Most of the Unreal cheat writers have now left Unreal alone but one or two possibly still exist. Private cheats (the hardest to block) are rumoured to still be in existence, but the likes of Nephthys apparently have killed all, or almost all, publically available cheats

However, servers without top-rate anticheat are still vulnerable and the bots are much more sophisticated today. For example, feature lists now boast that rockets will automatically aim at enemies feet instead of body/head, automatic disabling for grenade, stops tracking enemies at the far end of the map that are out of weapon range of your current weapon etc. Making checking for cheating increasingly difficult by merely watching a demo.

"Tweaks" such as brightskins are still very much in evidence amongst high ranking players. Mastertimer catches (A timer that tells you when shieldbelt etc is available) and things like high-contast skins that make a player glow with their associated skin colour. Radar users are still being caught. While these aren't as bad as aimbots and triggers, they still give an unfair advantage.

Suffice to say that if you can aim a weapon in a first-person-shooter, then there is a cheat for it. Most FPS cheats have similar properties to the below, so this may still be of some use.

It's a mod for Unreal that assists with aiming. To put it bluntly, it aims for you with 100% accuracy. You cannot miss. Every sniper round is a headshot, four shots with the AutoMag will take out someone with full health. It allows someone with no skill to dominate the game. When used with server-side mods like Instagib it disrupts the game so much there is no point in having a game. Some bots are incredibly sophisticated and offer a whole range of other additions like radar, enhanced HUD and so on.

Ever played against Dante with the base skill set to 3? Try it. Died a lot, didn't you? Now try it with instagib. Bet you never killed him once, did you? That's because the stock Unreal bot, Dante, has an aiming efficiency of 100%. Dante is using an aimbot. As soon as you are within line of sight he locks onto you and hits you perfectly every time. Someone using an aimbot is basically using the same code as Dante does.
Games are about skill, someone using an aimbot is not using any skill. There is no point in playing a game against a perfect bot. Forget any idea that you're playing against the cheater, you're not. You're simply putting your own skill against a script that's 100% perfect, and what's the skill in standing in one place holding down the fire button? It's no fun, and why play games when there's no fun?
Unreal has been ruined by aimbots. Not just because they're used, but because it's made people paranoid. Does your opponent seem good? Perhaps too good? Maybe he's using a bot? Could be. Or it could be he's just good. See the problem?

If you're asking, then probably not. You know when you are because you don't have to aim. You'll also have had to download and install the aimbot.

It seems to depend where you play and at what time. For myself I don't see many bots, but it comes in waves. I play only on a few servers I know well, usually against people I know. Some people say they see bots daily, but mostly it's not nearly as common as the paranoia - fuelled accusations. Don't assume someone is using a bot because another player has said they are. It's not unknown for somebody to be accused by another player because they're simply better and the other player is having a tantrum and wants them kicked.
I've seen the most bots during the school holidays, weekends and usually during the day and early evening.

It's possible. If you encounter a cheat more than once on a server, avoid that server for a while. Play at different times, late at night usually results in better players and fewer cheats, and the pings are better too. Also consider joining a clan. Clan matches are run by a set of rules and if a cheater is proved then that clan will run a very real risk of not only forfeiting the game but possibly getting a stiff penalty or even resulting in the player or clan being banned completely.

There are mods that help prevent cheating. Nephthys is the most famous but is no longer being developed.

UProtect is also not being developed and has a few issues kickin playing if not set up correctly.

Firstly make sure he is using a bot. See paranoia above. One persons' word ain't enough. Logs, demos if available and multiple complaints are all good stuff. EnhanceDM warnings and Nephthys logs are considered proof.

Upgrade your anti-cheat protection.

Check logs to find the IP of the cheater and ban it. Unfortunately because many people use DHCP or dynamic addresses they may be back. There is no easy solution to this other than the drastic step of banning an entire subnet and possibly denying non-cheating players access also. A short-term subnet ban may discourage the cheater.

I don't know of any network of admins who share cheater IP's but I think it would be a good thing.

There has been suggested a "Hall of Shame" where cheaters nicks are made public, but I don't think that's a good thing. For one, it's too easy to blacklist someone you don't like, and for another the cheater just changes their nick or worse, even uses someone else's nick - it's not like Half-Life where each CD has a unique key that ID's the player. The anti-cheat community maintains their own private lists of known and suspected cheats.

