Ways to protect (read first)

I'm trying to come up with some possible way to protect my work.

Is there any way to make it so if the map is edited in any way(not read) a certain import is deleted from the map?


If this can work what I plan to do is on my maps the loading screen will be used to show players that the map they are playing is legit, and not a hack.
I will say on the loading screen that if you do not see the loading screen background then this map has been hack and to please deleted this copy.

If you have any other ideas how I can protect my map so players know if its been hacked or not, please let me know.

If the guy changed the map name, you can try and compare it with the actual name. I think WEU has this protection feature.

but the hacker may not change the map name.
or he may see that when he changes the map name it won't let him play or something

It is kind of easy to do so the problem is that explaining how to add it is also a good way to ruin its effectiveness cause everyone would know how to remove it

so it is possible to make it remove a import from the map if someone edits the map?

You can hardly call a guy who edits a damaged wc3 map a hacker.

And it is possible to make it so a certain file disappears when the map is saved, but it is kind of worthless and horribly easy to break anyways.

Well i want a way so players know if the map they were playing on was hacked or edited by anyone but me.

To be honest using an optimiser the map is a perfectly adequate defence against people getting into your map. Map protection can't keep the people who know what they are doing out, but those people are unlikely to hack into your map to claim the credit for it (and there is nothing you can do to stop them anyway).

Yea, i agree, using Vexs optimizer then Pizters Widgetizer is a sure way to mental protection.

They may still open the map, but hardly nothing will be there, and to edit things would be extremly difficult (especially with names of functions like a and A).

There is also a tutorial on how to import a file into your map, so when it is saved it crashes wc3 world editor when saving, so they can edit all they like, but when they are going to save, error!

This is only for a 'Keep out newbie' protection though.

There are always possible ways for somebody to enter your map, the fact is, if wc3 can open it, anybody can.

wc3 is a machine though, it has no mental ability, it reads its code and thats about it.

But humans think, if you changed all your function names to things like a, A, aA, bA etc, (built in system with vexs optimizer) it will surly confuse people.

Confusing people who dont know what they are doing turns them away and scares them.

The best protection i would reccomend is Vexorian's Wc3 Optimizer and Pitzermike's Widgetizer.

I think it is recommended to widgetize the map first, and then optimize it for the best result.

I never understand why people protect maps ;x

My reasons are to make sure the map is legit and there aren't 10000 versions of my map each with something a little different.
Also to prevent cheating.

No offense, but people aren't going to make 10000 copies of your map. No one is going to want to take your map, change it, and redistribute it. Some people might want to edit the map, but there's no 100% foolproof way. If the person knows what they're doing, they'll do it.

However, protecting maps does stop n00bs from changing everything and making 1000000 damage spells and crap (not to mention most methods bring down filesize), so it's worth it most of the time, but I would not bother with making a warning on the loadscreen...you'll pretty much waste your time IMO.