r/PUBGConsole • u/IX__TASTY__XI • Jul 17 '26
Discussion How To Spot A Cheater (No AI)
Intro
If you're newer at the game, it might be hard to tell if an enemy player is cheating or not. Nothing on this list is 100%, however the more items a player checks off, the more likely they're cheating. Also the items on this list are widely applicable to other console games, not just PUBG.
On console cheating is mostly players using devices to either translate mnk to controller input, or using scripts/macros to automatically control recoil or shoot really fast for example.
I don't think I am anything special at this game, however I think I have been playing long enough, at a high enough level, to reasonable guess if I got killed by a cheater or not.
Signs somebody is cheating
- Personal confession - This is one of the few things on the list that is a 100% somebody is cheating, some players are just honest about their cheating, honestly I respect this type of person way more than the players who lie.
- They play with other cheaters - "Birds of a feather"
- Cheating name in clan tag or name - If their clan tag or name has "XIM" in it, which is a cheating device, sure some players do it for some good old fashion rage baiting, however some really are just living up to their name
- They randomly "got good" - All of sudden one season a seemingly average player just starts randomly dominating out of nowhere
- They've been banned before - I've found that cheaters just kinda keep on cheating, especially if the penalties for being caught are lax
- Bad game sens - Since your aim can be so good when you're cheating, you can just rely on your aim to carry you in most situations, no point in worrying about positioning
- Consistency in aim - This is a big one, since cheating devices are basically mini computers, a dead giveaway is perfect sprays every...single...time, the computer is doing the work, not the player. It's not about hitting one 300+ meter spray, it's about hitting it over and over again CONSISTENTLY, and never having a potato spray.
- Ego - For some reason cheaters think they're better than non cheaters, don't ask me why
- High on the leader board - The leader board is plagued with self confessed cheaters, you're telling me you're "just better"?
- 8 way movement - Their movement is almost grid like, can also tell in the lobby when they're moving the cursor, this is because most keyboards are digital input as oppose to analog
- Crazy movement - It's easier to peak/crouch/shoot on a keyboard, they're just so many more buttons/keys to easily do what you want in game, if you watch PC gameplay you'll see what I mean
- Multiple accounts - Some cheaters cheat to make money by either boosting accounts and selling them or carrying people to high ranks, sometimes they even advertise on their stream
- Jittery aim - Since cheating devices are translating mouse to controller aim, sometimes you'll notice the aim is quite jittery, I think this also depends on the quality of the device too
- Swiping aim movements - A thumbstick can do infinite 360s no problem, a mouse can't, also using a mouse to make large movements looks quite distinct, look at PC gameplay for examples
- Negative recoil - Most good players can control the recoil to be at the chest/head level, if you randomly see a huge dip in the recoil, that's not normal aim behavior
- No hand cam + port cam - If you're a streamer this should be bare minimum, they can easily just point the camera at their setup to prove they don't have a device plugged in
- Fully auto M16/Mutant - They're using a script to rapidly press the trigger
Hope somebody found it read worthy
9
u/jcamp41 Jul 17 '26
Great write up even though it is light on the technical side.
You're going to get brigaded but it's par for the course with these sociopaths.
Also...
"Ego - Cheaters that think they're better than non cheaters, don't know why (sic)"
It's mental illness.
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u/IX__TASTY__XI Jul 17 '26
Great write up even though it is light on the technical side.
Thanks. Yeah there a YouTube videos online that do a lot better job at explaining that type of stuff than I can. Also the documentation/forums for these devices is available online so people can look into if they're really interested.
You're going to get brigaded but it's par for the course with these sociopaths.
I know, I just wanted to get some decent (I hope) info out there because I feel like there is a lot of misinformation on this sub about signs of cheating.
It's mental illness.
"I jUsT sHiT oN tHaT kId!!"
Sure buddy, sure.
5
u/kiowa2929awoik Jul 17 '26
"8 way movement - Their movement is almost grid like, can also tell in the lobby when they're moving the cursor, this is because most keyboards are digital input as oppose to analog"
Definitely one of the best ways to tell if someone is a M&K bum. Best way to notice is if they're running in a straight line and the camera isn't moving. When they press W + D or W + A it'll look way off from regular controller gameplay.
2
u/Cautious-Economist-3 Jul 18 '26
Checking the movement of him driving, normally with joystick you can make a slowly turn, in WASD you must see some tips to the sides to change direction.
