*FIXING 'king for a day'*

[APCGrayLocked]

1 hour ago, woggly4 said:

Yep. 

 

You would need to set up a Wifi Hotspot on your PC and connect the PS3 to it. Then you can capture the traffic with Wireshark on that hotspot's interface. Most likely you won't be able to see the actual data because it's encrypted but have a look for DNS requests after starting the game and logging in to multiplayer. After that, search for requests to the resolved IP to get the connection port. Open it in a browser and check the certificate.

 

In your network capture you will most likely notice something with fesl.ea.com or the like, this is the authentication to EA and handling of your stats etc. It seems that every EA multiplayer game uses this protocol. Maybe there's something regarding Autolog as well.

 

i wonder if this works with Burnout Crash too (another Autolog victim)

[Smashero]

Ok, so I just downloaded it (bought on my main in 2015 lol) and tested on 3 alt. accounts which are "friended".

I finished the first race towards "Las Vegas", I am ~205th now on all 3 accounts.

 

Started to mess up with "Autolog" option - got "Current Events" trophy. And whichever option I choose - the LB/table is empty/shows error - example pic below.

https://imgur.com/OqyzFjw

So... No, it simply doesn't work. 

Possible options mentioned above are beyond my skills and will, so... 

(OT - TBH this game looks and seems to be a total crap anyway - I just finished Undercover - it was WAY much "better").

EDIT: The worst thing is that MP actually WORKS and you can find other Players, only this bloody option is messed up :/.

So now I understand why EA is announcing server's closure, since they ARE online. Only some IMPORTANT part - AUTOLOG - is not working...

Edited August 11, 2021 by Smashero

[Potent_Delusions]

On 10/08/2021 at 7:13 PM, woggly4 said:

I just stumbled upon this thread. I don't have the game but I'm willing to help because I fought another unobtainable EA trophy the other day, and I eventually got it but the trophy fixed itself which seems to be unlikely in this case here. But I researched quite a bit about EA's server structure during that period which might help.

 

The official reason is 

and in fact all old servers of old EA games have expired HTTPS certificates. However, the Battlefield franchise for example has the fingerprint of the certificate baked into the game, thus ignoring the expiry. Did someone check if the "Autolog system" has an expired certificate and the game maybe checks the validity of the certificate? If this is the case it might be worth a try to proxy the connection to the Autolog server with a self signed (i.e. valid) certificate. I think it sounds kind of odd that this "security issue" is specific to this game and broke the trophy overnight, might be a clue that the certificate expired on that exact date back in 2016.

 

Are you able to try this at all for us, Woggly? I don't know if you own the game at all, but it'd be very interesting to see if this would resolve it.

[pavelbagirov]

1 hour ago, Smashero said:

Ok, so I just downloaded it (bought on my main in 2015 lol) and tested on 3 alt. accounts which are "friended".

I finished the first race towards "Las Vegas", I am ~205th now on all 3 accounts.

 

Started to mess up with "Autolog" option - got "Current Events" trophy. And whichever option I choose - the LB/table is empty/shows error - example pic below.

https://imgur.com/OqyzFjw

So... No, it simply doesn't work. 

Possible options mentioned above are beyond my skills and will, so... 

(OT - TBH this game looks and seems to be a total crap anyway - I just finished Undercover - it was WAY much "better").

EDIT: The worst thing is that MP actually WORKS and you can find other Players, only this bloody option is messed up :/.

So now I understand why EA is announcing server's closure, since they ARE online. Only some IMPORTANT part - AUTOLOG - is not working...

The Run is the best NFS in last 15 years) online have most players in all nfs series,lobby is always full even dlc. Undercover is fine but I think it worst one in last 15 years in the series.

They closing games because they 10+ years old. I wonder why Hot Pursuit 2010 not be closed too.

[Smashero]

1 minute ago, pavelbagirov said:

The Run is the best NFS in last 15 years) online have most players in all nfs series,lobby is always full even dlc. Undercover is fine but I think it worst one in last 15 years in the series.

They closing games because they 10+ years old. I wonder why Hot Pursuit 2010 not be closed too.

It will be delisted from EA Play on 16th of Aug and there is a conspiracy theory that MP could also disappear soon, having in mind Remastered versions on PS4.

 

That's why I am atm planning to start it this weekend...

 

Edited August 11, 2021 by Smashero

[pavelbagirov]

Just now, Smashero said:

It will be delisted from EA Play on 16th of Aug and there is a conspiracy theory that MP could also disappear soon, having in mind Remastered versions on PS4.

 

So need to finish with MW 2012 dlc too soon. Longest one on PS3 nfs

[VELOCIOUS-VIPER]

someone got the trophy last month 

legit?

[woggly4]

1 hour ago, Potent_Delusions said:

Are you able to try this at all for us, Woggly? I don't know if you own the game at all, but it'd be very interesting to see if this would resolve it.

I don't own the game, yet. But now I'm curious too so I ordered two used copies. Will try to investigate some things when they arrive and report back. But don't expect too much, it's just a guess.

