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+--- Thread: PSA: Scripting and Configs (/showthread.php?tid=4511)
PSA: Scripting and Configs - ReThink - 05-30-2018
Scripting
Preface: It was recently brought up on the Discord server and this thread here, so I figured I'd clarify an important distinction regarding scripting, as per rule 5:
5. Do Not Exploit, Hack, Metagame or Otherwise Avoid the Game's Intended Limits
This includes ghosting**, metagaming, hacking, and exploiting maps. Ghosting includes sharing any type of information with someone from the grave that could affect the outcome of a round, including staff. Do not try to escape the map bounds or exploit map bugs that provide an unfair advantage to gameplay. Do not team, which is aiding people you know are not on your team. Do not put your client to 3rd person mode. Do not intentionally crash the server. Do not abuse console commands to exploit the way ingame items work. An exception to the metagaming rule is that you may use the number of remaining living players to deduce the number of living traitors, but only once the game has reached a point where there are so few traitors or players remaining that you cannot be wrong.
So it would be imperative to make such a distinction to avoid breaking any rules on the server.
Basics/Definition (mostly semantics):
From Wikipedia:
A scripting is programming in a language that supports scripts: programs written for a special run-time environment that automate the execution of tasks that could alternatively be executed one-by-one by a human operator. Scripting languages are often interpreted (rather than compiled)
Important Points to make here:
- Scripts automate tasks
- Tasks could alternatively be executed by a human operator
- Interpreted instead of compiled (comes in later)
Scripting, as one might not expect, is not always related to hacking/cheating; while it is true one can use third-party programs to automate actions outside of the vanilla source client and engine, all source games actually use scripts to operate on a basic level.
Q: What does this mean?
A: This means that everyone who presses a key on their keyboard to make their client move forward has used a script
Q: Where can a distinction be drawn between good scripting and bad scripting?
A: Good scripting can be defined as scripting using only 100% vanilla game files and settings. Any 3rd party programs or code injections are bad scripting, as they are not distributed equally, and thus grant a competitive advantage, contrary to good scripting, which is equally accessible to all, and fully customizable.
Some examples of good scripting resources and explanations include team fortress 2, portal, half-life 1 and 2, gmod, left for dead 1 and 2, and pretty much every other source game, even Alien swarm.
From the TF2 wiki:
Scripting is the use of configuration files (cfg) to create new keybinds and aliases automating complex behaviors and console command sequences. Unlike hacking, scripting is built into Team Fortress 2 and is not banned by VAC (Valve Anti-Cheat). Uses of scripting vary from simply binding a key to a command to self-referential loops and nested aliases that redefine one another. Any functionality that can be created with scripting can also be accomplished without it, but scripting allows these functionalities to be used in the heat of battle.
I won't get into the details of scripting, but things like loops, toggles, binds, aliases, combos, hotkeys, and some situational scripts cover the range of good scripting; all things that can be done 100% vanilla and legitimate, and are thus not cheating.
Remember when I mentioned keeping the live interpretation in mind? Scripts can be modified and executed without need of compiling, and thus can be executed in game.
The same process as scripting occurs when you, say, swap the function of M1 and M2 in game using the change controls GUI (graphical user interface). This is the exact same as navigating to your cfg file and typing it out. The only difference is that all the infinitely many combinations of keybinds cannot be placed on the GUI, and are thus left to the player to change themselves directly in the file. This is also the same as using the console in game.
More Detail:
Your local download of Gmod and other source games keep a copy of 3 main configs, though you have more than 3, and can make as many as you want.
They are:
- config, which contains your current keybind
- config_default , which contains the original binds as backup in case you want to reset
- autoexec , which executes on game launch
Closing Thoughts:
Scripts are part of the source engine, and everyone uses them, whether they know it or not. Their use alone is not cheating, as evidenced above, however there are third party programs that inject non vanilla subroutines and syntax that enable players to abuse this system, much like everything else in a game. These are two separate matters entirely, and should be associated with one another, as that is nonsensical and asinine.
*Any files you have that bind 'say' to a key are scripts
*Any keybinds you have are scripts
*Any optimization, settings, etc. are scripts
USING SOME ADDONS, THIRD PARTY PROGRAMS, OR HACKED CLIENTS FOR SCRIPTING IS CHEATING AND I AM NOT DEFENDING THAT. THE ONLY SCRIPTING THAT IS VANILLA ARE THE FILES ALREADY STORED IN YOUR COMPUTER THAT YOU CAN EDIT.
People I was discussing this with earlier, or had brought it up with:
@Foxka @"DaKody #FakeLogs" @MiniMe2001
"Have fun with scripts. Don't cheat." -Abraham Lincoln
![[Image: 200.gif]](https://media2.giphy.com/media/111ebonMs90YLu/200.gif)
Edit: Formatting
RE: PSA: Scripting and Configs - Foxka - 05-30-2018
Ok
RE: PSA: Scripting and Configs - Gabe - 05-30-2018
Ok
RE: PSA: Scripting and Configs - MiniMe - 05-30-2018
I don’t even want to try anymore holy shit.
RE: PSA: Scripting and Configs - Dildo Shwaggins - 05-30-2018
Cool story bro
RE: PSA: Scripting and Configs - Avi - 05-30-2018
This was discussed before in a post I believe and was stated that scripting is not allowed (let me see if I can find it).
RE: PSA: Scripting and Configs - DaKody - 05-30-2018
we're just closing this, scripting to gain advantage = exploit/hacking. That is how it is in the motd, that is how it is enforced.