Map Protector

Okay here it is my map protector program using [3millioncheese]'s protection method. After much talk it is being released to the public.
What do I need to run this?
1). You will need Visual Basic 6 runtime drivers.
2). You will need MPQ2k package found from the download section of wc3campaigns.
3). A program able to open zip files (duh!)
So how do I use it?
1.) FIRST EXTRACT THIS ZIP TO ANY DIRECTORY OTHER THEN YOUR WARCRAFT III DIRECTORY. (this is important if you want to actually be able to open maps...)
2.) Choose the place where MPQ2k is located.
3.) Choose the map you wish to protect.
4.) Choose the name of the protected version of the map.
5.) Hit the Start! button and your done with in a second your map will be protected.
6.) MAKE SURE THAT PROTECTOR.EXE AND WARCRAFT III ARE NOT IN THE SAME DIRECTORY. If you didn't listen delete the file war3map.wtg from your directory.
Disclamer:
I'm not liable for ANY problems induced by using this program (most notably the I can't load any map problem cuased by placing protector.exe in your war3 directory.), Though it has been proven safe and 100% reversable if you did screw up (e-mail maps you need to deprotect).

Alright I hope you read all that. Here it is to download!
http://www.skizot.com/~cookie/protector.zip

You have forsaken the community :(

All that this does is delete the wtg, right?

Add an unprotect option for the author's use (have it keep a backup of the .wtg file).

well the program does tell you to save to a diferent destination the protected version.

Well, I don't know if it was really worth releasing or not, but at least my ideas are as follows (sorry, but one vote in a poll is not enough for me :)

Being quite an experienced modder already (I have experience with Infinity Engine modding at TeamBG, Warcraft 2/3 modding, etc.), I can say that other communities (TeamBG for example) never required any software that would protect their creations from people who can be called in no other way but *n00bs.* For some people mods are useful as an "experience base" to see how this or that can be done, and there's no evil intention there. I think that most of you will agree that all the tutorials are better when a live example is there, when you can see how this or that was done DIRECTLY, without making your own modifications to the mod and therefore stealing it. However, some people only want to steal the others' mods and tell the whole world that it were they who really created the mod. These people are immoral. I don't know why there are so many people like that in WC3 editing community (I suspect that there ARE many if a question of map protection arose), but TeamBG (for example) never had ANY cases of stealing mods. NEVER.
So, whether the map protector is needed or not is still very questionable. It may make map makers more confident that their creations are safe from theft at the cost of the ease of sharing modding experience (forums and tutorials are, of course, very good, but a live example is still better). Whether to use this program or not is up to any map maker here, but I would not suggest to use it that widely.
Anyway, the process of map protection is EASILY REVERSABLE. You should all agree with this. Those people who are experienced with WC3 modding can easily reverse the protection, and still steal the mod. The map protection is only non-reversable for n00bs and unexperienced modders who don't know (yet) the inner structure of the W3M files. So, in the end, the program does not solve the entire problem of map protection, it only makes it a bit harder to "hack" the map. Therefore, using it widely does not solve the problem, as one may still make some slight modifications to the W3M (to reverse the protection), load the map into the World Editor, and then "steal it"... :(

Of course, this is only MY opinion, so don't punish me for just saying my personal opinion. Thanks.

yay eheheh ^_^

well, but most exp modders are quite busy with other things to develop etc. People who usually clone the map or dupe it, doesnt have really mod experience;why else they clone the map? =)

For those of you who aren't going to go read another entire thread here's a good defensive argument for the protector:

I wrote:
I think being able to protect maps is a great thing, because it causes people to have to come to you to get an open copy. Rather than some guy who decides to have some fun on his lunch break and wants to screw it all up and spread it around Bnet. The way I see it is if you spent all that time making something, it should be your choice to keep it locked or not, not the random guy who downloads it.

And that somebody will figure out an anti decryption tool. So really only the more elite that are going to want to mod anyway will get around it, but the average casual gaming joe won't.

----------------
Nova Wrote:
Erm, seems to me that map stealing is a huge problem. I look at the custom games list, and about 90% of them are Hero Arenas, almost all of them different versions of the same map...

