Protecting a map

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Hello,

How do I protect a map so people can't use MPQ editor to open it with or hide war3map.j?
 

Dr Super Good

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How do I protect a map so people can't use MPQ editor to open it with or hide war3map.j?
You can delete it, you can also not make the map public. You could also corrupt it so that nothing can open it.

MPQ archive interface designers go through extra effort to make sure every MPQ can be opened and files read.

Your best protection from modification is to delete world edit only data files from the MPQ and to obfuscate the JASS trigger script.
 
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You can delete it, you can also not make the map public. You could also corrupt it so that nothing can open it.

MPQ archive interface designers go through extra effort to make sure every MPQ can be opened and files read.

Your best protection from modification is to delete world edit only fata files from the MPQ and to obfuscate the JASS trigger script.

Wow you sound VERY professional. Can I have your help regarding this protection? How do I ''obsfucate'' the jass trigger script? Or delete World Editor fata files?
 
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Vexorian Optimizer is the most common tool used to obfuscate the JASS script and delete World Editor only files.

Aight, I got it and I believe I did the correct steps, but I still seem to find the .j but from a different location, but still openable with MPQ Editor. This is my biggest concern
 
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Impossible. Wc3 requires war3map.j to exist in the map thus allowing MPQ editors to view it.

Recent version of MPQ libraries work even if the map is run through spazzler and similar MPQ corrupters.

Give up and focus on making your map.

I see, sigh...

So whats the best way to protect a map?
 
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I don't think you should really focus on protecting your map. The people that would have stolen your map all probably quit playing already. The only people left behind are the truly dedicated. Even new map makers wouldn't want to steal it, though they would most likely want to see how certain triggers are done (such as how an awesome spell was made). Leaving maps unprotected gives a chance to other people to learn from your own experiences. Also, it helps reviewers check your map for any ways to improve it, such as more efficient triggering.
 

Dr Super Good

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So whats the best way to protect a map?
Vexorian Optimizer is the most common tool used to obfuscate the JASS script and delete World Editor only files.
Vexorian Optimizer does all the basic protection operations that will stop newbies messing with your map, which is the only thing you really need to worry about.

Aight, I got it and I believe I did the correct steps, but I still seem to find the .j but from a different location, but still openable with MPQ Editor. This is my biggest concern
The script should be obfuscated. This makes it very hard to understand what parts of it do. Anyone without JASS knowledge cannot make changes and even those that do have such knowledge will require a lot of time and effort to make the smallest changes.

Recent version of MPQ libraries work even if the map is run through spazzler and similar MPQ corrupters.
MPQ Editor supported opening "spazzled" maps literally 1-2 months after the spazzler was created.

All spazzler does is insert 2 fake headers before the real header to trick more modern MPQ implementations with a bad redirect header to a bad header and also corrupt the block count and archive size fields with a large number.
 
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Hello,

How do I protect a map so people can't use MPQ editor to open it with or hide war3map.j?

There are ways only a few still know of that will make your map very annoying to restore/fix. The best way to keep these methods working is to not share them however you can find a few of them around wc3 sites usually lost in piles of pages... Sadly a lot of sites have been taken down. If a file can be read it can always be read meaning you can only make it more difficult to those who lack the knowledge required. At least you'll stop the random beginners who don't know how to make requests. Cheaters have focused on learning about corruption and how to restore it so the better idea would be to learn how to protect your map through methods that aren't corruption.

Trying to hide code elsewhere from the .j script is a good start, I have no idea if that still works for latest patch however it still needs to be loaded into/from the .j script so there'll still be a somewhat visible opening in that defense.

Edit: Ah also wanted to mention that one doesn't need to be able to open your map in world editor, they can modify it easily without.

The script should be obfuscated. This makes it very hard to understand what parts of it do. Anyone without JASS knowledge cannot make changes and even those that do have such knowledge will require a lot of time and effort to make the smallest changes.
Actually it is really easy for the ones who know how to read through
 
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Ralle

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Make sure war3map.wtg is gone. It will be a pain to do any real work on the map then. Also, be a prominent member of Hive. If someone submits a fake version of your map and you have proof, we will take the fake map down. The same can be done with Epicwar with whom I am good friends with. So don't worry too much about it.
 
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I get the general idea, I will do with Vexorians simple and basic protection while focusing on making the map.

Make sure war3map.wtg is gone. It will be a pain to do any real work on the map then. Also, be a prominent member of Hive. If someone submits a fake version of your map and you have proof, we will take the fake map down. The same can be done with Epicwar with whom I am good friends with. So don't worry too much about it.

Thank you.
 
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Here's something I wrote about it. Maybe it's interesting to someone: Map Protection

I got a better view of the whole ''protecting a map'' and honestly, I'm quite sad over the fact, that protecting a map is a waste of time, as my map... you could call it "special", since it does have a bit with RPG save/load system, but a bit more. But anyhow, let's hope the vexorians optimizer will do for at least a little while.

Thanks for the information Edge.
 
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No, not really on this one. The main issue is they don't want you to protect the maps. Even tho, it just doesn't matter anymore.
 

EdgeOfChaos

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EdgeOfChaos

Unbreakable protection is not possible unless Blizzard switches to a new map format (they will not do this).
 

Dr Super Good

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Might be able to do something fancy with cryptography but that would be considerably expensive in terms of implementation time and entirely worthless.
And still does not stop one hacking the map by allowing Warcraft III to open it and extracting the map data from Warcraft III. Until people develop tools to do that at least.
 
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