. . . cheaters modifying their save . . .

[peteloud]

I wish that there was an encrypted code built into the save file so that when cheaters modify their save file to give them all sorts of benefits which make their Interloper game easier than Pilgrim then it was obvious to others that they were cheating/bulls.... .

[Guest kristaok]

Why? It's a solo game, it's not like they're playing multiplayer...

[peteloud]

There are two reasons for my suggesting this.

Playing the Survival game on TLD at Interloper level without cheating is very difficult. So when someone claims to have survived at Interloper for hundreds of days that person's advice and discussion should be high quality, reliable information and advice.  Many players might develop their strategies based on the advice.  If that advice is Bullsh**, from some who has been playing a game at level easier than Pilgrim then the information and advice can spoil the game for others.

The second reason is that I dislike seeing bullsh***ers bragging.

 

[ajb1978]

The only time I've used a save editor was to correct for obvious bugs.  Like that time I got stuck in a bowl on the floor of the Mystery Lake camp office.  That one isn't even worth trying to rationalize, or be like "Oh dear, I guess that's the end of my character.  Done in by a cereal bowl."   I'll be the first to admit I edited that save and slid myself sideways about three hundred feet.  Wasn't worth trashing a 200+ day run, or tabling it for 2-3 months for the glitch to be fixed.  Instead I just threw my X value out by like 1000 so I fell into the void, and let the fail-safe put me back by the entrance.

So if there's a way to allow "legitimate" uses (at least I consider it legitimate) like this, while blocking cheaters, sure.

Edited December 29, 2019 by ajb1978

[The Black Knight]

Really? Survive interloper is not an issue, once you craft the bow and reach cooking lvl5 is almost a piece of cake for a regular player with more than 500 hours in game. Most of veteran players just start again after 200 days because we have already loot all the maps and survive is too easy... your suggest is very disrepectful for good players 

[ThePancakeLady]

38 minutes ago, The Black Knight said:

Really? Survive interloper is not an issue, once you craft the bow and reach cooking lvl5 is almost a piece of cake for a regular player with more than 500 hours in game. Most of veteran players just start again after 200 days because we have already loot all the maps and survive is too easy... your suggest is very disrepectful for good players 

How is it disrespectful to actual, legit "good players"? The OP isn't talking about people who play the game legitimately, and are skilled enough to play without unsupported mods. The only way I could see it being disrespectful, is if the OP considers using Custom Settings, allowed in the unmodified game, as being "cheating". And *most* legit players who use Custom Settings, will say they are, and even share the code for those settings. Custom Settings aren't cheating. Third part cheat mods are. But it hardly matters in a singleplayer game with no leaderboards. @peteloud, if someone seems to be doing better than you think they should be, and bragging about it, you can ignore them,  disregard their advice on the forums, and follow that of people you trust or know personally. And yeah, some people are just that good, and have put that much time into the game, that they can survive on vanilla Interloper for hundreds of days, and make it look easy. While some of us can't, or don't enjoy that mode enough to even bother trying.

And @The Black Knight, I have around 3800 hours in the game now, between XBox One and Steam. And Interloper is not a "piece of cake" for me, irregardless of numbers of hours in the game. Mainly because I do not enjoy the mode at all. I like Stalker, vanilla Stalker. Loper is too restrictive and more linear-feeling to me. I get no joy from it. Loper is not the ultimate fantasy mode for everyone who plays this game, or the ultimate "victory". Your comment is a tad disrespectful to players who enjoy and do well in any other mode, including Custom Settings games. You like Loper. Good for you. I like Stalker, good for me. I have a friend who likes vanilla Pilgrim, and has over 5000 hours in the game. And enjoys the heck out of it. And it does not make them any less of a "good player" than you, I, or anyone else. It just means that they enjoy different things in the game than I, or you do.

 

[UpUpAway95]

I agree with @ThePancakeLady on this one.  It is a single-player game.  I do believe, however, that people who modify their saves and then try to pass their accomplishments off without revealing the modifications are indeed being dishonest with others, not just themselves... but as was so aptly said, we all have the option to just shrug off their bragging.  People who modify their files and are open about it with others are not cheaters, although they are, IMO, being disrespectful of the devs who have not approved the use of mods in their game.

