introduced this bug, my VPs were counting just fine. I cannot think of any other helpful information's besides that.
INTRO
Class A Priority's Bug (Meaning it needs top attention!
This thread is the official home where all players who receive the dreaded "Unable to find Rank" message when trying to look up their VP or GS during Tournaments or even in the Leaderboards. When we talk about this in game, we often get scoffed at and told that "It's a restriction placed by GLU so that rooted players cannot modify game save files to earn themselves a spot in the leaderboards". Well, good for them to tell us that, but we are the unrooted users here (I'm only still unrooted ONLY as I can rank in this game". This bug means that those affected are getting kicked from their guide or are unable to join a ranked guild as well as receive any personal rewards from ranking.
By trade, I am a developer. I have been a Senior Programmer, Systems Administrator, Database Administrator, Database Developer, and Information Tech II. I hope that my past qualifications will mean something to GLU about the imortance of this bug and to take it seriously. In the future all bug reports should follow a similar protocol so that GLU can find bug reports more easily but just searching for "BUG" in the thread title and by having everyone experiencing the bug following suit and posting in that thread AND that thread only
StTyrael (others may know this IgN from Runescape, Rage of Bahamut (also was admin on forums) or a host of other mobile RPGs)I am guilty myself of posting this in another thread, but it didn't achieve the desired results of consolidating all bug reports pertaining to this same issue. I also realized if I were a Project Manager for GLU, I'd much rather see bug reports formatted like this. It so shows a level of maturity
GOAL
The goal of this thread is to provide GLU enough information to aid them in fixing the issue, as well as to try to move this bug up to "critical" status so that it is too priority. This information is to follow the same format (evident by the template to be used) and all posts are to be of a mature nature. This is for informational use for GLU to use to help aid them, not a place for you to rant your hatred or dislike of GLU. They DO read these forums, but so much of the forums here are junk posts that give give GLU nothing to go on other than the original poster's maturity level.
We do NOT wants posts like "yah GLU biitcches y aren't u fixng this" or aanyof post ccussing them out. If you are posting anything besides reporting the bug on your device, don't even bother if you cannot use proper grammar or if you need to post in all caps. We DO NOT need unrelated posts or posts pertaining to other bugs. If English is not your first language, then just do your best. That was directed to immature players who cannot spell or players who think they are typing quick text messages. I'm sure there are a few typos in this post that I've missed but it is a coherent message.
If you have anything other to add besides reporting that you also have the bug, please keep it professional and clean and add it into the "other" section in the template. If you don't have anything else to say that contributes to this topic, please just post your report and move on. We don't need or want anybody complaining over losing real money there will be a spot in the template for that.
Thanks a ton!
StTyrael (may know me from Runescape, RoB, Blood Brothers, or many more game)
James Halsey, MSCD (My G+ account. If looking, leave out my titl
In the future I hole to see more bug reports filed this way so that this forum becomes less cluttered and that the developers can prioritize each bug.
REPORT TEMPLATE (Completed, feel free begin reporting - Please do not edit the "Description" field unless you have something to add that I am missing, such as if you are one of the players who's GS is also unranked)
Delete the "*"s within the "[...]" tags in the template
[B*]Description: [\B*]Something in the code changed which stopped letting a lot of unrooted players find their VP rank in tourneys. I have heard from players that their GS was also showing as "unranked" but I have not experienced this, though I do believe it from whom I heard this from. In tourneys, whenever a player goes to look up their rank, a message appears that says "Unable to Find Rank...". This does not affect all players, and again these players are NOT rooted.
This is a major problem because players cannot receive individual tournament rewards. Another example would be in case. My character is over 10700 GS and no top guilds will take me until this is solved. A fix should be implemented that allows players to continue usingtheir current ccharacters as well as have their VP and GS counted in the ranks.
[B*]IgN: [/B*]StTyrael
[B*]Device: [/B*]VS980 4G LTE
[B*]Operating System Version: [/B*]4.2.2
[B*]Game Version: [/B*]1.1.1
[B*]Approximate When You Noticed the Bug: [\B*]These issues appeared to begin during the Jade Forest update or the one following that, although I may he wrong.
[B*](If Relevant) Please Describe the Steps to Replicate the Bug: [\B*]Bug is ever present.
[B*]Other Information You Feel May Be Relevant: [/B*]Before the update which introduced this bug, my VPs were counting just fine. I cannot think of any other helpful information's besides that.
