Moving forward, protected maps should NOT be supported

[Kavawuvi 7133]

There is absolutely no valid reason to protect maps, but with protected maps, map makers decided to consciously and deliberately corrupt their maps so that only the stock game can load the map.

 

Because we have tools that trivially defeat all common forms of map protection, then I think it is reasonable for modders and scripters to not be always expected to go through the hassle of adding support for what is basically complete bullshit. This does mean that a backlog of a few hundred maps will not be supported by these mods and tools, but again, these maps are easily fixed.

 

Invader can easily and instantly detect most common forms of map protection, and Refinery can reverse most common forms of map protection. If you want to combat map protection, then these are your best friend.

 

[DSalimander 214]

Map protection always had the most insulting excuses to justify it and these days if you ask why people did it, they try to act like victims. They were always selfish assholes high on chasing popularity at any cost. Leaving their work to rot is good karma.

[tarikja 1017]

Here we go again...

 

On 6.2.2021 at 8:37 AM, tarikja said:

 

looking forward to that future where we have to use some third party client for every custom map :v
(I'm looking at you, bigass >:v)

[Kavawuvi 7133]

20 minutes ago, tarikja said:

Here we go again...

 

looking forward to that future where we have to use some third party client for every custom map :v
(I'm looking at you, bigass >:v)

Same. The first party client is shit.

[DSalimander 214]

When developers make their source code inaccessible and then themselves inaccessible, that's where the problems begin. Any developer that does this, intentionally or not, is doomed to have their work forcibly replaced. Time will tell if Kavawuvi is taking enough steps to end this cycle.

 

Spoiler

I was going to dump a scrapped project I worked on that requires Open Sauce (ew, I know) but I just looked and Kornman removed all traces of Open Sauce from his own website. Lmao.

 

[tarikja 1017]

I meant like using a different client for every other custom map :v

fragmenting the playerbase and what not...

[Kavawuvi 7133]

1 minute ago, DSalimander said:

When developers make their source code inaccessible and then themselves inaccessible, that's where the problems begin. Any developer that does this, intentionally or not, is doomed to have their work forcibly replaced. Time will tell if Kavawuvi is taking enough steps to end this cycle.

That's a fair point, and I agree.

 

My two big Halo projects, Invader and Chimera, are open source and publicly available for all the world to see.

 

As for if I'd delete either project's source code, well, I am certain I'd never do that. That being said, I have not been offered a job at any sort of gaming studio that works on Halo in an official capacity, so admittedly, you only have my word (and no proof) to go by at this time regarding that.

 

I always recommend archiving things you care about.

[Sunstriker7 751]

But I can't archive you.

[Vuthakral 1715]

23 hours ago, Kavawuvi said:

There is absolutely no valid reason to protect maps,

 

15 hours ago, DSalimander said:

Map protection always had the most insulting excuses to justify it and these days if you ask why people did it, they try to act like victims. They were always selfish assholes high on chasing popularity at any cost. Leaving their work to rot is good karma.

 

I mean, I do it but only for test maps. In the event they get leaked I don't want my unfinished work being spread around by the you-know-who part of the community and resulting in my finished work never getting any attention, and getting buried solely by the over-saturated environment surrounding it using old tags.. It has happened time and time again, so please don't tell me that's an invalid reason.

 

If it's selfish for an artist to want their finished product that they put way more effort into to be known than an unfinished slice of what they made then I don't want to be part of this community any more.

 

14 hours ago, tarikja said:

looking forward to that future where we have to use some third party client for every custom map :v

 

For once I'm with Tark.

You do realize that a good chunk of custom maps are protected right?

 

Also, you do also realize that the notion of protecting your maps has only in the recent years become a notion of being a "bad thing to do", right? It was a very common practice back in the day because tag ripping of all kinds, especially the maliciously-aligned kind, was very common thanks to this little known thing called HEK+. People didn't want their tags to get corrupted & reused in a broken format. We've seen some of these broken tags from this era still pop up from time to time nowadays. Map protection didn't start out as some evil thing. God forbid, @(SBB) Storm can show your the peak of this toxic time in the environment with the dude who ripped SPv2 and tried to use it as a ransom. I'd post it myself but I don't have that video's URL.

 

Don't get me wrong; I don't like the concept of people who use map protection for purely selfish reasons and I don't deny that there are people who use it on finished maps, but I get moderately offended at the notion that every single person to ever protect their maps is entirely selfish, or that they don't have valid reason or are automatically invalid for doing so. This is a disgusting mentality to have in general regardless of the topic.

Edited March 4, 2021 by Vuthakral
typos

[DSalimander 214]

I completely understand protecting betas that aren't meant to be made public. I would aim this scrutiny at maps that are finished and meant to be shared openly. I would like to take a moment to point out that if a certain administrator of a certain website didn't have such a stubborn attitude about taking down leaks, this wouldn't be a problem in the first place. After one of my maps got leaked without me being credited I started being really obnoxious by shoving my name into the map titles. (Sali Creek, MidSali, etc) Map protection is now largely seen as a bad thing because the people that used and defended it have been chased out of the community. How much effort must have gone into map protection schemes that could have been better used to perfect tag extraction? Oh and let's not forget that the program that broke tags also happened to be the program that could protect maps. What a coincidence! If some dumpster fire of a map comes out with stolen tags in it, who cares? Make an attempt to claim credit for your work and be happy somebody else liked your stuff enough to steal it. And stop visiting that certain website that doesn't take down leaks or let you claim credit for your stolen work.