Patapon 3 Infection

The Patapon 3 "infection" is the game's security protocol to prevent hacking by tampering with the experience of players who the game deems is cheating or hacking. If you get infected, the maximum level of Equipment you can receive from a Chest (max loot level variable) gets locked. This value is normally updated whenever your maximum unit level increases until you reach level 40. Infection disables those updates. So for example, if your maximum level was 10 when you got infected, you will only get a maximum of +10 items from chests regardless of the level of the chest. The infection can be triggered by three things:

• Having items with levels higher than the max loot level variable.
• Having classes with a higher level than the max loot level variable.
• Losing connection from someone's hideout in multiplayer, while on a mission (not always, causes are unknown).

In normal conditions, you're very unlikely to get infected from the first two checks, since you can only get to those levels by hacking. The third check is the most common source of infection because it is easily spread in multiplayer. The reasons why this happens only on disconnection are still unknown (it could be some kind of glitch similar to the class skills one).

Contrary to popular belief, playing/synching with hackers does not cause infection, since the infection checks are only being made when entering a save and returning from a mission (usually when the azito.pac file is initialized because it contains the infection check script). However, you're definitely more likely to get infected from someone who has hacked, if you lose connection while on their hideout.

A common method to avoid the effects of infection is manually setting the max loot level variable to 40 (or higher), this is commonly called infection cure. A more complex solution would be removing the infection on its origin, allowing again updates of the max loot level variable and disabling possible side effects (it doesn't seem to have any, but the value is checked whenever the player enters a hideout facility).

Determining if you're infected

The best way of determining if you are infected is looking at the level of the items you get from wooden chests (you can get up to +40 items from level 40 wooden chests). You can easily get high-level wooden chests from vs matches or the Perfect Marching Challenge DLC Quest. If the maximum level of the items you get is lower than your maximum class level you're probably infected. Keep in mind that loot level is random and you won't always get the highest possible levels.

Recognizing a hacker

There are some common ways to find a hacker.

A hacker with golden star shards

Gzpy

1. The player requires more than 8800 EXP to get to the next level.
2. The player has high levels or maxed classes with low playtime.
3. Many of the player's items are maxed out in number despite having a low playtime.
4. The player's equipment levels are greater than one can achieve in an ordinary savefile (+25 or higher Uniques and +22 or higher Super Uniques, also Ultimate Equipment without stats or with a + bonus).
5. The player has multiple Ultimate Equipment pieces, which cannot be acquired without hacking.
6. A popular hacked save has an Uberhero named Gzpy who generally appears as a Tondenga with 99,999 strength and a level 99 Castram.

Side note: Bear in mind that it is possible to have an item maxed out in number. Depending on the situation, the number of items may or may not be unreasonable. Concerning items only available in a hacked game save, certain items are only obtainable via DLC. Some DLC can only be obtained in certain regions. Currently, the only DLC which are items are hats (caps). An example of a hacker-only item would be "Golden Star Shards". Hacker-only items are items that exist within the game code but can't be unlocked without hacks. These items may or may not be removed/partially removed features. Often, these items are useless in the final release (Golden Star Shards cannot be traded).

Do not play with hackers, even if they are not the host. Create a backup of your save data. This will allow you to restart from a recent save data in the eventuality that you get infected.

Trivia

• One can reach "immunity" if he or she has not yet been infected by leveling their Uberhero to level 40. Even if he or she technically gets infected, the level at which the chests will be locked is the highest possible and, thus, the player remains unaffected.
• The Uberhero with the name "Gzpy" is a popular hacked savedata that can be easily downloaded on the internet.