Have you got one? Then good... If you aren't then try again. Nephthys occasionally takes exception at something in your setup. If you get repeatedly kicked then it's time to reinstall Unreal.

One way around this is to keep a minimal install of Unreal separate for online play. Fewer mods means fewer false alarms. Unreal runs faster and smoother too.

The best way is to disconnect from the game and reconnect as a spectator. Click your way through the players until you find your suspect.
Open console and type "behindview 0" and you should have a players-eye view.
Also a good idea to type "demorec suspectcheat" to record a demo and gain some proof. (Will create the file "suspectcheat.dem" in your unreal/system directory which can be viewed later by typing "demoplay suspectcheat")
Now sit back and watch for telltales.

If watching a pre-recorded demo, opening console and type "slomo .5" (yes, point five) reduces the gamespeed by half and makes it much easier to spot telltales. Return to full speed with "slomo 1".

If the crosshair jerks rapidly from one target to the other, instantly locking on then there is little doubt that he is cheating. Note that the more sophisticated bots will smooth the aiming to make it harder to detect, but AFAIK they will still go from A to B in a straight line and not overshoot the target. This can also help your diagnosis - many players move really jerkily in play and it really stands out if they suddenly smoothly track to a target.
If you're new to Unreal then you probably won't have the experience to tell a good player from a cheater using a sophisticated bot. If in doubt, ask someone else to view your demo or send it to the admin for his opinion. You can send it to me if you like (Zipped, please).

Some players have custom skins that make spectating difficult - they place the weapon in the middle of the screen so you can't see what they're aiming at. If this happens, amend your own setup so "Weapon hand" is set to "Hidden" as you spec or when you watch the demo. Such a skin isn't proof of cheating on its own, but is sometimes used by cheaters.

If they only use instant-hit weapons be more suspect. Aimbots don't work too well with rockets, flak, slime or razor, though I have heard of an alt-flak bot, and even primary flak is far more effective with a bot close-up. Rockets are most effective when fired at an enemies feet - so someone doing this is not using a bot (unless they've temporarily disabled it).

It is difficult to judge fairly. The more canny botters will switch to different weapons, or switch off the bot if they think they're being spectated.

If the player doesn't play like a great player but still scores highly, be more suspect. A good player will work the map, usually dodge a great deal and play both offensively and defensively. Yer average aimbotter (see profile below) is a newbie who hasn't got the skills to fully play the game and so uses a bot to gain what he thinks is respect.

Because of the way Unreal works, where you aim is where you're facing. If your suspect is running along a gantry and suddenly locks onto a target and continues running off the gantry, or falls into slime or lava, we've either got a complete muppet (who will have a crap score) or a botter (who has a high score).

If a player is wearing a clantag give them more respect if it is a genuine clan. Clan play is the highest level of Unreal skill and if you normally only play offline or even on public servers you simply will not believe how good some people can be without cheating. Someone wearing a clan tag is also wearing his reputation and if it's worth anything he will not risk it by being caught cheating. This isn't proof on its own however, it's not unknown for somebody to wear someone else's nick and tag. There are ways of reconciling the name a botter uses and what their real identity is using irc.

If you're not, well done. It means you're a skilled player. Take it as a compliment. If the accuser keeps on going on about it, just ignore him. If he gets other players wound up and they harrass you, just move onto another server. Players who willingly believe aimbot accusations with no other proof are probably newbies and not worth your time anyway.

Ask them. They didn't take the reports of cheating particularly seriously and did nothing to make it harder for cheats. They are also failing to release certain sections of the source code even years later to allow the anti-cheat writers more freedom.

Dante is a standard Unreal bot. His accuracy is 100%. When playing at most skill levels this accuracy is modifed by Unreal to a lesser degree, but play him at a base rate of 3 and he will never fail to miss you with an instant hit weapon. Dante is an aimbot user. He uses the same code that aimbots use. Because Unreal has single-player support it has routines for the bots to identify and aim at targets. Aimbots use this very code. If Epic had made it impossible for this code and similar code to target an enemy or aim during multiplayer games then aimbots would probably not exist for Unreal, or at least, not in the numbers they do.

