• Which the release of FS2020 we see an explosition of activity on the forun and of course we are very happy to see this. But having all questions about FS2020 in one forum becomes a bit messy. So therefore we would like to ask you all to use the following guidelines when posting your questions:

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Fighting piracy

In case anyone's curious, the folks I was referring to above are Bill and Lynn Lyons... :D

Actually, it was this touch of "personalization" that endeared Bill and Lynn with their customers...

...but, if they hadn't already established their "bona fides" via their terrific freeware, they'd have likely not enjoyed much success with their "payware."

As for piracy, who would would risk "sharing" their customized model?

"Oi there boy! What'cha doing flying 'round in Fred Flintstone's aircraft!" :rotfl:
 
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From the serialcode I was able to identify who put my program on the net (combined with date/time of purchase and 'date added' it also had to be this one person) But then, what can I do? Ask Miguel to stop selling to this guy? He'll probably just open a new account.

Actually, what I did was blacklist the specific serial in an update. Yet, the program kept working for a couple of months. But after that when someone would use the program with the pirated key he would meet elephants walking on the airport and the engines of his plane would start burning.

A few days later the guy purchased another copy, but so far I haven't seen a new key on the web.

Daniel
 
But I think one of the things you guys are up against is the fact that many people feel that when they buy something, they can do as they please with it. I know the EULA states differently, but I don't think some folks see it that way.

Bob
 
Hey Guys,

I has been following this thread, and i find it interesting. I think that the way of protecting things like scenery (BGLs) and aircraft (MDLs) would be something similar to what happens with programs (EXE/DLL), like making a kind of "packer" that could encrypt/pack the entire binary say BGL or MDL with using a unique key/serial code, then making some kind of unpacker at some part/stage after purchase...That could be *part* of a protection solution..however it would work better if the unpacker could unpack/decrypt/load the scenery/aircraft on the FlightSim during runtime..that is a general idea i had...the only problem with this is to make FSX to unpack/decrypt/load the scenery/aircraft dynamicly and directly on FlightSim's memory at runtime....giving no changes to the user to copy the original/decrypted BGLs/MDLs from his disk/hard drive....but if the solution for that problem is found..it could be a very good protection method...it's just a thought i had...i dont know if it's possible to load a BGL/MDL inside FSX during runtime..i think part of the *possible* solution is a DLL...

Note: All that is just a theory/idea i had...i dont really know if it's possible or if such protection already exists...

Another possible approach could maybe use checksums to check the integrity of files...

Just my 2 :twocents: to this thread... :)

Manuel
 
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Hi,

It would have to happen at runtime. Else you can just zip and share the installed scenery folder after installation.
 
In the company I work for we have just started using a licensing system for our product. It uses online activation and the executable is encrypted. The system is pretty advanced in that it can even just decrypt the parts of the executable that are needed at a given time.

But the costs of this are really steep in many areas:

- price of the system
- implementation of the system in your product
- performance hit (depends a lot on how advanced the protection should be)
- footprint on the end user's system (background service)
- a lot of additional support (migrating licenses, lost licenses, failed installs of the licensing service)

Generally, it amounts to a lot of extra work for you and nuisance for your paying customers.

For my next release I'm considering this:

- after purchase user will receive serial key + product
- product will work for 1 month
- within that month user has to activate by mail (or I could pro-actively send activation key based upon the order I receive)
- activation key contains user's serial and email encrypted, key is validate with an assymetric key by the app.
- after activation user's email will be displayed in product

Weak point is the 1 month grace period, this kind of check involves storing/hiding a 'date of first use' somewhere on the system and usually this is a rather easy target for reverse engineering.

Also if someone manages to purchase from a fake mail address... he doesn't care if the address will show up in a pirated download.

Daniel
 
Also if someone manages to purchase from a fake mail address... he doesn't care if the address will show up in a pirated download.
Click to expand...

That would be the one that would worry me!
 
Unless you're going to invest in technology to protect your product, which will only protect it for so long - remember folks crack protection for fun, it doesn't have to be a high value product, then piracy is just something you're going to have to begrudgingly put up with. The best thing you can do to maximise your purchase is to cultivate a relationship with your customer: involve them with development blogs, interact with them on your support forum and many who might otherwise see you as a faceless company will realise that your efforts depend on their purchases and that you don't deserve to be ripped off. In short, you earn their respect for your work. There'll always be people who will copy it, but the casual copier who may have to decide between buying 1 product and copying 2 more will be more likely to purchase from you.

Si

Edit - and if that doesn't work, you could always seed the torrent sites with a booby-trapped version of your product!
 
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I have had some addons stolen from me before.
Sounds
Panels
Buildings etc

now I am going to name and shame some of these "pirates" by their used username.

PopArt
4X-AXG
Komu
and Papazoff!

I have never had the chance to confront them but I hope they confront a very muscular, 7 foot, gay nigerian in prison.
 
hcornea said:
The often touted line that these are people who "wouldn't buy the product anyway" is just complete rubbish, as anyone who has seen their product pirated will attest.
Click to expand...

First of all I would like to say I don't like software piracy, but I don't agree.

The music/film industry estimate their losses by counting how much the illegal downloaded music/films would cost in the shop.

I.e. they say, if illegal download was not possible, everybody would buy the same amount, as they downloaded illegal.

Do really people believe this?

Not me.
 
True or not true, large amounts or small quantities... we can discuss for ages....

Fact of the matter is simple: it IS theft and nothing else, and it IS costing us money. Period.
 
SimMiles said:
Maybe it's just better making freeware :)

Virtual Airlines
Click to expand...

then the developer won't dedicate hundreds of countless hours trying to do a very detailed work because that's what you pay for in payware. if is freeware you know what to expect.

is if what you work on in real life they ask you to be a volunteer rather than a paid worker.. would you still work hard and with effort even though you are not getting paid?
 
Roland81 said:
then the developer won't dedicate hundreds of countless hours trying to do a very detailed work because that's what you pay for in payware. if is freeware you know what to expect.
Click to expand...

My late grandpappy used to say,

"Quality is like buying oats. If you want nice, fresh oats you must be willing to pay the farmer a fair price...

...but if you can be satisfied with oats that've already been through the horse, those come a lot cheaper!" :rotfl:
 
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