I just started thinking about protection for SC2. I think we can all agree that protection is crucial to the stability of maps in Starcraft. The question is, will Blizzard make a map protection system, or will players have to make their own; and if Blizzard makes a map protection system, will it be unbreakable? Will it only be a matter of time before OSMap 2 comes out?
How about I go download HexEdit, and unprotect your map that way?
Oh wait, even better! I'll protect your map that way, too! After cracking it with HexEdit.
Glorious.
My point being, protection and unprotection programs are essentially programs that fuck around with the Hex in the .chk file for people who don't know anything about that kind of stuff.
Back before there were unprotectors and protectors (hell, back when SCMDraft 1 was in its alpha and beta stages) I'd watch DrunkenWrestler do some amazing things by Hexediting his maps.
He even protected them through HexEdit.
So to continue this rather redundant discussion about protection and unprotection is pretty inane in my opinion.. Just go DL HexEdit, and google-research about the .chk files and what parts do what for the maps, then learn how to protect, edit (place things like hidden doodads [that SCMDraft2 and StarForge do for you]) and unprotect your maps with HexEdit if you really want to continue whining about it.
There was no need for protection back in the early days of Starcraft, because everyone knew who the real creators of the maps were. Then noobs came along.
Which is totally fine. If they would have changed maps to
learn, instead of steal.
So can Staredit.net please shut the fuck up about protection vs. unprotection already?
Go do some HexEditing, noobs
Everyone laughing at protection being needed (or vice versa), shut your yaps. I'm pretty sure just about everyone here knows of the whole debate, is sick of it, and this isn't the thread to pour it out in (I'm a professional vigilante!).
I really hope they implement it. I wasn't aware of an innate unprotector in WCIII, but I think Blizzard will improve upon it even more in SCII. You'll notice that there's no full-fledged secondary editor for WCIII, because of how much more complicated it would be than the SC one (different units, models, sounds, JASS, GUI -> JASS translation, terrain/doodad options, etc), and that there are much less unprotectors, if any. I think most are manually done by professionals. I think that this will continue with SCII, improving security and web standards.
More then likely (I hope), the SCII editor will be as flexible (if not more) than the WCIII editor...
So there will probibly be no need for 3rd party editors at all, because you'll be able to do
anything with the SCII editor if they make it like the WCIII editor.
None.