Is the Discord Overlay allowed?

[rbroz73-1307]

Thanks for the clarification!

[Keyblade-6785]

Its a SHOULD not , not a outright flat NO or YES. I want a flat yes or no.
I shouldnt eat cake cause it will add on the kilos. But that doesnt mean i cant.
They need to be firm on this stance and give a direct quote. Should means nothing

[DTMAce-1687]

I ran a mb setup for over a year. Had to pay a subscription for the program as well. Also had to configure all the child controls for each window. There was NO automation at all. Nothing. You press the key for skill slot 1 and all clients responded with skill 1. Biggest nightmare was keeping your instances in sync with each other. THAT was a pita. If you had different movement speeds or an under performing machine that intruduced latency in your key/mouse actions, things got out of synce fast. More instances you had going the worse it was.
Overall it wasn’t worth it in the end. I now just run two account if I do multiple and have them on separate monitors.

Game on.

[Edgeta-1668]

@Keyblade-6785

Its a SHOULD not , not a outright flat NO or YES. I want a flat yes or no.
I shouldnt eat cake cause it will add on the kilos. But that doesnt mean i cant.
They need to be firm on this stance and give a direct quote. Should means nothing

You’re just arguing semantics. There’s no uncertainty to his reply; you’ve got your answer.

[Keyblade-6785]

Im afraid there is uncertaintly as its not a straight no or yes and until we get that people are going to still use it and ruin the leaderboards and gameplay. I dont know why a definitive answer is so hard to give

[MissCheetah-1661]

@Keyblade-6785

I dont know why a definitive answer is so hard to give

I don’'t know why a clear answer is so hard to accept.

@Berronax-2455

TurboHud is seen as a program that should not be used in the game in its current state.

I think that’s a pretty clear “do not use this” to me.

If a person does not feel that is clear enough, the statement in the sticky thread makes it obvious.

@Nevalistis

• Third party addons of any kind are strictly prohibited. While any kind of botting software falls clearly under violation of our Terms of Service, for Diablo III, this also includes any kind of overlay software, map hacks, or any other addons or alterations to the client. Addons are not supported for Diablo III and use of them may result in account warnings or permanent account closure.
• We are committed to continuing to support Diablo III, including taking action against botting and cheating. Please keep in mind that we do routine actions to keep Sanctuary fair for everyone, and we will not regularly provide public notice of mass account actions.

[Keyblade-6785]

@MissCheetah-1661

this also includes any kind of overlay software

Yet what Discord is OK ? No they need to come out and specify. Otherwise people will continue to use it cause alot of players feel that the current buffs system for example is garbage. One example is being able to actively see another players COE Cycle. People complain you cant yet although i dont use THUD personally it prevents me gettign in groups as it displays key information which D3 doesnt which should be in the game. So a clear YES or NO is needed.

[Shivan-11800]

@DonMartin-1373

Oh brother…

Really, question the Discord overlay?

I feel your pain DonMartin.

It blows my mind that someone would ask that question.

Here’s another one:

While playing D3 a widow pops up saying Windows 10 x64 Pro has an update, would you like to install?

Is this illegal?

I mean the OS is in overlay mode on my D3 client window?

Eggman and I are going to get banned?

[XxPriestxX-11587]

Oh brother and a big FFS -_-

[OShogun-1317]

@Keyblade-6785

Yet what Discord is OK ?

Of course. Discord overlay has absolutely nothing to do with Diablo 3. It doesn’t give you any information about the game. It doesn’t modify the game’s client or receive any data or information from it It gives info about the DISCORD CHANNEL, which is completely independent from Diablo 3, and it works over any game.

How can you possibly think that is comparable in any way to what the blue post described?

[Keyblade-6785]

Then why is it so hard for a simple No its use is bannable post from Blues then. Until then and action is taken it will plague the game.

[Edgeta-1668]

You’re being naive if you think the word “no” from the blues is going to change anything. They’ve given it and taken action against bots but they’re still rampant.

[StonePro-11912]

@MissCheetah-1661

@xxJohnDeerxx-1249

I really wish I could find the old video of hardware based multiboxing.
The fella used like 4 keyboards and mice all rigged up with balsa wood across the keys.

Those folks were super creative! I have to give them credit for that. It certainly is easier these days.

@Matthew_Cederquist

This overlay is perfectly fine.

blinks a few times. It is so rare Blizz ever gives official approval for anything outside the game.

It’s a nongame related overlay. It has nothing to do with the game, doesn’t show information about the game, and doesn’t have any effect on game outcome. It’s a communication system that happens to have a translucent screen that you can lay on top of anything else. Why wouldn’t it be okay?

[OShogun-1317]

@Keyblade-6785

Then why is it so hard for a simple No its use is bannable post from Blues then. Until then and action is taken it will plague the game.

" Third party addons of any kind are strictly prohibited ."

