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May 30, 2013

Hidden tags in WoT screenies

Source: http://wotbase.ru/archives/2531/скрытые-метки-в-скриншотах-world-of-tanks.html

This is how Wargaming identified the supertest leakers (amongst other ways that is). Each screenshot, made by the WoT engine (by pressing Printscreen) will have these tags (they are revealed by fiddling with HUE):



These tags reveal, who made the screenie. This is a gif, linking to how the screen looks when filtered thru proper photoshop techniques:






This is also how one of the 0.8.5 supertest leakers has been identified (see above picture). But there is a way around it. Apart from the obvious taking pictures of your screen with a camera (a method used for early leaks if you remember), you can also use 3rd party program such as FRAPS - in such a case, no watermark tags appear on the screenshots.

50 comments:

  1. Before someone comes and goes:
    "Oh my god! SS you're providing the supertesters with a was to leak without being detected! You're a bad person, leaks aren't cool!"

    Wanna bet that the supertesters knew that from the start on?
    Atleast those that keep leaking :P

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. *sigh*
      Shouldn't type too fast...
      "with a way* to leak"
      not
      "with a was to leak"

      Delete
    2. Yes, all supertesters know about this I think, so did I, even back then (that's why the early leaks were taken with a camera was deliberate for exactly this reason).

      Delete
    3. Well if WG actually provided us with information about their work instead of trolling on the RU forums, we wouldn't need these leaks in the first place.

      Delete
    4. WG have previously said that they don't want to reveal too much information on supertests or possible future updates because of the enormous amounts of whining and crying about both the introduced and discarded changes.

      Delete
    5. "Well if WG actually provided us with information about their work instead of trolling on the RU forums, we wouldn't need these leaks in the first place. "

      Back in beta we got lots of infos but all those fucktards crying baby fucked it up... They were crying that some preview infos weren't 110% sure and ..OMG..changed and how WG are bastard idiot liars. So WG decided not to hand out any infos anymore that are not 100% sure.
      There was even a case were ppl started a big flamewar against wg because a patch came ONE day after a date that Overlord mentioned 4 months ago...

      And i bet 90% of the ppl that are now crying that we dont get much infos are the same that cryed back in those days...

      More over the lack of infos is no excuse for the Supertestleaks cause those dont create more infos, you just get them earlier. They're the same infos u would get today with the start of the PTS.

      Delete
    6. I wasn't playing back then. The closest we had to information when I started was Overlord answering our questions on our Q&A.

      He left and the only information we had was from SS's translations. Including the trolling present on the Russian forums.

      And now Serb has also said that he doesn't consider the "in development" page necessary. That's really the only small bit of solid confirmed information we have. Other than that, the EU server has to either wait until the patch is released for us to know what it includes, or hope that the EU community actually post something. Otherwise we're limited to guessing from translations.

      Delete
    7. What about all the posts from quasar for 8.6 ? Same infos as the ru got on the same day ;)

      Delete
    8. Those are the first of their kind. We didn't have this back for 0.8.5

      And even then, its only as the patch got closer and as supertesters started leaking stuff when they decided just to announce it. I just hope that they keep announcing things for the future.

      Delete
  2. Hey SS, someone started a topic on the WoT forums about WoWP beta, and after everyone was saying about how WT is better in a normal fasion, the topic just got erased by BigBadVuk(doh).
    Anyways, WT has released first 3 pics about their ground forces part of the game. I gotta say, that Tiger looks better than in WoT :)

    -EmperorSafirius

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The Tiger looks AMAZING, the details are... I have no words.
      warthunder.com/en/news/159/current/
      Here's the link for interested

      Delete
    2. man - I was playing WOT only so far for this type of game but maybe it's time to look at WT. The planes did not really appeal to me but this looks like it could be good. Better get used to how WT works....

      I like WOT and I am finally getting my first tier 10 after almost 2 years but the teams are really frustrating sometimes and I am not willing to put in the time and schedules for clanwars.

      How are teams and cooperation in WT?

      Delete
    3. Well WT have already implemented a type of "garage" battle, where you can take 3 planes with you, and replace one, if the other was destroyed and the battle is still going on. I don't know about the co-op since plane battles are much faster than tank ones, but I like it more than WoWP, definetly.

      -EmperorSafirius

      Delete
    4. Well, I've seen WoWp and I can say one thing... planes with HP?!
      About the team play, I'm playing HB's in parties only, so I'm playing with better players than are in arcade, but I'll say this: there's no better solution for team play, than making a party with your friends.

      Delete
    5. And guess what, you get rewarded for your individual deeds, and won't get screwed if the team is really bad. Which is actually, quite rare.

      Delete
    6. since 1.29 u get screwed on rewards no matter if u play good, ur team playes good or ur team sucks... they really should increase the lions outcome.

      Delete
    7. Some people are quite blind actually... From point of view WT actually looks horrible. It might have higher detail on lightning, but other than that, the textures seem very, very simplistic.

      You should look whole picture not just one moment of flash and say it is good... I've seen pictures in my life enough, and WT seems cheapish in comparison to WoT.

      Not that I care about it as it would be impossible for me to change from one game to another while starting over... Too much work. This has been like Travian 2.0 for me. Taking all my free time into one game, but this game is screwing me over and over and over again, where as Travian left me with fresh smell of victory on the first .fi server... memories.