I'm not adverse to there being a designation that a file has been modified though, as long as it isn't done in such a way that it is "punishment" to the player and that it does not label the player in any way as being a "cheater" etc.  If Hinterlands ever does approve mod support, then there will, no doubt, be many different ways in which people will modify their saves... not only to make the easier, but also to make them more challenging or more storied or more enjoyable for themselves and others to play.  That's not a bad thing.

An unpopular opinion of mine stated previously is that difficulty settings should just be elminated and the custom menus be used... eliminating this basis of comparison and argument about who is and who is not a "good player" and freeing up people to play the game using whatever combination of all the available settings they most enjoy.  I know it's an unpopular stance... but it still is my preferred alternative towards ending this ongoing dilemma over relative difficulties.

[stay puft]

23 hours ago, peteloud said:

I wish that there was an encrypted code built into the save file so that when cheaters modify their save file to give them all sorts of benefits which make their Interloper game easier than Pilgrim then it was obvious to others that they were cheating/bulls

I agree with this. or maybe just some type of mark in the journal so we know its a mod.

5 hours ago, peteloud said:

Playing the Survival game on TLD at Interloper level without cheating is very difficult. So when someone claims to have survived at Interloper for hundreds of days that person's advice and discussion should be high quality, reliable information and advice.  Many players might develop their strategies based on the advice.  If that advice is Bullsh**, from some who has been playing a game at level easier than Pilgrim then the information and advice can spoil the game for others.

The second reason is that I dislike seeing bullsh***ers bragging

how many days do you believe it's possible to live on interloper? 

I know you don't believe people can live 100s of days but honestly it is possible to live that long without cheating. Also to assume people are bragging puts you in a negative frame of mind from the beginning so of course your not going to believe anyone.

Another thing is some people play on console and I don't think you can mod the game on console but maybe I wrong about that.

Advice is sometimes different based on play styles and theres more then one play style to live that long.

 

I know awhile back I misspoke in another thread about how many total game days I have and if I ever gave bad advice in the past I do apologize and would be willing to try to clear anything up.

[RegentRelic]

10 hours ago, ThePancakeLady said:

I have a friend who likes vanilla Pilgrim

My grandma, so this old rancher that can’t spell iPhone, plays the long dark on her 1990’s computer with a modern screen and all the old parts ripped out (So different pc entirely in the same case, because she “doesn’t need a new computer”.). She plays on pilgrim and just sort of walks around the world. Honestly I don’t think she has given any of the other difficulties a second thought.

7 hours ago, stay puft said:

play on console and I don't think you can mod the game on console but maybe I wrong about that.

Yes but is very difficult and very different then on a desk/laptop. It isn’t so much modin’ as it is messing with the game files, if that makes any sense.

[Guest kristaok]

22 hours ago, DerpyLemon115 said:

While I don't usually cheat myself, i'm of the opinion that if you're either playing a single player game, or a co-op game where the other players are aware and okay with you cheating, than you're not doing anything wrong. Since TLD has about as much multiplayer as the original Pac-Man arcade game where the only thing you can do is share each others high score for bragging rights, than there really doesn't need to be any punishment.

This.

Sorry, but I see nothing wrong with using mods or save editors in a single player game. So it has to be a no from me... Sorry.

[Hotzn]

To be honest, I have been frequenting these forums for quite a long time, and I can't recall ever running into someone bragging about surviving a long time on interloper. So is there really a problem with such people that needs to be addressed? As far as I am concerned, I would feel nothing but pity for anyone who cheated himself and then went to some internet forum to brag about it. The people who discuss long interloper (or deadman, or even more difficult custom modes) runs on these forums here do it to exchange knowledge and enjoy insights, at least that is my impression. You can see from what they know about game mechanics that they probably can survive as long as they like. I don't think the save files need any encryption or other security feature.

[JAFO]

On 12/30/2019 at 1:58 AM, peteloud said:

Playing the Survival game on TLD at Interloper level without cheating is very difficult. So when someone claims to have survived at Interloper for hundreds of days that person's advice and discussion should be high quality, reliable information and advice.  Many players might develop their strategies based on the advice.  If that advice is Bullsh**, from some who has been playing a game at level easier than Pilgrim then the information and advice can spoil the game for others.

