Suggestion: Version Update Override.Follow

Yes, yes, I know this is a post having to do with the latest DDoS on the servers, but I've been noticing something...

The reason we cannot log into FFXI, is because the server that handles updating the game (when it says "Checking Final Fantasy XI Version") is the very server being DDoS'd.

That means, if we had a way to BYPASS that server, then we would be able to log in fine, right?

So why doesn't SE program into POL a way to bypass that server? Basically, create an algorythm or something, that would allow us to bypass the server. Basically it would work like this:

1). DDoS happens.
2). SE says "okay, we're releasing an emergency code. The code is X27329AG283F."

3). You enter that code into POL when it bombs at "Checking Final Fantasy XI Version"

4). It sees the code, and somewhere in that code, its hidden that the code is supposed to work on October 19, 2005 with POL version XXX and Final Fantasy XI version YYY.

5). If the code, versions, and date is right, it lets you in.

That'd make things so much easier now...

--Xylia

Well, because this would allow people to attempt to log on with old versions... that would be bad.

--Xylia

That's why the "Continue?" would only show up after a good thirty seconds of churning away, trying to update, and failing. The very next time the server feels up to it, the person with the old version is going to be updated, no questions asked. But if the server recognizes that, no, you're not getting this update, and no, nobody else is getting this update either, then I don't see the harm in going a short while without it.

Well, if you read my OP, SE would have to release some 10+ digit code and inside of that code would be a DATE (so it ONLY works on that specified date) and the FFXI version (if your version ISN'T that, it wouldn't work. So no, logging in with an old code/old version would not work).

--Xylia

Sure. I'll just reinstall FFXI from scratch, "skip" all those silly "nerfs", and I'll be just peachy.


Wouldn't work if different people had different versions of the software.

Quite often too some of the updates are designed to stop programs like MrArgus (a voke bot that will warp you instantly to an NM when it pops and voke it) and MrZone (lets you teleport instantly anywhere in a zone) from working. I've seen people grab older copies of some of the DLL files of the game and redistribute them so those programs will still work.

So yea, the updates are there for a reason, and being able to simply bypass them would just make things easier for people who can exploit holes in the code.

As I said, that already happens. Once the exploit community works out which files were modified to stop the particular exploit being dealt with, someone with an unpatched client simply distributes the old versions of the files.

>_>

This is pretty much what I was thinking of. I'm no programmer, I don't know how these things work, I'm mainly speaking as to what I'd like to see as a customer. You'd think, though, that yeah, the server would be able to tell what version you have without you having to plug in a code. I mean...what is "check version" anyway? That's the code right there, isn't it?

The version update fails because it's the first thing it tries to do. You wouldn't have any luck interacting with the rest of the system, and there's too much there to have an emergency bypass, especiall considering then people would just DDoS whatever server it's bypassed to.

More than likely, the "update server" is just a round-robin load balancing type thing that you connect to and it then connects you to whichever login/update/version check sever has the lowest load on it at the time.

Either way a DDoS can pretty much bring down the entire network so I doubt it would work to bypass one part. The idea is good in theory though.