Staredit Network

I was wondering, is there any way, to protect MPQs or Exe files, so that people could not open them? That would prevent stealing mod's Graphics, portraits, etc, or the whole mod..

When will people learn that open source is good? Sharing is caring, bloody damn it!

Since StarCraft and/or StarEdit must be able to open MPQs, I don't think they can be protected in such a way that MPQ viewers won't. If you can't bear to have other people look at your graphics, don't release the mod.

Not that i don't wan't other people to look...
I do understand that most of the ppl open MPQs to learn how u made stuff or sth, but not all ppl are like that. There's a part of people, who just open MPQs from many mods, to take stuff from it for their mods (i've seen a rather noobish mod, with all building GRPs taken from Gundam mod)

And if there isn't a way to protect MPQ so that SC would be still able to open, maybe there is a way to simply password them?
Of course that could still be hacked, but atleast it would prevent Noobs who steal stuffs from mods... And i doubt that a person who would know how to hack the MPQs, would be that lame to steal.

Theres 1 way I've heard of...but I've never tested it so I dont know if it causes any corruptions or not


step 1. in WinMPQ go to "Options..."
step 2. change the maximum files for new archives to the ammount your mod has (no more, no less)
step 3. put all the modded files in a new folder (the same folder for all of them)
step 4. go to "Mpq"->"Add Folder" then add your folder
step 5. rename all the files adding the correct extensions
step 6. close the archive (make sure you made a unprotected backup first!)
step 7. change the settings on WinMPQ back to normal so your next mod isn't protected (normal maximum files is 1024)

Sounds interesting I'll try that out.

Actually, it may be possible to protect a mod in such a way that other programs can't use it without being specifically made for reading it. I know of some methods I could use for doing that and could be implemented into an MPQDraft plugin.

You're kind of contradicting yourself. If the mod was noobish, people won't bother playing it.

Files can always be extracted from memory, a task that I don't imagine is very difficult to automate (i.e. turn into a mpq-unprotector for n00bs). And as SF said, programs can most likely be made to just grab the files from the MPQ, even if it's semi-corrupted.

Bottom line is: I really don't like the idea that the community spent what? 9 years hacking the files and formats to make them open for the modders to use, just to see it closed and protected again because someone don't want other people to view their .grp's. I don't want to sound like I'm flaming you, because that's not my intention, but I don't like that idea. If your .grp's are special enough, you'll most likely receive the attention you deserve without the need of protection. The community tends to be rather harsh on thieves anyway.

You could embed it in a file so that they will have to do a bit of searching for it.
I finally found the MPQ for Xtra Editor, and used the same method on mine! Requires some Hex-Editing.

Huh? That's not what I was saying. I was saying that the format could be changed such that a special MPQDraft plugin would be needed to be able to read it, so that it would work with Starcraft and the campaign editor, but not anything else unless the changes were figured out.

One of the truely great things about the modding community IS that everything is unprotected. People usually know who created what and will go against mod stealers without mercy.

If a mod has enough publicity, then everyone will know about mod-stealers and flame them to extinction. If you want to protect an mpq you are REALLY insecure and worse than mappers.

Just a simple protection because anybody that wants to try and crack it deserves to?

Yeah, its a dumb idea to protect mods because people are supposed to learn from them, and the mods are always spread via sites like this, rather than bnet.

OK, maybe protecting a mod wasn't the best idea, I would've used it only for the demo release anyway, don't start trolling me..

ok, closed it is..