0
This discussion has been closed.
Comments
Description: Something in the code changed which stopped letting a lot of unrooted players find their VP rank in tourneys. I have heard from players that their GS was also showing as "unranked" but I have not experienced this, though I do believe it from whom I heard this from. In tourneys, whenever a player goes to look up their rank, a message appears that says "Unable to Find Rank...". This does not affect all players, and again these players are NOT rooted.
This is a major problem because players cannot receive individual tournament rewards. Another example would be in case. My character is over 10700 GS and no top guilds will take me until this is solved. A fix should be implemented that allows players to continue usingtheir current ccharacters as well as have their VP and GS counted in the ranks.
IgN: StTyrael
Device: 4.2.2
Operating System Version: VS980 4G LTE
Game Version: 1.1.1
Approximate When You Noticed the Bug: These issues appeared to begin during the Jade Forest update or the one following that, although I may he wrong.
(If Relevant) Please Describe the Steps to Replicate the Bug: Bug is ever present.
Other Information You Feel May Be Relevant: Before the update which introduced this bug, my VPs were counting just fine. I cannot think of any other helpful information besides that.
I apologize that you are having issues with the way that we identify rooted handsets. The importance of protecting the integrity of the leaderboards and tournaments is very important to us.
One of the ways that we detect a rooted handset is to look for popular superuser packages or packages that require rooted access. These packages may be installed automatically when you switch from a rooted device to a non-rooted device with the same Google account, so you may not even know that you have it installed!
Can you check to see if you have any such packages that require rooted access? Some more popular examples are Superuser, Root Explorer or TitaniumBackup.
Thanks!
Thanks a TON for the reply and help. My older G2 was rooted as I develop on Android and normally need to keep a rooted one around. I also am an XDA developer on the G2 forums and normally would have KitKat flahsed by now. Not to long ago however (shortly before Android launch date for this game), I had to order an insurance replacment phone. This device came packaged brand new and had no apps installed that required su access. If this phone was rooted, I would be having a su whitelist app such as one of the ones mentioned and titanium, but I haven't even installed one on this newer phone yet.
:
I took a look around I'm my apps and found only one apps that require root (for full functionality). First, the Moga Universal application. Root on this app just extends functionality for the MOGA game controller. Problem is, I installed this yesterday long after I have seen this issue occurring. I have around 43kVPs showing in ranks but 423kVPs total.
I'd like to propose a fox for this that would allow all legit rooted users to play, and a method that wouldn't punish those who are unrooted with this issue. First, make the game itself require root access. When the game loads, make a call to the "su" binary. This will bring up the rooted user's su whitelist app which will ask them if they'd like to give permission for this app to run as su. Once the user selects yes or no, the game continues to load but then makes another call to su at some random time.
If this second su call succeeds, then a rooted device is attempting to play the game and you can then flip a global boolean (ex: isrooted={1=rooted, 2=unrooted}. In this case, the play would be "is rooted=1" and then the game continues as usual except they aren't ranked.
Now let's play this out with an unrooted player. The unroofed device attempts to log in and the su call is made. It fails and you can catch that exception within the code and inside the error handler, you can set "is rooted" to 0 and then let the unrooted player continue to log in and play AND be ranked.
This tiny code change would be an easy fix. I have implemented games that use the exact code to catch rooted players and the source code is open sourced so you wouldn't owe me a dime
Looking for rooted apps though as your only check is going to run this game for many people because many applications have extra functionality that a rooted device opens up. In fact, I'm on my UNROOTED just so I can rank in these tourneys. I've spent money Into the game as well, and now I'm realizing it was for naught. I appreciate your help with this don't get me wrong and I'm sure a solution will he found. There are MANH other's experiencing the same thing.
In my case though, I cannot find one app that requires root for anything. Well no, I did have that KitKat launcher, I forgot. It needed root so that it could display transparent status bars on Android 4.4+ devices. I had that on testing it out, but I use Nova day to day. Is KitKat launched one of the all's that you check?
While I appreciate your reply, it simply does not cover all of the cases. I would take another look at the tools on your phone. For security reasons, we cannot divulge our entire algorithm for detecting a rooted user, but there must be something on your phone that we are detecting as root. You yourself have already identified one such application - perhaps there are others. Also, custom ROMs (which inherently require rooting) may leave hidden applications on the phone which are also flagged by the algorithm. Those hidden apps from your once rooted phone may also be on your handset and you may not even know it.
