All modders loath the day when they find their mods on the infamous russian sites, and it is completely inevitable. As of now there is nothing we can do. I've done some research on how other gaming companies protect their downloads, and I found some useful information in my least favorite part of the gaming industry, DLCs. I hate DLCs and I hope that BeamNG will NEVER have them, but the methods major companies use to protect their money grubbing wastes of space could be implemented to protect modders' hard work from the thieves. I had the idea that, when you downloaded a mod from the repo, it gave you a code. This code would be completely random (Unique for every download), and it would be deeply imbedded in the mod's files. When you start up the game and try to load the mod, the game would ask for the code. If you input the code correctly, you would be able to enjoy your mod, but if you DIDN'T have the code (Meaning that you used another site), you would have three tries to input the code, before the game deletes the mod from your mods folder using the same method that allows you to delete mods while in game. This (hopefully) would render russian mods USELESS. Would a system like this work? Or would it be hard to implement?
This kind of system would annoy me as a user, I don't like extra work and especially I dislike verification codes that are happening everywhere these days.
I have a better idea, you have to ue that code, but for mods downloaded from the repo, you dont need to use the code. on forum mods, you have to.
I think typing in a code every time you want to use a mod would be annoying, at least for me. I hate piracy though, and feel like throwing up whenever I see a mod from the repo on a Russian site.
The owners of said website are probably forum members, but we don't know who. We do not need a witch hunt though...
Its a good idea but i don't like extra work. They could also add something in the files that only allow it to work if downloaded from the mods page. Its amazing how fast mods get uploaded to Russian sites, my helljeep remake made it in a few hours.
On a couple other websites, they usually put a password on their .rar / .zip files before they're able to unrar the mod for whatever game. I don't think it'll work with Beam' though, since the mods are .zip files. And the extra steps, like said before are a pain in the end.
im sorry but that sounds like a terrible and difficult to implement idea - it would annoy the normal users more than anyone else. and even if we used that system the guys who want to reupload the mod would only have to add a readme file with the code to the download. there is no way to stop people from reuploading files. we simply have to live with it. at least the mods are free anyways so nobody is losing money over it.
This isn't a good idea. You'll only end up annoying the people who do it properly in the end. They'd find a way around it and then leave you with having to put in a code for every mod which they don't. Think of DVDS. Pirates have it better because paying customers have to go through all the crap to just get to the movie and pirates can just play it straight away without going through all the crap you paid for.
exactly. or even worse with video games - while the legitimate buyers have to live with stuff like always-online drm the pirates can just install the game drm-free. i remember pirating a few games just because i didnt like the drm method. there is no way to stop pirates - in the end all you are doing is pissing off honest buyers.
What is the problem with the sites anyway, I'm personally an ametuer mod creator and I personally wouldn't care if my Soliad 4000 came up on one of these sites, people who are forum members would still know I made it. what's it matter how someone gets it? and whats the point of going elsewhere to get something you could just as easily get on the forums? I feel like the only people who would be pissed about their mod getting on this site is a little caught up with getting recognition for their work. Im just in It to make myself and others happy, I don't care if I'm revered as a great modmaker in the end
