Flagging and reports. Questions

[mackenzie129]

So I've been reading the game disputes lately entertainment purposes but it raised some questions.

So I read the Rules and what not on the  whole what constitutes a flag and some things seemed off
 

• Using "backup" save files - Backing up your save file and re-loading it in order to earn missable or "choice" trophies (e.g., to quickly get trophies for 2 different endings in a game) or to make games easier (e.g., to save yourself in games with permadeath). Or allowing you to regain access to a part of a game to perform an in-game glitch. Do not use one of your save files from another console or from a different save state in the past to unlock trophy timestamps in an impossible way!

• Cross-save games - An example is Sound Shapes among other games. One feature within the in-game menus are to import your save file from another console and auto-pop trophies. Since this is accessible to anyone and any gamer can do this on purpose or by accident, these aren't flaggable, even though this is a "cheap" method of obtaining a platinum trophy.

 

These two do not constitute a a flag 

 

• Using a save file to auto-unlock trophies - If you use an external save file to auto-unlock trophies or advance you further into the game and the impossibility of normal circumstance can be proven via the timestamps, it's flaggable. This includes using your own save file to unlock trophies at an impossible time frame, be careful with this, always sync your trophies, and do not use your save file to earn trophies impossibly out of order.

 

But this does?

 

Okay I get it don't go to hackers .com to get save files but if its my save my legit save that unlocks trophies in a weird order isn't that more well earned then someone who auto pops Sounds and shapes? I have 3 Ps3s one in the master bedroom the Lan port is fried and the wifi doesnt reach my Mackenzie129 account is on it kinda (offline you know) If I bring a save from there to my online one and it auto unlocks some trophies that I already owned wouldnt that be legit? I beat Dragon Age origins plat. On a different profile I platinum-ed it when I moved my save to my online profile it did auto pop trophies in an odd order. But regardless I earned that plat. So what constitutes Save file "CHEATING" in that perspective. One game is okay but multiple other ones are not? I don't get it honestly.

 Thank you if you made it this far have an awesome day

Edited January 9, 2018 by mackenzie129

[Senor_T_Dub]

It’s simply because there is no way to determine if the save is yours or one downloaded from the internet. Both your own save and an online save would have the same time stamp pattern and thus many cheaters and hackers would be able to exploit the system. The reason auto pop for Sound Shapes or cross-save games are okay is because they were features created by the developers.

[BlindMango]

Yes, here's why:

• You're playing an 100 hour long MMORPG and there are two separate trophies 75 hours into the game, one for making a good choice and one for making a bad choice. You make a save before the choices and get once choice then reload the save and get the other choice. This isn't odd enough to scream cheating, it's a somewhat natural form of gameplay when there are multiple major options at the same time. You are reloading a save you made, but there isn't a natural order broken in a way that isn't explainable.
• The explanation for cross-game saves is in the description. There are a handful of vita/PS4 games that supported this as an official feature, we can't flag someone who used an in-game feature, even though it's really cheap. They didn't cheat by loading a cloudsave through the in-game settings via PlayStation Cloud officially for a feature titled "Cross Save".
• It's obvious if you used an external save file, basically the timestamps will be all over the place, or things are out of order (getting a trophy further in the game impossibly before getting a trophy at the beginning of the game - you must get trophy A before getting trophy B, yet somehow you earned trophy B way before).

 

Edited January 9, 2018 by BlindMango

[mackenzie129]

Okay I looked at some of these disputes and it looks like pre patched assassins creed 2 syndrome I played it all pre patched but if you look at my list I got sequence 3 after 4 because well pre patch. I like to think not everyone on here is a blatant cheater. So If I bought a Japanese hmm lets say minecraft just pretend it exists and I load my NA save and it auto unlocks all trophies is that considered cheating?

Sorry guys I'm just curious is all and thank you

@BlindMango

[Super-Fly Spider-Guy]

27 minutes ago, mackenzie129 said:

OP

I'll save you some time, not to toot my own horn, but I'm (at least a decent part) of the reason that rule's there.

