[Section Interviews] - Bots & Programs!

[Glynbeard]

Come one, come all to Section Interviews week #2!
[Featuring the Bots & Programs section]

So for those of you who didn’t know about the poll to vote in, I’m sorry you missed out (but you may have another chance next week ). But for those who did, thank you for taking the time to choose and I hope you are satisfied with the result.

This week will be the Bots & Programs section and feature interviews from members: Cypher, Kynox, jjaa, MaiN and Nesox.

(Sorry Apoc I wanted to use you, but I thought you were probably way to busy for something like this.)

These interviews will touch on things like: the mechanics of each section, big news, their interests, highs and lows and whatever else my crazy mind comes up with!

I hope you enjoy it! Now on with the show...

[BREAK=MaiN]



Participants: Glynbeard & MaiN

Interview conducted via: Private Message


Glynbeard:
1. Would you mind introducing yourself to the community? What do you do outside of MMOwned? (School, work etc.)

MaiN:
I'm MaiN on the forums. My RL name is Jakob and I live in Denmark. I'm 15 years old.

Glynbeard:
2. What evoked your interest in botting or hacking programs for World of Warcraft?

MaiN:
I used to play WoW and bot with Glider. I was amazed at how the software worked and how stable it was.

Glynbeard:
3. Starting off in a section like this is not an easy task. Would you be willing to shed some light on good and helpful practices for beginners?

MaiN:
Use Google. Seriously. Google will answer your every question better than any person in the section would be able to.
Don't expect to be spoonfed. If you do, you will not last long in the section.

Glynbeard:
4. Who, would you say, has been your biggest inspiration in this section and why?

MaiN:
Nesox. He helped me when I was a beginner, and now we help each other. Other people worth mentioning would be Apoc, who got me started on doing things in-process and generally has helped me learning C# (and lots of other stuff).

Glynbeard:
5. The process involved in the creation of a useful program can be broken down into multiple segments like: concept, code, creativity, user-friendliness, attractiveness etc. What would have to be your biggest strength in this procedure? Biggest weakness? Please elaborate on each.

MaiN:
Code, definitely. I like programming and I'm generally a very logical and rational person. My biggest weakness is definitely getting the concept done. It helps you so much if you have it, but I just hate making it.

Glynbeard:
6. There have been many bots available for the residents of Azeroth, some successful, and others not so much. What separates a good bot from a great one?

MaiN:
Hmm.. Hard question. The problem with the average user is that he/she doesn't take time to find alternatives.
A great example is the old Open-Bot vs. Glider discussion. Open-Bot had so many more features and looked much less bottish. Glider still had a much bigger user-base, and I believe that is because of Open-Bot's interface being so complex. Open-Bot was literally just a "run around where you want to kill and press start"-bot that worked perfectly, but the user-interface was extremely complex and featured many things. The bot itself was extremely easy to use, but the complex interface gave a wrong impression to the average user.

Glynbeard:
7. In your opinion, what is/was the most successful bot for WoW? What did they do differently that lead to this accomplishment?

MaiN:
Open-Bot. Definitely. A user would most likely go from a breadcrumb navigation system where you had to download profiles, enter vendor locations manually etc. to Open-Bot. In Open-Bot you basically ran over a vendor to mark it. As I've said before the user-interface was pretty complex with many settings, but you didn't even have to touch them at all to get the bot running.

Glynbeard:
8. How much time would you say you spend each week working on projects directly related to botting or hacking programs for World of Warcraft?

MaiN:
I think I work around 5 or 6 hours per day on botting related programs.

Glynbeard:
9. Have you ever worked on a bot or hacking program for another game? Why or why not?

MaiN:
No, I have not. The reason being that I don't really play other games. I could see myself writing aimbots or wallhacks for FPS games though.

Glynbeard:
10. The memory editing sub-forum is a collective of different programming languages. Which are you most proficient in? Are there any you completely loathe? Why is that?

MaiN:
I'm definitely best with C#. I don't like Java, probably because it sucks for the stuff I like to work with (memory editing).