[Potent_Delusions]

4 minutes ago, woggly4 said:

I don't own the game, yet. But now I'm curious too so I ordered two used copies. Will try to investigate some things when they arrive and report back. But don't expect too much, it's just a guess.

 

Indeed, but it's a plausible guess and certainly interesting to say the least. Best of luck. 

[willmill97]

What's the TLDR update?

[MD_91]

56 minutes ago, VELOCIOUS-VIPER said:

someone got the trophy last month 

legit?

 

I don't know why they're still on the leaderboard when someone else was just removed the other day, I guess nobody has flagged it?

[latest-purr1]

On 10/08/2021 at 8:13 PM, woggly4 said:

If this is the case [that the expired certificate is the culprit] it might be worth a try to proxy the connection to the Autolog server with a self signed (i.e. valid) certificate.

Even if you manage to get it work, which I hope you will and I wish you good luck with that, there’s still an another concern: wouldn’t this get you flagged and removed from the leaderboards?

Edited August 12, 2021 by latest-purr1

[Smashero]

5 hours ago, VELOCIOUS-VIPER said:

someone got the trophy last month 

legit?

No.

[APCGrayLocked]

3 hours ago, latest-purr1 said:

Even if you manage to get it work, which I hope you will and I wish you good luck with that, there’s still an another concern: wouldn’t this get you flagged and removed from the leaderboards?

 

Nope. He's using a "thing" that don't manipulates the firmware of the console, neither creates "something" that hacks the trophies. For example, in order to get the multiplayer XP trophies in AVP in single player, you must use the proxy servers. And nobody (including me) was flagged and removed, because is not hacking.

[woggly4]

8 hours ago, latest-purr1 said:

Even if you manage to get it work, which I hope you will and I wish you good luck with that, there’s still an another concern: wouldn’t this get you flagged and removed from the leaderboards?

 

Well, I'm not CRT but, as @APCGrayLocked said, with this method I'm not altering anything regarding trophies or system software or the actual connection data between EA and your PS3. I'm using tools to monitor my own network connection, which are common to use if you want to analyze or increase your network's security.

 

In fact, if you have installed an antivirus software that provides a connection protection it will use the same technique: Self signing a certificate that is trusted by your system in order to scan the network. Otherwise malicious sites would just need to use HTTPS encryption and no software could find malware etc in it. It's a so called Man-in-the-middle.

 

Furthermore, if EA shut downs the server or the Autolog server is down the method wouldn't work (anymore). So it depends completely on EA's servers, I would just recover the state of before the certificate expired.

 

However, as said, I'm not CRT and this is just my opinion on it. If you really get flagged for it the leaderboard rules would need to be revised imo.

[KenpachiDaniel]

11 hours ago, latest-purr1 said:

Even if you manage to get it work, which I hope you will and I wish you good luck with that, there’s still an another concern: wouldn’t this get you flagged and removed from the leaderboards?

 

3 hours ago, woggly4 said:

However, as said, I'm not CRT and this is just my opinion on it. If you really get flagged for it the leaderboard rules would need to be revised imo.

 

It's like APCGreyLocked said: if this method works and you show here how to do, you won't get flagged by doing this. This is not a illegal method. There are other games that uses similar methods to earn trophies unachievable by normal means, like some of the games that used GameSpy or the Final Fantasy XV Comrades DLC, for example.

[poetic_justice_]

I wish APCGrayLocked and woggly4 headed up EA's customer support. In two pages, these two players have shown more intelligence in solving EA's problems than EA customer support has shown on two hundred pages of its own site.

 

Gamer: Dear EA, the Autolog function isn't working on PS3 in NFS The Run.

EA Customer Support: So sorry to hear that! If you tell me more about your system's specs, perhaps we can help. Let's get started! First, I'm going to do everything I can to hide the fact I've never played the game you mentioned and have no idea what you are talking about.

Gamer: OK. 

EA: Second, rather than do any work myself, I'm going to ask you to spend an hour hunting down useless technical information on your system and typing it up to post it in on the thread. I hope this calms you down to the point when I redirect you to another non-human resource, you don't angrily ask for my supervisor, revealing to my boss I'm useless at my job.

Gamer: Wait, what? It's Autolog for PS3. It's a standard console. EA already has this information.

EA: I don't understand a word you're typing, but it's my job to pretend I do. Please refer to Need For Speed The Run's FAQ page from 2012. Now that I've wasted your time, would you mind filling out an automated survey and give me five stars?

Gamer: No, can you just fix Autolog on PS3?! Or connect me to someone who can?

EA: I'd really love it if you gave me five stars. I'm trying to get promoted to the Battlefield V server support team. Those guys don't even show up for work and still get paid! Sigh. Living the dream.

Gamer: ...

Edited August 12, 2021 by poetic_justice_

[bratMario]

23 hours ago, poetic_justice_ said:

I wish APCGrayLocked and woggly4 headed up EA's customer support. In two pages, these two players have shown more intelligence in solving EA's problems than EA customer support has shown on two hundred pages of its own site.

