Argghh...

#1 Ouch, *shakes fist*, no good pirates.

#2 Who would guess! Brett Seyler pirating Torque.

#3 Brett a pirate?? Nooooo this can't be.....

Hey Brett, are you able to get them to take it down?

#4 I would not interfere there.

#5 Yeah, they have a form to fill out to "report abuse." Typically we do that, but usually they pop right back up, so it's kind of futile unfortunately.

#6 Whoever that would do such a thing deserves a special kind of hell!

#7 Umm... that made me curious so I did a search. Bad news -- that's not the only place to find it... or other things :(

#8 @Brett
You could have something server side that adds the user id to the package being downloaded...
Doesn't prevent it from being distributed (nothing will prevent it anyway, other than a $500k price tag), but at least you'll know where it comes from

#9 Yeah, cant you embed the UserID into the sdk, so you can see who downloaded it? That way you can ban the f**ka who uploaded it!

Its all well and good having the sdk, but one of the biggest parts of it i think is the community :D

#10 What do you guys think about the idea of logging into the tool w/ your GG ID? I wouldn't want to use it as a requirement to use the tool (since lots of people work offline) but as something that would hopefully add value to the experience. For example, you could log into the tool for automatic crash reporting tied to your profile / hardware spec / etc. I'm open to other ideas. Definitely don't want to go overboard and create DRM that has a net negative effect on legit users. Anything like authenticated use should provide *more* value to legit users, not less.

Thoughts?

#11 wow.. I did a search like Michael did..

Kinda disgusts me.

#12 I'd go with that Brett,
maybe a system that takes the unique id of the pc that the software is installed on, and generates a number that is unique, and associates that number with your GG account?

EDIT: this post has been edited due to a misunderstang that I had over the Doit licencing system.

#13 @deepscratch - In my opinion, that is the worst method ever. I hope something like that never comes to T3D. I think Brett has the best idea - adding value, not removing it!

#14 mmm, I read his post too quickly, yeah that would be a better idea,
but what if you dont have permanent internet?
cant use the tools?
that could cause some problems...

#15 Even then with your idea, how would you encrypt all the source and assets etc, so that people cant play with the files without being logged in?

Its a tricky situation...

I think it would be impossibly hard to try and restrict access to the source code and scripts, with authenticated use each time you use it (not to mention the offline problem).

Having validation on the installer is easily circumvented as the bastard pirate could just RAR up the installed files once the install is complete.

Iv been thinking about this a bit. And after some brain storming, i came to the idea that. Well what is T3D worth without any of its tools? A Game engine is practicly useless without its tools (world editor, etc). I think, the only viable option would be to have some form of user validation when you try and access the ingame tools. I'm not sure how you'd acheieve it, but obviously some sacrifices would have to be made with whichever scheme you go for... -.-

I'm with the notion that we should add value to the product, and not strip anything way from it introducing any anti-piracy scheme.

What benefits could having to authenticate bring? I guess thats something we should be debating...

#16

Quote:automatic crash reporting

Unfortunately that's the kind of thing which I prefer to turn off. I crash T3D loads possibly into double figures today and I've only been out of bed 3 hours! It'd be a never ending stream of non-useful reports - I know why it's crashing, I know it's because I'm trying to force it to do stuff it isn't supposed to do. But that's all just part of probing and getting a feel for the engine.

However I do think that having a space for our hardware specs (and OS) listed in our accounts, as if I have to type "7900GS" one more time on a bug report, I'm going to change my username to it. It'd also help the devs to see what's going wrong on which hardware when we file bug reports - not everyone still puts their GPU info on them.

Is it possible to add the userID to the download (as Aldavidson suggests above) so that you can at least download the non-legit upload and find "le culprit", then bring down the banhammer (for what it's worth ...). :/

Even so, I figure someone could get around that if they "really" wanted to put the effort in.

This sort of thing is unfortunately impossible to avoid. The great strength of digital media is alas also it's downfall.

#17 yeah, that could be effective, source code licencee id embedded.
but how would you embed it?
you cant.

#18 Well, the Toolbox is precompiled isnt it?

When the server creates your link that expires after 15 minutes, make it include your userid into the Toolbox, and then create the installer.

It would take a little extra time to provide you with your link... but possibly its worth it?

#19 think about what you just said there Aldavidson,
so we dont get the source code, because its precompiled?
we all become standard licencee's?
not an option.
you do know, of course, that you dont need the toolbox?
I never use it at all.
so, again what would you embed?
how would you embed something in source code? I can understand watermarking all the assets, which we are not allowed to use in our releases anyway (read the eula).
you cant embed anything.
the next option would be the connection thing, but not everyone has permenent internet.
and the next option would be to apply the unique pc number thing, but that is apparently counter value, but is enforce-able, but doesnt stop Jack Dickwad from uploading anything.

#20 This sort of shit drives me crazy! I feel angry and cheated. Whenever, I see something like this, I feel like my hard-earned money and time has gone down the drain. This product has been evolving for years and it kills me that a so-called peer could take advantage of GG and the entire community in this way.