Staredit Network

I recently found a site that I won't share here that tells how to unprotect every type of map protection. Excluding ProEdit 1.4+, most maps only take around 5 steps to unprotect. If they don't unprotect, you can usually figure out why with no problem. On the other hand, the ProEdit 1.4/1.4.1 unprotection method takes 25 steps. If you're lucky. And if you make any mistakes, it's almost impossible to pinpoint where. I have a picture of all the maps I have unprotected in a folder, and some pictures of them actually unprotected for proof. For the record, I'll record how many steps each protector takes according to what I know.

For the record, *program is an unprotecting program that you need for all protection types listed under "Hex/*Program required." It also straight out unprotects two of the "Hex-editing only" protection types.

Number of steps to Hex-unprotect
Hex-editing required
GUEdit: 7, though *program that does it in one step
Toolkit: unlisted, though *program does both Toolkit methods in one
- I remember seeing a site that did list how to unprotect this, but I don't remember where exactly. I'll update if I find it.
MapSide Protector: 2
SCUM: 3

Hex/*Program required
StarForge: 10
ToGi's Protector: 6
ProEdit 1.0-1.3: 2, no hex-editing required
ProEdit 1.3b: 4, first two are hex-editing, second two are the above steps
ProEdit 1.4+: 25 minimum

Links to the pictures are below, and don't ask for the maps because I don't spread unprotected work. I do this only so I can play around with stuff in the map or if it needs serious changes, and if I do, I always consult the author, leave their name on, and re-protect it with the latest ProEdit version. I REPEAT, DO NOT ASK ME FOR UNPROTECTED MAPS.

These maps vary in size to show that it doesn't matter how big or small your map is or how much work you put into it when it comes to unprotecting.

Blood & Iron 1870 - Europe; protected with SCM Toolkit
Civil War - Campaign East; protected with GUEdit
Civil War - Virginia 1862; protected with SCM Toolkit
Crystal RPG; protected with ToGi's Protector
Don't Click the Flag; protected with GUEdit
FF - LegendoftheDragonKing; protected with GUEdit
Final Fantasy III; protected with GUEdit
House of the Haunted; protected with SCM Toolkit
Legacy of Hæan; protected with ProEdit 1.3b
Mario Party 64; protected with GUEdit
Starship Troopers; protected with GUEdit
The Rebuilding of Eora; protected with GUEdit
The Rise of Ishan; protected with GUEdit
The Thing - Ice; protected with SCM Toolkit
Unit Conversations; protected with GUEdit
Uprising RPG; protected with ToGi's Protector
What's Wrong with this?; protected with ??? (missing original file)
World War maps; most are protected with GUEdit

After completing this list and noting how many people protected with GUEdit, I felt I had to say this: GUEDIT IS AN OUTDATED PROGRAM THAT HAS BEEN EASILY UNPROTECTABLE FOR A LONG TIME. STOP PROTECTING WITH IT!

Also, if you can, write your name in the terrain or with doodads or units somewhere. Unlike strings, these cannot be changed unless the map is unprotected. Strings can be changed without unprotecting the map (hence Trigger Viewer), but units, terrain, and doodads cannot be without extensive knowledge and debugging (or a lot of luck). If you don't want to scar your map with one of these things, just write it with units of one type in an unseen, unused area, put a location around them, and execute a "remove all units of type at location" trigger at the start of the game. If you want it to look neat and tidy, use Scmdraft's "Snap units to grid" feature. Protect with ProEdit 1.4+ and they will probably never be able to get your name out.

Note - I changed the colors to the StarEdit natural colors to show that these maps are editable. I could do other things, but some of the authors probably don't want me to make a mockery of their maps.

If you need more proof, just ask. Don't make me do too much work, though. The pictures are contained in a zip file here, and are also attached (hopefully).[attachmentid=12406]

Yeah, Uberation protects your map so good that SC can't even open it.

You forgot SCUP, and MapSide can take an extra step if something I won't mention was changed. They also take more steps to unprotect if you want trigegs to be openable in some circumstances, it's a waste of tiem to unprotect.

uBeRaTiOn is better if it works because it's more recent and I'm assuming more difficult to unprotect. ProEdit 1.4 is good, but uBeRaTiOn I haven't seen any guides for unprotecting, so I trust it for now.

The problem with protection though is that you don't need to unprotect to steal a map, but you do if you want to learn from a map.

You can use Trigger Viewer to open up triggers in protected maps.

I believe Trigger Viewer can't look at uBeRaTeD maps, and it doesn't work on every map.

Edit: There are some older map protectors I am unfamiliar with. I don't remember hearing of MapSide protector or SCUM until I found this so-called guide. Just an FYI, it's very hard to crack the coding for these programs unless you find a guide on the internet to help you. I tried for six hours to unprotect Hæan's Legacy before I found this site, and I did unprotect it, but the terrain was not intact (I believe it was all dirt; either that or I filled it with dirt) and the location tools and trigger tools probably wouldn't work. By the way, you can fix the triggers using Scmdraft's Trigger Edit Debugger. It fixes the triggers, but it still has the old problem where around fifty million blank comments appear. I think you can probably fix this with a ProEdit manual compression, though. You can fix the locations by going into StarForge, creating a location, and then deleting it (I'm not sure if you have to delete it, but I don't see why you'd need to keep it). And don't use any of that information against me, please.

I included the trigger steps for the appropriate protectors when I typed it. If you have a hex-editor, you should still be able to see strings no matter what protector is used. And I tried to unprotect a 1.4.1 map. The hex looks fine, but it doesn't open in any editor, and I assume it doesn't work on StarCraft because of this (the map was Imperialism).

ADDITION:

Because Uber@tion distorts the actual SCM/SCX file itself as well as the chk file within, it is nearly impossible to unprotect. Unfortunately, it sometimes won't work with StarCraft because of this. Generally it isn't a good idea to mess with MPQ hex; rather you should mess with the hex of the contained files. I suppose it is possible to unprotect if somebody were able to crack Uber@tion itself and find how it changes the map files, but it probably won't happen for some time. Also, when typing the document, I had forgotten Uber@tion had a protection, and even so didn't know how its protection worked. Now I do.

I'll do some hex work and see how Uber@tion changes the MPQ files. Until then, use Uber@tion if possible and otherwise use ProEdit 1.4+.

House of the Haunted was protectected with GUedit and that map includeing several other ones you have listed there are at least 2 years old. Besides i publicly released House of the Haunted unprotected anyways.

uBeR@TiOn will always be ahead of PROEdit with the latest protection techniques.

*cough* 1 step opening *cough*

kidding

I've seen these "unprotector" map programs around lately. Luckily they dont crack proedit. So I'm sticking with it untill something better/works comes along. And I know the program your probably using to unprotect. I've heard it mentioned on bnet