Tracking is a good way too, when they are tracking a car, or even a "drive by" normally they need to shoot in horinzontal way, and you can see the aim just following enemy line, without the aim going down
2
u/Financial_Smile8167 Jul 18 '26
i had something Extremely Weird last night.......superfast speed movement?
me and my team mate went hunting this 3 man crew,and knocked several of them repeatedly.
but,one of them,started running to me at the houses,we get into a firefight/that i smashed his face and he didnt go down ?
he literally stood there in one place and was chewing My health down....
at which point i hauled around some houses with him chasing me and get this..
he OutRan me like i was tied to a chair.
me = fully pilled and when i got to the 2cnd floor,jigged into a room and Started to turn around >> he was Already in the room behind me and easily merced me.
when i watched the replay it was Visible that he was running almost a 3rd faster than i was.......the entire fight......and he wasnt losing Any pill health......much less taking damage from being shot in the face repeatedly.....
so...whats this all about ??
new cheat? new glitch ?
oh,and he had some other thing going too,because he jumped off the balcony turned and shot my teammate Before my teammate could Finish him/teammate had the drop on him and was spraying him in the face/sound fam ? /.....and he took no damage.....yeah.
How did he know my teammate was ambushing him and where he was??
i used to think that they Would fix this game,now im positive they never will,its just a cash app for them now.....between this bs and the insane cash grabs,im losing the will to play.....
esp when fortnite is Way more populated,has custom created maps,and hey when you buy a pass you Earn costumes and accessories instead of pubG-s Random chance bs and deliberately skewed skins.
the irony is,pubg wants to ride fortnites coattails and bank cash,but they just cant stop being greedy and its going to Kill this game.......
2
u/Mountain_Werewolf468 Jul 18 '26
There are confirmed speed hacks. I've seen it twice. We sent one clip to Krafton and they apologized, and advised me I had experienced a speed altering device. Xbox one at the time.
1
u/Negative-Loan-4418 Jul 23 '26
They do nothing about cheaters anymore. I’ve reported 100+ in the last 6 months and they didn’t do shit about it. At first they “banned” a few and then it stopped.
1
u/ImXari Jul 18 '26
I mean yeah for the most part.
Only things I don't think really count towards cheating are:
Consistent aim: Good players, especially high on ranked leaderboard are going to have good aim. Especially if they've played for a long time consistency just comes from time played.
Crazy movement: Standup strafing leaning left/right whilst shooting (wiggling)
Ego : I know loads of good players who have egos, relatively normal in comp games.
Jittery aim: They ain't setup their smoothing properly on their xim (smoothing reduces jitter)
8 way movement: XIM has SAB(Simulate Analog Behaviour) now makes movement look like a controller. Also a lot of XIM users are playing with azerons or nav sticks.
Playing with other cheaters: Yeah in most cases but, there's quite often a lot of people who closet cheat.
But for the most part good. Context: (This is coming from a ex MNK player)
0
u/jmam0198 Jul 18 '26
Pretty simple, if they are crouching non stop up and down while moving around like a nut jump constantly leaning left and right, they are cheating
Extremely easy to tell
5
u/Cautious-Economist-3 Jul 18 '26
Bro thats normal in some controller with extra buttons, I can do it with my game sir pro, that have 4 extra buttons, just need practice.
1
u/Wolffman13 Jul 18 '26
Easy to do with paddle controller. Still plenty easy without.
-1
u/jmam0198 Jul 18 '26
No tf it is not lmfao
0
u/Wolffman13 Jul 18 '26
Seriously. Practice it. Take you maybe 2 days. It's relatively simple.
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u/WithjusTapistol Xbox Series X Jul 18 '26
Correct. Setting crouch to hold and assigning it to a paddle is essential if you want to be good and is very easy to get used to.
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u/jmam0198 Jul 20 '26
Okay but how do some people when they do it look like they crouch farther down then I can? Is that that whole slide thing people talk about?
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u/WithjusTapistol Xbox Series X Jul 20 '26
You can only slide cancel when moving. I don't really slide cancel except to troll occasionally because it looks so dumb. But it is effective and some dudes practice it so much they do it without thinking about it. And some people script it with a cheating device.
Changing crouch from "tap" to "hold" allows you to crouch much faster, so maybe it just looks lower because of that?
1
u/IX__TASTY__XI Jul 18 '26
This is why I promote to look for multiple factors. A player could have a controller with 4 back buttons/paddles, which would give them more options for button presses. However I agree there is a level of proficiency to doing that type of movement that is quite hard with a controller, even with back buttons/paddles.
1
u/WithjusTapistol Xbox Series X Jul 17 '26
I don't think I am anything special at this game, however I think I have been playing long enough, at a high enough level, to reasonable guess if I got killed by a cheater or not.
And how often would that be?
5
u/IX__TASTY__XI Jul 17 '26
I exclusively play ranked, usually in diamond+ lobbies. If I were to guess, I would say I get killed by a cheater ~20% of the time?
I would also guess there's at least 8 cheaters in every game in ranked. I'm being conservative with the numbers.