Glynbeard:
11. What personally has been your largest accomplishment in the botting/memory editing section?

MaiN:
There is not much I've done to the actual section, but I try to help whenever possible. Oh, and being part of the Honorbuddy development team is probably my biggest bot and memory editing accomplishment.

Glynbeard:
12. How to I get Click to Move to work properly? Haha, just kidding. But these types of questions are always popping up despite multiple threads already answering the question. How do you deal with all the spam and I would guess crazy PM's you get on a daily basis? Do you think there is an easy answer to stop the madness or is this something that you just have to coexist with?

MaiN:
Luckily, there aren't that many threads started like that anymore. They're all scared of Apoc's ban-hammer.

Glynbeard:
13. There are many steps in becoming an elite in WoW memory editing. Would you be able to describe the largest hurdle (or hurdles) that you had to overcome in this process?

MaiN:
A general thing when reversing is to learn ASM. It's incredible simple and will help you so much. Pretty much just start reverse engineering WoW, and you will see it is not even that hard.

Glynbeard:
14. What is your favorite part in creating an application (for WoW or just in general). The process? Planning? Post-creation? Why is this?

MaiN:
Probably the coding. I love coding. It's fun.

Glynbeard:
15. Do you have any ideas you would like to carry out but haven't had the time or the willpower to do?

MaiN:
Hmm, nope. I have several projects I'm working on in shifts. Sometimes I have the lust to work on one thing, sometimes on another.

Glynbeard:
16. Are there any comments you would like to share with the community that were not discussed in the above questions?

MaiN:
Not really.

Glynbeard:
17. Is there anyone you would like to thank before the interview is finished?

MaiN:
Nesox - Fag.
Apoc - Helping me getting started in C# a year ago and sharing lots of code for WoW in its current form.
Namreeb - Helping me with getting Recast working.
Kynox - For being awesome with me.
Cypher - For helping me.. Sometimes.
DSky - We don't talk that much anymore but she's still awesome.

Glynbeard:
Thanks for the interview MaiN!

[BREAK=Nesox]



Participants: Glynbeard & Nesox

Interview conducted via: Private Message


Glynbeard:
1. Would you mind introducing yourself to the community? What do you do outside of MMOwned? (School, work etc.)

Nesox:
Hi, my real name is Philip im 23 years old, i live in Sweden in a rather small town with my GF. I finished a .Net programming education about 8 months ago and i also recently moved to a bigger apartment which is nice because now i have an actual desk to work at! On the days (and nights too sometimes) i work with Honorbuddy and some other projects we got, i enjoy that and it's the best job i've ever had

Glynbeard:
2. What evoked your interest in botting or hacking programs for World of Warcraft?

Nesox:
While i was in school me and a classmate decided to write a fishbot it turned out pretty nice even tho we used parts of AutoIt for it after that i just kept going, all my school were suddenly associated with Games, GameAI or bots.

Glynbeard:
3. Starting off in a section like this is not an easy task. Would you be willing to shed some light on good and helpful practices for beginners?

Nesox:
Read the section rules, use search! use google.
There's so much resources avaible lots of sample code and hundreds of threads with juicy info, when i started there was hardly anything almost noone was posting anything for the C# people so it was hard, until Shynd started his blog that really helped ALOT! that's what got me started, long time ago now tho.

Glynbeard:
4. Who, would you say, has been your biggest inspiration in this section and why?

Nesox:
Apoc, he's always been very helpful and supportive when it comes to my stupid questions. He's also a very nice guy and a ****ing awesome coder

Glynbeard:
5. The process involved in the creation of a useful program can be broken down into multiple segments like: concept, code, creativity, user-friendliness, attractiveness etc. What would have to be your biggest strength in this procedure? Biggest weakness? Please elaborate on each.

