Mods and cheat engine

[Packetdancer]

I see many using the Cheat Engine so they can make their characters sit anywhere they want, even the /doze emote on surfaces. Isn't it time to implement a system so such things can't be used? Also make it so the game files can't be modified.

Square-Enix have said before -- in these forums, even! -- that they don't care if folks are using ReShade or its forks (the FFXIV-focused GShade, or Nvidia's own Freestyle -- which actually lists FFXIV in the officially supported games with Square-Enix's blessing) to tweak the game's display for artistic screenshot purposes. They've just asked that those sort of screenshots don't put the normal copyright message at the bottom, so that people don't mistake them for stock shots.

They've also sort of indicated they don't really care much if folks are modifying poses/emotes/positions in GPose (when character data is entirely separated from anything the server cares about); if you've got a screenshot sitting on a railing reading a book, cool, enjoy. (Though if folks are using it to make porn they do sometimes step in and drop bans on them, likely because they have to if they want the game to maintain its existing age ratings.)

They actively care if people are using memory modification or network hackery to alter the game state in ways the server cares about, though. Botting, etc.

It sure would be nice if GPose included a lot of those options on its own, though, I grant you this. (Manually reposition your character, create custom poses, change the time-of-day and weather, etc.)

But that's the thing, if its "okey" to use "cheat engine" what will then stop players from doing other things.

The reason game companies (and other places) write very broad TOS terminology ("If you use third-party tools you may be banned.") is so that they don't have to constantly revise it. If they said "No third party tools that alter the client's memory state in a manner that affects gameplay", someone'll make a tool that modifies the outgoing network traffic entirely separate from the game process, point to that and say "I didn't break TOS!" And worse, they'd be right. And then Square-Enix would have to sigh and go revise the TOS again to add something else you can't do, and wait for the next person to find a loophole.

Just saying "No third party tools or you may be banned." means if someone's using third-party tools in a manner you don't care about (i.e., shader injection for artistic screenshots, DPS parsing for personal improvement in your static, etc.), you're free to go "Meh. *shrug*" and ignore it, but if someone's using third-party tools in a manner that's problematic (i.e., botting or cheating), you're free to go "You broke the TOS, you are the weakest link, goodbye." and toss them out the door.

So, "What will stop players from doing other more cheaty things" is "if they get caught, they will get banned", as Square-Enix is free to enforce their TOS in that manner.

[IdowhatIwant]

What will come after when just sitting and sleeping surfaces isn't enough?

They sit and sleep in the sky and water?

[SenorPatty]

They sit and sleep in the sky and water?

Great, just great. Now I want this to be a thing. I want this to happen and I know it's not gonna happen and now I'm sad.

Thank you, very much, sir/madam.

[Sarnai]

They sit and sleep in the sky and water?

You can already sit and sleep in the sky AND water and I think it's disgusting, SE ban please

[Rankina]

Today I did see some fellow players that was using Cheat Engine to be able to sit on places there they should not be able to sit. Told the person in a very polite way it's not smart using Cheat Engine. And they start defending the use of it. No one cares etc. They make me the bad person. What direction is this going to take if Square Enix won't stop this for good? Will everyone just not care and install and use 3.party software and be able to do whatever they want? What will be next? Teleporting to all mining nodes? Making character fly if you have not unlocked flying?

Stop harassing other players

[Apeachs]

Stop harassing other players

It's not harassing other players. Please read the Rules & Policies as a reminder.

2.1 Cheating and Botting. You may not create or use any unauthorized cheats, bots, automation software, hacks, mods or any other unauthorized software or hardware designed to modify the Game and gameplay. In addition, you may not take advantage of game system bugs and exploits during gameplay.

2.6 Hacking and Circumvention. You may not hack, disassemble, decompile, or otherwise modify the Game or server computer code, whether the Game code is located on a DVD, Blu-rayTM disc, your computer/console or on Square Enix's servers, except as expressly permitted by Square Enix or applicable law.

[Rankina]

It's not harassing other players. Please read the Rules & Policies as a reminder.

You are deliberately harassing other players by DMing them like that. You can easily be reported and banned if you continued to do so after being asked to stop.

[Apeachs]

You are deliberately harassing other players by DMing them like that. You can easily be reported and banned if you continued to do so after being asked to stop.

It's not harassing to ask players to stop doing something illegal.

Please read the Rules & Policies as a reminder.

2.1 Cheating and Botting. You may not create or use any unauthorized cheats, bots, automation software, hacks, mods or any other unauthorized software or hardware designed to modify the Game and gameplay. In addition, you may not take advantage of game system bugs and exploits during gameplay.

2.6 Hacking and Circumvention. You may not hack, disassemble, decompile, or otherwise modify the Game or server computer code, whether the Game code is located on a DVD, Blu-rayTM disc, your computer/console or on Square Enix's servers, except as expressly permitted by Square Enix or applicable law.

[Sarnai]

Oh no, who allowed these people to SIT???

[Eriane_Elis]

Yoshi P says it's gray area. The philosophy of the game is to enjoy it and to not worry about DPS numbers etc... He wants to avoid people being reported for using ACT and other third party programs like texture mods because he find its mundane but it crosses the line when it becomes harassment. Don't ask, don't tell is a pretty obvious policy. Most importantly, he understands that part of the community will want to use such tools and he can't stop and will not want to stop people from using third party applications / modifiers. He said something like "where is the line drawn? You can copy and paste everything in excel and macro it so you know. You can use a calculator and do it by hand, it would take time but you can do it. You can have multiple buttons on a mouse, so is that a third party program?" etc... (A bit paraphrased ofc)

Basically, in a hypothetical situation -- if you use it for your personal references, they can't condone it but they don't want to be bothered by other players reporting this player because it's a waste of time. HOWEVER, if you take those numbers or have a nude mod let's say and you publish it publicly, then that becomes harassment and you will be penalized for harassment first and using a third party tool second.

He doesn't ever want to know what programs you have installed or running, that's our privacy he says. He also doesn't want to see things like "Prove DPS XXX" in party finder as the normal thing and well, there's never going to be official ACT support either because he's 100% confident it will cause harassment.

As long as you're not harassing others, it shouldn't be a problem I think. He's pretty clear that if you want to use it hypothetically, know that if one day they decide to ban third party tools you may get suspended but until then; definitively don't use them to harass other players. I think that players can also get into trouble for needlessly reporting other players about allegedly using third party tools since unless a player says it in chat, there is no evidence.

I don't know his opinion on using bots, or what is considered a bot. Is a macro a bot? Is using an instrument player a bot? I'm not sure. I do know that if there are actual RMT / player bots gathering and playing dungeons I'm sure to report those. But I don't really care about the ones in cities playing music using a third party program. In fact, how the heck do you even play an instrument with a game controller or keyboard? It's really hard, you literally will need a third party program at the very least to connect to your piano.

(reached character limit) pt 1....