Then you're a very sad person. You're also confirming to yourself that you lack the skill to compete with other players. You're not competing, you're not playing the game, you're just laming. Got no pride?

One thing you may not be aware of is the security risks you're taking. Ever looked at the source code to some of these bots? Might surprise you to see the amount of backdoors some of these bots have and what they can do. If you're truly elite you will know about backdoors and trojans and will take the precaution of checking the code to see what it can do - it's not good for the image to get owned by someone else's bot. If you don't know how to do this, you're just another wannabe.

Think you can avoid being caught by using someone else's nick? Yeah, quite a few players thought that too - until they were caught, their IP was traced to their irc nick/website/computer/IM etc and their real identities revealed.

Oh, and if you do get caught, please try to be more original in your excuses. "It was my brother/sister/friend/dog/cat" just doesn't work. PLEASE try to think of something better than "Well, I tried it once but it's been deleted now..." Yah, right.

But I suck! And you guys are so good I don't stand a chance!

We all sucked at first. Good players have put a great deal of time into learning the skills required to stay alive in Unreal. That is the point of a game. Games are about pitting your skills against another player, nothing else. Learn!
You will get more respect from other players if you try. Acting like a little kid by shouting abuse and/or cheating won't get you any. It's like walking into a premier league football match and expecting to be able to score a goal against professionals, and believe me, there are players that treat Unreal like a full-time job.

I won't tell you where to get one, but if you merely want to see how they work, feel free to get one and try it offline. Nobody cares what cheats you use offline because you're not hurting anyone. Please fight the temptation to take it online though, and it's safer to install it on a separate install of Unreal - otherwise you may find yourself caught and labelled as a cheater. You will lose all respect from your fellow players, probably get kicked from your clan, your clan may get kicked from any leagues it is in and basically your life in the Unreal Community will be hell. Be safe, don't take it or that copy of Unreal online. In fact, disable internet access for that install - backdoors and trojans being what they are.
(Note - some anticheat software will scan directories outside of Unreal and if you have a known bot anywhere on your computer it might end up with a ban.)

Instagib is a popular mod that has only one weapon - the Enhanced ASMD that kills with one hit. Aimbots seem to be most popular on insta-servers because it's so instantly effective. It's also pretty obvious - but again, you need to temper your suspicion to begin with. Some players, even me, have runs where everything works and it seems like you can't miss. Demos (never willingly released by a true botter) and specs are the only way to be sure - as above, look for sudden changes in direction, running off gantries and so on.

The ASMD combo occurs when the secondary plasma ball is hit by the primary beam, resulting in a large radius and high damage explosion. There is a cheat that will allow the user to always hit his secondary ball which is a very difficult manoeuvre to make when not cheating. Easy to detect though; Their crosshair will follow the secondary throughout it's path. A good player will usually move his crosshair to where he wants the explosion to occur and then shoot the ball when it arrives. Also watch when an ASMD whore gets caught in close-up fighting where it's not effective and goes into alt-fire spam mode. If the cursor is still tracking the alt-fire balls it's almost certainly a cheat.

Far more subtle than the aimbot. It doesn't aim. Instead it waits until the target passes under the crosshair and then fires the weapon for you. Very difficult to confirm. Used mainly in instagib games. Some say this is far more common than aimbots, but is so difficult to prove. To test for, go into 1st person spec. Player often waves their mouse around a lot faster than normal. Big give-away with the most common trigger bot is that it's color-triggered; if an enemy wearing a particular color is under the cursor it fires. It also fires if scenery of that same color is under the trigger! The team banners, or some other maps where the walls have decorations in strong blue or red colors. The player would suddenly fire at the wall for no good reason other than it was the same color. A good human player wouldn't do that, they know the maps. The trigger bot thinks "I've been set to fire at Blue targets, there's some blue under my cursor, let's fire."

Some mods allow a small display onscreen that shows the positions of other players nearby. Nearly impossible to prove but if somebody always has a shock-combo or full load or rockets waiting for you as you come around a corner it can make you suspicious that they know you're coming. However - do not assume this; there are other clues for a good player to know you're coming such as sound, you're playing too predictably (always coming the same way, for example) or they're just spamming like mad.
Note: This is not like in Tactical Ops where a radar is part of an official mod, not an add-on for a game type where it was never intended.