 

Gamer: Dear EA, the Autolog function isn't working on PS3 in NFS The Run.

EA Customer Support: So sorry to hear that! If you tell me more about your system's specs, perhaps we can help. Let's get started! First, I'm going to do everything I can to hide the fact I've never played the game you mentioned and have no idea what you are talking about.

Gamer: OK. 

EA: Second, rather than do any work myself, I'm going to ask you to spend an hour hunting down useless technical information on your system and typing it up to post it in on the thread. I hope this calms you down to the point when I redirect you to another non-human resource, you don't angrily ask for my supervisor, revealing to my boss I'm useless at my job.

Gamer: Wait, what? It's Autolog for PS3. It's a standard console. EA already has this information.

EA: I don't understand a word you're typing, but it's my job to pretend I do. Please refer to Need For Speed The Run's FAQ page from 2012. Now that I've wasted your time, would you mind filling out an automated survey and give me five stars?

Gamer: No, can you just fix Autolog on PS3?! Or connect me to someone who can?

EA: I'd really love it if you gave me five stars. I'm trying to get promoted to the Battlefield V server support team. Those guys don't even show up for work and still get paid! Sigh. Living the dream.

Gamer: ...

PURE BEAUTY, THANK YOU

[woggly4]

Quick update: Received both copies a few hours ago. Checked the connections and there's something suspicious compared to the other EA game, namely Battlefield Bad Company.

• Both servers have invalid certificates: invalid keysize
• However, BFBC has expired in 2010, NFSTR's certificate is still valid until November 2021
• Despite being invalid, BFBC doesn't drop the connection, NFSTR does

The game repeatedly calls "v8.secure.nfstr.ea.com" when toggling the Autolog tabs and dropping the connection because of a handshake issue. I didn't have the time to dig deeper, yet, but it could be that the handshake issue is the cause. The problem is that I don't know if NFS uses the same check of the server as BF (likely) and refusing other certificates or if we can trick it to accept self signed certificates (unlikely). If it refuses the certificate the only fix would be to patch the game or/and update the server, which only EA can do. Maybe that is why they talk about the unresolvable "security issue" because they don't care to update the certificate/game anymore. I will investigate this further tomorrow or the day after, just wanted to let you guys know.

[woggly4]

Looks like the online part is completely offline now. Can someone please check if you can connect?

[Han_the_Dragon]

8 minutes ago, woggly4 said:

Looks like the online part is completely offline now. Can someone please check if you can connect?

 

Just checked, and I was able to log in to Autolog and get into a march with 2 randoms, so the online is still working.

[woggly4]

Thanks for checking. That's weird because I can't connect to Autolog at all. Anyone from the EU who can confirm it's also working for them?

 

Edit: Still doesn't work for me, will try again from time to time.

Edited August 19, 2021 by woggly4

[Han_the_Dragon]

46 minutes ago, woggly4 said:

Thanks for checking. That's weird because I can't connect to Autolog at all. Anyone from the EU who can confirm it's also working for them?

I'm from the EU (Portugal).

 

The Autolog doesn't always work properly.  I wasn't able to play online in the first day that I tried after buying it in June..

 

It's just a question of keep trying..

[Cynandra]

12 hours ago, woggly4 said:

Looks like the online part is completely offline now. Can someone please check if you can connect?

Hiya, my friend and i are both from Europe and we've been able to play online for the last few days ?
I've even managed to get the trophy 'What else you got?' about beating a friends recommendation.

I'd also like to thank you for trying to figure out a possible fix for everyone. Even though you haven't started it, you're still trying which is incredibly kind  ? 
 

[woggly4]

Don't get excited, only bad news will follow.

 

After testing a few things I managed to "fix" the handshake issue, however the Autolog leaderboard still fails silently. Even when blocking the connection to the involved server the game doesn't throw an error, if you ask me this is bad design because an essential function is failing without anyone noticing, maybe the devs predicted this behavior and tried to "hide" the issue from the players, who knows. So it's very likely that the server "v8.secure.nfstr.ea.com" is indeed the cause of the issue.

 

I self signed a certificate that matches the server's as closely as possible. The handshake issue is gone but there's no data being sent from the game, it looks like the game uses the same certificate fingerprint check as other EA games. Thus, the connection fails because the game doesn't recognize the (i.e. my self signed) certificate, in this case silently, providing no data for the game which results in the "No Friend Recommendations available at this time" message.

 

Unfortunately there is no way to fix this without updating the server's certificate and then the game to accept the new certificate, which only EA can do. I'm not sure if something on EA's side expired/broke or if Sony dropped support for something related to secure connections with a system update. I'm sorry guys, I wish I could post better news but I'm afraid the possibility to get this trophy is gone for good. And it's highly unlikely something will change in the last few days of operation when EA didn't bother to fix this issue for 5 years.

Edited August 22, 2021 by woggly4