 

Long story short. I had everything loaded to go in LittleBigPlanet 2 on a PS3, and then, on another PS3, I went there with my save to autopop that shit. It went on for a good long while, and though I don't care at all now, it basically came down to "well, you probably cheated, maybe you didn't, oh well, it's too shonky and you staying flagged, boy". Which is fair enough, really, but the reason I say I'm partly to blame, is because these rules, or their then latest revision at least, popped up at the same time my shit was going down, and had pretty direct referencing along the lines of what I'd tried to do.

 

Basically, I think the point of it all, is to say it's cool to do a double save if you wanna team up with Kyle and Cartman without redoing everything, or you wanna do a different choice in inFamous, etc. but it's not cool to have everything ready to instapop and then do said instapopping. I mean, if you were aware of the rules, and did your instapopping with a full on video of everything and the legit offline timestamps and so on, maybe you'd be right? But tbh who cares that much anyways.

[BlindMango]

If a game has a known in-game bug or glitch which causes one trophy to unlock before another trophy, then that's not flaggable.

 

Also if you bought the JP version of Minecraft and loaded your NA save onto it, it won't auto unlock trophies because you already earned the trophies for that game. Also your synced trophies only take the earliest time tag you have synced to your profile. Separate versions of a game typically don't accept save files from each other, or auto-pop trophies in that way, etc...

 

Sure there are accidents, but those are usually easy to notice

[mackenzie129]

4 minutes ago, BlindMango said:

If a game has a known in-game bug or glitch which causes one trophy to unlock before another trophy, then that's not flaggable.

 

Also if you bought the JP version of Minecraft and loaded your NA save onto it, it won't auto unlock trophies because you already earned the trophies for that game. Also your synced trophies only take the earliest time tag you have synced to your profile. Separate versions of a game typically don't accept save files from each other, or auto-pop trophies in that way, etc...

 

Sure there are accidents, but those are usually easy to notice

 

Minecraft was an example lol some games cross region auto pop is that "legit"?

Edited January 9, 2018 by mackenzie129

[Xionx]

5 minutes ago, mackenzie129 said:

 

Minecraft was an example lol some games cross region auto pop is that "legit"?

I think he already answered. If it is a game feature (cross save useage) like sly 4 or sound shapes, than yes. If it is not than its not even possible without manipulating the save file (hacking) to make it compatible with other region version.  (Some old old games maybe dont have this lock , but most of them dont have trophy support)

[mackenzie129]

5 minutes ago, Xionx said:

I think he already answered. If it is a game feature (cross save useage) like sly 4 or sound shapes, than yes. If it is not than its not even possible without manipulating the save file (hacking) to make it compatible with other region version.  (Some old old games maybe dont have this lock , but most of them dont have trophy support)

Thank you and sorry it most of went over my head 

[mekktor]

1 hour ago, mackenzie129 said:

So I read the Rules and what not on the  whole what constitutes a flag and some things seemed off

• Using "backup" save files

• Cross-save games

These two do not constitute a a flag 

• Using a save file to auto-unlock trophies

 

The main difference between those scenarios is that the third scenario involves deleting (or losing) the original trophy timestamps that were associated with that save file. I agree that this should be made clearer in the rules as it's currently only stated briefly as "always sync your trophies".

[Leo_the_Lion25]

There's a hacker I am trying to flag but the report button ain't there. Dude has a (P) he got in 26 seconds and it not possible. Plus has trophies dated back to 2008 when the games released in 2013. There's no report button on their page. 

Edited January 10, 2018 by Leo_the_Lion25

[Lagoon Aris]

4 minutes ago, Leo_the_Lion25 said:

There's a hacker I am trying to flag but the report button ain't there. Dude has a (P) he got in 26 seconds and it not possible. Plus has trophies dated back to 2008 when the games released in 2013. There's no report button on their page. 

Do you own the game you want him to report on? You have to own it to report.

If you do own the game then you probably can't see the button because that person already got flagged.

[Leo_the_Lion25]

3 minutes ago, Lagoon Aris said:

Do you own the game you want him to report on? You have to own it to report.

If you do own the game then you probably can't see the button because that person already got flagged.

 

Yes, it's the next game I was going to play soon. Thank you. I never knew that.