Basically an addition to the HUD that works out when certain items will respawn, like the Shield belt, SuperHealth, Armour etc. Difficult to prove.

I don't know of any in Unreal, but they probably exist given that they do for other FPS games. A script takes the information supplied by ESP/3d sound to pinpoint the location of a nearby player, then plots their position on a HUD radar.

A certain graphics card manufacturer released drivers for its card that boasted that it would enable the player to see other players through walls in some 3d games. They hurriedly tried to cover it up but the damage was done and other drivers for different cards have now appeared that give the same results.

Unusual, of specialised use yet used in the field quite widely. What basically happens is the player changes his netspeed frequently, from very low (1000) to very high (10,000). This messes up his connection and he lags. Why do this? Because hitting a lagging person is more difficult. It's used mostly for flag carriers. They won't be able to hit a damned thing, but it makes them much harder to hit themselves because they're not where they appear to others. (Especially in insta or when using non-splash weapons).Cheaters beware - the server logs netspeed changes so the admin WILL know you've done it. Note that that EnhancedDM will kick a player if his netspeed changes.

Not a cheat, really - but some think it is so worthy of a mention here. It's a bug with Unreal it allows players to slide around without producing footstep noise, makes it easy to sneak around. EnhancedDM has fixed this bug

Lots of rumour, little fact. Apparently there is a way you can adjust your hitbox that makes you harder to hurt in normal weapon games. Quite possibly the same as "stone skin" cheats that make you harder to hurt. This could simply be a lag / packet loss / tickrate issue, or it could be a cheat - I simply don't know.

Not seen much now - beaten by EnhancedDM. Allowed a user to "Say" messages right across the screen when not logged in as admin. Very annoying.

Note, this is more of a "trick" where a player feign death and as you pass they get up to shoot you. You can easily detect a player who has feign death by trying to walk over them. If they are not dead they will block your path. I usually don't kill players who feign death, most use it when they are called away from the PC. One thing you don't want to do is turn your back on them as you leave the area.

Since Unreal was released people have been trying to write a keybind that lets them dodge with one key. As far as I know, this hasn't been achieved - except possibly with some programmable controllers (like keypads etc). Without cheating some players can dodge frequently and repeatedly, so don't think of it as a cheat. The server controls the pause between dodges too, and if you see someone dodging too quickly, it's probably a dodge-jump-dodge combo.

At least one aimbot package, and at least one standalone script have the ability to steal your name, or the name of any other player in the game, changing it slightly or adding an invisible space so that it looks the same. Doesn't necessarily mean he's using a bot, but it is pretty damned lame. Often used at end-game by aimbotters to brag.

There are lots of little things that make cheating pretty obvious, don't confuse a good player with one who uses an aimbot. It takes years of practice and playing the game to be able to know the difference between the two.

There are also cheats that:
Change cheaters' name constantly.
Steals your name (adding invis character to make it different and harder to kick)
Stops view shaking when hit.
Removes the sound of players footsteps.
Shows enemies health in HUD.
Changes max distance before you get someone's info on-screen.
Shows enemies locations in scoreboard (like for your own team).
Remove rocket smoke.
Zoom with any weapon.
Constant suicides. (For ruining your teams score in TDM)
Constant skin changer.

And more... Some of these may seem fairly trivial, but they are ALL some type of hack or cheat and if found (many of these can be) in a multiplayer game you WILL be treated as a cheater. Don't use these things if you have any honor at all.

First generation bots would suffer online because they couldn't compensate for a medium-high ping the way a human can. Modern bots can and do - automatically checking your ping and adjusting in front or behind the target. It's still not perfect, and a high-pinger will still have problems using a bot.

Aimbots don't allow you to do this. If someone appears to be shooting in a direction other than they are facing, it's probably down to lag at your end, his or the server. And because of the way bots work, someone doing that probably isn't using one - if they can load a few rockets facing one way, then flip, fire, and flip back - that's skill.

Actually, semi-true. If the bot is configured to only go for headshots, it will miss you if you duck since you then don't have a "head target" visible. But newer ones go for body sometimes anyway to reduce tell-tales. This did work for me against a insta-bot user in command. I simply crawled right up to his feet with him shooting over my head. Note that if you're lower or higher than the bot, or if ping is altering the bot's use, you may get hit anyway. Newer bots can be configured to go only for bodyshots or a combination.