Nesox:
I would say my biggest strength is making an application user friendly.
A good application doesn't need a ton of setting to make it usable, it often only confuses people and suddenly you get drowned in pm's etc.
My biggest weakness is probablly graphics, even tho im able to make somewhat good looking GUI's and other stuff it still pains me (it's not my thing) especially websites i just hate websites i just suck too much at graphics (Photoshop), CSS and HTML to write proper ones.

Glynbeard:
6. There have been many bots available for the residents of Azeroth, some successful, and others not so much. What separates a good bot from a great one?

Nesox:
To inject or not to inject!
using a tad of injection to call game engine function can make a HUGE difference and it makes everything so much easier it does however require that you know know what you are doing.. take glider for instance;
they used a hook on GetCursorPos *i think* to make it possible to do stuff like interacting with objects looting vending, training skills etc.. So instead of doing that with everything that is required for it to work like,
world to screen projection transformation you could inject a dll inject a ASM stub or something similar hook endscene if it's a game that uses DirectX can't remember what the OpenGL one is called..

After you achieved that you can easily inject and run your own code to call unctions like Interact (performs a right click on a interactable object like mailboxes, herbs, units etc) Framescript__Execute ( stuff like CloseLoot() StartAttack() ClearTarget() ) there's so much things you don't have to worry about if you can execute lua functions from a bot. Pathfinding and how it executes logic is also very important but i think it's enough with the injection example, pathing isn't my strong side. That should pretty much conclude it. IMO a good bot is passive and don't call game-engine functions a great bot does.

Glynbeard:
7. In your opinion, what is/was the most successful bot for WoW? What did they do differently that lead to this accomplishment?

Nesox:
Most successful bot? I'd have to say Glider. Lax and Hamut did a good job keeping it undetected. Blizzard probablly gave up and decided to sue them when they couldn't use their AC to get them, even tho they succeeded a few times.

Glynbeard:
8. How much time would you say you spend each week working on projects directly related to botting or hacking programs for World of Warcraft?

Nesox:
About 56-90 hours maybe.

Glynbeard:
9. Have you ever worked on a bot or hacking program for another game? Why or why not?

Nesox:
No. Ive been thinking about it but I'm too busy with wow to start on another game atm.

Glynbeard:
10. The memory editing sub-forum is a collective of different programming languages. Which are you most proficient in? Are there any you completely loathe? Why is that?

Nesox:
C# is my main language i know a little "C with classes" as Cypher would say, close to nothing tho as i prefer C#. I completely loathe languages with basic syntax. AutoIt, VB, i don't like Eifel or Java either i think they are somwhat similiar to basic.

Glynbeard:
11. What personally has been your largest accomplishment in the botting/memory editing section?

Nesox:
MrFishIt i guess. I don't really enjoy coding on that project anymore tho, i just update it whenever there's a patch. Honorbuddy however is a completely different story that's where i spend 99% of my time atm.
It's so much more complex and fun to write rather than a simple fishbot.

Glynbeard:
12. How to I get Click to Move to work properly? Haha, just kidding. But these types of questions are always popping up despite multiple threads already answering the question. How do you deal with all the spam and I would guess crazy PM's you get on a daily basis? Do you think there is an easy answer to stop the madness or is this something that you just have to coexist with?

Nesox:
If you find out please let us know! I once even got a whisper from someone when i was ingame, he managed to see my ingame name on a screenshot i posted... I get a pm evry now and then, i usually tell them to use search or give them a link to a thread. I don't think there's any way to stop it we just have to live with it

Glynbeard:
13. There are many steps in becoming an elite in WoW memory editing. Would you be able to describe the largest hurdle (or hurdles) that you had to overcome in this process?

Nesox:
You need more than half a brain, post a lot in the MES if we see that you know what you are talking about you pretty much get invited right away more or less.

Glynbeard:
14. What is your favorite part in creating an application (for WoW or just in general). The process? Planning? Post-creation? Why is this?

Nesox:
Coding and debugging, i can do that all day long it's what i think is the fun part of programming seeing your code work or not work and if not you fix it

Glynbeard:
15. Do you have any ideas you would like to carry out but haven't had the time or the willpower to do?

