Phantom Bots Skimp On Physics
by Alphaville Herald on 16/01/08 at 8:51 am
The key to damage-proof immortal avatars?
by Pixeleen Mistral, National Affairs desk
Havok 4 physics of no interest to bot stuck in the mud in Sansooyoo
One of the mysteries the Great Bot Hunt may have finally been revealed by Second Life resident Day Oh, who called the Herald to explain the key to creating phantom avatars. Readers may recall that last November the Herald located a number of mysterious bots lurking in Linden sims – bots that were impossible to bump or push.
Not only does Day Oh’s discovery explain the mechanism of push-proof bots, it may also point toward a new avenue for boutique SL client creators to add value to the user experience – by making SL physics optional.
Day Oh: Did I ever tell you I figured out what’s up with phantom avatars?
Pixeleen Mistral: no – what is your theory?
Day Oh: No theory, it’s all solid and easy to do 
Day Oh: As long as your client never sends an AgentUpdate packet, the simulator never puts you in the physics simulation
Day Oh: Not only does that make you phantom, but you never receive objects at all… you wouldn’t BELIEVE how much network traffic that saves XD
Pixeleen Mistral: hmmm
Day Oh: Normally you just get a torrent of object updates constantly
Day Oh: But with that trick, the connection is serene
Pixeleen Mistral: so if you were doing a really efficient landbot that is what you would do
Day Oh: Yep
Day Oh: I did it with the LL viewer and slproxy
Day Oh: I haven’t tried to get libsl bots to do it yet
Day Oh: But I do remember hearing so-and-so landbot runner modified the lib to make his bot more efficient
Pixeleen Mistral: well that does explain a lot about those undersea landbots
Consider how useful a physics-free client could be in sim full of trigger happy push gun wielding day old residents – you could walk about freely without feeling the force of any physics-based weaponry. Now that the Herald is in the process of setting up our bunker office space in the Jessie combat sim, a custom client with optional physics may be particularly useful.
Despite obvious applications of physics-free SL experience, observers worry that widely available not-quite-of-this-world avatars may upset the balance of power in the militia community. Will anything other than a commitment to fair play keep militia members from trying to give their army an edge? Expect to see members of the shooting-em-up community move to requiring proof of physics to curb cheating if push-free SL clients become widespread.
Anonymous
Jan 16th, 2008
I bet the PN like and hate this news at the same time.
I’d like a switch that turns the function off when there is an attack, or an overzealous anti-griefer who has to use his modified freebie gun on everyone he sees in the middle of a chat because he’s bored or didnt like what someone said about him. (oh yeah, not too much different from a griefer, but that’s a whole other subject)
Lord Kamina
Jan 16th, 2008
ffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff
We discovered a much better way of doing this about a hundred years ago, which doesn’t require hacked clients or object updates disabling.
in b4 slowpoke.jpg
Anonymous
Jan 16th, 2008
Honestly, you PN troll so easily. Proof positive that the PN think the whole fucking world is about THEM.
Artemis Fate
Jan 16th, 2008
Hehe I remember back in the day having the phase shield, which was just a little attachment you put on and it’d allow you to walk through wall and have bullets pass through you. I forgot what line of code it was that allowed you to do that, but LL fixed it eventually and it stopped working. I still have the object for sentimental value in my inventory.
Lord Kamina
Jan 16th, 2008
“Honestly, you PN troll so easily. Proof positive that the PN think the whole fucking world is about THEM.”
Just so you know, I posted this before you comment even showed up. Honestly, slfags troll so easily. Proof positive that slfags think that all PN comments are about THEM specifically.
SqueezeOne Pow
Jan 16th, 2008
So does this make you have to fly at all times to keep you from falling into the ground? Is there a way to simply “limit” the physics so you can still walk on things but not get bumped by them?
It really would have been good to have someone that actually knows about SL and it’s code write this instead of a cut and paste of a simple conversation. Heaven forbid actual information be conveyed in a SLH article!!
damn
Jan 16th, 2008
Shit, damn, gb2 4chan fgts
Lao-Tzu
Jan 16th, 2008
I agree, the article should explain HOW to experiment with turning off agent updates….I guess I need to explore the client menu a little more fully.
@ D3adlyCod3c (if you are reading this) when SL lets you back in : Script a tool that we can wear that will easily turn physics on and off. I would definitely give my hard earned Lindens for such a griefing-defense system. Posted by Lao-Tzu.
Anonymous
Jan 16th, 2008
well if physics are disabled, you wouldnt fall to the ground. no gravity.
you’d move like a cursor in a 3d axis.
Day Oh
Jan 17th, 2008
One can’t see anything or anyone, or move at all, but can teleport
DERP
Jan 20th, 2008
NO AGENTUPDATE = NO SERVER REPLYING BACK TO YOU = NO TALKING OR MOVING = GREAT FOR LANDSCANNER BOTS BUT BAD FOR STUPID SLFAGGOTS THAT GET TWITCHY IF THEY DON’T MOVE OR SAY SOMETHING FOR 10 SECONDS
lol
Jan 20th, 2008
…You understand the reason it’s so lag-free and impossible to effect via physics is because you send and recieve NO UPDATES. The sim doesn’t know where you are, so it puts you nowhere. In return, you don’t know where you are, other than the sim you’re connected to, so you’re put nowhere. Duhur.
This isn’t useful for someone who wants to actually interact with anything in the world. You won’t see or hear or be able to build or edit or recieve anything at all. You’re just on an open connection to the sim so that you can buy land and shit.
A client with this would be useful to a human only if you wanted to sit in the middle of a sim and blindly converse with people.. Maybe. Get AIM, retards.
anonymoose
Jan 22nd, 2008
soon old news: the lindens responsible for havok 4 implementation are going to add a nophysics/noclip mode switch in the client restrictable by parcel config