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Razerpak is a controversial client-side multiplayer hack/cheat pack (pak) created for Quake, the first massively popular online multiplayer game. Razerpak contains a wide variety of elements from transparent walls and hacked player models to basic game configuration modifications which are aimed at covertly giving the user an advantage over other players in online play. Razerpak gained much notoriety, both positive and negative, in the online gaming community in the mid to late 1990s despite being distributed largely person to person or within gaming clans. It emerged as a pioneer in what was to become an explosion in online multiplayer cheating and is widely considered to be the best cheat pack created for Quake. A unique aspect of Razerpak is that, after QuakeWorld began implementation of by utilizing client datafile checksums, Razerpak was updated to include a modified (or 'hacked') QuakeWorld client-side executable which disabled the automatic detection and set the correct (non-hacked) checksum values with an automatically executed script. This effectively created the illusion that a player utilizing Razerpak was not cheating. Overview With the immense multiplayer success of Quake, exemplified by QuakeCon and the award of a brand new Ferrari 308 in a Microsoft sponsored tournament in 1997, players were looking for ways to gain advantages in online play. Many players looked to Razerpak to provide such an advantage. A variety of content is contained in Razerpak, some of which may not actually be considered cheats. Examples of such content include a modified crosshair and console design, player-steadying commands, performance monitoring, and scripts for 180 degree turns and rocket jumping. Most notable of the cheats/hacks included are wallhacks, which allow a player to see through walls, and hacked player models and skins, which give increased visibility and knowledge of other players' locations. Other items include a large number of modified skins and models primarily aimed at increasing visibility and providing a personal advantage over other players. Razerpak also includes modifications for the most popular Quake addons, namely Team Fortress and Capture the Flag. These include, for example, the ability know when a player is feigning being dead. As cheating and hacking quickly became increasingly widespread in multiplayer gaming, QuakeWorld began implementing which would alert other players if a person was using cheats. This was done by utilizing client datafile checksums in which the server would calculate the of various models. After QuakeWorld's implementation of these checks, Razerpak was subsequently updated to include a hacked QuakeWorld executable which disabled the automatic detection and set the correct (non-hacked) values with an automatically executed script. This effectively created the illusion that a player utilizing Razerpak was not cheating. As new versions of QuakeWorld were released throughout 1998, a new version of Razerpak would also be released with an updated client-side executable which avoided cheat detection. After the last official QuakeWorld release in 1998, Razerpak also ceased releasing new versions. However, recent years have seen the release of new QuakeWorld engines, most notably EZQuake. The source code for EZQuake explicitly looks for the checksum values of models included in Razerpak.
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