I don't do this, well for one, I don't have a PC at the monent and two, it goes against my ethics as I'm a programmer myself and much more. Is it possible for you to PM me a full list of all the apps you check when testing for su so I can run my installed apps against that?
Either way, I'll be here to try to help with the problem and toss ideas around. I have a few routines as well for checking that could solve the external data issue but need to run it by my partners in another app we've worked on (no we aren't asking for royalties
It's a way of encrypting game data (which doesn't need full 256bit encryption) and rotating the encryption method on a set schedule, and adding extra bytes into the files or removing them using a seperate function during the encryption phase. In this case, each player's last login would need to be kept as it already is and all encryption/decryption methods kept in a database so that when a player logs in outside the current encryption period, the right encryption/decryption tools can be used so they can play. Checksums are also be attached to ech data file. When encrypting on the server, a method is called which adds or removes a random # of bytes hidden as extra letters here or there (or in dummy values aoth long numerical strings where extra numbers could be added without anyone noticing). This checksum is saved on the server in a database. If a hacker were to decrypt the game data and make any changes, the game would see this as the checksums wouldnt add up. I may have the process of adding the extra bytes backwards and it may be during the decryption phase, I'm sleepy so forgive me. Well much to the hacker's surprise, the checksums won't match up and he can be dealt with accordingly. There is a little more to it but youre a smart programmer I'm sure. We are using this ourselves and plan to make money as well (with no iAPS like this mess though)
I won't go into much more detail as since you seem like an experienced programmer I'm sure you understand. Done correctly this would add very little to game play time. A high encryption bit isn't needed as the focus isn't on having a super secure encryption algorithm..the key is on the rotation of this scheme and the extra random amount of data added each time (or removed) in a seperate function server side. A database keeps track of all data associated with this process and hackers are easy to catch the first time they try and can be immediately banned or warned.
This way rooted players enjoying their pimped out Android 4.4.2 on a G2 who hasn't even seen 4.3 yet can enjoy the game just as much as anyone else. That root check can be taken out of the code and speed loading up some ?not sure it even slows it down, but just saying). This system I have outline works extremely well. I could code this system in a week easy and that's even using the programmer's old adage of adding twice as long to project estimates since we always overestimate ourselves.
It is almost 5 am and I am beat. I hope all this wasn't for naught and I am going to bed. If you are interested in the method I outlined vaguely, please contact me privately and I'll be able to be more in depth. Again, I'm.not selling you code. I'm trying to help fix my issue when I see all around that nobody else seems to be (or at least no one is updating us about it). Good night.
Bug Report
Description: G.S and V.P unable to find rank in tournament, no addition either to the guild. During regular i.e no tournament time,in leaderboard g.s and v.p stuck.(g.s on some weird total and v.p as my first tournament)
IgN: Ajthor
Device: IPad
Operating System Version: iOS 7.0.4 ( recently updated reasons below)
Game Version: 1.1.1
Approximate When You Noticed the Bug: Last endless tournament, till than I was of an understanding that maybe my gs and vp was just not high enough to get ranked,but during the last I realised mine was rank able .
(If Relevant) Please Describe the Steps to Replicate the Bug:
Other Information You Feel May Be Relevant:
1. First tournament vp was counted also it's the same amount stuck on leaderboard.
2. No jailbreak, had jailbreak on 5.1.1 but unjailbreaked it when 'ew2' wouldn't allow me to play online as I was jailbreaked.
3. The only app left on my iPad from jailbreak era is ew2 nothing else.
4. Just in case to make sure no hidden app or something was left I did (again) factory setting and update to 7.0.4 from 6.x.x
5. Also I have purchased mercenary gems pack if I was an unfair player with abilities to play unfairly why would I spend real money.
When game loads it makes a call to su binary and if that call succeeds it knows you are rooted. If it fails, the game then checks to see if there are certain root apps installed (he didn't specify which which would have been extremely helpful) and also checks for root related binaries and files such as busybox modules. The rest of the check he said was secret.
Bottom line is it is indeed a bug. They need to fix how they protect the data stored locally other than not let rooted players ra m as root does not equal hacker. If they encrypted the game data and had a system where the encryption scheme rotated on a schedule then all players could play as even if you were rooted, you wouldnt be able to make out the data much less change it. And of course back up each encryption scheme on their servers so players who have been inactive get the right decryption keys. I've used a system very much like this on a game I helped build.