Nesox:
Yes. I have been thinking about writing a proper instance bot with a proper IPC so the bots can *talk* to each other.
It would also measure the amount of threat for the party, make sure noone dps too much, scripted bossfights so they know where to go if a boss starts cast some nasty spell etc..

Glynbeard:
16. Are there any comments you would like to share with the community that were not discussed in the above questions?

Nesox:
No, nothing that crosses my mind atm.

Glynbeard:
17. Is there anyone you would like to thank before the interview is finished?

Nesox:
MaiN - Fag.
Apoc for being awesome
Cypher for helping out when i was a newb
Kynox for being awesome
SKU, jjaa, amadmonk, kynox
and those who i forgot who has been friendly or helpful!

Glynbeard:
Haha, thanks for the interview mate!


[BREAK=jjaa]



Participants: Glynbeard & jjaa

Interview conducted via: Private Message


Glynbeard:
1. Would you mind introducing yourself to the community? What do you do outside of MMOwned? (School, work etc.)

jjaa
I joined MMowned in December 2006 when I started playing WoW. I’m 19 years old and I live in Sydney Australia. Recently I just finished a 2 year programming course in 1 year and I just got accepted into an IT university course starting at the end of February.

Glynbeard:
2. What evoked your interest in botting or hacking programs for World of Warcraft?

jjaa
Hmmm well it’s hard to say, to be honest I think I was just glancing over at the bots and programs section on MMowned. Eventually things were just too interesting too look away, and as goes with my personality, if I am interested in something I must know how it works.

Glynbeard:
3. Starting off in a section like this is not an easy task. Would you be willing to shed some light on good and helpful practices for beginners?

jjaa
One of the main things I see every day. Is people having the wrong motivation, and starting with a project that is too hard for them. So they end up leeching and not understanding what they are leeching. If you’re actually serious about learning reverse engineering you must be interested in more than just creating hacks for WoW. If you only want to create hacks for WoW you will lose all of your motivation when you see the learning curve. Personally my motivation was just fascination. You also need to learn to program (preferably something middle-level like C++) , learn Assembler, learn reverse engineering concepts and lastly practice reverse engineering. The best way to learn all of this is to just read books on the subjects, plenty of suggestions in the Bookthread.

Glynbeard:
4. Who, would you say, has been your biggest inspiration in this section and why?

jjaa
Kynox and Cypher (I can’t choose!). Their huge contributions to the community made starting out easier, they also helped a lot back in the day on IRC .

Glynbeard:
5. The process involved in the creation of a useful program can be broken down into multiple segments like: concept, code, creativity, user-friendliness, attractiveness etc. What would have to be your biggest strength in this procedure? Biggest weakness? Please elaborate on each.

jjaa
My biggest strength would most likely be concept. I enjoy reversing so much that I just don’t care how long I spend staring at Assembler, ideas starting flowing eventually. Biggest weakness would be user-friendliness. Most of my projects are private. So if I actually create something for the public I forget that the user has black box perspective of the system. However it is something I’ve been working on

Glynbeard:
6. There have been many bots available for the residents of Azeroth, some successful, and others not so much. What separates a good bot from a great one?

jjaa
In my opinion, pathing is very important because it allows the bot to gain a better understanding of the world around it, which prevents cliché bot actions like running into a fence. The best way to create a good pathing system is to use a NavMesh generated from WoW’s MPQ’s. Generating paths on the fly from the MPQ’s also works. However that is much slower compared to using a NavMesh. Customization (routines ect.) is also incredibly important. The developers can only do so much. Customization allows people with their own great ideas go and develop something, or create a better combat routine. Vendor support, if the bot is limited by the size of its bags it will never be at its full potential. Lastly a basic chat system to respond to certain predicable messages (groups ect.).

Glynbeard:
7. In your opinion, what is/was the most successful bot for WoW? What did they do differently that lead to this accomplishment?

jjaa
Openbot, they had a great development community whose entire motivation for developing it was to make a great bot for the community. Also it was open-source, so it was easy to customize.

