Software based copy protection
Author
Copy protection software generates license keys based upon the hardware (and presumably operating system) installed on a machine. It must be calling some functions to get version numbers and serial numbers for various devices. Does anyone have info on these functions for Windows OS?
Don''t waste too much time on this. Each and every version of your program *will* be cracked, and probably within days of it''s release (depending mainly on how popular it is. more popular == cracked faster and distributed wider). There''s only one (or maybe a few) of you, developers spending days or weeks writing copy protection mechanisms, but it only takes one person out of the millions on the internet to break it and put it up on the net where everyone else can get it.
While blit has a very good point, and I agree, copy protection for the most part is a waste of time, you should still include basic protection. Could be as simple as checking the CD or something else, like just checking if the CD you''re playing on is a CDR/CDRW (maxis does this).
The point is that you''re stopping some people from copying the game, instead of just challenging the crackers.
As for the original post, there are some win32 functions which get this information for you, but I can''t remember any of their names. GetSomething or other...
G''luck,
-Alamar
The point is that you''re stopping some people from copying the game, instead of just challenging the crackers.
As for the original post, there are some win32 functions which get this information for you, but I can''t remember any of their names. GetSomething or other...
G''luck,
-Alamar
Don't use any copy protection that causes headaches for legit users. Some games like Worms World Party have trouble being read by fast drives because of idiotic copy protection.
Put something in quick, it will be cracked anyway, so dont waste your time. Having a quick key system will cause about as much trouble for piraters as u can, since it's just enuff protection to force them to look for a crack, but not enuff to inconvience buyers too much.
Like person above said, copy protection doesn't work, so don't waste your time. Make a good product so people have a reason to buy it.
Edited by - LordElectro on June 13, 2001 7:38:51 PM
Put something in quick, it will be cracked anyway, so dont waste your time. Having a quick key system will cause about as much trouble for piraters as u can, since it's just enuff protection to force them to look for a crack, but not enuff to inconvience buyers too much.
Like person above said, copy protection doesn't work, so don't waste your time. Make a good product so people have a reason to buy it.
Edited by - LordElectro on June 13, 2001 7:38:51 PM
There are some good free copy protection programs out there that stop pple from doing a 1:1 copy of a cd, however i carnt remember where i got it from but i do know it worked well. i tried copy a disk i cre8ted wiht it and it couldnt get a 1:1 copy. i do agree with the other pple though, just make it so that joe public carnt copy it. cause u know joe alias hacker public will break it.
~prevail by daring to fail~
~prevail by daring to fail~
Remember Gangsters? The developers added some sort of CD checking mechanism that did not function properly with all CD drives. If yours was one of the screwy ones (like mine) you were pretty much SOL. The problem was that it wouldn''t be able to read the music files from the CD in game (with a full install). On my main system, the damn thing would freeze at the menu screen before I could ever get to the options menu. On my older system, I managed to get into the options menu and diable the music, but it ran too slowly. If you are going to use copy protection, use it well.
Author
Thanks for the replies. What I was thinking was more using software locking as a way of converting a demo to the full application. If a demo user wanted to pay for the full game, they press the "license" button which generates a number based upon their hardware/OS version. E-mail that in and then receive an activation code which turns the demo into the full game. That way they can copy the program as much as they like and it remains in demo mode until they get an activation code.
Maybe this will help you out:
GetCurrentHwProfile().
Or more specificly, HW_PROFILE_INFO, which gives you a string with the current global unique identifier (GUID) of the current hardware profile, which should be unique for each unique hardware setup.
- Goblineye Entertainment
The road to success is always under construction
Edited by - Tornado on June 14, 2001 8:09:16 AM
GetCurrentHwProfile().
Or more specificly, HW_PROFILE_INFO, which gives you a string with the current global unique identifier (GUID) of the current hardware profile, which should be unique for each unique hardware setup.
- Goblineye Entertainment
The road to success is always under construction
Edited by - Tornado on June 14, 2001 8:09:16 AM
This topic is closed to new replies.
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