Bug in Race Records - Multiplayer

[lunar]

I think its possible that if you get eliminated in a multiplayer race, the time at which you were eliminated, or a false time, can be recorded as a race record in your profile, even though the final results show you as DNF.

I noticed this through strange race records on Flash. For example on Sinucit my race "record" is 2.32.82, set in multiplayer (I know this time is multiplayer because I use a different tag in that). My lap record on Sinucit Flash is 46.23. This clearly does not compute and is clearly impossible. Similarly I noticed on Sol 2 I have the strange lap/race records of 1.46.20 and 31.68, again on the multiplayer tag I use. This doesn`t compute either. On both Sinucit and Sol2 my best times are over or around 30 seconds better than my second best.

I was wondering how on earth this could happen until someone eliminated me on Vineta, playing Kai, tonight. I had been looking at my times previously, and so I noticed that after this session I suddenly had a race best of 1.38.08, 2nd best of 1.58.06 and a best lap of 28.51. Now I certainly didn`t fly a 1.38 Flash on Vineta, as the lap record proves, but what did happen is that I got eliminated before the end of the race. I`m sure the game is recording the time of my elimination - or the elimination is causing some kind of bug. What confirms the hunch for me is that I clearly remember being blown up by Drak or ElHabib on both Sol2 and Sinucit in a Descension recently.

I haven`t actually set up a multiplayer game with the object of testing this, but it would be quite easy to do, and I`m 90% sure I`m right. I certainly won`t be saving after any more after multiplayer sessions if I`ve been killed. I really don`t want any false times in my profile and wish I`d never hit save at all - though I only did so when it told me I had set genuine records on other tracks. If you`ve set a false one you wouldn`t know about it. Once they are saved I suppose there`s no way to get rid of them except beat them genuinely – a very tall order indeed. 8O

This doesn`t bode well for trouble-free competition on the tables with regard to race times - but anyway we have time trial and Kai to go to if we want our egos dented, so its not the end of the world.

I wondered if Kai could have caused it, but I really can`t see how it could.

Anyone please correct me of course if I`m barking up the wrong tree, or what in this case would actually be the whole forest……

[Task]

That does indeed sound like a nasty little bug.
The worst part of course is that you've "lost" your race records for those tracks.
I can think of a way to solve that problem though.
Copy your save file onto your PC, hex edit the file and look for one of thse buggered race record times, and change the values to something you can easily beat.
Copy this new save file back onto the PSP (after saving away a copy of your good save file for "just in case" purposes, of course) and have a look at the race record. If it's changed to something you can easily beat, then that's your solution!

[Lance]

.
oh lordy! that means that the unscrupulous can fake their records. arg.
.

[lunar]

thanks Task - but I wouldn`t really know how to do what you suggest.
Infact...... *roll drums*...... I don`t know what the Hex you mean.... but anyway....

there`s possibly a pattern to these times and how the game comes by them. In Flash, I think it records your time at the end of the third lap if you are eliminated on the fourth.

Consider my Vineta K Records:

1st 1.38.08 (false)
2nd 1.58.06 (actual best time)

best lap 28.51

Now the false time race was a bit of a violent one - so I was probably heading for a final time of around 2.10. So with an average lap of around 30-32 seconds I would have finished lap 3 of the 4 at around 1.38 - which was the false time recorded. The numbers are only estimates but it makes some sense, and more when you look at the others:

Sinucit

1st 2.32.82 (false)
2nd 3.13.18 (actual best)

best lap 46.23

average laps 47-48 seconds.

In both of these cases the difference between the false best time and the actual best time, or expected final race time, is roughly the same as one lap of the course, so its reasonable to say that when you are eliminated on lap 4 it is recording your time to the end of lap 3 as a final time - and unless it was an incredibly violent race this would always mean a crazy new "record".

This fits with Sol2 aswell:

1st 1.46.20 (false)
2nd 2.15.45 (actual best)

best lap 31.68


I still have my 2nd and 3rd place records intact for these courses so I can see how I`m doing - but it would be quite easy to cheat with this bug, if this is how it works. You would still need a fast lap time to back it up, which would make things complicated for cheaters - though I guess it could be done if someone was twisted and determined enough.

Besides, I might be wrong, but its a theory anyway.

[eLhabib]

concerning the 'unscrupulous people could use that...'-thing:

those who really do show up in the top ranks of the leaderboards are fair sportsmen anyway. and it would look pretty awkward if someone who is bad at other times suddenly posts a new top rank time. he would have to cheat ALL his times, to make it look consistent. also, those who cheat are usually so bad, they probably wouldn't even come close to the top ranks WITH this exploit.

[Drakkenmensch]

I'm resting comfortably knowing that racers in this forum are men and women of honor who do not cheat on their racing times. The boards for the previous Wipeout games are a clear example that the honor system works :)

[Rouni Kenshin#1]

not to mention you would have to work really hard to blow up when you wanted.

the effort to do that would be the same if not more than that of just getting the best time.

and cheeting is never as satafing as playing it stright. what is why there are not codes for pure.

[lunar]

I don`t think you would have to blow up at the right time - just finish your penultimate lap in the final time you wanted, then blow up sometime before the finish. At least that`s how I think it works. However, you would also need a fast lap time to support your false race time claim, and an accomplice or another PSP. Like most crime plots, this is where it might well break down. :wink:

I agree with Drak that all the people on this site are pilots of honour. There was a huge amount of bug-exploits/cheating with the Fusion race times though, which is ironic as the web codes were supposed to get rid of the flaws in the honour system. But the honour system has proved to work better and long may this last. I don`t think this is going to be a problem - I just don`t like having messy records tables and its possible I might set a once in a lifetime record in multiplayer tour, then get blown up in the next race - and have a dilemma over whether I save afterwards or not.

[Rouni Kenshin#1]

To wiepe is to have honor grasshopper. :banzai


by the way when will the pure bords be up infox?

[infoxicated]

When they're ready.