Glynbeard:
8. How much time would you say you spend each week working on projects directly related to botting or hacking programs for World of Warcraft?

jjaa
2-3 hours a day plus extra time for reading all the reversing/programming books I want to read.

Glynbeard:
9. Have you ever worked on a bot or hacking program for another game? Why or why not?

jjaa
Not really. Once you have IDA setup nicely with all of your structures and functions named., it hard to go and start reversing another binary. Especially when there is always something to work on, related to WoW.

Glynbeard:
10. The memory editing sub-forum is a collective of different programming languages. Which are you most proficient in? Are there any you completely loathe? Why is that?

jjaa
Initially I did all of my programming in C++, writing innerspace extensions. However now i do most of my work in C#, CLR being hosted by the process. I loathe auto-it with a passion. It’s an ugly language that encourages bad programming habits.

Glynbeard:
11. What personally has been your largest accomplishment in the botting/memory editing section?

jjaa
Probably a private bot that I started up with Apoc. We had a lot of fun, and some silly mistakes learning how to take full advantage of C# in-process.

Glynbeard:
12. How to I get Click to Move to work properly? Haha, just kidding. But these types of questions are always popping up despite multiple threads already answering the question. How do you deal with all the spam and I would guess crazy PM's you get on a daily basis? Do you think there is an easy answer to stop the madness or is this something that you just have to coexist with?

jjaa
Well it used to be handled by flaming (that was fun ) . However these days I just skim through the threads if there is anything that I don’t think has been answered (rare these days) I will help. Apoc takes care of the rest. There is no easy fix people, will always want to create hacks without putting the work in.

Glynbeard:
13. There are many steps in becoming an elite in WoW memory editing. Would you be able to describe the largest hurdle (or hurdles) that you had to overcome in this process?

jjaa
I don’t really remember a set of hurdles to overcome. I was just eager to learn and active in the community. I became friends with Apoc, Kynox and Cypher through Openbot and MMowned. The rest is a blur lol.

Glynbeard:
14. What is your favorite part in creating an application (for WoW or just in general). The process? Planning? Post-creation? Why is this?

jjaa
The reverse engineering process, figuring out how something works and why it works has always been a fun thing for me. In fact I would say that most hacks I create, I don’t even use. I just like creating them.

Glynbeard:
15. Do you have any ideas you would like to carry out but haven't had the time or the willpower to do?

jjaa
Yeh I definitely have. Well I normally figure out how to do it, but I just don’t code it. I reverse what needs to be done, but I don’t make an application/library for it. Some examples include a DirectX GUI lib that uses the visual studio designer, and a WoW morpher that uses the lua model frames. I’ve also wanted to do more reversing of the packet handlers ect. but haven’t bothered.

Glynbeard:
16. Are there any comments you would like to share with the community that were not discussed in the above questions?

jjaa
Nope.

Glynbeard:
17. Is there anyone you would like to thank before the interview is finished?

jjaa
Kynox, Apoc ,Cypher, Harko, Nesox, MaiN, SKU, Malu (UnknOwned), Robske, Bobbysing, Shynd, Boogieman, Greyman, namreeb and amadmonk. All of them are people who contribute and make WoW reversing fun.

Glynbeard:
Thanks a bunch for the interview!


[BREAK=Cypher]



Participants: Glynbeard & Cypher

Interview conducted via: Private Message


Glynbeard:
1. Would you mind introducing yourself to the community? What do you do outside of MMOwned? (School, work etc.)

Cypher:
After reading the course material the thought of going to University made me want to have a brain aneurysm (sooooo boooorrriiiinnngggg), so I'm currently just taking time off, doing pretty much whatever I feel like doing at the time. Currently I'm in the US (I'm actually from Australia) working on a project with a friend.

Glynbeard:
2. What evoked your interest in botting or hacking programs for World of Warcraft?