      Delete
    8. @ Anon 4:01:00

      Your post made me laugh :) You say the graphics look cheapish compared to WoT?
      Seriously?!
      And if you dont care about it, dont comment about it :D

      -EmperorSafirius

      Delete
    9. @ Anon 4:01:00

      By saying that wot is superior in graphics compared to WT you are only making a fool of yourself.

      Don't go full retard.

      Delete
    10. Go put everything on max take a screeen and compare a moment. I don't take my words back. The textures can be seen as much lesser for WT than WoT. Alas WoT has problems for its current lighting model, which is not quite optimized even thou it is nice.

      Giving the best shots you currently have in a game doesn't mean the finished products will depict what you will see ingame. SerB was not trolling saying WoT is more sophisticated on detail wise.

      Sorry to burst your bubble.

      Delete
    11. This tank is looking like the tanks found in Media->Art category in WoT...They will not look like this in WT. And most of the WT players are just haters and not so skilled WoT players.

      Delete
  3. What in the name of fuck...
    I always wondered why my screenshots have those ugly blue artefacts in it. But I thought these were due to excessive jpg compression.

    Everyone does have those watermarks in his screenshots.

    ReplyDelete
  4. This is just one level of watermarking; several others arent mentioned - and i am afraid neither fraps (or any direct extraction) nor taking a screenshot will erase these completly.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. If that was true, other leakers (than just one) would be caught. But they weren't. Either way, yes, the safest way is taking pictures with a higher quality camera :) Sounds retarded, but it's guaranteed to leave no watermarks :)

      Delete
    2. Lets hope then that WG doesn't grow annoyed enough to remove that ability.

      Delete
    3. Remove the ability for people to use their own cameras?

      Delete
    4. Yes. You can embed stuff in pictures and video that makes your camera go 'Nope, not gonna photograph that.' Not sure how difficult it is to do in real time renderings.

      Delete
  5. Wow that's really amazing of WG to put something like that.

    ReplyDelete
  6. so imagine what is on replays then :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Allegedly, replays have a system built in from which it can be told what mods is WoT running (illegal mods that is).

      Delete
    2. I could be wrong, but I believe that is how WG intends to stop cheats. Eventually, all replays will be collected server-side and and any illegal mods auto-detected.
      DerpX

      Delete
    3. and finaly all cheaters/hakers get OUT of the game

      Delete
  7. It is so Russian :)
    Like when Stalin asked his "friends" to write anonymous comments on his leadership.
    Everyone was given pen and paper to fill it with comments.

    Submitters of bad comments were shot.
    How? Becouse ink in every pen was different. And based on analysis of ink Stalin was able to check who gave bad feedback.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. lol that's fucking evil!!! thanks for sharing

      Delete
    2. In soviet russia screenshot takes you.

      Delete
  8. Who the hell still uses printscreen in a videogame? you are no gamer, if you dont use FRAPS or something similiar (afterburner, mirillis action, dxtory,etc). Period.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I use printscrean. So I guess I'm no gamer. ;)

      Delete
    2. Actually no. If the game itself provides a decent screen capture option, then I'd rather use that. Lots of games provide the option of automatically capping with the HUD disabled, something that no program can offer. Stop generalising and sounding like a jerk.

      Delete
    3. I'm no gamer then just because i don't bother installing and running a third party tool to take screenshots when the game itself already has such a feature?

      Your logic is bad and you should feel bad.

      Delete
  9. just started wondering, in the past for some events like kill the courier, one had to take a screenshot to prove the kill. Some people complained of never receiving gold eaven tough they sended a screenshot etc. Is it posible they only gave gold to those who used the buildin screenshot feature? (maybe only for some time before realizing the problem and discarting this need later on)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Woohooo, put your tin foil hats on...

      In Germany there's a phrase: Ist der Ruf erstmal ruiniert, lebt's sich gänzlich ungeniert.

      I think WG has a quite bad reputation, so no one's disappointed to hear about or think about something like that.

      Delete
  10. Talking about illegal mods i find it hilarious that they wont say what mods are actually considered illegal

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Don't know about other forums, but there's a list of forbidden mods on RU forums. The following ones are illegal:

      1. 3D skins with modules and crew
      2. Modified tracers
      3. Removing tree leaves and changing bush transparency
      4. Free camera (camera zoom mod doesn't count)
      5. Laser beams from guns
      6. "X-ray sniper view"

      Delete
  11. Has anybody noticed "eyes" on both sides of "Battle" button on first sreenshot?

    ReplyDelete
  12. "There once was a supertest for Wot...
    aaaaaaand its gone"

    Soon(tm) ;)

    ReplyDelete
  13. Theoretically, couldn't you also get around it by running the game in a window, opening the second window, and printscreening your whole desktop with window No. 2 open?

    ReplyDelete
  14. http://www.ownedcore.com/forums/world-of-warcraft/world-of-warcraft-general/375573-looking-inside-your-screenshots.html

    Blizzard had implemented this similar watermarking method since 2007 for unknown reasons, it's worth a good read.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. >unknown reasons

      not really

      same as here
      tracking leaks, gold sellers cheaters etc.

      Delete

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