So far as I know, there is no way a client-side hack can alter speed of movement. Good players dodge all the time and move through the map efficiently and effectively. I've been playing Unreal for years and thought I'd seen it all, yet last night I went up against a player who seemed to be everywhere and moved superbly. No cheats, just skill. Some server side mods like Relics can alter speed so take that into account.

Again, this is server-controlled. It cannot be changed by a bot. If you hear a player loading rockets and it sounds too fast, it's probably lag affecting you, him or the server and your client trying to catch up.

No, it's not. Many gamers have high-spec machines, run huge monitors, low world detail and high res. Such shots can and are made on skill alone.

So far as I know, that's impossible. Using a bot yourself may do that, but remotely - unless your system is wide open anyway (Hint: Use a decent firewall like ZoneAlarm at all times) and you have backdoors running, they can't touch you or your computer.

Well, maybe. I used to think this was highly unlikely, but a match suffered a DDOS (Distributed Denial of Service) attack during a game recently that affected several players (from different countries and ISPs) from one team AND the admin, so badly they couldn't play or even connect. It's widely known that "Zombies" running on multiple machines (why don't people use firewalls and anti-virus software?) allow their connections to repeatedly ping a specific IP. Now, does this affect you? When you're playing Unreal online, your IP address is not known to the other players. It IS known to the admin, so a hacked server could give this information. It also shows up clearly if you're connected to IRC at the same time (probably what happened in the above). This isn't an aimbot issue, but it definitely is a cheating one.

Not a cheat, it's a bug in some of Unreal's maps. Sometimes the textures of wall joints don't line up properly, leaving an invisible but relevant gap. Weapons with big splash damage (flak, rocket, shock, GES) can damage you if you're next to such a bug. Because of this, and some other bugs in maps, some servers run "CE" (Clan Edition) versions of the same maps that fix these bugs. Do be aware that lag may show you to be in one place (say, safely behind a wall) but the server thinks you're somewhere else - so this may also be the problem.

It's lag. The player has either just lost his connection or is about to. The server is trying to show you where it thinks he is, but doesn't know so won't register your kill. Can be a sign of the lag-cheat above, but generally it means they're about to say goodbye.

So who cheats? Who are these faceless people who enjoy spoiling the games of others?

Mostly kids, is what. Pubescent boys (always boys, as far as I can tell) who spend too much time with their computers and have little or no social skills. No, they are not being belittling because they're "the enemy",that's the truth. They normally have short attention spans, have a huge desire for 'respect' from others that is born of their real life inadequacies, have problems forming relationships, are inarticulate and near-illiterate and are incredibly selfish. I's is truly a selfish person who likes to spoil the games of others for your own twisted pleasure.

There are exceptions to this. Some are very intelligent and articulate, they understand totally why they cheat and made no apologies. They know they are being annoying and simply do not care. The older cheaters seem to do it to get a reaction, rather than for "respect". As computer games go on, more older cheaters exist because they've become so dependant on cheating that they cannot enjoy a game without an unfair advantage. It can get to be a genuine addiction for some.

They seem to have a big hole in their logic, too. Presumably someone with such a desire for respect has some pride. What's the pride in knowing your skill is so weak you must rely on artificial aids? What happens when you're caught cheating, what price respect then? How will it feel when your friends learn you feel so badly about your own abilities that you cheated against them? How will it feel when you're kicked from your clan and nobody will ever want you in theirs again?

A skilled Unreal player doesn't cheat. They may use lame tactics occasionally (spawnkilling, spamming, camping) but to become a skilled player in Unreal you need to be able to learn from other better players, the biggest thrill and the best games ever played have been when your up against a great player and you managed to beat them, or even come close. That is a feeling a cheater will never experience because they are not pitting themselves against the other, just their software. It's like getting a new game and immediately looking for the cheats for it. What's the point?

That is why a cheater is a sad person. Their lives are hollow and meaningless. They crave attention and gain it by the cheapest means possible.

It's not the winning that matters, it is the taking part. If you cheat you are not a part of the game.