The second reason is that I dislike seeing bullsh***ers bragging.

If they haven't confessed to it, how do you know they're cheating?

Because you assume that since you struggle with it, many/all of those who've mastered 'Loper must be cheats & bullshitters?

Sorry, but that won't wash. Sure, 'Loper is hard (too hard for me), but once you know the maps well enough, and have memorised the possible key loot spawns, and have your strategy down pat, surviving hundreds of days in 'Loper is VERY do-able. That's been proven many times over.

Edited December 31, 2019 by JAFO

[peteloud]

Hotzn,

I agree with  most of what you say.  I fully respect , "The people who discuss long interloper (or deadman, or even more difficult custom modes) runs on these forums here do it to exchange knowledge and enjoy insights, . . . ".  That is one of the aspects of TLD that I very much like.  In this forum there is a camaraderie  in which people share their experiences to help others.   However a few weeks ago there appeared several posts where people were claiming implausibly long Interloper runs.  I resented this because it undermines the difficult achievements of those who have done well in Interloper without fiddling.  It also means that advice they give can be misleading.   However such contributions have ceased, so the matter is best put aside, until it happens again.

 

JAFO,

Your comment is poor. 

I know that the main comment that I resented was inaccurate because the writer has apologised, but there were other implausible comments

 

". . . since you struggle with it . . . ."

I have never been reluctant to admit when I find TLD difficult, therefore my comments were nothing to do with my finding the game a struggle or otherwise.

 

". . . 'Loper is VERY do-able. That's been proven many times over. ".

What do you mean by, "proven" ?  Those "Very do-able"  claims might have been made by people who who used mods. to give them 100% health, (i.e. can not die), unlimited carrying capacity, give themselves all the equipment that they wanted, and restore it when its condition deteriorates.  To me, people who do that, then claim hundreds of days survival at Interloper level are misleading others.  Because I know how difficult Interloper is, I have respect for people who have survived  many days at Interloper, and I feel that their real  achievement is being diminished.

 

 

 

[JAFO]

5 hours ago, peteloud said:

What do you mean by, "proven" ?  Those "Very do-able"  claims might have been made by people who who used mods. to give them 100% health, (i.e. can not die), unlimited carrying capacity, give themselves all the equipment that they wanted, and restore it when its condition deteriorates.

I mean they've done entire runs very publicly. Often multiple times. On YouTube and/or Twitch streams. If there was any cheating involved, it would have been extremely obvious to anyone watching. Many of these people have large viewerships, and believe me, any cheating whatsoever would have been called out in the harshest terms. A YT or Twitch search for "the long dark interloper" will turn up dozens, if not hundreds of people who put their entire runs out there for all to see. If you want a list of some of the more well-known individuals, I can supply one.

Edited January 1, 2020 by JAFO

[DirtyMadcap]

On 12/29/2019 at 8:20 PM, RegentRelic said:

My grandma, so this old rancher that can’t spell iPhone, plays the long dark on her 1990’s computer with a modern screen and all the old parts ripped out (So different pc entirely in the same case, because she “doesn’t need a new computer”.). She plays on pilgrim and just sort of walks around the world. Honestly I don’t think she has given any of the other difficulties a second thought.

That's just fuggin' AWESOME! 😍

Edited January 1, 2020 by DirtyMadcap

[odizzido]

If anything this game needs to be opened up to more "cheating". I want to eat a more realistic number of animals but also reduce the number of them.

[Lord Civers]

No thanks. I like to do whatever I want with my solo game I bought with my money without being punished or branded. TLD is not a competitive game, so it's unnecessary to punish the so-called "cheaters", even less to stop a few from bragging. Also I like to cheat in my solo games and I don't like to be judged upon my playstyle, thanks.

Also you can have valid reasons for modifying your save. Like bugs that ruin your 30 days of survival because you got stuck between rocks while trying to flee from a bear. I don't want my game to brand me as a cheater for correcting its own mistakes.

Edited January 12, 2020 by Lord Civers

[Willy Pete]

Cheating in a single-player game is a victimless crime.

[odizzido]

it's not even a crime. It's enjoying something in the way you like to use it.

[stmSantana]

You can understand that if you can live 50 days, you can live 500 days. No cheats needed.