Cypher:
I have a very short attention span, and when I started playing WoW I noticed immediately how much stuff could be automated or made easier. Normally I'm not into making games easier (I prefer really difficult games, it's no fun otherwise imo), however I'm talking about the borining monotonous stuff that isn't really difficult, but just tedious. Plus I'm a bit of a sociopath, so cheating is fun. :P

Glynbeard:
3. Starting off in a section like this is not an easy task. Would you be willing to shed some light on good and helpful practices for beginners?

Cypher:
Most people get sick of answering the same questions day in and day out. It's not just pointless and boring, it's downright annoying. If you want to come off as a 'good' beginner (i.e. the type that people are likely to go out of their way to help out) rather than a 'bad' beginner (i.e. the type that people are likely to flame in the ground) the number one rule is to do some of your own research before asking any questions.

Don't expect to be spoonfed, because you won't be. If however people can see that you've done your own 'homework' and simply need help clarifying some thing or getting a push in the right direction, you're likely to get all the help you need.

Glynbeard:
4. Who, would you say, has been your biggest inspiration in this section and why?

Cypher:
Kynox is a pretty cool guy, eh kills aliens and doesn't afraid of nething.

Glynbeard:
5. The process involved in the creation of a useful program can be broken down into multiple segments like: concept, code, creativity, user-friendliness, attractiveness etc. What would have to be your biggest strength in this procedure? Biggest weakness? Please elaborate on each.

Cypher:
Strongest? Probably concept and code. I enjoy playing with new and relatively obscure/arcane language features, which makes the actual implementation of programs more interesting for me.

Weakest? Probably a combination of user-friendliness and attractiveness. Most of the stuff I write is designed primarily with my own needs in mind, so user-friendliness and a good-looking GUI are fairly low on the list of priorities.

Glynbeard:
6. There have been many bots available for the residents of Azeroth, some successful, and others not so much. What separates a good bot from a great one?

Cypher:
Assuming you're talking about the public bots and not the private ones, then I'd have to say (in no particular order):
1. Good nav and pathfinding.
2. Good anti-cheat protection.

Everything else is secondary.

Glynbeard:
7. In your opinion, what is/was the most successful bot for WoW? What did they do differently that lead to this accomplishment?

Cypher:
Glider and OpenBot seem to me like the obvious choices for this one, however I'm heavily biased as I haven't actually 'used' a public bot since the public ISXWoW disappeared (at which point all the extension and bot updates went private). The 'most succesful' bot is also different to the 'best' bot imo. By far the best bot(s) I've used were private ones.

Glynbeard:
8. How much time would you say you spend each week working on projects directly related to botting or hacking programs for World of Warcraft?

Cypher:
Over 9000.

Seriously though, I have no idea, it varies too greatly for me to give you a number. Sometimes I'll spend a whole lot of time working on WoW stuff, other times I'll spend it working on totally unrelated projects, other times I'll spend it getting trashed and hanging out with friends. As I said, I don't really have a set schedule, because I don't really have anything I 'need' to do at any given time.

Glynbeard:
9. Have you ever worked on a bot or hacking program for another game? Why or why not?

Cypher:
Yes, quite a few. Mainly because I was bored at the time.

Glynbeard:
10. The memory editing sub-forum is a collective of different programming languages. Which are you most proficient in? Are there any you completely loathe? Why is that?

Cypher:
Most proficient? C++ and IA32 ASM. I've been meaning to get back into C# too, but have been too busy mucking around with other stuff. Loathe? VB and AutoIt. Because they both cause you to develop bad habits.

Glynbeard:
11. What personally has been your largest accomplishment in the botting/memory editing section?

Cypher:
Writing a hack (LuaNinja) that annoyed the Warden guy to the point where he slipped in some detection code into the client.

Glynbeard:
12. How to I get Click to Move to work properly? Haha, just kidding. But these types of questions are always popping up despite multiple threads already answering the question. How do you deal with all the spam and I would guess crazy PM's you get on a daily basis? Do you think there is an easy answer to stop the madness or is this something that you just have to coexist with?

