Need Advice

[helllookitty]

I play a game (a small MMO). In the game it assigns you a value. Every player in the game has a unique value. Let's call them IDs.

People have found a way to change their IDs in the past.

I always assumed the ID would be:
A. Related to your hardware
B. Related to your installation of the game
or
C. A registry flag

I got a new computer recently (100% new/built, same IP + old HDD is 2nd HDD, new OS on SSD). My ID didn't change.

That let me rule out A (minus HDD). I reinstalled the game, fresh, on my new SSD. ID still did not change. That finished A and ruled out B.

I checked through the registry and removed every (obvious) flag related to the game. ID did not change.

I know it isn't related to IPs (two different computers from same house will have same IP but different ID), and people have changed their IDs in the past via programs that I can't find.

Does anyone know what another *possible* explanation there might be for what the ID is generated from or stored to?

[Eryx]

In theory it could be a coincidence you got the same ID on a fresh start, but most likely not.

Since your old HDD is still connected to the PC, I'm leaning towards believing its a file stashed somewhere on your old HDD that the game found.

Is it a browser game or a game you installed on your computer?

[helllookitty]

These ID's are unique (Used by GMs to ban players and such), but not every theoretical PCID is used. Maybe it's theoretically possible to have gotten the same PCID, but with 8+ numbers in length and it not having happened before, extremely unlikely.

I tried disconnecting the old HDD outright, but the ID is the same. Whatever payload it stored for the ID must have transferred to my SSD.

This is a game installed onto my computer.

At the moment, I am creating a VM and installing Win7 onto it. That will likely give me a fresh ID. From there, I'm going to snapshot my registry before and after installing the game (And before/after opening the game for the first time), to see which registry flags are set upon installation that might not carry the game's name in them.

Does that plan seem sound in theory? And would you recommend anything else?

[Eryx]

I'm not sure if I get this right. Are you logging into your old character and expect it to get a new ID because you use a new computer? Are you using the same account as you used to do on your old computer, because if you do the ID is connected to your account and not your computer.

[helllookitty]

I'm not sure if I get this right. Are you logging into your old character and expect it to get a new ID because you use a new computer? Are you using the same account as you used to do on your old computer, because if you do the ID is connected to your account and not your computer.

Let me try to explain better.

"Characters" basically do not exist on this game, but accounts do. You can think of it as having 1 character per account.

When you log into the game, there are three things that define who you are:

1. Your account name.
2. Your IP.
3. Your ID.

If I logged into "Account A" and "Account B" both using the same computer, they would share the same ID and IP.
If I logged into "Account A" from this computer and "Account B" from my other computer, they would share the same IP but have different IDs.
If I were to reformat my drive and reinstall from scratch, I believe I would have a different ID (albeit the same IP).

The IP and ID are not bound to the account. If YOU then logged into "Account A," it would show YOUR IP and YOUR ID.

IDs are basically local to PCs. For a long time, people thought they were related to your MAC Address or your computer's PC ID or something, but they are neither.

The IP & ID are used mainly for banning purposes. Changing your IP allows you to evade IP bans. Changing your ID allows you to evade ID bans. Neither helps you evade an account ban, but if you, for example, have essentially unlimited accounts (as I do), you no longer worry about account bans.

My ID and IP are not banned, yet. IP bans are trivial to overcome (masking, proxies, etc). Changing one's ID is harder, since the game generates its own IDs from some means and it is not obvious how they are stored.

As for my VM progress: I made the VM and installed the game. I logged in and I do indeed have a new ID.

The question is, basically, where could the ID information possibly be stored? The game stores no files to %appdata%/local and even fully deleting the game's installation folder does not change your ID.

My only guess left would be that it is a registry key. Is that correct thinking, or can you think of another likely place the game would store this information?

[helllookitty]

Reinstalling VM + Game gave me a new ID that is bizarrely similar to the first one.

First one: 19814078
New one: 19815074

Time between their installations: roughly 15 minutes.

The difference between the two is 996, which is 16 minutes and 36 seconds.

Wonder if it's got something to do with unix time stamp at the time of installation? Even extrapolating backwards, though, it would've been 0 as recently as last December, and these IDs have been around since a patch in roughly '05.

Still an interesting tidbit. Maybe it saves the time somewhere.

EDIT: I restored my VM to a snapshot from before I installed the game. It has the same ID.

Looks like it's got to do with the OS installation.