pbem game password problem

Mobhack · #1 November 18th, 2006, 10:11 PM

interesting. it sounds as if it may be an array overrun, one of C/C++ little 'oddities' (sane languages like Pascal would throw an exeption at any attempt to address ouside an array's bounds).

I will look into this.

Andy

Mobhack · #2 November 19th, 2006, 02:02 PM

OK - it was array addressing, but due to a typo I must have made some time ago.

It was in the glider landing routine, and results in data overwriting the password block. Now fixed (MBT and WW2).

Very good catch - it was a subtle little thing, which needed careful step-through on the debugger to find.

Until the newest EXEs come out - passworded PBEM games with gliders should not be played.

Cheers
Andy

PopskiPPA · #3 November 20th, 2006, 10:01 PM

Thank you for taking my observation seriously.

One little request: would it be possible to change the scrambled password of player2 back to what it was before the gliders landed? It was tobispiel. I'm attaching the turn (played for the first time, not the repeatedly played turn during testing).

It would be nice to finish this game before we change the sides.

Thank you very much!

PopskiPPA

Mobhack · #4 November 21st, 2006, 12:33 AM

Sorry, but no.

A PBEM game is difficult enough to debug - one often has to go into the code and comment out lines for things the game is objecting to, and so on just to get the debug info. So actually changing that data - and getting it back on disk in a playable state (on the other players installation) from a game that has technically failed security, is decidedly non trivial. A PBEM game can really only be "debugged" by breaking it and the actual programme code.

Cheers
Andy