Don't panic

[L33ch]

Always bring a towel...

Right, now that i've got your attention..

the rules :
1) Do you use an "in-process" or "out-of-process" bot?
2) Motivate why , but keep it short.
3) Did you ever get a ban because of your bot?
3) No flamings other ppl for using "xyz" because of "abc"
4) How long have you been botting/automatic/reading stuff with wow outside of wow
5) the number 3 is used twice!


Reason : I am thinking of switching over to In-Process (need to learn some more stuff though), wondering why i actually should do it ( with the "interact" key in wow and mouse clicks fixed i don't really know why i should), and is it really easier!?

1) "Out-of-Process" not a single write in my code
2) Back when I started i knew jack-sh... about in-process (and out-of-process actually) and what advantages/disadvantages it has. also it was scarry. and with much "Out-of-process" sources it was easy to start.
3) Nope
4) About 2 years now..

[boredevil]

If you don´t have a towel, don´t even think about going inprocess.
Otherwise. Ask the towel. It knows all the answers!

[caytchen]

I do events, object manager stuff, CTM, LUA and all the other funky stuff, and the only hook I use is a vtable hook for EndScene in their D3D device.

[amadmonk]

Contrary to popular belief:

1. Out-of-process is not "safer" in any meaningful sense than in-process.
2. In-process is not "harder" than out-of-process. In fact, many, many operations are significantly easier to perform in-process because you can get the full cooperation of the game client to help you out.
3. If your entire bot logic can depend upon memory reads and key/mouse input, why are you even programming? Just use AutoIt or something and leave the botting to the rest of us.

I've been botting, in-process, for about 2 years now, and no, I've never been (to my knowledge) detected, and definitely no bans. I've been disconnected plenty of times (usually when I do something boneheaded like flood the server with movement packets). But still, no bans or even warnings.

The main reason I don't fear the ban stick is because I follow a few simple rules:

1. Use my own code. Simply using someone else's bot code (particularly the binaries) increases your ban risk by several orders of magnitude, because now there is something that SEVERAL (or many, or hundreds of) people are using, which tends to draw the ire of other Wow players, and the attention of the Warden Guy (tm).
2. Don't act like a dick: in short, I don't PVP, where my bots could have an unfair advantage. I don't farm popular areas where other people -- real players -- would lose out. I don't mine/herb nodes into extinction with AFK gathering. Not acting like a dick means I'm less likely to have other players get pissed and report me, which is -- after using "pre-packaged" code -- the number one ban reason.
3. Don't bot unattended for hours on end. This should be obvious, but apparently it isn't; Blizzard can (and does) know how long you've been online, when you logged on, and so on. If you've been playing for 3 days straight without a break... you're probably a bot. That's a VERY easy query to run, and I'm sure they do it regularly (although I don't have hard evidence to back that up).

[L33ch]

Ohw, Nice info, not getting detected reasons should be obvious though.

I usually go for 4 - 5 hours a day

but...

If your entire bot logic can depend upon memory reads and key/mouse input, why are you even programming? Just use AutoIt or something and leave the botting to the rest of us.

"amadmonk's backstab hits you for 1337"

I don't know AutoIt.. I only know C#... and: memory reads + key/mouse inputs why would that make it less of a bot?

...At least I'm trying and not asking for spoonfeeds

[caytchen]

3. Don't bot unattended for hours on end. This should be obvious, but apparently it isn't; Blizzard can (and does) know how long you've been online, when you logged on, and so on. If you've been playing for 3 days straight without a break... you're probably a bot. That's a VERY easy query to run, and I'm sure they do it regularly (although I don't have hard evidence to back that up).

Just to add here from experience: anything above 12 hours on a single account per day gets you automatically banned real quick.

[miceiken]

Just to add here from experience: anything above 12 hours on a single account per day gets you automatically banned real quick.

I've been botting for more than 5 days straight multiple times and the only time I got banned was the banwave back with Glider.

[dook123]

I personally think time has nothing to do with it. I know twin brothers who play on one account continuously... met them in my college dorm, one sleeps or goes to class while the other plays. So, real life situation without botting and account logged in for days doing things.

A good bot could stay on for days, talk to people in game, quest, and not get stuck :P to avoid being even thought of as a bot. Each of these things is doable. Personally, I implemented a human class to do random events like bathroom break, chatting, lunch and supper breaks. Before this I botted for ten hours a day with zero bans for around two years.