To Conitec;

A forum user had been obsessed with a demo I recently posted. He posted several
times indicating this.

Last Saturday, I received a personal message from this user asking if I could
explain a function of my demo, which he stated by the exact name I gave it in
my script! At the time I was very curious as to how he could have obtained this
information. At no time did I divulge any information to him.

Later I received another personal message from this same user in which he
stated he had disassembled my resource file and had been able to, quote "get a
good bit converted", "back into c-script". He then gives me information that
proves he has done this. The only way he could have exact function names and
methods is by doing what he claims to have done. He further tells me he is only
missing a few crucial lines and asks if I could explain it to him! He states
that (since he knows the function names in my WRS), he could just use my
resource file in his own project!

I know the wrs is encrypted, but it is not so once in memory, and memory can be
dumped. Again, there is absolutely no way this user could know these things
unless he has illegally reverse engineered your product in order to steal my
intellectual property.

The surviving personal messages from this user that I have described above, are
on Conitecs server in my personal messages, and the server administrator can
easily examine them to verify the sender and content.

I have tried to contact Conitec several times about this matter for
consultation, but have not received a reply. I feel I am probably not the only
person this individual has done this to, as he seems "practiced".

I would like to know Conitecs position on this, so I will know how I should
proceed.

Thank you.

Wow thats bad news - I hope for your sake those "missing .. crucial lines" stay missing! I would hate to have my resources stolen like that

Don't worry - no one "hacked" your resource file. Resources use a weak encryption and thus can theoretically be hacked, but I doubt that this happened.

Don't let yourself scare by someone bragging to have hacked your script. If you haven't disabled debugging your functions, the user probably just single stepped through parts of your code and wrote down function names. If you want to prevent this, set debug_mode at 0 in your functions.

http://manual.conitec.net/adebug_mode.htm

However, you can't reconstruct a script from the lines displayed by the debugger. The same goes for memory dumping of scripts or shaders, and similar methods. In lite-C this won't be possible anyway.

We haven't received any emails from you so far, but if you want, you can contact me if you have further questions.

- I've read your PMs and know the user you're referring to, and he should consider this as a warning: if I hear again that anyone teases another member of the community by threatening to reconstruct his code, I'll throw him out of this forum for good.

Thank you Mr. Lotter for your reply.

I do not know how he got the detailed information, only what he said in his
messages, that he "converted it back into C-script" from examining my resource
file. The method you describe may be what he used to reverse engineer my
project. He definitely obtained enough information to back up his attempt to
try and extort the code he needed from me with the threat of using my resource
in his own work. So is there any difference? Is not reverse engineering a
Conitec product against the GameStudio's's EULA regardless of the debugger
used?

I am extremely suprised and disappointed that this type of behavior will be
"forgiven". I feel if you had received similar personal messages about C-Lite,
the response would probably be quite stronger than a simple warning.

I feel I should post the content of these personal messages openly, so others
can see what a piece of crap this guy is, and that they may take precautions to
prevent their own work from being stolen from them.

I sent two emails last weekend to support@acknex.net, and received an
auto response. And later to a forum moderator and even yet to another Conitec
employee. The moderator has been very helpful. I did not send one directly to
you because I could not find a direct email address.

I apologize for airing this matter publicly, but I have been finding it harder
to remain silent. It is not my intent to carry on a rant into this matter.
Short of hiring an attorney, all I can do is vent my frustration, and warn
other users. I hope I have at least achieved the later.

If you will provide me with an e-mail address (Sorry, I must have misplaced
it), I will contact you further in private if needed.

Thank you for your attention in this matter, it is appreciated.

that's a horrible thing to have to deal with when you release such a good demo to the community. Really hacks me off, whoever it is should be ashamed of themselves

@JCL:

Is it possible to implement an option to enhance the WRS encryption degree? I could imagine that reading the WRS with a higher encryption at runtime could be slower than with the "default" algorithm - but if it is possible: would you consider to add an option like this?

why enhance encryption if encryption wasn't the problem at all? with lite-c your scripts will be safe but most of the art assets can't really be protected.

After some anguish , and since I feel my current project has been compromised,
I have decided to start another, different project using the more secure C-lite.
I dont care much for a particular user bragging about his "proprietary"
knowledge, that came from my efforts, so I want everyone to see how easily it
is done.

I have spent the last few hours putting together a simple "bare bones" demo
which is open source for all to freely use without credit. I will post a link
in user contributions shortly for those that are interested. I also plan to
upload a more complete demo with source to the resources site.

I would like to see Conitec add this or a similar (better) method to the
templates so others can easily implement nice looking portals into their Game
Studio projects. I am sure Conitec could have already done this if they had a
whim to.

Ok... well, first I'll start with the fact that the one Josiah is speaking of is me. Secondly, I'd like to state that I did not hack any of Josiah's code. All of my code is written by myself, and I have never stolen anyones code. As I have written code for many of you, I hope you will heelp me prove my point.

If you wish to continue accusing me of so, and calling me "a piece of crap", then have Conitec compare our code. While the concept is the same, our codes are seperate.

I do not appreciate you putting my name/business/and work at risk by accusing me of such things. I hope that this will end soon before it becomes a problem.


xXxGuitar511

I dont recall anyone mentioning your name? Why would you think it was you?

I guess if you throw a rock into a pack of dogs, the only to holler is the one
who got hit.

Conitec dosent have to compare our code, they have the personal messages you
sent me! And it already has become a BIG problem, what you did was illegal and
dishonest, and I am madder than hell about it. You are very lucky.
Do not send me anymore harrassing personal messages either, I am keeping those
also. I am done with you.

Leave ... me ... alone.