How to prevent protected map file being opened?

[Deleted member 219079]

I have optimized/protected a map so it couldn't be opened by everyone, but some player today on wc3 claimed he could still open it

Is there a way to prevent this? Like further protecting the map file so it would be impossible to open?

 

[Chaosy]

nope. you can corrupt certain files to be unreadable in the WE but aslong as the game can read the info the user can unprotect it

however very few can actually un-protect it properly. I can un-protect some maps but then some info is removed since I replace the corrupted files. Normally I cant see the triggers in the map but I can see object data and units.

 

[Binsu]

I fear that every protection can still be

Spoiler

cracked down

or

Spoiler

open

by people out there with a great skill.

So, as far as I know, even what map protecting program you will try, there will be still people who can open it.

Note: I have putted some spoiler tags on some words because we might go into some illegal discussions here which is not allowed by the site so look at the spoiler with your own risk.

 

[Chaosy]

lol, it's illegal to talk about hacking now? where you live north korea?

 

[Binsu]

lol, it's illegal to talk about hacking now? where you live north korea?

Wait, it's not allowed to talk about hacking right or is it allowed? That's the reason why I hide it in a spoiler tags.

 

[Chaosy]

we are allowing JNGP which uses viruses to hack WC3 so it's certainly allowed.

offtopic we are

 

[Deleted member 219079]

nope. you can corrupt certain files to be unreadable in the WE but aslong as the game can read the info the user can unprotect it

however very few can actually un-protect it properly. I can un-protect some maps but then some info is removed since I replace the corrupted files. Normally I cant see the triggers in the map but I can see object data and units.

I said to him the code is unreadable, he answered: "no if you know what you're doing". So I guess he knew such talent...

Anyway thank you for answering

 

[edo494]

we are allowing JNGP which uses viruses to hack WC3 so it's certainly allowed.

offtopic we are

it does not user virus, it uses dll injection or however it is called, which is often used by viruses to inject their shit to some other programs, and thats why its caught by antivirus, it basically injects itself into the process worldedit121.exe

 

[Nichilus]

Note: I have putted some spoiler tags on some words because we might go into some illegal discussions here which is not allowed by the site so look at the spoiler with your own risk.

Afaik you can discuss it however you want, as long you don't actually explain how to crack it down.

But words by themselves are not taboo, so I don't think anyone will cut your head off if you don't put those words in spoiler tags.

 

[sethmachine]

Opening the map isn't really that spectacular, as I understand it once you've optimized/protected it, it would take a lot of work to actually restore this opened map to the quality of one of your unprotected versions in terms of making the jass script readable.

But since when you release a map you have it documented on the forums, there's really nothing to gain for a super skilled third party to steal it and try to claim it as their own, though nothing prevents unfortunate fake distributions. And if someone is that skilled anyway, they are probably doing other things with their talents (e.g. making money at an actual job).

But I think it's relatively easy to extract the jass script from any protected map, and this even with the obsfucation tools available, it's not that hard to read JASS if you know what you're looking for (e.g. how to get a secret item, or how the save/load system works).

In short there's little you can do to hide the script of your map if someone is dedicated enough (reading through the JASS script can be done by anyone with a knowledge of programming language and/or JASS, and it's more a test of endurance than actual skill because the function and variable names are very tedious to recognize, e.g. "iijii").

 

[Geshishouhu]

It is "almost" impossible for you to prevent others from opening your map no matter how well you protect it. I said "almost" because I have a map that cannot be opened by any MPQ software and it is still playable.

 

[chobibo]

Optimized map scripts are hard to work with anyway, it doesn't matter if the guy can open it or not, he can grab the models and other resources, but it'll be a pain in the ass for him to work with the script and the map terrain.

A better solution would be to prompt an in-game message to the players "Official maps can only be downloaded on x.x.com". On the issue of map theft though, I can not offer any solution.

 

[Deleted member 219079]

I don't yet need that kind of message to my map, but thanks for the idea Might do so in the future...

 

[Arhowk]

Just throw a spazzle on it (obfuscating the header bytecode) and most normal people wont be able to open it. There's truly no way to fully protect a map, trust me, no matter how hard you will try you will always fail.

What I like to do sometimes is hack my own maps when other people request them and add an illegal flag in the code so on new versions their load gets fucked up

 

[Deleted member 219079]

obfuscating the header bytecode

Sorry, but... what does that mean? :/

 

[Vinz]

@sethmachine true, I learned to open DotA(probably the easiest) and wanted to add my heroes but got bored to death and moved on.

 

[Arhowk]

Sorry, but... what does that mean? :/

Learn for yourself, its the joy of programming. If I told you how to do it, every noob would reference themselves here, the process would become commonplay and everyone would know how to undo it (once you learn the process, its quite easy to figure out how to undo it)

Here are some hints:
https://www.google.com/search?q=obf...7&sourceid=chrome&espv=210&es_sm=122&ie=UTF-8
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Header_(computing)
http://mh-nexus.de/en/hxd/

If you're too lazy, just stick with vexorian's + messing up import names + removing the listfile

 

[Deleted member 219079]

If you're too lazy

Yup, that's me. I'm gonna stick with those, at least not everyone can open the map.

 

[Dr Super Good]

Is there a way to prevent this? Like further protecting the map file so it would be impossible to open?

There are 3 ways...
1. Keep it on secure backing storage that only you have access to. No one can open it if they cannot get the map.
2. Delete the map. No one can open it if there is no map to open.
3. Rename a nonsense file as the map. No one can open it if it is not a map.

Obviously these are rather impractical as the entire point of a map is for Warcraft III to open it.

It sounds like you are being over paranoid about people manipulating your map. The fact is that as long as WC3 can open it to play it, people can open it. They open it by extracting what WC3 uses and modifying those files directly. The JASS script is most vulnerable to this since it is basically a big text file and is usually the only file modified when cheats or other silly things are added.

In the end your map is just a Warcraft III map. Do not make it easy for kids to mess with (WC3 optimizer so it cannot be opened in WE) but there is really no need to take measures beyond that as the sort of people who will modify the map after you optimized it are likely to be unstopped by any method you try. Sure it can be annoying to see people doing dumb stuff to your map, but in the end it is only a WC3 map and you can pride yourself with distributing and promoting the official version.

 

[Idaero Ace]

Just want to say, I used a tool so I can open the Map with MPQ and take the resource (models, effect, etc). Tried to open it on WE and the triggers is empty

 

[Arhowk]

Just want to say, I used a tool so I can open the Map with MPQ and take the resource (models, effect, etc). Tried to open it on WE and the triggers is empty

triggers get compiled into the war3map.j which isnt read by the world editor