Custom Crosshair Utility: Cheating? Options

[Stickman]

Hi all.

I've been using a little (24k) program called cutomCrosshair to provide me with a static crosshair in COD. The program performs the software equivalent of using a marker to draw a dot in the center of your monitor screen; it takes a given bitmap and draws it on top of any other application you have running. As it's a stand-alone program that does not interect with whatever game you may be running, it is invisible to PB or any other hack detectors.

It's obviously a cobbled together utility; there's a bug that causes the windows pointer to flicker on top of the game window from time to time. Instead of tracking the bug down and fixing it, the programmer added a hotkey to toggle the visibility of the windows pointer.

The biggest drawback is that the crosshair doesn't disappear when you aim down the sight, so it can obscure your view. I get around this by using an "inverted v" crosshair, so when aiming down the sight it only covers the gun model, not the target.

My question: Is this cheating? Should I stop? Or make the program available to all? The website I got it from has since vanished.

What say you all?

This post has been edited by Stickman: 03/15/06 4:25pm

[ScrapyardBob]

There's a big difference between tuning the game to run better on your hardware and adding things that help you aim.

If the developers had wanted you to have a dot in the middle of the screen, then they would have put one there and everyone would have it. Instead, they designed the crosshairs to be less accurate when jumping or running or moving. Personally, as much as it's an unenforcable rule, I think it's a lamer's crutch to put dots or marks on the screen (electronically or physically).

If you want the dot in the middle of the screen, petition the server admins to add a server-side mod that adds it to everyone's screen.

[Bargod]

There's a big difference between tuning the game to run better on your hardware and adding things that help you aim.

If the developers had wanted you to have a dot in the middle of the screen, then they would have put one there and everyone would have it. Instead, they designed the crosshairs to be less accurate when jumping or running or moving. Personally, as much as it's an unenforcable rule, I think it's a lamer's crutch to put dots or marks on the screen (electronically or physically).

If you want the dot in the middle of the screen, petition the server admins to add a server-side mod that adds it to everyone's screen.

The difference between a mod and a dot I put on the screen is that a mod would have a precise point. My mark on the screen is a guestimate and depending on the angle I am sitting could be even farther off (since it's on the glass and the glass is a certain depth from the actual image behind it). I couldn't use it to hit anyone at a distance. It gives you a general spot for your center screen.
Here's how I look at it. In football a reciever can wear "sticky" gloves, which help him catch the ball. It's not cheating but is an artificial advantage over somebody not wearing gloves. There is no rule stating that you have to wear gloves either. On a pc you can do things like this as well. You can overclock a video card or buy a gaming mouse that you can change your sensitivity with a button push while playing (this helps me more than anything. Being able to switch between fast moving and slow moving aims RULES!). This gives you an artificial advantage over people not using these things. Putting something on your computer screen may seem lame to you, but in know way can it be considered "unfair". It's a tool, but is not a difference maker.
Heck, I got the idea when I saw a "gaming screen overlay" (or something like that) at a store next to the computer gaming stuff. It reminded me of the Odyssey console waaay back when I was a kid that came with tv overlays. Anyway, one of the features of the overlay was a set cross hair. The product was clearly pretty silly, but the idea of a set mark on your screen seemed pretty smart.
So, I'll keep my dot (it's in sharpie, it isn't coming off, d'oh)!