Map Unprotector App

[Kornman00]

Assuming that people protected using irreversible protection in HEK+, I don't see how this supposed app can "un"-protect said map (since it destroys the tag name table IIRC, not to mention obfuscates the tag groups). The tag groups may be fixable (since he didn't change the default location of the scenario and globals tags) but without the names...you don't have anything useful or much in the way of organizable.

[sevlag]

Rip it, I don't care. The only thing I really made was BSP's, everything else was just Halo 1 stock stuff.

I myself could care less about ripping, what bugs me is despite AGREEING to the EULA people still go and protect maps, you're basically denying MS and Bungie stuff that belongs TO them and in short their users when you protect a map that has been run through tool

[Limited]

Like Korn said, for people to rip the tags it takes alot of effort, I doubt this app will just simply unlock all the tags ready for the picking, it might be able to extract sections and will still need work.

I'm still for map protection though, people protected their maps for a reason. I wonder who made the unprotector app, and I wonder if it really works.

[jcap]

No one "owns" the content they create, Bungie/Microsoft does. That and it's not like people are creating much these days. I wouldn't sweat it.

I myself could care less about ripping, what bugs me is despite AGREEING to the EULA people still go and protect maps, you're basically denying MS and Bungie stuff that belongs TO them and in short their users when you protect a map that has been run through tool

Microsoft cannot tell you what is/isn't yours through a simple EULA. If you believe that, then if they say they own your first born child and all files on your computer upon compiling a map, it's entirely legal...right? What they can tell you is that you do not own the structure of the tag, thus preventing anyone from using it in any way Microsoft does not approve of.

They are protecting the tags so they cannot be misused. How could you misuse them? Well, if you created your own game engine, but you didn't want to put any effort into making your own Guerilla or Tool with the same tags we use in Halo CE, you would be in trouble. Even if you were to create your own tools, but the tags are identical in structure, you would be in trouble. It's just to make sure someone can't take the Halo engine and make a full retail game, without an actual tools engineer.

Now, although your original asset changes formats and is in a different type of format, consider this: If you buy a music CD from the store and rip it to your hard drive to an MP3 file, does the record company still own it, despite it being in a different format? Or how about if you compile bitmaps or sounds from different games into Halo? Does Microsoft now own their assets, even free GPL ones? If you start with a bitmap and compile it into a tag, then reverse it and it resembles your original file, it's yours. When it's in the tag, it's just in a different format. That is what makes their EULA worth jack shit, even if it literally says they own everything you make.

[p0lar_bear]

Hey guys, so someone released an app that automatically unuprotects maps.
Hr3shy said it was on halomodding.com but I guess they deleted it.

So just warning you guys, maybe someone who's capable can make a new map protector that the unprotector wont work.

Sorry to be a dick, but, cool story bro.

How many times have we established that we have no legal rights over or entitlement to content we create for this engine, and that the CE community is about the only modding community that suffers from this problem despite that fact?

Locking this because I'm sick to death of the drama this topic generates.