Now, this would be barely an annoyance me, except the people that modify these maps are not making them better. The things they do are just....stupid. Like adding a hero that can easily take on any of the others. I'm in favor of some kind of protection that at least takes some work to get around, so that people that would make stupid changes at least have limited access.

Of course, you COULD just convert all your triggers to custom text, that would make some things a lot harder to figure out for those unable to decipher the code.
--------------

I then wrote:
Nova is absolutely correct. It filters out the stupid people from screwing up your map and spreading their garbage around. Because what we see at this very moment is a bunch of shitty edits of some guy's original map floating around to the point where you can't tell the original from the new spammed fake anymore. Protection won't guarantee anything, but it should cut down on some of the numbers.

that would be nice, if the authors would put thier damn email addy's in, otherwise its a pain(and the only way I figured out how to do some of the scripting was fiddling around with some maps I downloaded). While having a lot of edits is annoying all you have to do is set up a small page where you release each version so people can check to see if its a oficial release or not. But what do I know I'm only a newbie modder right?

OH SHIT! weaaddar get back to this ASAP!! I'l be straight honest, I'm a dumbass. I read the first line of your post, downloaded it, copied the program to the War3 folder */me slaps himself* and now I can't open any map up! Then I read the enire post. Please oh please help me, my editing has been put on pause until I can get a fix.


AAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!
-----

ok whew. I read the post a second time and I got it fixed by just deleting the wtg file. I am very impatient when it comes to the forums at this hour :) I must keep my panic attack post I made a few minutes ago for comic relief.

Well, of course it's great (for the map programmer) that everybody will e-mail him in order to get an open copy, BUT:

1. There will be many e-mails, and I am not sure that the map programmer would like to send an open map to everybody (still, we don't know who the hell is a thief and who is just a true modder who wants to teach himself how to mod).

2. If there will be many e-mails (and there WILL be, for sure, if the mod is good enough), author will most often (warning: personal experience) answer just "go to hell" or something worse to every e-mail he gets (or he'll just delete them), so this does not solve the problem.

3. If a map author sends an open map to somebody (who is yet to prove himself whether he's a modder or a thief), it is still unknown whether the map will be used for good deeds or will be just stolen.

4. After all those who want to steal the map can still reverse the effect of protection...

So, this all is *VERY* complex... :confused:

Here's an analogy to think about for this situation (man I've been awake for 48 hours, tooo long). It's like commanding your archers to shoot into a cluster of your infantry (real world) that are in a melee with enemy infantry(as seen in Braveheart). The only time you would want to do this is when there are more enemies then friendlies in the cluster, or if you think the enemy infantry will outsword your infantry. Why? because chances are you will hit more enemies then you will friends OR your friendly units are less valuable than his are. You would hate to have me as a commander, but you would love to have me as a king.

The map protector will cut down many lazy spammers, most of them being the ones not dedicated enough to even look for a decrypter. This is the mass the protector is firing its arrows at. However in the process a few innocent 'just learning how to map people' will get killed with them. But ultimately it cuts down spam.

If tutorials are written and the tutorial author attatches an open map, and if we can get enough of this, or if people choose not to protect in general, then no doubt. Otherwise there's always the search or post message button on the forums.

Its Not 100% reversable. Anyway I'm sorry to say that its not 100% reversable. Though I can get the map to load again in worldeditor none of the triggers will show up (I'm not sure of what will happen if you save new trigger) so if you honestly did screw up I feel very sorry for you learn to use the .j file, and editing the terrian you can still do.

Why does this work is a question alot of people have asked me...The WTG is a useless file for all extents and purposes it stores deleted triggers unused strings and trigger grouping and name. All I do is replace it with a blank WTG.
The addendum to the instruction is...
1) UNLESS YOU ARE 100% SURE YOUR MAP IS COMPLETE DO NOT SAVE THE PROTECTED VERSION AS THE SAME THING AS THE UNPROTECTED VERSION. (overwrite the file). There are 2 seperate fields for a reason, and it is very dumb to protect your only copy.

Dude how are you going to apologize for my stupidness? Hehe, I mean I was the guy who didn't read your post. Zog no like read big word at 4 AM. Oh and 'reversable', are you talking about if you protect a map without a backup or are you talking about using the program in the war3 directory? Even I wouldn't be slick enough to overwrite my own copy :)