PBEM Security Flaw

[eric_A]

I was playing the American Civil War scenario against the
AI when I hit the windows key to check my email. I saw
a message from Whizkid with a PBEM game (the same scenario)
attached.

Instead of exiting to the main menu and loading the PBEM file
from there, I saved my game and then did a load game from
within the game.

Not only did this load the wrong side (I was playing the
south, Whizkid was playing the north) of the PBEM game,
what is a thousand times worse is that it bypassed the
password protection and allowed me to play the north so
I could see all my opponents, forces, production, open
up his cities, etc..

I am using the standard (US) version of Conquests, without
any patches.

 

[Misfit_travel]

Eric_A:

To help in troubleshooting this one could you answer the following questions?

1) What version of ACWC3C where you playing initially? (I'm guessing beta4b)

2) What version of ACWC3C is your game with Whizkid1950? (I'm guessing ACWC3Cv3.91)

3) You loaded the PBEM game from within the initial game by going hitting CONTROL - L or by selecting it from a menu? or did you select the NEW GAME option and load it via the MULTIPLAYER selection at the main game screen? (The exact sequence you followed would be helpful).

4) Did Whizkid password protect his PBEM game with you or did he leave the password field blank?

With this information I would attempt to replicate your results. If we can reproduce it, I'd be willing to write up a full bug report and ship it off to Firaxis.

Regards
Misfit

 

[eric_A]

I just checked, it seems Whizkid did not set a password.

 

[Misfit_travel]

I think that explains why you were able to do what you did. I tried it when I got home and an entered passwords seems to work in preventing this.

Regards
Misfit

 

[KayEss]

This happens with Play the World as well doesn't it?

 

[Misfit_travel]

Probably. The key thing would appear to be to always use a password in multiplayer games.

Misfit

 

[Mikr]

Eric_A and Misfit_travel,
I came in looking for this bug. I too have found this bug, only both I and my buddy have passwoord protected our games.

Here are the steps to recreating this in the most current Play the World edition:
1) Load a single player game
2) Once in, load a PBEM game
At this point, it loads the game, skips the next player, cuts out of multiplayer mode, and turns into a single player game. It does bypass the password at this point.
3) If I load the PBEM game again at this point
It loads the game, does not skip the next player, but still cuts out of multiplayer mode, and turns into a single player game. It does bypass the password at this point.

We are able to do this both on his machine and mine. He bought the latest Play the World, and I bought an earlier, but patched it up to the current version.

It's annoying, but we're both honest in our game, so we don't mind (we discovered it when we went to check out what he was doing).