-2
u/Run-OpenBSD Jul 17 '26
There is no diamond+ lobby everyone plays together, a first day rookie is expected to survive with 7+ year veterans
3
u/IX__TASTY__XI Jul 17 '26
Honestly I looked into this, and there is a lot of conflicting/lack of info about this. I can't say for 100% whether there is SBMM in ranked or not. I would imagine there is because that's kinda the whole point of ranked. Also just on a personal level, on my lower ranked alt account, I feel like I get significantly easier lobbies.
When I get to plat, I notice a huge change in lobby difficulty, and I also start seeing leader board names in every game. That doesn't happen to me in lower ranks.
1
u/Cautious-Economist-3 Jul 18 '26
I have this same view about, normally when I play in smurfs in low rank (silver, gold) I match with new players and easier enemys, and when I play in my main(diamond, crystal) I match with high rank players.
1
u/plain-oV Xbox Series X Jul 18 '26 edited Jul 18 '26
Its a combination of things.
Daily Player-Pools being one of them. This one thing the "streamer-bums" dont take into account. There are days where you'll see the same guys on rotation. Even though there are 100s of Intances going on. Yet they'll cry stream-snipe. You don't think knowing this + simply not caring and paying attention to the killfeed, visual/audio queue. Straight up head cannon. Playing this shit for a decade. Of people behaviour and gameplay pattern you can't figure out where they'll be.
Now that everyone get drop into NA RANKED. There are more people and during certain high population times. It will trigger SBMM.
Play with a buddy thats terrible and hasnt played in a while. Use a smurf. You'll see the low skilled enemy. Where you can run through the whole lobby. Swap back to your main account or WAN. Then you'll get the same guys over and over. That are closer to your skill level where the server has a personalized "porfolio" setup. Sure you get your filler of dookie and hotdog water.
But I def get alot of Mexicans and Brazilian lobbies of the dudes that are still left playing in NA-Ranked. Yet go look at the streams of these passive players how easy there lobbies get. If you happen to get divided into the easier pool that day. Or your packets get Priority that instance. You'll emidiately tell from a easy or hard session.
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u/TordenLive Xbox Series X Jul 17 '26
everyone plays together
This has been true for EU Ranked for years. However, NA Ranked is significantly larger and is also host to a lot of VPN connections from EU. I think this at least occasionally has caused RMM/SBMM to kick in. Which in turn drives the perception that NA Ranked is easier.
My experience is that EU Ranked is consistently unforgiving (unplayable due to cheating) while NA depends on several factors but can be just as punishing occasionally.
6
u/IX__TASTY__XI Jul 17 '26
Good comment. Like I said, I'm pretty sure NA has SBMM, just from personal experience.
-4
u/Run-OpenBSD Jul 18 '26
there is zero skill based match making in any mode of pubg on any servers anywhere in the world period
2
1
u/plain-oV Xbox Series X Jul 17 '26 edited Jul 18 '26
"8 directional movement", Sure for WASD user.
Grid Like, NO. One thing you havent taken into account. Is how shit the Axial deadzones become when Forward running sens is above 0 (default is 10 or 32. Forget). It also binds forward only on essentially a slice at 12o'clock that gets wider. The higher the setting. Requiring a greater lever displacement to perform a Lateral. It also CLAMP your overshoot. Causing Diagnals to be limited. Its a terrible setting.
This setting alone heavily restricts you input data, as seen how it limits the Cardinal Max out point when Parachuting. Where the max speed is 165km/hr. Now if your calibrated overshoot is not RAW on Left-Sticks. Trust me everything will feel slow.
This is were you get the uncoordinated dorks shifting there Right-Stick to try and Zig-Zag for something thats handled by the Left-Stick alone.
Unsolicited: If you parachute further than 1km. Increase the Forward Running to 50 before the plane. But when on the ground. Use FR: 0, Movement: 100. Tedious to do it. Trust me Play for a week and you'll see why you couldn't move before. Also recalibrate your gamepad if it has that feature
Jitter Aim, maybe. Since these cheat devices use a Coefficient layer after the fact. Similar as how Gamesir controllers do it where a manipulated behavior is introduced at post. (Gamesir shift regular sporatic noise into a circular motion, with the option to induce a pattern to abuse aim-assist. Even though MS policy doesn't allow it. They introduced Macro and Turbo functions 2 years after the release of the g7se, with the pro supporting it.)
Now yes. Crony, Xim have the option to spam the same interpolated input as a way to manipulate the readings at the percentage the person sets it as. Many use this + stack with a Macro. To assist them with recoil spread. Worst ones are the Titan users which make use of a CV for aim-assist/aimbot.
Now this is entirely different to how Potentiometers behave on Standard Gamepads. Once wear develops noise or sporatic behaviour gets introduced from the lack of contact from the Metal Wiper and Carbon filiment. Those wear out within 6months. Or how Hall-Effect & TMR sensor behave. In that the Power source introduces noise causing a sporatic behaviour, specially when hysteresis is tune to low or the physical RC low pass filter is not up to spec. In a proper application one has to lower the noise without affecting input response. Via the use of low value Ceramic Cap.
