Tutorial on evidence gathering

[DRAG0NFURY]

Eversince I was promoted to moderator I have looked at complaints far more often than I used to and one thing that caught my eye in particular was that many of you don't provide the necessary evidence to get your complaint considered.That's caused for a number of reasons, from not following the format and guidelines provided here, to the lack of evidence provided in your complaint.With this topic I'm aiming to show you exactly how to create a complaint that will likely get accepted.

1. GATHERING EVIDENCE

A lot of this will come down to common sense.In other words, this means that you need to think about the kind of evidence(screenshot or video) you'll have to provide for a specific complaint and decide whether what you provided was enough.For example, if someone broke the rules by RDM-ing we would ideally need you to record everything from the very moment you joined because RDM-ing complaints are the kind of situations that require a lot of thinking and observation from our end.We have to judge from a lot of perspectives and review the logs in order to come into a conclusion so as you can imagine video evidence helps A LOT.I would personally prefer all of you to record footage when reporting players for various reasons because videos are far more reliable than screenshots but since we don't live in a perfect world I'll provide 2 columns below with some examples which you can consult if you are having a hard time deciding whether what you want to report players for requires screenshots or a video :

Some of these examples include but are not limited to,


                                                  VIDEO                                                                                                         SCREENSHOTS                                                                                                                                                                   
                                                                                                                                                                         
                                               DM Complaints                                                                                                               Insults
                                 Aimbot & any sorts of other cheats                                                        Perfectly caught screenshots of blatant cheating(will require further investigation)
                                       Car-parking, Ninja Jacking                                                                               Cops shooting suspects that are being cuffed       
         Players teaming up with other players of different classes and/or with cheaters                         Rapid screenshots that indicate the offender quit to avoid
                                          Cops breaking /coprules       


The above should in no way be taken for granted because everything is totally situational.We may or may not ask for more evidence based on the given situation however it should make the most common situations clearer.For example aimbotting complaints would require 4 clips the very least for us to take action.That is because sometimes aimbot is really hard to detect for a number of reasons, some of them being : the player is simply good, they were lagging/had high packetloss etc... so as you can imagine more clips will make it MUCH clearer and easier for us to review.So I'm urging all players to record at least 4 clips of someone aimbotting(or only 1 if its blatant) before they create a forum complaint.Any less might get your complaint dismissed.This applies only for aimbot complaints

Now back to the topic, before submitting a complaint for us to review - always ask yourself a bunch of questions.Is this enough to punish them?Does this meet the guidelines?Is this worthy of a report even?I see plenty of complaints being posted that involve petty situations that are easily resolvable without an admins interference.Is someone being annoying?/ignore.Did someone kill you for no reason while you were afk?Claim your revenge while you can and get over with it, its a game after all.

Something that's a little off topic but that I want to note in regards to some recent events :
Don't forget that admins are players as well.While we try our best to provide smooth and fair gameplay to all players you have to keep in mind we are also players who play to have some fun so don't expect us to monitor everything 24/7.If you see other players get away with rule breaking doesn't mean you should do the same.They will break the rules again and they will get punished sooner or later.You as a player should always abide by the rules and should in no way, under any circumstances, break them.Don't do something because you think it's right.Always tell us about any concerns and whatnot.


2. SETTING UP RECORDING SOFTWARE & SOME RECOMMENDATIONS

This is the kind of area that restricts some of you, we are aware.Which is why I took it upon myself to try and enlighten some parts regarding recording software.

Recording software performance is heavily impacted by your system specs.Its mostly impacted by your CPU/GPU(depending on encoder) and HDD speeds.Out of these 3 the biggest impact has your HDD speed.I heavily suggest you upgrade to an SSD as not only are they dirt cheap but they also provide near 20 times the performance if not more and face absolutely no issues when it comes to recording.With that in mind, here are some recommendations :

1. OBS

OBS is a fantastic recording software because not only is it lightweight but it also offers a lot of configurability.You can configure almost anything like for example how heavy the size of your video will be, the way your video looks, the amount of resources you wish to allocate to the app and much more!Furthermore, because the app is opensource that means you have access to all of the features the program has to offer without any ugly watermarks on your videos or any dumb restrictions.

You can download the app here.

If you feel a little lost with the way it works you can always consult youtube.

2. Shadowplay

If you own an NVIDIA GTX based graphics card you are eligible to use Shadowplay which is nvidias own recording software specifically crafted for nvidia gpus.This is a great option if you own a mid-range pc with an nvidia gpu.Worth noting that you cannot install the software if you own any other gpus.

Installing it is pretty straight forward.Clicking this link will redirect you to the installation page.This is an AIO solution for Nvidia GPU owners as not only does it provide shadowplay but it also gives you driver updates which your pc needs.It also offers the option to optimize your games based on your PC configuration.You cannot get away with installing just the recording software so unfortunately you'll have to download the entire program to access the recording software


You could get away with a 3rd party solution if you own a GT based graphics card(id recommend having a GT 710 at the very least to notice any difference from other recording software as anything below this will barely make any difference from other recording software).Here's a video that shows you exactly how to do it.

Theres also the AMD Relive counterpart which is essentially the exact same but works only on AMD based graphics cards instead, I dont know much about the software but I have heard lots of good words about it so if you own an HD 7700 or better you can definitely use the software.

3. Dxtory

This recording software could work in some situations but could also not work in other cases.Personally I haven't really used this software that much but I have heard from other people with low end computers say that its pretty good.At first glance the app is pretty easy to use and offers a lot of configurability and flexibility.You can also install various encoders depending on your configuration that may or may not offer the desired results.Dxtory is the kind of software that falls in the same category as the rest of the "irrelevant" recording software such as action, bandicam, hypercam etc... however it stands out because the user has a lot of settings they can change depending on their specs as I mentioned earlier.Definitely worth a try if none of the above work for you.

Once you have the recording software all set up try recording some random footage and preview it on the output folder you specified when you first set up the software.If it meets your expectations you are all good to go.If not, try other options or other configurations.While you are at it i'd highly recommend you record footage at 30 fps because it gives almost no performance trade-off especially on low end systems.

From here you can either directly upload it to youtube or render it.You may want to use handbrake which decreases file size in exchange for quality.I used it for some time and it proved effective especially if you record videos at 30 fps.Here's a link to the software if you want to check it out.

If you have any questions regarding this topic don't hesitate to reach out to me on discord, forums or in-game.Thanks.

Please make sure your videos are at least on 1080p and have distinguishable quality in order for your complaint to be accepted.Complaints that feature lower quality will be dismissed.