Cypher:
Most of it I just ignore nowadays, for the rest I typically destroy the offender then let Apoc clean up the aftermath. :P

Glynbeard:
13. There are many steps in becoming an elite in WoW memory editing. Would you be able to describe the largest hurdle (or hurdles) that you had to overcome in this process?

Cypher:
Being able to find and reverse-engineer the relevant code/data is probably the part with the steepest learning curve. Due primarily to the fact that it's still a bit of a black art as far as most mainstream programmers are concerned.

Glynbeard:
14. What is your favorite part in creating an application (for WoW or just in general). The process? Planning? Post-creation? Why is this?

Cypher:
I guess I would find the most satisfying part to be when it's 'finished'.

Glynbeard:
15. Do you have any ideas you would like to carry out but haven't had the time or the willpower to do?

Cypher:
I'd like to get more into the kernelmode side of Windows internals but it's just such a pain on x64. I'd also like to get into vulnerability research but that is quite tedious in the beginning and I cbf right now.

Glynbeard:
16. Are there any comments you would like to share with the community that were not discussed in the above questions?

Cypher:
Kynox's sister is a nympho.

Glynbeard:
17. Is there anyone you would like to thank before the interview is finished?

Cypher:
Kynox's sister. (Lmao)

Glynbeard:
Thanks for the interview Cypher! I must say I got some laughs out of this one!

[BREAK=Kynox]



Participants: Glynbeard & Kynox

Interview conducted via: Private Message


Glynbeard:
1. Would you mind introducing yourself to the community? What do you do outside of MMOwned? (School, work etc.)

Kynox:
Currently, i'm finishing off a Diploma before enrolling in a BCS.

Glynbeard:
2. What evoked your interest in botting or hacking programs for World of Warcraft?

Kynox:
It was sort of a global interest in Assembly and puzzle solving. I find reverse-engineering can be likened to solving a complex puzzle.

Glynbeard:
3. Starting off in a section like this is not an easy task. Would you be willing to shed some light on good and helpful practices for beginners?

Kynox:
Don't come in expecting to be spoon fed. The majority of the code/techniques posted in the section don't favor those with a limited amount of knowledge in C/C++/C#. Use your initiative; find a book and get some background knowledge on what you're stepping into before you jump in head first.

Glynbeard:
4. Who, would you say, has been your biggest inspiration in this section and why?

Kynox:
Cypher is a pretty cool guy, eh kills aliens and doesn't afraid of nething. (Did we hear this before somewhere?...)

Glynbeard:
5. The process involved in the creation of a useful program can be broken down into multiple segments like: concept, code, creativity, user-friendliness, attractiveness etc. What would have to be your biggest strength in this procedure? Biggest weakness? Please elaborate on each.

Kynox:
My biggest strength would be the code side of things. I'm not very imaginative, so user-friendliness and attractiveness seldom ever see light from me.

However, code doesn't take a great deal of imagination. Once you have a basic concept layed out, code comes naturally.

Glynbeard:
6. There have been many bots available for the residents of Azeroth, some successful, and others not so much. What separates a good bot from a great one?

Kynox:
Protection. An amazing next-gen bot could be released tomorrow, however without adequate protection; it is very likely to fall within days. (AIOBot is a great example here)

Glynbeard:
7. In your opinion, what is/was the most successful bot for WoW? What did they do differently that lead to this accomplishment?

Kynox:
Glider will always be my favourite. It is sort of the grand daddy of all the bots you see today, and set the standard for a successful bot through its honest developers.

Glynbeard:
8. How much time would you say you spend each week working on projects directly related to botting or hacking programs for World of Warcraft?

Kynox:
Lately, not as much as i used to. I used to spend a lot of time working on proof of concept projects (Teleportation, Picture-in-picture, etc). Things that wouldn't last two seconds in the public. However, lately, i spend most of my time on the security side of things. Checking in on Warden and Scan.dll and making sure Blizzard aren't sneaking in tricky new anti-cheat mechanisms.

Glynbeard:
9. Have you ever worked on a bot or hacking program for another game? Why or why not?

