Quote:
Originally Posted by Klairic
I'm curious about this... what does Stars TOS say is allowed and not allowed with regards to this? Is screen scraping/OCRing allowed assuming legitimate purposes? Reading PS process memory? Hooking?
I would think that once you're up and running, a nicely done OCR would be the most reliable. Anything else could be locked out by Stars, and then you're fighting all the time. Learn how to read the screen, and you're probably done the first time (depending on the method used - don't read specific pixels).
read initial post: screen scraping is disalowed in this challenge :-) one day it may be the only way left, until then your exact question was what i got interested in. so i contacted stars on the premise that i want to get the code required up and running for an open source project (that is, the code i write has to open source as well). here is their reply:
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Hello ABC,
Thank you for contacting PokerStars. Your email was escalated to me as a member of the Game Security Team.
Whilst I can't provide you with much instruction on your development efforts, I can perhaps point you in the right direction.
The PokerStars client does not need to be reverse engineered in order to develop a working HUD for Zoom. Screen scraping, log file examination, OCR, and (to a very limited extent) windows message queue hooking (i.e. hooking the Windows message queue with PeekMessage, and watching messages flow by) would not be considered reverse engineering. Everything that a Zoom HUD does can be accomplished without trying to figure out the innards of the PokerStars client.
There is nothing different about a HUD for Zoom versus a HUD for standard tables. After you "fast fold" in Zoom, the IHH (Instant Hand History) window remains attached to the virtual table even after you've moved on to the next. If you fast fold four times, and then sit out, you can watch the IHH view insert the hands (in their correct order) as they complete. Some complete very fast -- when everyone fast folds to the big blind. Others might show up 2 or 3 minutes later, if there's significant action.
The hands are saved, as a "chunk", to the local hand history file as defined in the PokerStars client, and it certainly isn't against the Terms of Service to read the hand histories that PokerStars transmits to the client. That's how to get the data on players. How to identify players in seats is up to you, be it OCR, screen scraping, or windows message queue examinations; I would not define any of those things to be "reverse engineering" in this context (none involve examining the PokerStars executable or its functions).
Finally, please do not be concerned about the open source code that you write being used by others to violate our Terms of Service, such as by using it to develop a poker bot. We prefer to focus our enforcement efforts on prohibiting illicit activity such as developing/operating bot software, rather than a possible symptom. To that end, we have many proprietary tools which are industry leading, and they are under constant improvement.
I trust that this clarifies our position. If you have any other questions or concerns, please let us know. I wish you all the best.
Regards,
XYZ
PokerStars Game Security Team
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..which left me confused for many a reasons: windows hooks? what about mac?
so i am supposed to mess around with a hopelessly outdated client on an operating system that is left over from the stone ages of computing using javelins and hand axes. what stops them from providing the info required in a reasonable way? why do i have to inject dlls and stuff, messing around with the users os, potentially break it just to get some harmless information to make a legal tool work? next i read in PokerTracker forums that their users may have to run their proggy in admin mode to make the zoom HUD work.. ... ... ..rly? so after i stopped laughing i started asking myself, what exactly is it that stars and Poker tracker doing over there?