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  #1  
Old May 15th, 2004, 01:45 AM
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PhilD PhilD is offline
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Default Re: Dom2 file formats

Quote:
Originally posted by Johan K:
The problem with releasing info on the save files is that the 'con' part is very very much easier to do than the 'pro' part. Doing an external AI for Dominions 2 would be a humongous task. That said I believe the most common use for this info would be cheating.
The "right" way to do things is to have the game files (.trn, .2h, ftherlnd) signed, rather than encrypted, to make it possible to read them, but not change them.

As in, have most of the files be in a public knowledge format, with a fingerprint appended. Then have the dom2 program refuse to use files that don't have that fingerprint, or that have the wrong fingerprint. That way, one can examine the contents of files if needed, but only the game (or programs that know the fingerprinting validation mechanism, which means programs that Illwinter makes) can create/modify these files in such a way that they can be used.

That would also remove the incentive for people to figure out how .2h files are encoded (which, if they manage to do it, will let them cheat, even if it's not the primary motivation for trying to figure it out). From looking at the god files (yeah, I tried to figure the format myself, but didn't try very hard), I don't think the files are encrypted, just not in a publicly described format (it's pretty easy to figure out which byte describes the nation, etc). This, IMHO, is the worst solution.

Edit: formating

[ May 14, 2004, 12:46: Message edited by: PhilD ]
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  #2  
Old May 15th, 2004, 09:21 PM

Innocence Innocence is offline
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Default Re: Dom2 file formats

Quote:
Originally posted by PhilD:
The "right" way to do things is to have the game files (.trn, .2h, ftherlnd) signed, rather than encrypted, to make it possible to read them, but not change them.
But then anyone could read another players data without needing his password. This would be cheating too.
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  #3  
Old May 15th, 2004, 11:33 PM

alexti alexti is offline
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Default Re: Dom2 file formats

Quote:
Originally posted by Johan K:
quote:
Originally posted by Arralen:
pro:
Some folks could start working on "external", nation-specific AIs.
(I still wonder if you could write one in F77 ...)

con:
Some folks would start working on cheats and exploits to ruin multiplayer games ...
The problem with releasing info on the save files is that the 'con' part is very very much easier to do than the 'pro' part. Doing an external AI for Dominions 2 would be a humongous task. That said I believe the most common use for this info would be cheating. [/QB]
I'm not sure how the information exchange is organized, but in principle, tampering with the 2h and trn files should not be a problem. trn essentially contains the projection of the world state for the specific nation and 2h contains player's instructions on what to do. As long as the server verifies logical validity of 2h file, the scheme is well protected.

If for example, the cheater modifies trn file to increase his earth gem treasury to 500, so that the client will allow him to summon 20 iron dragons, the server will check the command and discover that somebody is casting 20 iron dragons when he only has 10 earth gems (which is known to the server independently from trn and 2h files). The same thing would happen if the cheater has modified his 2h file.

So the only problem here is somebody getting information from other player's turns, but this can be prevented by encrypting the files with some standard method using the password as a key, so that only the person with the correct password can get the information.

Of course, this mechanism is not necessarily easy to implement
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Old May 16th, 2004, 12:53 AM
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Gandalf Parker Gandalf Parker is offline
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Default Re: Dom2 file formats

So it seems that...
1) the files seem secure from cheating
2) if the formats were public neat tools could be made
2a) if the formats were public there would probably be cheating
3) with some work the formats might be able to be made public and secure from cheating

[ May 15, 2004, 23:55: Message edited by: Gandalf Parker ]
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Old May 19th, 2004, 11:13 PM
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Default Re: Dom2 file formats

Quote:
Originally posted by Innocence:
quote:
Originally posted by PhilD:
The "right" way to do things is to have the game files (.trn, .2h, ftherlnd) signed, rather than encrypted, to make it possible to read them, but not change them.
But then anyone could read another players data without needing his password. This would be cheating too.
Oh right. Makes sense.

No good solution, then...
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