releasing games

#1 there is support for using zip files as directories so this is the obvious fix. i'm sure with some very minor work you could allow it to use a passworded zip as well (where the password would be hardcoded somewhere).

#2 I would like to know the same.....

#3 Zip files are quite easily cracked even with a password, is there another way?

#4 Encrypt your zip files. Look at the zip library in Torque and find where it loads the zip buffers. EOR the buffer with some infinite pattern (e.g., the digits in PI) and then write a tool to encrypt/decrypt standard zip files. Once you do this, just keep your pattern a secret. You might also want to be a little more tricky than just EOR'ing since anyone who reads this would be able to hack your file if they were clever.

If you really want to be paranoid, you'll probably also want to make sure they can't get to the console and you'll want to read main.cs from the zip file too. Then you'll have to make sure any other .cs files created by the engine on exit (e.g., prefs.cs) can't be used to hack at the game too. Not trying to knock the idea of protecting your data, just trying to point out all the holes you'll have to fill.

#5 If some1 really wanna mess with your files he'll find a way, zipping the files will stop casual messers and adding a zip encryption should do the trick for most.

#6 A good way to keep people from casually messing with files, better than zipping, is to just distribute your files in proprietary, compiled formats.

In a TGE based game, you can distribute only the compiled script files, and only model files in Torque's format. In both cases, the files are very difficult to modify.

Really, though, you're going to have to accept that people will find a way to modify your files... and that it doesn't actually matter that much, in most cases.

#7 Where can I find info to how to zip files so that that can still be read? Just zipping and renaming doesn't seem to work.

I have looked on many threads about encryption.
www.garagegames.com/mg/forums/result.thread.php?qt=10785

I've also looked here
www.garagegames.com/mg/forums/result.thread.php?qt=21312
www.garagegames.com/mg/forums/result.thread.php?qt=15874

still a bit confused. What I've looked inside some mod files, but I need a starting point. Would there be a manual on this?

Thanks,

Tatjana

#8 Why in the world would you put a link back to this page? thats like writing a footnote which references itself...

to answer your question tatjana, if you're programming in C++ you might want to look into zip libraries. there's a few out there and theyre all free. the only cost is the time you may have to spend learning the functions and file format. I recently downloaded the zip archive c++ library.

#9 Sean, thank you

This forum topic seemed to be best, other than creating a new thread. I'm not very experienced in forum writing. Thanks for your response :- )

I'm fair in C++ programming, not at best confident. I will look at the libraries found in google. But if there's already tested code found in the forums or documents, I'd like to take the sure shot.

Where is the zip archive c++ library that you found?

Thanks and take care.

~Tatjana

#10 Any encryption will be broken by someone who tries hard enough.
Best bet I reckon is out of sight, out of mind... put the casual hackers off. The harder the encrypting, the more the temptation for some people to crack your game.

Personally, I've not looked into zipping up my files or encrypting them yet so I'm not entirely sure how easy/difficult it is to implement.
I might zip them up though at the end of the development process as long as it doesn't affect performance too much.

Before you walk down the long road of trying to make it as difficult to extract the files outside of the game as possible, ask youself... "What do people like iD or Epic use?... I'm fairly sure iD still use the pak format from Quake2, unless it's evolved a little.. don't believe it's encrypted..

If iD aren't worried about encrypting their files, should you?... Save those precious development hours for something else I say.

+2p

#11 Well that's the thing isn't it. If you want your game to be moddable/extendable you can't go too far down the asset protection route otherwise you create too many problems for the community.

I think the more important parts are to prevent piracy of your game, but that's a whole different kettle of fish.

#12 Still in the effort of a newbie of figuring out creating readable compressed files for Torque, also for password encryption. But first things first.

I'm still open for any direction or suggestion for encouragement on this topic.

www.garagegames.com/index.php?sec=mg&mod=resource&page=category&qid=4

www.zlib.net/ Currently researching SDK\lib\zlib\zlib.h
www.zlib.net/manual.html

I hope that I'm getting closer. Anyone, please correct me if I'm not.

Thanks,

~Tatjana

#13 Life is wonderful!!!! I found the solution. Everything is explained in these two links.

follow this link first
www.garagegames.com/mg/forums/result.thread.php?qt=29678

and then follow this link
www.garagegames.com/index.php?sec=mg&mod=resource&page=view&qid=7787

So much easier

~Tatjana