Processors are fast these days, and we also don't need 256bit encryption schemes as the data being protected isn't that sensitive and if a hacker was able to break the encryption, they'd still have to keep up since the encryption code changes very frequently. It frustrates hackers and makes them give up and work elsewhere and doesn't affect game speed if done correctly.
Did the GLU Super Mod listen to that advise? Or go back and see why we are showing up as rooted? I don't know as he has yet to respond back, but when he left the last post seemed condensending as if be was convinced it was something on my device triggering me to be found as rooted and to look harder for root fragments. I should delete my angry posts here until I know more but he really had me upset.
SulerStarGum:
You're 100%, right about how my tone ended up as. I lost my cool that day and ranted. I'm not telling them how to do their jobs exactly, I was merely offering suggestions to help them in fixing this. And I stand behind firmly that blocking rooted users isn't the best solution and it's not because I feel I'm superior in any way. It's not the best solution or really any solution because I can name ways to back the game now as is without root and still retain your VP ranking. There are best practices guidelines for apps set forth by Google and the development community and I'm pretty sure they would agree that there is no need to block anybody but instead protect the data.
I don't even know how they store their game data and gave an example of a method that works and that is being used as we speak. It was meant to spark the flame in the developers and any programmer knows what I mean. Hearing somebody else's solution to a problem is often a great start at developing their own. Instead of insisting that I still have some remnants of being rooted omnmy phone or an app causing the problem and acting like I was reporting my monitor not working when it just wasn't plugged in, he could have taken me seriously and used that information that I've provided to investigate further. I DO actually know what I'm talking about when I say that this phone has never been rooted as it was shipped here brand new a week before the game's release date. There are no extra binaries anywhere. There are no .img files in my /sdcard mount..or even a /sdcard/{custom_recoverh_backups directory. My hosts file is empty. There are no from tabs set up. I could go on and on. In have even uninstalled the tiny number of apps I do have installed one by one and checked to rule out any apps (then reinstalled them afterwards).
I can't play the game so I might as well provide as detailed information as I can. There's nothing special about me becaise of the work one done...I've been on all sides here in actual workplace environments and know what has wormed and what doesn't work. If somebody is doing to divulge as detailed information as possible and in technical terms, then you probe teir minds, because there may not be anyone on the GLU staff affected by this the way I am. I DO hope to see you in game though
GLU Super Mod:
,I am sincerely sorry if you were offended, but I have paid more for inventory slots and shards then the game is worth. I cannot play at the moment as I cannot join any guilds serious about competition, and I have tried to assist in this as fully as I can while possibly sparking some new insight on the correct approach to this (which exactly only the GLU team knows, but it I DO know it doesn't involve checking for root and it DOES involve developing ways to protect the data itself.). I was upset that day when you responded by basically making me feel like in was a liar or making this up off the top of my head.
I'm sure you were just being thorough and making sure I knew and had tested all of your possible solutions. I shouldn't have gotten upset. I am worried that I am in the minority here with this bug and that nothing will be done as it wouldn't have any benefit on profits. In have worked hard to get where I am to join a top guild and get competitive. It is just a game.
I would appreciate it though however if from here out you could take me more seriously and possibly probe me deeper technically in what it might be. I did offer to assist via PM as well in the event that was preceded. I know that integrity is important to you in the leaderboards, but the core problem is you don't need to be rooted at all to use any of the hacks I've seen or modify anything. There are ways around that. So e others and myself have been posting them here in the forums to open up everyone's eyes. I play games as they are meant as there's no point in cheating, but by showing that the hacks can be accomplished without it root just backs up the idea to protect the data and not punish rooted phones. That would take care of all current hacks as well as clear up all the VP ranking issues AS WELL as include a larger player base to the competition. It's a win win win scenario. Being dedicated to keeping hackers off the leaderboards is refreshing though and something I'm sure most others including myself most appreciate.
No worries here. I am not offended in any way, but thanks for looking out for my well being.
We are taking all things into consideration and have some questions internally to answer regarding the implementation of blocking rooted users, both on device and on server. We are investigating this and will update our users when we have more information.
Fear not, we want as many people able to enjoy and play our games as possible, while also maintaining the integrity of the game world. Issues like this are on our radar and we are tackling them as fast as we can.
Thank you for the update, Wacamoe.
Players, we have heard your suggestions and are aware of the issues; thank you for your posts. We are certainly looking into options and will let you know as things progress. Closing this thread until we are able to provide an update.