Some questions before I try it

[jponryParticipant]

Hi. I’m interested in trying Miqobot but I’m really wary of botting for fear of detection, so I have some questions. Yes, I’ve read the official “Is Miqobot safe” post as well as posts from others detailing what precautions to take, but I’d like more information.

1. In general, can anyone explain in more technical terms HOW Miqobot isn’t detectable by the game? I understand Miqobot isn’t injecting itself or modifying data in memory, but how does it hide? Can’t the game check if there’s a Miqobot process running, for example?

2. If Miqobot is doing stuff but I’m, say, browsing the internet, wouldn’t the game be able to tell that my client is inactive? (I ask because I use the “limit FPS when the client is inactive” setting and that makes me think the game obviously has a way of telling the difference)

3. Is there any sort of randomization to Miqobot’s individual movements/timing of actions to make it appear more “human?” Or would one have to rely solely on the Scenario scripting thing to switch activities, and it follows the exact same path for any given activity?

[ArcModerator]

Alright, let me give you some answers:

1. “Can’t the game check if there’s a Miqobot process running, for example?” – Exactly this. Final Fantasy XIV has zero client-side protection against bots at all. Their only “automated protection” is server-side and it only checks for unnatural behavior, like memory edits and position value edits (i.e. teleport-hacks).
So if you don’t warp around the map with some memory editing injection bots, there is nothing Square Enix can do to detect that you’re botting, aside from looking at players reporting you and having a special task force GM go to your location and inspect your behavior / whisper you and check if you’re afk botting.

2. No. FFXIV has no detection for that either and also it wouldn’t make sense, because there is an option in the game settings for controllers to stay active and usable, while the game client is inactive / in the background, so you can keep playing the game, even if it was minimized. I did that a lot back in Eureka, while I was watching youtube vids and netflix (because my browser keeps lagging on 1080p streams when it’s not in the foreground).

3. As for right now, the only features that allow some randomization are scenario scripting and the gold saucer minigame farming (and there the randomization is only the amount of times you play a certain minigames and the afk-period duration). However more randomization options are planned for a Quality of Life update.

[GraySpectator]

1,2. Game client has to have special code to check your process list or to check if the client window has focus. Fortunately for us botters, it has none – at this moment, at least.

3. Miqo has enough randomization as it is. Not that it was intended, though. It just doesn’t use any inner “MoveToXYZ” client functions – instead, it “feeds” client keystrokes; for example, ones which rotate camera. As a side effect, your char doesn’t move exactly towards your goal, following the same line from node to the next node each time… rather, it moves generally towards the target, using small movement corrections here and there. As a result, each time your char follows slightly different route – much like real player would. Now add the fact than nodes appear randomly on top of this, and you get my point…

[Author]

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