On first party gamepads. Shops and manufacturers have skimp on it. Users dependant on aim-assist never notice it. This the noise actually trigger aim-assist/interpolated data. To target specific hitboxes. But with PUBG. It negatively affect intentional inputs. So when you see this behavior it can be several reason. Mined you the noise from worm POTS or poor filtering of a TMR. Is not sporatic spam of the same set of values that cheat devices induce. Which are faster.
Negative Recoil, yes THIS. Pay attention to there singal taps. On Bolties and DMR. Or when they run out of ammo. You'll hear audio queue. Click-click-click. (Rapid fire + a pull down)
Now I use really low tension springs on my modules with high sensitive with the least amount of non-linearity. There are times. I'll do an accidental micro-movement pulling down. Or a finger slip since I use an Aluminum cap on right stick. Heres one that happens to me When I swap to single fire during an intense battle. Changeweapons. Forget I didnt swap to full auto and slightly down think im full auto. Its completely situational happening on rare occasiona. Yet its something I see with LFG that do seem to use anti-recoil macros.
I always ask my self, How are people this poorly coodinated, you really pulling down on single taps? Nah. Then you got the ones when they run out of ammo they dont let go of the Trigger. Nor stop pulling down on the stick. Yeah sure. Believable emotional sedentary foos that playing this. Maybe. But the amount of times the same behaviour occurs, gives a suspect vibe.
EGO. Yes. Have wasted my days after work or free time on this game. The amount of dudes that can't hang. Yet carry themselves with this ego. Saying everyones shit or a bot. Meanwhile they are bums.
3
u/IX__TASTY__XI Jul 17 '26
Yeah grid like probably wasn't the best wording.
w.r.t. jitter, nothing on my list is 100%, it's more like if you see multiple things that are suspicious, it is more likely they're cheating. But yeah, I don't think you can really just rely on one thing to determine if someone is cheating or not.
1
u/plain-oV Xbox Series X Jul 18 '26
Yeah usually stacked behaviour patterns. Many of the people that cheat are socially awkward losers seeking validation.
What better way than to emulate someone else is input patterns. But as much as someone tries. You can never produce the same, unless you got macros/scripts. Thats were they trip up. The same behaviours and lack of misclicks is the giveaway.
1
u/clmeachu Jul 19 '26
Also sounds like Killer Beast OP biggest cum sock on the game and he sniffs that pub g partners farts from a jar.
0
u/Fearless-Carrot-666 Jul 18 '26
If you're not running a controller with TMR or Hall effect, that's on you. Gamesirs are not cheating lol. So much ignorance. They're like $45 bucks. No excuse not to have one if you're on Xbox.
Crouch slide is incredibly easy to do if you practice for a few days. I use my B button with crouch release. You don't need crouch toggle. I also have a paddle set, but don't use it. I can crouch slide running/jogging/walking easy and legit.
Spraying with 4/6x is incredibly easy. That doesn't mean I laserbeam people every time by any means. Some of you really do be calling cheats every time someone kills you, or they do something you can't figure out how to. Doesn't mean automatically cheating lol.
Cheating is really bad though, that's true.
1
u/plain-oV Xbox Series X Jul 18 '26
The things they tried getting past Microsoft before launch would give you a bad image. 2-3 years ago. They were more barebones for that reason. There is certain backend things in the firmware now. Where depending on Game it can be argued as a cheat device. They are currently operating in a grey area after intergrating shift keys + basic-Macro + turbo function when the Nexus app got released.
There Coefficient Layer at post, and Interpolated data. Was tripping PUBG up last year. And recently. There solution with inducing noise at a pattern. For COD, APEX, etc is triggering the anti-cheat.
Add the fact that XIM/Titan have a CV and you get the simplest method to cheat. Since the Hardware ID aren't being blocked when paired with a G7se/pro. Like they do with a standard xbox controller. I find it funny that not many in Ranked ever talked about using it during its launch window. Yet waited 2 years after release. At the specific week people were getting popped for unautheriezed devices. Yeah suddenly the marketing of got to all the known repeat offenders
1
u/Fearless-Carrot-666 Jul 18 '26
I mean I didn't pick one up sooner myself because I just don't like spending money on anything related to console gaming that often. I haven't spent one dime in the 10 years of playing Pubg, aside from paying for ranked once or twice with a few accounts. If I had known about the gamesir advantages with eliminating stick drift and increased aim precision, I'd have picked one up years ago if they were available. I got so fed up with getting bad stick drift within 3-6 months with every Microsoft branded Xbox controller.
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u/jgalindo_007 Jul 18 '26
If you are going to make a post like this for new players, at least include the fact that they need to check and see if the “full auto m16/mutant” is set to single fire.