What more of a NO do you need than that?

Turbohud is a third party addon/maphack/literally everything else the post explicitly forbids.

Discord overlay is NOT an addon. It’s a completely independent software that will keep running even if you close Diablo 3. It’s just as related to D3 as Google Chrome is.

[Jamie-6648]

@Skelos-2150

For example in HS there are overlays that show you the cards you played and some statistics, and they are not forbidden since the developers’ position is that this is something you can write/deduce yourself

If it was something you could deduce yourself, then everything except for the map reveal in THUD would be allowed. Clearly anything that gives a player an unfair advantage directly within the game-play is not permitted.

[TheTias-1192]

@Matthew_Cederquist

Hey rbroz73,

This overlay is perfectly fine.

I’m going to highlight a caveat here so players understand the risks of using overlays. They’re very often seen during streaming sessions by various streamers. You’ll know an overlay is being used when you see their camera superimposed on the game imagery, especially if it is a live stream and not a recorded stream like you sometimes see on Twitch.

Overlays are considered “OK” by Blizzard because they don’t read the games’ internal RAM data. Keep in mind I’m referring to the benign overlays that do nothing but superimpose outside imagery onto the game window. These don’t read game data to provide players with unfair advantages. Overlays such as TurboHUD, however, do read in-game RAM for data and are not allowed. But the typical Steam and Discord overlays, as well as those from AMD and nVidia, and streaming apps like Twitch, OBS, and ScreenFlow are perfectly fine.

The caveat I mentioned above is that overlays tend to make games very unstable. While they aren’t reading from the game data stored in RAM, they are interacting with both the frame buffer and graphics subchannel mixing (this is how overlays can do their magic and why some even have the ability to become slightly opaque/transparent so you can still see some of what’s going on behind the overlay area).

Usually overlays aren’t a big problem with regard to performance or stability, but when they do pose problems, you need to remember that they become part of the troubleshooting process as well when diagnosing issues related to games crashing. It helps to know how to disable the most common overlays so you can return to a stable gaming environment should an overlay begin causing issues for you. (Note: the link to that particular company’s page is only for informative purposes as Blizzard still has not actually posted a usable support article regarding how to disable overlays).

General overlays are not a problem as long as they’re stable since they don’t provide players with unfair advantages. Just be aware of them should you need to resolve any issues that crop up while using those overlays.

[Skelos-2150]

@Jamie-6648

Clearly anything that gives a player an unfair advantage directly within the game-play is not permitted.

Sadly that’s the case in HS. You can instantly get stats and stuff that require time to calculate.

@TheTias-1192

RAM for data

What does it matter whether it reads RAM or not - location of extra information is of no importance here.

Information not shown in-game means advantage as long as real time is a resource. It’s simple as that. RAM has nothing to do with the issue.

What a mess really this thread.

[TheTias-1192]

@Skelos-2150

What does it matter whether it reads RAM or not - location of extra information is of no importance here.

Information not shown in-game means advantage as long as real time is a resource. It’s simple as that. RAM has nothing to do with the issue.

With regrad to overlays, reading RAM has everything to do with it. If an overlay is just that - an image on top of an image and does not read the game’s heap stack (RAM), it’s fine. If it does read the game’s heap stack, then it violates the ToU/EULA and is bannable. It’s the reading of the game’s RAM that allows something to give players an unfair advantage. Without the ability to read the game’s stored data in RAM, there is no extra information given to the player. Period.

[Skelos-2150]

@TheTias-1192

Without the ability to read the game’s stored data in RAM, there is no extra information given to the player.

It seems that the HS deck tracker reads a log file, but still it gives information that is not available in-game:

It shows turn timers, the game can be minimized and it will blink when it's your turn.

It has draw percentages, everything is automated.

It displays faster in overlay than the game's animations shows.

It gives you extra time to decide how to play, no need to remember how many / what cards have you or your opponent played. You can see Coin in their hand, what cards have been Kept and which he Mulligan, each turn enemy draws a card, it gets a number and you will see that he is holding a card from turn X.

Immense advantage over other players if you are real serious about constructed/arena tryhard.

Ben Brode

HS main dev in 2014: any app that duplicates what you can do with a pencil and paper already is fine.

[TheTias-1192]

I’d wager a dozen donuts that Mr. Brode didn’t fully comprehend what the tracker truly did (does). However, he does have an “out” with this part of the EULA:

Data Mining: Use any unauthorized process or software that intercepts, collects, reads, or “mines” information generated or stored by the Platform; provided, however, that Blizzard may, at its sole and absolute discretion, allow the use of certain third-party user interfaces.

It’s fairly obvious that HSDT can do far more than you can with a pencil and paper, since it can display both your next draw and your opponent’s next play, greatly altering the dynamics of a match. It’s a safe bet that Blizzard wouldn’t allow HSDT in its current form.