How does MS catch achievement modding, and how risky is it these days?

[bucchiac]

I'm talking legit order, unlocked offline (and not unlocking any online achievements) using Velocity, and keeping the console offline for a week or more between occasions of turning it on to let the GS sync with Live servers. And on top of that, something less than 7000 GS (probably like 5500-6000 tops) spanning 7 games over the course of a full month or more. Oh, and some achievements were unlocked with save sets or save editors rather than profile editing.

How risky is that? I don't plan on doing it any more, considering the fact that I'm absolutely terrified and had only even meant to do it to unlock a few achievements that had REALLY been bothering me (trying to unlock them legit and just not succeeding or having the patience) but things ended up getting a little out of hand, it's almost addicting to see your GS going up by more than you were used to. I had a big backlog of 360 games I had bought from the bargain bin and some of the games I just didn't want to spend 50-100 hours trying to get the achievements for.

Also, does anyone actually know HOW people get caught? I mean, if you unlock offline and everything is in a legit order, and you didn't just magically boost your GS by 3000 in a day or something, AND you have your achievements private so nobody goes snooping and tries to report you, how exactly is it that MS knows and resets your GS? What would even tip them off if everything looks perfectly normal? Or is it actually a lot less risky than some other boards have made it out to me and I'm panicking for nothing?

Finally, one game that I unlocked entirely offline but have already synced with Live as of a week or two ago suddenly has one of the achievements that was unlocked later on in the game appearing unlocked earlier. It isn't exactly a story achievement that would be something like level 10 was completed before level 5, but it's something that as far as I know shouldn't be unlocked until later on. Is it possible that it's just appearing out of order on the Xbox website and on my console, or am I in some serious trouble here?

Thanks to anyone who might be able to reassure me (or I guess scare me even more). I made a mistake and I don't want to pay for it by losing like 6 years of legit and dedicated achievement gaming just because I took the easy way for a month.

[KoStorms]

I think the system is automated and goes on what is considered suspicious or rather a red flag. You know exactly as you stated such as online only achievements unlocked with no time stamp or ones completely out of order and massive increases to your score with very little time having passed. I believe that save sets are okay as long as you take the time to do them right like in order and building the total up over time rather than a full 800-1000 at once. Save editors are okay as long as you know what you are doing and you make sure not to do anything that would pop ones you really shouldn't have or are just down right impossible at that point in your save. Also avoid having your profile or stats linked to things that actually track stats in game like the Social Club of R* for RDR and GTA.

[Mishumo]

I have been told that it is not save to unlock achievements if you will log on to Live servers. Apparently you can get either banned, moved to a Cheater group or simply, your achievements get locked again. But I don't fully agree with koStorms about getting in trouble for achievements that unlocked out of order as I have had plenty of those using some starter saves and I am always connected to Live. I did it again with Risen 2 max/God mode save which popped up some achievements, also Diablo 3 last year.

[XB36Hazard]

It's basted off of...
Order in which you unlocked the achievements
Achievement Time stamp
Title Time stamp
Time between each achievement
What bit-flags are set at the time of sync
How many achievement are being synced
Type of achievement
If the achievement is online or offline
Time between first/last time played and achievement unlocked time stamp
When Xbox-Live account was created and achievement unlocked/last time title played time stamp
If achievement is link to a rank or level you should be that level to unlock it, if not don't unlock it!

Lastly it's also based on who reports you. I have a account that I played on a few times that I unlocked over 100K of achievements offline and it's been over 2 years and I haven't gotten reset.

If you take the time to make sure everything is in legit order and has a time stamp you should be fine.

Also: Save sets that unlock all or pop multiple achievements are not safe. You are more likely to get rest because of achievement be unlocked to close together then if you set them correctly. (Some of you might disagree but this is what I have experienced.)

Hope this helps. Happy modding!

[bucchiac]

But what about offline achievements without time stamps? Is there anything that would even make those suspicious as long as they're in order? Without time stamps I would think there's no telling how much time passed between popping each achievement.

[Vulnavia]

I modded already many Times Achievements that simply sucked, mostly it was only one of all of them, i always added a Timestamp to them. I added the Timestamps because i don't have a single one without. If you put a Timestamp, watch out that it is in sync with the Console Time, so the best is to note the actual Time on the Console, then you move your Profile out, only Mod the exact two GPD needed, one is for the Game, one is for the Total. Also the Tool you use to do that is important, because some are simply buggy, so choice wisely.

The Method i used successfully about 10 Times now without being caught is:

1. If possible set up a Save on that Game with the annoying Achievement where you can quickly get another Achievement after modding...
2. Pull Network Cable while logged in and in the Game you want to mod the Achievement, yeah Network Connection losses happens from Time to Time... ;)
3. Note Time of Console, to be able to calculate set the Timestamp correctly
4. Move Profile out (immediately make a Backup! You only have one Copy!)
5. Mod the Achievement in the GPD and recalc the Total in the Master
6. Calculate a Timeoffset where you have moved your Profile back, are in the Game again and will stick the Networkcable again (yeah i'm a bastard! lol)
7. Set the Timestamp to that exact Timeoffset also check the other Timestamps, choice the seconds accordingly, not all Values are valid.
8. Move the Profile back
9. Check if everything was ok, if not you start from 3. using Backup
10. If everything was ok, start the Game and load the Save where you was before
11. Stick the Network Cable in at ~(-8) Seconds of your calculated Timeoffset on 5. then immediately login to Live
12. Then, if you have one, immediately go getting that Achievement from 1. (Because this will overwrite the GPD and resign the Profile correctly!)

It seems to be a quite secure Method because till now i was never caught, but i also don't do that every Month, i done that about 10 Times within some Years and that only for single Achievements where the annoying Factor was Big enough to force me to it... lol

I don't know if 12. is so important, but its better like this, because then the GPD and the Profile will be overwritten and resigned by the Console,
shortly after the modding, eliminating any Traces of the Modding, if there was some...

Also i always considered that as Ultima Ratio Option for single Achievements that really, really suck, its not something i would consider only to save some Time. And of Course don't overdo it and logically never mod 1000 Points at once and give you Achievements you can impossible have without the others already earned...

And for modded Saves, the best is to mod the Save or using such in a way where you can get the Achievements easy while playing the Game instead of just popping the Achievements with load&pop Saves, because its almost impossible to caught you if you have unlimited Live and simply pop the Achievements while playing, but its most probably that you will get caught if you suddenly pop multiple of Achievements within some Seconds.

Also while being relatively sure this way its still not Risk free, we never know what really happens behind the scenes... lol!

[reecey0121]

I did a few games, some are way out of order and I have 230k gamerscore, did that 3 years ago and never been banned

[HyperSuper]

I did a few games, some are way out of order and I have 230k gamerscore, did that 3 years ago and never been banned

You'll probably get banned now :p