Kynox:
I reverse a lot of games, mainly FPS. Every game is different in structure, so you learn quite a lot through that.

Glynbeard:
10. The memory editing sub-forum is a collective of different programming languages. Which are you most proficient in? Are there any you completely loathe? Why is that?

Kynox:
I mainly use C++ and C#, each depending on the project at hand; but usually C++. Although not directly a programming language, i absolutely loathe AutoIt when its used in the context of low-level game hacking. It's a scripting language, its not written for such tasks; damnit!

Glynbeard:
11. What personally has been your largest accomplishment in the botting/memory editing section?

Kynox:
Inspiring others to get into the field. It's quite humbling.

Glynbeard:
12. How to I get Click to Move to work properly? Haha, just kidding. But these types of questions are always popping up despite multiple threads already answering the question. How do you deal with all the spam and I would guess crazy PM's you get on a daily basis? Do you think there is an easy answer to stop the madness or is this something that you just have to coexist with?

Kynox:
The 'Disable Private Messages' feature, it's a godsend. Howver, while that doesn't prevent the influx of those questions in the forum itself, usually Apoc is there to clean up the mess.

Glynbeard:
13. There are many steps in becoming an elite in WoW memory editing. Would you be able to describe the largest hurdle (or hurdles) that you had to overcome in this process?

Kynox:
Wrapping my mind around assembly. If you don't understand assembly, reverse-engineering a game is near impossible; so it definitely helps!

Glynbeard:
14. What is your favorite part in creating an application (for WoW or just in general). The process? Planning? Post-creation? Why is this?

Kynox:
The process of tracking down all the pieces of information needed for the application to function. Even though sometimes you run into some tricky routines that leave you crying in the fetal position. It's the 'fun' part of the task, personally.

Glynbeard:
15. Do you have any ideas you would like to carry out but haven't had the time or the willpower to do?

Kynox:
Write a navigation system. Short and to the point.

Glynbeard:
16. Are there any comments you would like to share with the community that were not discussed in the above questions?

Kynox:
Rockon, and when the going gets tough; punch it in the face and let it know who's boss.

Glynbeard:
17. Is there anyone you would like to thank before the interview is finished?

Kynox:
My right hand, for treating me well through thick and thin. (o.0)

Glynbeard:
Haha, wow. Well, thanks for finding the time for this interview Kynox!

[BREAK=Conclusion]



Well, that's it guys! I hope you thought it was an interesting read.

Make sure to check for my thread (in the general chat section) which will act as a poll to decide the next section to be interviewed in 2 weeks (maybe you'll be in it?...).

[MAKE SURE YOU SUPPORT YOUR FAVORITE SECTION BY VOTING!]

Glynbeard
MMOwned News Team

[Glynbeard]

I scaled down the pictures, so they shouldn't stretch the front page. If there is any trouble though, let me know !

[Apoc]

Pffft. Ask and you shall receive.

Also, why am I always referred to as 'cleaning up the trash'?

IT'S NOT FAIR!

[Linkn]

Was a pretty interesting read, thanks for that.

[Cypher]

Pffft. Ask and you shall receive.

Also, why am I always referred to as 'cleaning up the trash'?

IT'S NOT FAIR!

Because you're a moderator, one of the garbage-men of the interwebz.

[Obama]

Apoc, it's because your black.

[Jadd]

Apoc, it's because your black.

Oh no you didn't.

[Garry__]

Lol nice read; was enjoyable. It makes me want to get more into this type of stuff...maybe if I had a bit more time on my hands.

And @cypher: luaninja was kick ass.

[XC4T4LY5TX]

:O Apoc is black? wth?

[Xel]

:O Kynox has a sister? wth?

[WannaBeProgrammer]

If you find out please let us know! I once even got a whisper from someone when i was ingame, he managed to see my ingame name on a screenshot i posted... I get a pm evry now and then, i usually tell them to use search or give them a link to a thread. I don't think there's any way to stop it we just have to live with it


Thats me! Just wanned to get a advice :P